A look inside the Palm i705-the early-2002 replacement for the aging Palm VII-reveals an ever-cheaper design point for capable, but not necessarily blazing, data radios and their companion PDAs.

With the exception of limited circuitry associated with the monochrome liquid-crystal display panel, all electronics for the Palm i705 are contained on a six-layer circuit board. Studying the main assembly, the usual suspects for a Palm handheld appear: Motorola's Dragonball processor, 8 Mbytes of Hynix SDRAM and 4 Mbytes of Fujitsu flash, along with a Philips USB controller, Maxim RS-232 circuit and Analog Devices touchscreen digitizer.

Interface circuitry for the expansion memory card interface is handled through a Xilinx 64-macrocell complex programmable-logic device. Power-management devices from Linear Technology, Siliconix and Maxim are paired with two Sony lithium-polymer batteries to provide an estimated 3.9 watt-hours of power.

Key to the i705's Mobitex-network-based wireless data connectivity is Motorola's MC13760VF multiprotocol, multiband digital transceiver. The BiCMOS part integrates fractional-N synthesizers, a reconfigurable zero-IF receiver with programmable bandwidth, receive A/D conversion, multirate data interface to the baseband DSP, direct-launch digital modulator and full transmit support circuits. Ironically, Moto's data sheet for the MC13760 outlines many supported protocols, but Mobitex is not among them.

The cast of supporting characters includes an Agere baseband processor, an RF Micro Devices power amp and a modest complement of RF modules and discretes. Internal multilayer ceramic antennas from Murata are used for independent receive and transmit propagation paths.

Our estimated cost-of-goods-sold for the i705 was below $100, less than 25 percent of the $449 retail price. Expect snappy price reductions and/or feature enhancements, since current i705 gross margins appear healthy. Color LCDs would be a sensible addition to provide a more compelling wireless Web-browsing experience-even in the "clipped" format mandated for the i705. Voice capability mirroring the competing Handspring Treo and RIM Blackberry 5810 should also be on the short list.

Meanwhile, our experience with the wireless connectivity proved disappointing, despite our being squarely within the advertised Palm.net/Mobitex coverage area.

Component advancements in the i705 point to a bright future for cost-effective, low-complexity data and voice radios, but the supporting infrastructure and services must improve to make good on that promise.

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DAVID CAREY IS CEO OF PORTELLIGENT (AUSTIN, TEXAS; WWW.PORTELLIGENT.COM), WHICH DOES TEARDOWN REPORTS ON PORTABLE ELECTRONICS SYSTEMS.