Palm OS Version of Wi-Fi SD Card Pushed Back to December

Many users of Palm OS devices are eagerly awaiting the release of a driver for SanDisk's Wi-Fi SD card, which will allow their handhelds with SD slots to connect to Wi-Fi wireless networks. Unfortunately, the release date for this has been pushed back again.

SanDisk first announced this peripheral in January, but its release slipped repeatedly over the course of this year. The card itself was released this summer, but only with Pocket PC drivers. At that time, SanDisk said it expected to have a Palm OS 4.1 driver in October and a Palm OS 5.x one in November. However, the company said in August that it was dropping plans to develop a Palm OS 4.1 driver.

Today, SanDisk said that its Palm OS 5.x driver won't be available until December, according to infoSync. The driver is the software necessary to allow handhelds to make use of the card.

This driver is expected to bring Wi-Fi access to Palm's Tungsten series, the Zire 71, and other recent models with the latest version of PalmSource's operating system. However, SanDisk isn't committing to the Wi-Fi SD card being compatible with every Palm OS 5 model.

The card sells for $130 and, in testing with a Pocket PC, has been found to have about 80% of the range of a Wi-Fi Compact Flash card.

Related Links

• Brighthand Reviews the SanDisk SD Wi-Fi Card