Palm to Introduce 2 Hand-Helds Today

Palm Inc. is expected to introduce two new hand-held computer models today, each aimed at getting into the hands of tech-savvy mobile professionals and early technology adopters.

Palm’s new Tungsten T, with a suggested retail price of $499, is the company’s first hand-held with built-in Bluetooth technology. That allows it to communicate wirelessly with a host of Bluetooth-enabled devices such as printers and cell phones and other equivalent Palm devices.

Phone numbers called up on the Tungsten T’s address book can be clicked, causing a nearby Bluetooth-enabled phone to start dialing the number.

It’s also Palm’s first unit powered by the ARM 144-megahertz processor, a processor similar to more powerful ones already a standard in competing Pocket PC devices.

The Tungsten T also comes with voice recording capabilities, a five-way navigation button and a sleek collapsible design revealing Palm’s Graffiti character recognition screen, tucked away until needed.

Milpitas, Calif.-based Palm said it hopes the unit will be seen as an upgrade for potential customers currently using the Compaq iPaq, which runs on Microsoft Corp. software.

The Tungsten W, the other new model to be introduced today for shipment first to Europe, features a small keyboard at the bottom styled after the popular RIM Blackberry wireless messaging devices.

The Tungsten W, with a suggested retail price of $549, runs Palm’s 4.1 operating system and features a less powerful processor, Motorola Inc.’s DragonBall 33 MHz, than the Tungsten T.

The unit focuses on wireless connectivity and features tri-band GSM/GPRS radio technology and support for corporate virtual private networks and real-time chat messaging.

On Friday, Palm shares rose 57 cents to close at $11.78 on Nasdaq.