Taking a sneak peek at Palm OS 5

Touted by the handheld manufacturer as the "foundation for the future of mobile computing", the brand new OS is expected to provide future Palm-powered devices the capabilities and features needed in a wireless, multimedia environment.

Although Palm licensees are probably now already working on new products using a beta version of the new OS, the general consumer will probably not know too much of what OS 5 is all about. In a nutshell, OS 5 will provide support for more powerful ARM-based processors, greater security, multimedia capabilities, and wireless connectivity. All these features will make a Palm-based device more powerful and, hopefully, more attractive to enterprises which are looking for a secured, feature-rich handheld.

According to various reports, the final version of Palm OS 5 is expected to be ready in the second half of this year. Devices running the new OS will be available after that. However, do keep in mind that OS 5 can be customized to suit any Palm licensees. This means that while OS 5 supports, for example, 320 x 320-pixel screens, licensees don't have to create that if they want to stick with a 160 x 160-pixel screen. Hence, devices running OS 5 may or may not be similar, depending on how licensees design their devices.

While we don't know the specifics of the new OS, PalmSource has revealed a number of features that makes the OS radically different from the current OS 4. Here, we give you a preview of some of the features embedded in the new OS, and compare these to those currently on OS 4. Do note that since Palm OS 5 is still a product in development, details are subject to changes.

Palm OS 5 and Palm OS 4side by side from CNET Asia.