PDA News - 40 GB portable hard drive, iPaq update, Palm spellchecker

Toshiba unveils 40 GB, 1.8 inch portable HD

Toshiba is adding a new member to its line of ultracompact hard drives for mobile technology. Using a new 20 GB platter, or data surface, the drives come in 20 and 40 GB sizes and measure 2.12 inches wide, by 3.09 inches long. The 20 GB and 40 GB versions are, respectively, .2 inches thick/51 grams, and .31 inches thick/62 grams.

Don't expect these to show up built into PocketPCs in the near future--they're still too large and too power-hungry to be incorporated into ordinary designs. They will, however, certainly be added to Toshiba's existing line of PC Card based hard drives, so those dead set on some even more massive Storage for their PocketPC can still play. Don't expect it to be cheap, though.

iPaq Bluetooth update for h2200

HP has issued a patch for a number of Bluetooth issues on the iPaq 2200 series:

• Corrects Bluetooth (BT) Manager lockup that occurred if the device was turned OFF while the status screen or Active Connections screen was open.
• Corrects BT Manager lockup when trying to add or remove connections in the PAN Manager.
• Corrects issue where BT would not start when the device was turned ON and attempted to connect to ActiveSync.
• Corrects BT File Explorer lockup after access was denied from an FTP connection through Ericsson T610 phone.
• Corrects system lockup when disconnecting a PAN connection via the incoming connection icon.
• Corrects the issue where contacts lost the name fields when multiple duplicate contacts were received on a separate OPP connection.
• Corrects the 'Yes to All' functionality in the overwrite screen that appears when receiving a contact from a remote device.

The update is only for iPaq 2210 and 2215 PocketPCs, and requires 2 MB RAM.

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/HandheldiPAQ/us/download/19650.html

Beiks LexSpell for Palm OS

Beiks, makers dictionary programs for the Palm OS, are trying their hand at an email spell checker. The program provides instant spell-checking in most email clients, including Treo Mail and SnapperMail, as well as in "other applications", though the press release doesn't specify which ones. LexSpell supports all Palm OS 3.5 and later units on all resolutions, and languages including American English, British English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.

http://www.beiks.com/

Proporta leather case for Treo 600

Proporta's leather Treo case is out:

http://www.proporta.com/detail.asp?id=593