Tungsten T : Palm attempting to reclaim the PDA innovation throne!
Written: Nov 04 '02 (Updated Dec 17 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Faster Processor, nice design, Hi-Res screen, universal connector, Palm OS 5
Cons: Price and battery life
The Bottom Line: There is alot to like about the Tungsten... finally some power in a Palm PDA. However, the price is more than enough to scare most away.
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| yusakugo's Full Review: palmOne Tungsten T Handheld |
Some people have waited diligently for Palm to release models more competitive with the seemingly more advanced Pocket PC PDAs. Others couldn't care less. Regardless, PalmSource has released Palm OS 5 to great fanfare with both Palm and Sony having a model out the door into your hands.
First Strike
Palm released the first Palm OS 5 model... albeit it was only a few days ahead of Sony's OS5 model. The m550... otherwise known as the Tungsten T or "TT". The model represents a deviation in design from previous Palm designs but in many ways looks quite familiar as well. The Tungsten is a major leap in power and abilities for Palm handhelds although Sony had introduced many touted features of the Tungsten in their previous CLIE handhelds. Regardless, this model is currently Palm's top of the line model and costs a hefty $499!
First Take
Really, early adopters will love this model. I personally couldn't justify the Tungsten for my use at this time. There is a lot to like about the Tungsten... a whole lot. There is a a 320x320 color LCD (what Sony dubs as Hi-Res), 16MB RAM, compact size, retention of the universal connector (although the accessories that use the universal connect do not work with the tungsten yet... may require an updated driver). There are a few new features not seen in other Palm OS PDAs. The Tungsten can record voice memos, utilizes a much faster processor (The Texas Instruments OMAP 175MHz processor), has a more compact size, has a tweaked controller scheme (4-way circular D-pad with center execute button), external speaker, and more! You can use the Tungsten in open and closed mode which significantly changes the dimensions of the unit. A large majority of the Palm OS 4.x programs work on the Tungsten as well. This unit packs a wallop for a Palm PDA!
There is a major downside to the Tungsten... the cost of the unit can induce a heart attack. Heck, the Tungsten cost almost as much as the HP Pavilion ZE4101 Notebook I just bought (yes, I know another notebook in my collection). Pocket PC models have dropped drastically in price with similar hardware specifications. The new ViewSonic Pocket PC PDA costs $299 with more memory and a faster processor. Battery life is still a problem as well... the average battery life is at best 4 hours continuous. The other drawback is that their are enough programs that aren't compatible with Palm OS 5. It is estimated that 25% of Palm OS 4 programs are not compatible with Palm OS 5. The multimedia capabilities are still not great although on par with the Pocket PC PDAs.
Overall, the Tungsten is a very nice PDA, but it depends on what you need from your PDAs. I don't need all the "multimedia" capabilities of the current crop of PDAs... especially when a notebook that costs a few hundred more. Heck, the notebook I'm typing this on now cost me $700 with a AMD Athlon 1.5 GHz processor, 384MB of RAM, 20 GB hard drive, ATI video card, DVD drive, and several more trimmings. That's only $200 more than the Tungsten and I get true multimedia capabilities.
Pros:
1) Much faster processor
2) Good form factor
3) Voice recording
4) Hi-Res screen
5) 16MB of memory
6) Cute stylus
7) Easy to press application buttons and 4-way controller.
8) Maintains universal connector
9) Collapsable form factor
Cons:
1) Price
2) Multimedia is still limited
3) Battery life
4) Accessories utilizing the universal connector need new drivers to work on Tungsten
5) May need some additional software to utilize features like the MP3 player... however, Palm is allowing free downloads of this software when it is available.
Details... Is the Tungsten all its hyped up to be?
Well, the Tungsten is a bit of departure in the design department for Palm. The best way to describe the looks of the Tungsten is a cross between the shape of the i705 and the extension of the Sharp Zaurus released only several months ago. When closed, the Tungsten dimensions are 4.0 x 3.0 x 0.6 inches and 5.6 oz. When you extend the unit (revealing the Graffiti area), it is 4.8 inches is height. The unit is slightly thicker than the m515 and the Sony Clie T series... but slightly thinner than the SL/SJ series. It is comfortable to grip and hold in the hand. Actually, to me it is easier to hold in my hand... the extra thickness gives the unit a solid heft and feel. When the unit is closed, it is smaller than the SJ30!
If you're worrying about the sturdiness of the Tungsten... well, it hard to tell. The unit feels solid and the extendable lower section slides out smoothly with a solid click sound when in place. A nice touch was also allowing the extension of the Tungsten to turn the unit on and off.
When you look at the unit, there are a couple of new features on it. You have the familiar four application buttons... Calendar, Address Book, To Do list, and MemoPad/NotePad. The rocker switch... err... there is no rocker switch anymore. Now you have a circular four way pad with an addition button in the center of it. This makes navigating through your Palm extremely easy! Way better than using the jog dial in the Sony CLIEs and the HandEra units.
When looking at the front of the unit, you will note the built in speaker on the right upper corner. A green LED is on the left upper corner to display if the unit is charging or not. However, the LED cannot change color to display when it is finished charging... sigh. The stylus is also redesigned as well. The stylus is compact within the Tungsten... but press the top and the stylus extends with a click. The stylus is much more comfortable to use than the CLIE styli. Note that the reset button can be pressed with the styli tip... so the stylus doesn't unscrew to reveal various tools.
On the left side, Palm took a page out of the Pocket PC PDA handbook. You now have a microphone and a voice record button on your Palm. Add a stereo headphone jack to that as well. Hey, that's not all either. The Tungsten is supposed to be able to play back MP3s too! The built in speaker is decent for playback but carry some real earphones just in case... cause you don't get any with the Tungsten.
The top of the unit houses the SD/MMC slot, the power button, and the hole to carry your stylus. Don't forget the IR port.
Inside Scoop
Powering this Palm is the Motorola DragonBall VZASD... ok, no Motorola processor running at 33 or 66MHz.
This time, this Palm is running the Texas Instuments ARM processor. It is dubbed the OMAP1510 processor which is really two processors in one. On top of this, this chip has control chips for the other functions like LCD drivers, USB and SD card interfaces, and the Bluetooth standard. For all you techheads out there, the processor is running at a brisk 175MHz (average of the two processors speeds). Maybe I should be clearer with that... the OMAP1510 is composed of two processor chips. The ARM925 part of the chip is running at 144MHz and the other half (a C55x Digital Signal Processor) is running at 200MHz. The Sony CLIE running OS 5 will have an Intel based StrongArm processor.
The Tungsten comes with only 16MB of memory and 4MB of flash ROM. The unit can vibrate for alarms and appointments.
Screen and Colours
The screen looks just as good as any out there. The screen looks better than the one on my T615 model. The screen is bright with excellent clarity. Colors seem to be rather accurate for the most part... blues may be a tad bit dark however. The screen is 320x320 with 16-bit color just like the Hi-Res standard for most Sony CLIE models. It's about time Palm improved the screen on their models.
By the way, rumor mill has it that Sony makes the LCD display.
Cheap Add-Ons?
What's up with the cheapo case? Well, not like any of the current of previous Palm OS PDAs had a great looking case to begin with.
The included software is also not complete at this time. Still missing from the unit is MP3 player software. On top of that, the list of compatible Palm OS4 software is still being compiled. At least the built in software to the Tungsten (i.e. address book, date book, and the such) have incorporated use of the new 4 way circular pad with the central button. Many of the standard add-ons are here. Documents to Go... check. Adobe Acrobat Reader... check. Palm Reader... check. PowerOne Personal calculator... check. Even PocketMirror is included. The Palm folks even included a copy of AppCheck (for all the good that it will do you).
Anything else
It's got BlueTooth... don't ask me how well it works... I don't use Bluetooth in any fashion.
Handheld use...
The Tungsten is very speedy indeed. Accessing programs, looking up information, searching for specific phrases took the Tungsten seconds compared to the minutes it took looking at an older Palm. The Tungsten retains the familiar tried and true feeling of the earily Palms. Running MultiCheck in epocrates took mere seconds versus the minutes on my CLIE T615 unit. Scrolling through long documents created no pauses and there was no jerking of the screen. Programs that worked on Palm OS 5 worked well and smoothly... although at times too quickly.
Final Say?
There is a lot to like about the Tungsten... however, for my uses, I didn't purchase the Tungsten. This review was based off a model that a friend owned that I played with so I could make a final decision on whether I would buy this model or wait to see what was in store for Palm OS 5. The T615 still handles all my needs currently. I personally have no reason to upgrade my Palm at this time. If the Tungsten had 32 MB of RAM, I may have been more willing to bite the bullet and buy one.
Regardless, the Tungsten is a solid PDA and a solid design win for Palm that could use a bit of a price decrease to hit the big time. It is a hard unit to go wrong with.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 499
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yusakugo
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Member: Rich Go
Location: Somewhere in the NorthEast
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Losing Sleep and Lacking Time... sigh...
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