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 Hands on with Palm's Tungsten T


So I had a Palm VIIx .... and I dropped it .... about a hundred times. It wasn't until the one-hundredth and one time the screen on the Palm VIIx started to lose pixels and eventually another drop gave it a final coup de grace. The screen was cracked diagonally, it worked but you really couldn't see much of it. So it was time to buy a new one. So I thought that the natural replacement would be to get a Palm i705, but after looking at Palm's new Tungsten T, the i705 looked downright archaic. The new Palm Tungsten T sports a whole new way for Palm. The Tungsten has a new Texas Instruments OMAP ARM processor, 4MB Flash/16 MB RAM, Palm OS 5.0, integrated Bluetooth radio/antenna, headphone jack, built in Mic, built in speaker, SD/MM card expansion, Infrared port, new 5 way navigation button, TFT color screen with 65,000 colors, metal skin, and a nifty "slide-out" expansion design. At a height of 4 inches (closed), a width of 3 inches, and a thickness of 0.6 inches, the Tungsten T is the smallest Palm handheld Palm offers today. The height grows to 4.8 inches when the Tungsten is "slid" open, making it the one tallest Palm handhelds offered today; aside from the M130. In contrast, the Palm M515is not as chunky as the Tungsten. The M515 is taller (when the Tungsten T is closed, shorter when it is open), wider, but does not have the Palm OS 5, recording functions, Bluetooth, neat "slide-out" design, built in Mic and speaker, or the 5 way toggle button.
The i705 is just as tall as the Tungsten when it is open, as chunky, and a bit wider. The i705, has grayscale screen, no 5 way toggle button, no voice recording functions, no Bluetooth, no built in Mic or speaker, or a "collapsing" design and runs the Palm OS 4.1. The i705 does have something the Tungsten T does not, built in wireless for the Palm.net wireless network. The Palm M130 is like the M515 in its shortcomings against the Tungsten and is even chunkier than the Tungsten. Weight puts the Tungsten second to the heaviest i705, the Tungsten may have a few tenths ounces more than the others, but its compact design makes up for it. It feels light, only because of its compact size. The new Tungsten T sports the Palm OS 5.0 The Palm OS 5.0 was developed to supposedly integrate part of the now defunct Be OS that Palm had purchased into it. The OS coupled with the fast TI ARM processor makes for a super fast environment. Scrolling on it is almost too fast, and I find that sometimes the Tungsten wanders further than where I tapped, or seems to be waiting for me to catch up. The interface is stunning. The fonts and pictures are smooth and fluid, and compared to a Sony Clie NX60 & 70, the Tungsten outshines them both. The Palm Tungsten comes with great software to do what you need to do. The tried and true Address Book, Calculator, Card info, Date Book, Expense, Memo Pad, Note Pad, and To Do list. The new things is the Voice memo and the Bluetooth networking options. On the software essentials CD you get Adobe Acrobat Reader for Palms, DataViz Documents to Go, Handmark's Mobile DB, Powerone Personal Calculator, Palm Web Browser Pro, Palm WAP browser, VersaMail 2.0, ArcSoft PhotoBase, Palm Reader, and Handmark's MagicDogs Playing cards. The Tungsten T, runs everything FAST. Since I came from a Palm that was black and white to now one with exceptional color and smoothness … I cannot get myself to look at a grayscale palm anymore. There is really something about color that makes you never want to look at a black and white screen ever again. I can't even get myself to look at the M515, the pixel quality between the M515 and the Tungsten T is huge. Not as much pixilation, and smooth, smooth, smooth! Hooking up the Tungsten T to me iBook was a snap. The software that I already had, Palm Desktop 4 for OS X, did not look at or identify the Tungsten. I had to load the version that came on the CD with the Palm. After loading the Palm Desktop and HotSync Manager, I was able to synchronize my Tungsten. I had to beam all the info form my Palm VIIx to it, which wasn't bad, but a hassle, as I hope to just restore it from the Palm Desktop software. iSync did not see the Tungsten and did not synchronize it, just like it didn't sync up my Palm VIIx. iSync did pick up the info from the Palm Desktop and that was good enough.
Most of the programs (games) I had on my Palm VIIx did not work on the Tungsten, so I will have to purchase some new ones. Some of the programs that came on the Software essentials CD required I had to be in OS 9, to load. I instead loaded them on my PC and synced them up to the Tungsten. The Tungsten had no problems syncing with my IBM ThinkPad laptop, Infrared or USB. Since I do not have Bluetooth on any of my computers (yet), I was not able to test the Bluetooth functions of the Tungsten. My Microsoft Word documents and Excel spreadsheets converted over to the Tungsten through Documents to Go very well, and spreadsheet was even able to do calculations. All in all I am impressed with the Tungsten's size, style, color screen, and its power. It is a breeze to use and carry around. I purchased a separate Tungsten T hard case for it and it has proven exceptional at protecting the handheld. Now the only gripes I have is that Palm.net wireless service cannot be used with it and that the nooks and crannies of the "slide" area can gather dust and particles. I blow out the "slide" area with compressed air once a week. No MP3 playing software was bundled in. And the hard case has places for SD/MM cards but no where for credit cards or cars in general. Other than the things I mentioned, the Palm Tungsten T is a great handheld, pricey but otherwise stellar. Its, size, refined OS, and functionality put it on top of the Palm handheld world. And I can tell you that I do not miss my Palm VIIx, even though I had to give up my Palm.net service, the Tungsten T is worth it!

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