I've been a Palm faithful for years now recommending it over Pocket PC products even as the gap between the two platforms have closed. I've purchased or at least put in significant user time on pretty much all the PalmOne handhelds except for the Treo line. With PalmOne's announcement of the Tungsten T5, I was initially underwhelmed by the specifications that Palm released and the features offered. I thought the T3 was a decent PDA when it was first released and after PalmOne released the patches, the T3 was a superior PDA. I decided to hold judgement of the T5 till I could get one in my hands.

Now that I have one, I initially felt extremely underwhelmed... not so much for the hardware but the entire package and roughness of the product. It is one the most unpolished newly released products that I've ever used from PalmOne. On paper, the hardware is above average although underwhelming, the software is tested and solid, and the OS is minor modification/update of the current one employed in the T3. On top of that, key features that made the T3 popular to its customer base were removed from the T5! However, over a week I have seen past some of its limitations but still feel somewhat underwhelmed by the T5.

Price

I paid the original price of $379 from Amazon.com and currently price matching with my AmEx business card to a $299 ad I saw in a computer magazine (Hopefully AmEx will grant the pricematch). You can read my tips (although some info is a bit dated) on electronics shopping to try to get the best price in my epinions article The Art of Buying... Getting your money's worth!.

If you're wondering, yup, I'm still in the Palm Champion program. If you send me the PalmID code on the CD, I can accumulate points for prizes with PalmOne. On the other hand, if you bought an expensive PalmOne PDA, you may be able to get a gift certificate for yourself instead.

Short Take

As an early adopter of PalmOne PDA products, I think I jumped the gun here. I still feel underwhelmed by the T5. As currently released, the T5 feels rather unpolished and crash prone with current Palm OS programs. Not that the Palm OS never crashes but they have been few and far between in my use of other Palm OS products. It seems that the changes in the internal hardware requires that older Palm OS programs be rewritten somewhat to work on the T5.

There are things that I like on the T5 and things that I don't. The increased internal memory (although how this memory is structured can be argued) and the fact that you don't lose data if you drain the batteries completely is a plus. The increased battery life over the T5 is another. The T5 has a fairly solid form factor (slightly bigger than the Tungsten E). The excellent screen (although it is not as bright as the T3... at least my T3) with 320x480 resolution is yet another plus. The much increased battery life of the T5 actually made a run against my Tungsten C... even outperforming it(depending on what programs I was running on the units and if the Tungsten C had the Wi-Fi connection active). I was getting an average of 6 hours on a fully charged battery.

Some things that I don't like is the current incompatibility of some of my Palm OS programs with the T5. I've had a problem where once in a while, I needed to do a hard reset which currently will erase the contents of the entire memory (note that a hard reset always wipes the memory of a Palm OS PDA)!? At first, I thought it was just the model I owned but I'm now seeing several other users complain of similar problems (i.e. the number of hard resets that have to be performed). The loss of the universal connector to PalmOne's new multiconnector means that my old accessories aren't compatible now. Hotsyncing isn't any faster... is this still based off a USB 1.1 connection? First run T5s had problems with even the built-in programs (mostly fixed with the latest patch for those of you who purchased T5s when PalmOne made them available). The loss of the voice recording and vibration alarms is inexplicable for the Tungsten T5. I've also had issues with loading large files and databases (over 15MB files) for viewing... same went for pictures and thumbnail displays of multiple high MB JPEG files.

There are some things that I'm not sure how I feel about yet. Like the ability to use the T5 as a flash drive. It's interesting but I carry a 1GB flash drive where I can swap out the SD card as needed.

In the end, I don't feel that the T5 is the best Palm has to offer... and feels a bit more of an experiment instead of a top-tieder PDA. I think the T/C and the T/T3 still represent the top-tier of Palm OS PDAs right now even though some of the technology in the T5 is way advanced over older Palm models. I do think that once the kinks are worked out of the T5 and the price were to drop another $50-100, the T5 would hit the sweet spot.

Pros:
Total of 256MB of memory although 215MB is user accessible, long battery life, 320x480 screen, fast 416MHz Intel XScale processor that seems to scale the speed better to enhance battery life, Bluetooth built-in

Cons:
Loss of universal connector, $399 price tag, no built-in Wi-Fi for price range, at the time of this review most third party software makers have yet to release a patch for their software to support the T5, Hotsync via cables is still slow (based on a USB 1.1 connection speed perhaps?), Bluetooth appears to be slower than the latest Bluetooth standards.

Design

All in all, this looks like a Tungsten E on a little bit of steroids. Placed side to side, the T5 is only a little bit bigger and longer but slightly thinner than the Tungsten E. The T5 has dimensions of 4.76x3.08x0.61 inches and a weight of 5.1 oz. Compare that to the Tungsten E with dimensions of the E are 4.5x3.1x0.5 inches with a weight of 4.6 oz. The overall appearance is that of the Tungsten E but with a darker gray casing. The external case has pretty much the same curves and rounded edges. The same 5-way nagivator (which is more responsive than in the Tungsten E... likely due to the faster processor) with the same 4 application button layout. The silo for the stylus is on the right (you're looking at the screen) and thinner silo for the included screen cover which is about the same quality as the Tungsten E... maybe a little bit better. The bottom holds the new multiconnector... so bye-bye universal connector (so much for it being universal). The top of the unit holds the SD/MMC SDIO card slot, the power button, and the 3.5mm headphone jack. The IrDA (Infrared) port is also on the top of the unit. The back holds the speaker and the reset button (like the Tungsten E and C, you have to unscrew the stylus to expose the pin so you can depress the reset button). Note that you don't have any LEDs for alarms or to even indicate charging status!

The T5 employs a full body 320x480 screen. It's 3.25x2.2 inches large and displays 65,000 colors. The T5 supports portrait and landscape views.

Note that the T5 no longer has a voice record button or a built-in microphone... a major departure from prior Tungsten T series handhelds. Heck, Palm didn't even add the SD/MMC built-in dust cover from the T3! Maybe Palm will address this through the multiconnector.

Inside the T5

As for the processor, the T5 uses a slightly faster 416MHz Intel Xscale processor. This processor seems to scale its speed more effectively to conserve battery power. The T5 runs the latest version of Palm OS 5... v5.4.5. No... it does NOT run Palm OS 6 (and it seems that PalmOne won't be releasing such a model until 2005 or 2006!). The T5 technically has 256MB of Flash RAM installed. However, major changes have occurred with this memory. It doesn't erase if the battery is drained dry because the flash RAM is now a non-volatile NAND memory type. The memory is also configured differently because of the change in the memory type. Potential problems is that the NAND memory is a bit slower than the flash memory used in older Palms and changes how the T5 has to interact with the memory (causing some programs to be incompatible for the T5 until the programs are rewritten).

Memory Changes

Palm divides the 256 MB into several sections (similar to the deceased Sony UX-40 and UX-50 models). Palm divides the RAM into a 64MB section and a 192MB section. The 64MB section acts closer to the how memory on older Palm models worked. 55 MB of that part of the memory is user accessible. The other 192MB acts similarly to a SD/MMC card. Out of the 192MB, only 160MB is available for use. The unaccessible 41MB is used to store the OS, built-in applications, and for the dynamic heap (which is 16MB).

This leads to the first brand new feature for Palm PDAs... the Drive mode. The 160MB appears on your PC as an external drive on WinXP (I can't vouch for compatibility with other OSes... I only have WinXP on my computers now) as long as you have your hotsync cable plugged into the T5 and the computer. If you installed a SD card, that will show up as a seperate external drive. You can transfer files from your computer directly into the drives and vice-versa. It seems to be reliably speedy... about 2 MB a minute. Well, it seems much faster than a hotsync.

Problems with the memory setup currently is the fact that the 215 MB of user accessible memory is deleted when you have to hard reset the system. This usually happens when a program completely crashes and your PDA no longer responds and a soft reset doesn't clear the system (pressing the reset button). I would think that the 160MB part should have been designed not to delete on hard reset since it is supposed to act like a SD card. I think Sony implemented these memory divisions better in the UX-40 and UX-50 (I'm not sure if the internal drive of the UX-40 and UX-50 also got wiped on a hard reset).

Another problem is that there is no easy way to back up both the 55MB and the 160MB of memory. Hopefully, Blue Nomad next update of BackupBuddy will give me that solution. Yup... I use BackupBuddy currently as my backup solution to backup the main memory to a SD card.

Update: I had been noticings a loss of 3-4 MB of space compared to my Tungsten C and T3. I had associated this with the new memory structure of the T5. Apparently, the problem can be much worse for T5 users. The new memory structure apparently changes how items are saved so that there is a minimum space they must take up (512 kb) even if the file is actually smaller than that space. What this means is that small files and databases can take up large amounts of space for no reason under the T5. You can get more information about this problem from sites like brighthand.com and palminfocenter.com as well as from the user forums in treocentral and palmone. This almost makes the T5 a two star unit now.

Screen

320x480 pixel screen with no slider to block the bottom portion accidentally... YES! Slightly blue tinged and dimmer than my T3 screen... sigh... OH NO! Well, it's not that bad... but it is a tad annoying. The T3 still has the best screen for a Palm OS PDA (Now that Pocket PCs have come out with the VGA screens... most look absolutely gorgeous!). Overall, the screen is above average despite the slight blue tinge to light colors. The screen certainly is bright enough for most conditions. I would say that the screen is about equivalent to the Tungsten E. The screen can still wash out in direct sunlight. Colour reproduction is good but pales slightly against the T3.

The T5 allows you to view programs in portrait mode or landscape mode. Unfortunately, the implementation of this isn't as well done as the T3. This may be due to the new memory architecture... at least I believe so. When the various applications for the Palm OS are rewritten to support the T5 (and likely future models of the PalmOne PDAs), the support for landscape mode should be as good as it is for the T3.

The digitizer seems to be okay. It seems about as error prone as my Tungsten C. It seems a little bit inaccurate compared to the T3. I don't have any real complaints about the digitizer.

On the New Multi-Connector

uhmmmm... that's hard to say right now. I don't have anything else to add until I decide to buy some peripherals that will attach to it. The only nice thing is that you can just take your charger and plug it directly into the T5 instead of getting some attachment into the Universal Connector. At least no need to buy some kind of travel charger.

The Multi-Connector is supposedly USB 2.0 compatible and will supposedly allow audio and video output. I guess I'll have to wait and see about that. Hotsync doesn't seem any faster than with my older Palms however.

SD/MMC SDIO slot

Basically, you can use a Secure Digital card or MultiMedia card for additional storage and backup (after someone releases a backup program that works with the T5). So far, 1GB SD cards should work on the T5 like it does on other Palm PDAs. The T5 is supposedly compatible with the SD WiFi card from SanDisk. At the time of this review, a slow speed SD card costs around $60 after rebates.

Bluetooth

Works just peachy... the T5 communicates to the few Bluetooth enabled items that I have. Well, I'm not such a big fan of Bluetooth so I can't comment much there.

5-way Navigator

More solid response over the Tungsten E and I'd say on par with the Tungsten C and T3. This is probably due to the much faster processor in the T5 over the Tungsten E. The navigator is a decent size and easy to press in the correct directions.

Multimedia?

There is only so much you can expect out of a PDA. The T5 comes bundled with the RealOne player which does a decent job (since a ton of much better music file players have been made over the past 2 or so years). The speakers seems a bit louder and the headphone jack is above average. With a large SD card, you can hold a good number of tunes in the T5 to keep you satisfied.

After install the Kinoma player, I had a couple of crashes. I guess I have to find out if the Kinoma player is compatible with the T5... maybe my version is a bit old too.

Remember, no more voice memos on the T5. Oh well.

Battery Life So Far

The T5 carries a significantly larger battery... 1300MAh versus the T3's tiny 900MAh. The Tungsten C still has the largest battery at 1500MAh.

Well, all this means is you get a good to above average battery life on the T5. I got around 6 hours while running the T5 through various tasks. If I get a chance, I'll run it through with more vigorous testing... well hopefully.

Applications

The major third party applications included are Documents to Go Professional Edition version 7, RealOne Player, VersaMail, Media2, and Blazer. They all seem to be overall stable but not as stable as they are on the older PalmOne PDAs. Documents to Go is not able to show graphs on my T5 and some functionality of the Premier edition (a $29.99 upgrade) still has to be fixed for the T5... especially if you're dealing with big files (7+ MB)! Blazer actually works quite well and rather speedily. Media2 is the new photo and video viewer that I've had problems with crashing especially if the picture files are too large. RealOne Player has been stable but I haven't tried files larger than a couple of megabytes.

There is a slight facelift to the interface now... you can use the new favorites launcher to quickly select applications that you use more often than others. You can still go back to the classic Palm interface or install your favorite launcher program (but I don't know how well they will work if they weren't optimized for the T5.

PalmOne now includes a Files program that is long overdue. It acts like a filebrowser in a desktop... just a straight list of files in a storage area or directory. The Palm's Files program acts like a mildly retarded version of the popular Filez program. By the way, Filez is still a more powerful and useful program than the Palm's Files version.

The Personal Information Manager software (PIM) are pretty much the same as the Zire 72 with the addition of a customizable (but not so well implemented) background image for the Calendar and Launcher programs, photo support for Contacts (which Sony had in their discontinued PDAs!), and support for Time Zones in the Calendar program. These programs are pretty stable after you install PalmOne's latest patch... yea... you read that right. Early T5s may crash from their own PIM programs... sigh. At least it was corrected. The 5-way navigator has been integrated very well into the PIM applications lending the T5 for easy one-handed use.

What Else Should I Buy With This?

Well a 512MB SD card, a case to protect the T5, and headphones. This might run you an extra $75 to $100. The current infrared keyboard doesn't quite fit the T5 very well because of the extra thickness of the unit.

In the end...
The T5 seems like an admirable PDA but as it stands, it seems to be a step down in features with a step up in the memory management. However, this the T5's memory management is new to the PalmOne PDA lineup, it is causing problems with programs written for the older model PalmOne PDAs. Until most of the good Palm OS program are rewritten to work on the T5, the T5 will likely cause more grief and joy. Once PalmOne works out this kink... the T5 will seem much more attactive... just not as attractive as the T3 feature wise.

Other Palm OS PDAs?

I still see no reason to really switch from my Tungsten C. Click here to see my epinions review on it. The built-in Wi-Fi and the thumb keyboard are almost invaluable to me now.

The Tungsten T3 still remains an extremely solid handheld that I think is more flexible than the T5. Click here for my epinions review on the PalmOne Tungsten T3. Maybe when the software is rewritten for the T5, the T5 will be PalmOne's top PDA.

The bargain basement and extremely reliable Tungsten E is still the perfect PDA for the most people. It offers a good blend of everything at a reasonable cost. Click here to read my epinions review on the Tungsten E.

The cheaper PalmOne Zire 31 is best only for the beginner to PDAs... even then I would argue more towards the Tungsten E over the Zire 31. Click here to read my epinions of the Zire 31.

The more multimedia orientated PalmOne Zire 72 can take limited pictures and video. I'm not a big fan of it... but it can do the job. Click here to read my epinions on the PalmOne Zire 72.

I normally don't review Pocket PC PDAs since the last two Pocket PCs I have are the AudioVox Maestro (really a Toshiba rebrand) and the Dell Axim x5. I overall, I haven't kept up with the Pocket PC development. I will be getting a Dell Axim X50v... arriving any day now and put up a review on that soon.


About the Palm Pays Back Program

This is a program by PalmOne to reward people who recommend PalmOne PDAs to others (and they purchase a PalmOne PDA). You go to http://www.palmone.com/palmpaysback and sign up to become a Palm Champion. My user id is epinionsgo@hotmail.com. If you buy an expensive PalmOne PDA, you can sign yourself up to get a $25 Amazon or Staples gift certificate. If you bought a cheaper handheld, you may want to validate the handheld under a friend with an established Palm Champion ID.

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 300
Recommended for: Gadget Lovers - Trendy and Hip