06.17.03
Thoughts on the Tungsten T
Back in March I was looking to buy a new PDA. I decided to buy a Palm Tungsten-T, which came in at the end of the month. A month and a half later I can report being quite happy with my purchase. Here are some thoughts on what I have noticed:
* It is very compact. I did not think this would impress me as much as it has
* Everything is MUCH better in high-resolution color:
- It is much easier to tell when appointments begin and end
- Document to go Excel spreadsheets can fit twice as much data on the screen by decreasing the font size.
- The games are all much more fun. Bejeweled makes no sense in black and white, Solitaire has never been so much fun.
* For some reason (Palm OS Version 5?) I am having MUCH better luck entering data with Graffiti. I thought I would have to switch to a palm with a keyboard, but all of the sudden I find I can actually use the built in data input system without much problem.
* I was not aware how limited I had become by the 2MB storage of my Palm V. With 12MB available I am once again free to install new apps and load large files into the device. I have a 64MB and a 128MB MD expansion card that are loaded with pictures and mp3s. I don’t have to worry about file sizes since I can move files to the cards.
* I am equally surprised to find out how limiting the speed of the Palm V was. I did not notice since I did not have anything to compare it against, but applications launch and execute on the Tungsten much faster to launch and execute.
* The tinny little speaker on the top of the Tungsten works. I mean, it actually puts out good quality sound at a decent volume. More than once I have put a song to play and dropped the device in my shirt pocket like a little portable radio. I have also been able to play songs for friends and co-workers from the palm (I now close marathon programming specification editing sessions with the Muppets’ ‘Moving Right Along’).
* The device works well as a portable MP3 player. I use the Palm edition of the Real One player to play audio files on the PDA and the desktop player to quickly down-sampleMP3s and load them to a media card. With headphones connected to the side jack the palm plays like it was a desktop PC (it runs a little slow while playing songs in the background).
* I always had the problem with the Palm V of trying to make a note on the fly, especially while driving. I actually had to get a notepad for the car so I could jot down notes (songs that I heard and I liked, ideas for the film site, things I needed to remember to do) and then transfer them to the palm. With the Tungsten’s microphone I just hold down the easy to access record button, make an audio note and then transcribe it later. It works great and is much safer while driving.
* The collapsing design of the Tungsten is actually a great feature. The device is very small in my pocket and snaps right into a full sized PDA.
* The World Clock that comes with the palm is great. I immediately reprogrammed the ‘To Do’ button on the front panel to display the clock. I work quite a bit with corporate offices in New York and in Europe, being able to clearly display the local time as well as two other time zones has become invaluable.
* The 5-way scroll control on the front works great as well. There are shortcuts for most any app so that you can drive without having to take out the stylus.
* I thought the face shield would be obnoxious and got to work finding a hard case. Nobody is making hard cases for this model yet, which turned out to be good news since it gave me a chance to get used to the little plastic shield which works great.
* The battery lasts a good time. I have only twice ran out of juice, and both times I had been playing with the device quite a bit between cradlings. While at work I keep the PDA in it’s cradle and I carry a sync cable in my pack that can charge it for when I am away from the office.
* I have not yet figured out what to do with the built in Bluetooth receiver. My cell phone does not speak Bluetooth. I have the idea that I can buy a card for my PC and may be able to web browse from the PDA while in close proximity to the PC… but if I am that close to my PC why would I want to use a browser on the PDA? I keep the Bluetooth software installed in case I come across someone else with a Bluetooth PDA. I don’t know what the two devices could do together but it would be fun to find out.
At just over $300 (pricewatch.com has listings for Tungstens for as little as $307 with shipping and handling) I highly recommend this PDA.
GeekRoar » Of all the things I ever lost… said,
December 6, 2005 at 9:01 pm
[...] … I miss my brain the most. It is a sort of a mixed blessing. On Monday night as I headed out of the office and to my car I noticed my Tungsten T Palm Pilot was missing from the coat pocket. Figuring I must have left it on my desk I decided to head on out and retrieve it the next day. Well the next day has come and gone and the above mentioned device, which I nicknamed ‘my brain’ because while I cannot keep track of phone numbers, appointments or other info, my brain can, has failed to materialize. Woe is me though not fully woe as the three and a half year old beasty was sort of dying on my anyway. The good news is that Palm has a new bit of hardware for me to salivate over: the Palm TX. The TX is really just a Tungsten 5 but with (drum roll please… WiFi! Yup, I am already a heavy hot-spot browser and the idea of being able to connect anywhere there is an unprotected network… well lets just say it makes me smile. [...]