Palm was Too Colorful In Describing m130

Palm has confirmed that its low-priced m130 handheld is short a few thousand colors.

Previously promoted as a device that could display more than 65,000 colors, the $249 m130 actually only displays 58,621 color combinations. Palm introduced the personal digital assistant in March.

"When we introduced the product, we certainly believed that it did deliver 65,000 colors," said Marlene Somsak, a company spokesperson.

Users Question Claim

After the number was questioned in some Palm user chat rooms, and the company was asked about it by reporters, it investigated to find out that it actually didn't live up to its billing.

"Theoretically, it should deliver 65,000 colors," Somsak said, noting that the hardware and software used in the device is designed to display the promised color support. "It was in how we implemented components and the technologies that didn't optimize for the full 65,000 color combinations."

Using a technique known as "dithering," the device is able to increase the number of colors displayed by combining adjacent pixels to convey a composite color, or color combinations, the company said. This is in contrast to devices in which all colors are displayed by individual pixels. Even with dithering, the device displays about 11 percent fewer colors than originally advertised, Palm said.

Only Apologies Offered

Representatives of the Santa Clara, California, PDA vendor said the company is contacting m130 customers who registered their devices, and is issuing an apology to them. It has also posted a note on its Web site to make users aware of the correct information. However, it doesn't have any immediate plans to refund customers.

"We hope that people will accept our apology and our explanation," Somsak said.

Palm is in the process of correcting all the marketing and promotional materials that incorrectly report how many colors can be displayed on the m130. It will update the packaging for any new units it ships, and it is contacting retail partners to inform them of the mistake so they can inform their customers appropriately.