The LifeDrive mobile manager fuses business productivity tools and entertainment applications. Designed for people with a significant volume of digital information, the LifeDrive mobile manager offers 4GB of hard-drive storage, a large 320x480 high-resolution color screen, and wireless access through built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technologies.
Consumers today demand more from their mobile devices as their digital information continues to increase in size and scope. Many people want easy access to all of their essential documents, email and wireless web access. They want the ability to entertain themselves in a free moment, and to share personalized content, such as photos, home movies or their entire MP3 collection. The ability to do these things in an all-in-one device has become a reality with mobile managers.
"LifeDrive mobile manager comes at an inflection point in the market, when people are ready for more advanced devices that meet their growing mobile-computing needs," said Ken Wirt of palmOne. "LifeDrive is versatile. For the business executive, it's a personal mobile briefcase; for the photo enthusiast, it's a camera companion."
With Life Drive, people can easily carry virtually all of their essential desktop computer files and folders. Crucial documents can be set to update automatically at each HotSync operation, and users can receive secure wireless email with attachments whenever they are within range of a Wi-Fi connection or by connecting via a compatible Bluetooth phone. People can even remotely retrieve Microsoft Office files left behind on the desktop computer. With support for native Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Adobe Acrobat Reader, LifeDrive smart file management makes it easy for users to carry and access thousands of files. This innovative, new software system saves time, making it easier for a mobile professional to work efficiently while away from the office.
Flash memory keeps information safely intact, even if the device loses its charge, and 128-bit encryption keeps valuable data safely secure when invoked. Password protection safeguards access to the device, while the Private Records function protects specific files, even when the rest of the mobile manager is unlocked. An optional Intrusion Protection function erases all data and returns the device to factory settings after a user-specified number of failed break-ins.
By connecting to any of the more than 80,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots in popular hotels, cafes and airports around the world, LifeDrive mobile manager users can access POP, IMAP and Exchange email accounts; download the latest calendar appointments from the office; retrieve documents from the desktop computer with the WiFile software; and surf the web with the included web browser, which has been optimized for mobile surfing.
The device's built-in Bluetooth can be used to connect to compatible Bluetooth devices nearby, allowing for wireless syncing with a Bluetooth laptop, wireless sending a document to a Bluetooth printer or hands-free dialing to a Bluetooth phone.
While on the go, LifeDrive mobile manager users can enjoy listening to songs from their personal music collection, viewing photos or watching video clips.
The built-in voice recorder allows for hands-free notes or personal narrations to accompany photo slideshows. Users of the LifeDrive mobile manager will enjoy fast performance for business and multimedia applications, thanks to the 416MHz Intel XScale processor.
The expansion card slot, which supports SD, SDIO and MultiMediaCard formats, makes it easy to transform the LifeDrive mobile manager into a camera companion. Instead of bringing a laptop on vacation, users can simply download images from the camera's SD memory card onto the LifeDrive mobile manager to free up the card for more photos and enjoy photos on a larger screen.
The Hitachi 4 GB Microdrive digital media is at the heart of palmOne's new LifeDrive mobile manager, a business productivity, mobile computing and entertainment device that's designed to propel the mobile digital lifestyle.
When developing its newest product, palmOne posed the question, "What drives your life?" to its customers. And what drives them is the ability to be connected wirelessly; to work remotely; to carry large amounts of digital pictures, music and video/audio files; and to be entertained anywhere. The key to making all this happen is intelligent, usable software in a compelling package, with high-capacity, local storage that's -- above all -- reliable.
"Hitachi's Microdrive meets our criteria better than any other storage technology we evaluated," said Page Murray of palmOne. "In creating a product that centralizes so much of consumers' digital information, the Microdrive's reliability over four product generations was the assurance we were looking for in choosing what's essentially a mobile data bank for the LifeDrive."
With high storage capacity in a small, affordable form factor, the Hitachi Microdrive led the penetration of one-inch hard drives in consumer electronic products, first in digital still and video cameras, MP3 players, personal media players and, now, mobile computing devices. Invented nearly six years ago and field tested in millions of devices, the Microdrive has paved the way for new innovations on miniature devices, which are now being integrated into a single intelligent device from palmOne.