Samsung SPH-i500
Encyclopedia
The Samsung SPH-i500 was a Palm OS
-based smartphone
manufactured by Samsung
. It was released in the Summer of 2003 and later discontinued in August 2005.
It was marketed in the United States
for use on Sprint's mobile phone network.
The CDMA phone has a clamshell-style design, with the 160×240 pixel color display on the top half, and the Graffiti
area and telephone keypad
on the bottom half.
It operates like a standard color Palm OS
device, but several hard (external) and software-imbedded buttons launch the 'phone' application, which manages calls.
Once a call is connected, it is possible to switch back to another application. Despite the Graffiti interface, the device could not send text messages, though it could receive them.
The phone shipped with an extra battery and extra stylus. The supplied power cable could be used as a travel charger or to plug in to the included cradle, which could charge the phone and an extra battery simultaneously. Despite two batteries, the phone needed to be plugged in regularly. Swapping charged batteries would eventually result in a phone reset---a complete loss of user data.
Blazer
microbrowser
and Voice Memo, but exclude Palm OS
Note Pad. Shortly after the i500 was discontinued, Handspring discontinued proxy
service for the Blazer browser. Sprint provided a free install of
Novarra's nweb browser as a replacement. This browser was functional
on the i500 until its proxy was taken down in 2008.
Installed applications included ones carried over from existing Palm handheld non-phone devices:
In addition, applications to support voice and data communications were included:
Note that the Voicemail application was not a distinct executable, but rather aliased directly to the Voicemail category in the Messages application.
Samsung developed a follow-on Palm OS smartphone with multimedia features, the SPH-i550
, but Sprint
canceled it.
Palm OS
Palm OS is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management...
-based smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
manufactured by Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
. It was released in the Summer of 2003 and later discontinued in August 2005.
It was marketed in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for use on Sprint's mobile phone network.
The CDMA phone has a clamshell-style design, with the 160×240 pixel color display on the top half, and the Graffiti
Graffiti (Palm OS)
Graffiti is an essentially single-stroke shorthand handwriting recognition system used in PDAs based on the Palm OS. Graffiti was originally written by Palm, Inc...
area and telephone keypad
Telephone keypad
A telephone keypad is a keypad that appears on a "Touch Tone" telephone. It was standardised when the dual-tone multi-frequency system in the new push-button telephone was introduced in the 1960s, which gradually replaced the rotary dial....
on the bottom half.
It operates like a standard color Palm OS
Palm OS
Palm OS is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management...
device, but several hard (external) and software-imbedded buttons launch the 'phone' application, which manages calls.
Once a call is connected, it is possible to switch back to another application. Despite the Graffiti interface, the device could not send text messages, though it could receive them.
The phone shipped with an extra battery and extra stylus. The supplied power cable could be used as a travel charger or to plug in to the included cradle, which could charge the phone and an extra battery simultaneously. Despite two batteries, the phone needed to be plugged in regularly. Swapping charged batteries would eventually result in a phone reset---a complete loss of user data.
Specifications
- Processor: Dragonball 66 MHz
- Weight: 130 g
- Operating System: Palm OS 4.1
- RAM: 16 MB
Applications
Applications include the HandspringHandspring (company)
Handspring was a maker of Palm OS-based Visor- and Treo-branded personal digital assistants. It was run by Jeff Hawkins, Donna Dubinsky, and Ed Colligan, the original inventors of the Palm Pilot and founders of Palm Computing, after they became unhappy with the direction in which 3Com was taking...
Blazer
Blazer (web browser)
Blazer is a web browser available for Palm handhelds running Palm OS 3.1 or higher with 8MB of free memory available.The original version of Blazer was developed by Bluelark Systems and was released in November 2000. Bluelark Systems was acquired by Handspring a month later, in December 2000...
microbrowser
Microbrowser
A mobile browser, also called a microbrowser, minibrowser, or wireless internet browser , is a web browser designed for use on a mobile device such as a mobile phone or PDA. Mobile browsers are optimized so as to display Web content most effectively for small screens on portable devices...
and Voice Memo, but exclude Palm OS
Palm OS
Palm OS is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management...
Note Pad. Shortly after the i500 was discontinued, Handspring discontinued proxy
service for the Blazer browser. Sprint provided a free install of
Novarra's nweb browser as a replacement. This browser was functional
on the i500 until its proxy was taken down in 2008.
Installed applications included ones carried over from existing Palm handheld non-phone devices:
| Address |
| Calc |
| DateBook |
| Graffiti |
| Expense |
| Memo Pad |
| Preferences |
| Security |
| To Do |
| Welcome |
In addition, applications to support voice and data communications were included:
| Blazer (web browser) Blazer (web browser) Blazer is a web browser available for Palm handhelds running Palm OS 3.1 or higher with 8MB of free memory available.The original version of Blazer was developed by Bluelark Systems and was released in November 2000. Bluelark Systems was acquired by Handspring a month later, in December 2000... |
| Messages |
| Phone |
| Speed Dial |
| Voice Dial |
| Voice Memo |
| Voicemail |
Note that the Voicemail application was not a distinct executable, but rather aliased directly to the Voicemail category in the Messages application.
History
The SPH-i500 is the last Palm-OS-based smartphone to use a clamshell design and employ Graffiti input. It is the only clamshell to use the upper block for the display, and the lower for input. Its successors use a brick form phone and a keypad for input.Samsung developed a follow-on Palm OS smartphone with multimedia features, the SPH-i550
Samsung SPH-i550
The Samsung SPH-i550 smartphone is the Palm OS-based planned successor to the clamshell style SPH-i500. The SPH-i550 has a high-res 320x320 internal screen and an external OLED display. The camera takes 1MP stills and can record video...
, but Sprint
Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...
canceled it.