Debate Swirling Around Palm ''Gandolf'' Rumors

Over the weekend, news first broke of what's supposed to be an upcoming, low-cost smartphone from Palm, code-named Gandolf.

At this point, many are suspicious of these reports for several reasons. If this this device is real, it will be a fairly significant departure from Palm's previous smartphones in many respects.

Also, the primary evidence for this device is somewhat shaky, as it consists of a couple of Photoshopped renderings and a blurry picture apparently taken with a cameraphone.

Not surprisingly, the source for much of the information on the Gandolf, the blog Morning Paper, is adamant that this isn't a hoax, and insists this smartphone will debut in the coming months.

Palm and Windows Mobile, GSM and CDMA

According to the unconfirmed reports, there will be two versions of the Gandolf, one Palm OS and the second Windows Mobile.

But this won't be the touchscreen version of Windows Mobile, as previous Treos have done. Instead, one image of this device shows it running the non-touchscreen version of this operating system on what appears to be a QVGA, landscape display (see image at right).

The pictures of the Palm OS version seem to show it with a 320-by-320-pixel screen (see image on left).

The Gandolf will reportedly include a QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth, a camera, and a microSD memory card slot.

In addition, the Windows Mobile device has a Vodafone logo on it, which means it will be a GSM phone, while the Palm OS version is supposedly coming to Sprint, and will support this CDMA carrier's EV-DO Rev. A network.

Sprint will reportedly charge $200 for this smartphone when it debuts during the fourth quarter of this year.

Related Articles

• Treo 800w May Offer Wi-Fi