Good things come in small packages
Written: Mar 24 '03 (Updated Dec 11 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: small and compact; truly portable; BLUETOOTH!!!!
Cons: cradle; non-compatibility with older programs
The Bottom Line: Compact form factor, bluetooth, Basic applications, and Expandability make it a highly recommended acquisition. and great after sales tech support/warranty!
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| ingadog's Full Review: palmOne Tungsten T Handheld |
Shopping for a new PDA, my main criteria was size and connectivity. I carry my PDA in my pants front pocket, so it had to be thin and compact. I also wanted to access the web and my e-mail from the PDA.
At first I was looking at PDA phones, but the prices were prohibitive to say the least. The Sony-Ericsson P800 (GSM phone, PDA and digital camera) was way cool but also way expensive. I was also looking at Pocket PC's but those in my price range did not offer the connectivity package of the palm.
Anyway, I stumbled upon the Tungsten for 21900 PHP, or around USD400+ with a separate free MP3 player!! Good deal, so I took it, though I don't really plan to use the MP3 player.
What made me buy it:
My decision to buy the Tungsten really boiled down to just two reasons: 1)It had the smallest form factor of all PDA's I tried; and 2) Bluetooth.
Size: The sliding mechanism was solid and reassuring. and it reduced the size of the PDA by around 25% from when its open. It fit into any pocket I had. Enough said.
Screen: The screen is 320x320 color and is amazingly bright. The color saturation was not tops but still very satisfying. In sunlight, the screen, as with all LCD's, became somewhat difficult to read. But this was not really big problem for me.
Software Package: Aside from the usual palm applications, the bundled CD included Acrobat, Documents to go, a photo-viewer, some games, web browser and e-mail client, and a database viewer. Pretty basic, but it may be all you need.
Cradle/Sync: Synchronizing data is, as Palm users are no doubt used to, a one-touch affair. However, the cradle is poorly designed. It takes practice to firmly insert the unit onto the cradle and it does not seem to stay there. A light nudge and the connection would be broken.
Memory/Expansion: Built-in memory is 14MB (not 16 MB as advertised). Aside from the palm universal connector, the Tungsten had one card slot for an SD card or MMC card. I used a 64 MB SD Card and I still haven't filled even 10 MB.
Data Entry: The usual graffiti. Slow and cumbersome. But you can add a keyboard, which I plan to do.
Connectivity: Here comes the fun part. I have a bluetooth Ericsson T68 which I use to connect the Tungsten to the net via dial-up (9.6 kb/s) or the much faster GPRS (both are my own accounts; no bundled service with the Tungsten). Bluetooth is simply wonderful. No cables, no aligning IR ports. My phone can be in my bag or pocket and I can surf the net or check e-mail. I can even hotsync via a bluetooth adapter on my PC. So I can be roaming around my office and at the same time synchronizing my data. Simply wonderful.
Battery life: Decent. I play a lot of games and surf the net a lot, (around 2 hours combined every day) which I think really saps the battery life and it still lasts around 2 to 3 days. Without games/net, it should last a lot longer without charging.
Compatibility: The Tungsten runs on the PAlm OS 5.0, which is not yet popular. However, I found that it works fine with most new programs. Many software providers are already coming out with "OS 5.0 native" programs. However, forget most old programs. Installing old programs may just cause the Tungsten to hang.
System stability: Installing incompatible programs cause the unit to hang, necessitating a soft reset. Also, disconnecting a connection while attempting to download e-mail will cause an interminable delay in the bundled VERSAMail client. This is perhaps a problem with the software, not the unit. I have not tried other e-mail clients. My data, however, has not been lost even if I had to perform several soft resets already. Also, when the battery is low, the unit will automatically disable certain features to conserve power. When it is really low, it will turn off and will not turn on again until you charge. Upon charging, however, data will still be intact. Unlike older Palm models which lose all their data when the battery dies.
ONE WORD OF CAUTION !!!!
DO NOT BUY THE PALM SCUBA CASE ( A soft case )for the Tungsten!!! whoever designed it should be fired!!! The problem: You cannot open the unit (open the slider down) with this case. I returned mine and settled for a cheaper generic leather zippered case.
UPDATE: (Dec. 03)
Almost a year since I bought it.
Been using the TT without any major complaints. Pal OS 5 ran very stable. No major hangs. Bluetooth is a wonder. Stopped using it to surf though, because my bluetooth phone broke down. Besides the GPRS charges were killing me.
Last month, however, the touch screen started having problems. (Maybe because my two year old daughter kept on playing with it) I had to frequently run the "digitizer" to correct it. One day, the touch screen just conked out! Crap.
Anyway, the TT held out much longer than my co-workers' I-paqs, which all broke down after several months. I guess all new high tech is not designed for durability. I thought I had to buy a new PDA.
Lo and behold, after calling palm tech support, they told me that they would send me a replacement unit free of charge. The replacement unit is not brand new but is a certified reconditioned model with a three month warranty. REading the bad reviews on the Tungsten T3, I think I'm keeping my TT.
I received the "new" unit after a mere two days. The screen seems to be different from my original TT (kinda yellower) but it works fine. I noticed that the battery life is better than my old one.
Lesson learned: Even good PDA's break down. Get a PDA with good after sales support and the longest replacement warranty you can find. I think, in these terms, the PAlm is tops.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 400
Recommended for: Gadget Lovers - Trendy and Hip
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Epinions.com ID:
ingadog
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Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 0 members
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