According to the trusty grapevine, Palm's prepping three more handhelds, due in two months. What's so exciting about them?

Upcoming Palm PDAs have rarely been best-kept secrets. It's little surprise then that rumors have surfaced about three new devices from the global handheld leader.

Leaks from various retail channels have suggested two new Tungstens and a Zire. The Bluetooth-enabled Tungsten T series is expected to enter its third rendition with the T3, which bears the same sliding mechanism as its predecessors.

The US$399 T3 may look like a rehash, but pundits are getting all excited about it. This may be the device where Palm finally drops its dedicated Graffiti silkscreen. Instead, like Sony's handhelds, the T3 opens up to a virtual Graffiti area that can be minimized when not needed. This means the Palm will have an effective display area of 320 x 480 pixels, up from the usual 320 x 320 pixels.

The other Tungsten is said to be the E, which at US$199, is aimed at the lower end of the corporate market. Possibly sporting a QWERTY keyboard, PDA site Palm Infocenter suggests that this device will offer a Texas Instruments 144MHz processor and 32MB memory.

The third rumored offering is the Zire 21, which follows Palm's best-selling plain vanilla Zire. At an expected US$99, it will again address first-time PDA users. Buyers will be hoping it corrects the Zire's greatest flaw--the lack of a backlight.

Palm's hardware division recently announced its new PalmOne moniker. But the three handhelds, if they arrive do as anticipated arrive in October, are unlikely to sport the new brand.