Palm Wi-Fi card

Reviewed by Bonnie Cha
Review date: 8/17/04

Quick Take: Owners of PalmOne handhelds rejoiced when SanDisk released its long-anticipated Wi-Fi SD card last month. But the excitement faded when they learned it works with only the Zire 71. Now PalmOne is giving Tungsten T3 and Zire 72 users the same functionality with its own Wi-Fi SD card.

We tested the card on the Zire 72, and it worked like a charm. Installation and setup were a snap--an Install Wizard guides you through the steps--and after a HotSync operation, the Wi-Fi Setup and VPN Setup utilities and the Web Pro browser app were installed on our device. Then, using the Wi-Fi Setup utility, we selected a network and connected to a hot spot within seconds. You can also use the app to check signal strength, establish disconnect time, and set up WEP (wired equivalent privacy) encryption. We opened Web Pro and had some problems connecting to a site at first, but after disabling the proxy server, we were off and running--or, perhaps, just jogging. Admittedly, it took a bit for Web pages to load, but that's to be expected on a PDA.

While you can use both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth at the same time, PalmOne recommends disabling Bluetooth since it may interfere with signal quality. A final word to the wise: Wi-Fi saps a lot of power, so keep an eye on battery life. The PalmOne Wi-Fi SD card costs $129 and will be available the first week of September.