Tapwave Zodiac
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The Tapwave Zodiac is a Palm OS 5-based PDA created by the US company Tapwave, and the first Palm-based device developed with gaming and multimedia as primary considerations. On July 25 2005, Tapwave announced that they had gone bankrupt and would no longer provide support for the device [1].
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Functionality
The Zodiac includes the standard PalmOS Date Book, Address Book, To Do List, and Memo Pad PIM functions. It also ships with the Stuntcar Extreme and AcidSolitaire games, an MP3 player, and the Kinoma Video Player for digital video. The device can display photos, and ships with the PalmReader eBook reader, as well as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Last of the Mohicans ebooks. A graphing calculator (powerOne), word processor (WordSmith), graphics program (Inkstorm), internet browser (Browser), SMS application, and Alarm Clock are also present.
The system includes a standard touch screen (at 480x320, one of the highest resolutions available at the time) but has additional inputs designed for gaming. Held in a landscape configuration, there is an analog thumbstick and a function button on the left of the screen, four digital buttons on the right, and two shoulder buttons (triggers) on the top of the device. The unit accepts SD format cards as removable storage.
The Zodiac is more rugged than most contemporary PDAs because of its metal construction, although on some batches the adhesive on the shoulder buttons was known to fail, and the standard flip-top screen protector could do more harm than good if grit became trapped between it and the screen surface - various alternative cases made the ineffective default protector unnecessary. Presumably to save internal space, the stylus is clipped laterally into a recess in the rear of the device rather than locked into a slot as in most PDAs.
Most PalmOS 5-compatible games play on the Zodiac, as well as games designed specifically for the Zodiac's hardware. A great deal of freeware and shareware games and emulators are therefore available. For example, there are versions of Doom, Quake, Hexen, and Heretic as well as versions of emulators such as UAE, ScummVM, and LJZ/LJP a multi-system emulator.
The Zodiac's implementation of Palm OS 5 has been modified for custom features. It has a radial menu (the analog stick is pushed in one of eight directions to select menu options) with a side list for use without the stylus.
The device has a total battery life of about 3 hours when using audio, backlight+screen and CPU-intensive tasks, and while running as a dedicated audio player it can push 6 hours, but will vary from device. The battery life can be extended by reducing the screen brightness and volume, and using headphones rather than internal speakers.
A new update was originally promised by Tapwave that would have introduced hardware decoding of MPEG4 (such as DivX or XviD), however that update never materialized before the company was closed. However, full screen video playback of almost all common file types is available with a port of The Core Pocket Media Player (originally for the PC, this version is based on the Pocket PC version, and takes advantage of the Zodiac's special hardware for video playback) - the default Kinoma player was limited to a proprietary file format, and only a crippled version of the necessary encoder was supplied with the device - to use it properly owners had to pay extra for the full version. It has been suggested this crippling of one of the device's two main selling points (full DVD length movie playback, after some compression) significantly diminished the Zodiac's success, although other media players such as TCMP and MMPlayer are available. A new optimized web browser is also available.
Specifications
Two versions of the Zodiac are available, differing only in the amount of memory and case colour
- CPU: Motorola i.MX1 ARM9 processor (200 MHz)
- Memory: Zodiac 1, 32 MB. Zodiac 2, 128 MB (12MB Dedicated to the System. [Dynamic RAM])
- Graphic Accelerator: ATI Imageon W4200 graphics accelerator (with 8 MB dedicated SDRAM)
- Display: 3.8 inch transflective 480 x 320 (half VGA), 16-bit color backlit display (65,536 colors)
- Sound: Yamaha sound and stereo speakers, 3.5 mm earphone plug
- External Connectors: 2 expansion slots (both are MMC / SD capable, one is also SDIO capable), Zodiac Connector, 3.5 mm headphone jack
- Wireless: Infrared, Bluetooth (Compatible with Wifi SDIO cards)
- Battery: Rechargeable Lithium Batteries – Dual totaling to 1540 mA·h
- Size & Weight: 5.6" x 3.1" x 0.55" (142 mm x 79 mm x 14 mm), 6.3 ounces (180 g)
- Colors: Zodiac 1: Slate Gray, Zodiac 2: Charcoal Gray
- Casing: Synthetic rubber, anodised aluminium, plastic (synthetic leather screen cover)
Peripherals
- 5V regulated DC switch mode battery charger, using proprietary connector.
- USB PC Synchronisation cable, incorporating pass-through female charger connector (allowing charging from mains whilst synchronising)
- Car battery charger
- Cradle Attachment for synch cable (poorly designed, unreliable electrical contacts)
- Folding Keyboard (some 3rd party Bluetooth & IR models, unknown whether dedicated keyboard capable of using Synch cable connector existed)
- Some SDIO Cameras can be used such as the Veo Camera.
End of life
On July 25, 2005, Tapwave announced that they had gone bankrupt and would no longer provide support for the device.