Built-in applications for Palm OS

Palm OS licensees decide which applications arestorage.
included on their Palm OS devices. Licensees canMemo pad - memos
also customize the applications. Below are someThe Memo Pad can hold notes of up to 4,000
of the most common PalmSource applicationscharacters, keyed to user-configurable categories.
included with the Palm OS:Memos are ordered in two ways: alphabetically,
Address book - contactsand manually (which allows the user to choose the
The Palm's Address program stores contactorder of the memos). Memo Pad is for text, not
information, keyed by any of severalfor drawings. For this reason, text in Memo Pad
user-definable categories. Entries are displayed andmust be entered using the Graffiti alphabet.
sorted in last name, first name order (this can beStarting with the OS version 5.2.1 on Tungsten T3
changed only to Company, Last Name order).and Tungsten E, PalmOne, Inc. released their own
There are five slots for phone or e-mail, each ofversion of this application, called Memos, and the
which may be designated Work, Home, Fax,limit has been increased to 32Kb.
Other, E-mail, Main, Pager or Mobile (the slotNote pad
designations cannot be changed).Drawings go in Note Pad. With neat handwriting,
Starting with the OS version 5.2.1 on Tungsten T3about 10 words will fit on one page; for more
and Tungsten E a customized version of thistext, Memo Pad is the better choice. There are
application was released, not developed bythree sizes of pen width, plus an eraser and a
PalmSource, but by PalmOne, called Contacts.background color change feature in some models.
BlazerIt is possible to draw a very simple map.
Blazer is a web browser for Palm handhelds. TheNote Pad appeared on most Palm PDAs starting
versions 1.0 and 2.0 run on Palm OS 3.1 or higherwith Palm OS 4.0; certain PDAs with previous
handhelds, but they needed a proxy server whichversions of Palm OS did not include this application,
has been shut down, so they can no longer beexcept Palm m100 with OS 3.51.
used. Version 3.0 is used on the Treo 600To do list/tasks
smartphone. The current version of Blazer isAlso referred to as Task list.
Blazer 4.5, which is compliant with most majorThis is a convenient place to create personal
standards. It is generally bundled with newerreminders and prioritize the things you have to do.
smartphones and newer Palm devices capable ofEach To Do List item may also have: a priority,
accessing the Internet.categories (to organize and view items in logical
Calculatorgroups), attached Note (to add more description
Calc turns the Palm into a standard 4-functionand clarification of the task).
pocket calculator with three shades of purple andTo Do List item can be sorted by: due date,
blue buttons contrasting with the two red clearpriority or category.
buttons. It supports square root and percent keysStarting with the OS version 5.2.1 on Tungsten T3
and has one memory.and Tungsten E PalmOne, Inc. released their own
It also has an option to display a running historyversion of this application, called Tasks, in which
of the calculations, much like the paper-tapealarms may be assigned to tasks, and can be
calculators that were once common.made to repeat.
Starting in Palm OS v. 5.4 Garnet, the calculatorPalm photos
has a menu option to switch to an advancedThe original PalmPilots did not include a photo
mode, which features several button layouts thatviewer. To fill this gap, in 1997 Art Dahm created
pertain to specific jobs. These modes include:Image Viewer III, one of the first and most
Math, Trig, Finance, Logic, Statistics, Weight/Tmp,popular independent consumer applications for
Length, Area, and Volume.Palm. Since then, at least a dozen photo programs
Date book - calendarhave been released for Palm.
Date Book shows a daily or weekly schedule, or aAs of 2006, most new Palm handhelds include
simple monthly view. The daily schedule has onePalm Photos, which creates a digital photo album
line per hour, between user-selected begin andused to view pictures on a Palm OS device. As
end times. Clicking on an empty line creates awith all the other photo programs, photos can be
new appointment. Empty lines are crowded outbeamed to other mobile devices. Each photo can
by actual appointments, whose start and stopbe labeled and organized into separate photo
times are shown by default bracketed in the leftalbums. A slideshow can also be shown for a
margin.specific album, and each photo in the album will be
An appointment can be heralded by an alarm, anyshown full screen.
number of minutes, hours or days before itPhotos can be edited with the Palm Photos PC
begins. These alarms sound even when the unit issoftware (Windows only), and when the photos
switched off.are transferred to the handheld they will contain all
Appointments can recur in a specified number ofchanges made to the photo.
days, weeks, months or years -- and can containThe Palm Photos software is available in the Zire
notes.71, Tungsten C, Tungsten E, Tungsten T2,
Starting with the OS version 5.2.1 on TungstenTungsten T3 and several others. Palm Z22 uses a
T3, Tungsten E, Palm Inc. released their ownlite version of SplashPhoto.
version of this application, called Calendar. It allowsWith Palm OS 5.28 (Zire 72), Palm Photos has
categorisation of events, as well as colouredbeen replaced by the Media application, which also
categories and featuring a summary screen similarmanages and displays video files and edits photos.
to that found on Windows Mobile devices.Voice recording
It is possible to export the Palm datebook to theSome models feature the ability to make voice
iCalendar format thanks to the KDE programrecordings which are synced using the Voice
named KPilot, under Linux.conduit and can be viewed under Mac OS with
Expensethe Voice Memo application which is part of the
The Expense application allows a user to trackPalm Desktop Suite.
common business expenses. No totals areAt present, most models do not have Voice
calculated on the Palm. The user must sync withMemo capability. This list of Palm products shows
a host computer and view the expense data in awhich current models have Voice Memo: The
worksheet (templates for Microsoft Excel areTreo 700p, LifeDrive, Tungsten "T"(T2, T3, but
supplied). NOTE: Not included on all Palm OSnot the T5, etc.), and Zire 72 models. Palm's Treo
devices.700w also includes voice recording, but this device
HotSyncruns Windows Mobile.
The HotSync application provides integration withPreferences
the user's PC. Usually activated by a press of theAlso referred to as Prefs. Preferences works as
physical HotSync button on the Palm's cradle (aa second launcher allowing the user to launch
dock station), this application communicates withprogram files with the 'panl' type. Palm OS
various conduits on the desktop PC to installcontains approximately 15 preference panels by
software, backup databases, or merge changesdefault and new preference panels can be added
made on the PC or the handheld to both devices.just like any other application.
In addition to the conduits provided by thePreference panels allow users to manage a
licensee, developers can create their own conduitsnumber of setting including Graffiti settings, sound
for integration with other Palm OS applications andsettings, text shortcuts, network settings and the
desktop products. For example, a time trackingsystem time.
package could provide a conduit to communicateSecurity
information between Palm OS and WindowsThe Security application (which is a panel on
executables.newer Palm OS devices) allows users to specify a
A Backup conduit included with the HotSyncpassword needed to display hidden records and
software backs up (and restores, if necessary)unlock the device when locked, as well as setup
most of the data on a Palm OS device. Thisan automatic lock down time or inactivity
allows users to hard reset their Palm -- thus,threshold. On the PC, only Palm Desktop honors
clearing all of the data -- with few noticeablethis password but other PC programs can view
consequences. This also allows users to migrateeverything--in other words, all the data protected
to new Palm devices of the same Palm OSby this password can be seen by anyone opening
version, a feature that is helpful to those whothe .dat files using a text editor or word
lose or damage their device.processor. While it may be tempting to use this
Some models of Palm keep their data storage inas an excuse to switch to Microsoft Outlook,
volatile memory and require constant power tosome people say "password recovery" programs
maintain their memory. Although these handheldscan analzye Outlook .PST files to reveal the
attempt to save the contents of memory in lowpassword instantly; this is unproven however, and
battery situations by not "turning on," leaving anot in everyone's experience.
"dead" handheld for an extended period of timeWhen using Palm devices in secure environments
can cause this reserve power to be used up andthere are two primary concerns:
the contents of storage memory to be lost.Data on the Palm can be retrieved if the Palm is
Some later Palms use NVRAM or microdrive forlost or stolen.