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PalmOne didn't launch a follow-up to the Tungsten E last Fall as expected: Over 1.5 million Tungsten Es shipped in the year after its Fall 2003 release, making it the most successful PDA in the U.S.

You would think that kind of success screams out for a sequel.

Instead, the PDA vendor unveiled the Tungsten T5, a high-end device for mobile professionals that, nevertheless, more closely resembled the Tungsten E externally than previous Tungsten T handhelds.

Like other mythical creatures, rumors of the Tungsten E2 persisted until finally the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) confirmed its existence in January, when it leaked photographs and pictures of the handheld on its Web site—as it is prone to do (to the chagrin of vendors) when approving a wireless device for use in the U.S.

Today, an anonymous source on 1src purports to unveil additional information about the Tungsten E2.

According to the rumor, the PDA has the same 32 MB of RAM as its predecessor—not very much by today's standards. PalmOne improves on the earlier model's memory, however, by implementing the same on-volatile NVFS technology used in the 256 MB Tungsten T5 and 32 MB Treo 650.

This means all of a user's information won't disappear in the event of a complete power loss, making data much safer than with most other smartphones and PDAs.

Other purported Tungsten T2 features include enhanced battery life, a 200 MHz XScale processor—up from the 126 MHz in the Tungsten E—and Palm OS Garnet (5.4) like the earlier model.

Although a release data hasn’t been leaked, yet, palmOne may introduce the PDA in the next couple of months. That is, if it follows its traditional Spring/Fall launch schedule.

More on Tungsten E2
The Tungsten E2 looked very similar to its predecessor in the pictures on the FCC Web site (see top image). Its display runs at the same 320 x 320 pixel resolution as the earlier model, but at 18-bit rather than 16-bit color.

It also appears to have the same connector as palmOne's most recent mobile devices, the aforementioned Tungsten T5 and Treo 650. As a result, you should be able to use many of the same peripherals across all three models.

Support for Bluetooth specification 1.1 means you can connect the Tungsten E2 wirelessly to PCs, cell phones, smartphones, printers, and headsets.

Although the Tungsten E2 most likely has a Secure Digital slot, it isn't known whether palmOne will make the device compatible with its Wi-Fi SD card.