Palm's New King of Handhelds
Written: Jul 12 '03 (Updated Jul 12 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fast processor, metal casing, beautiful screen, and cool factor.
Cons: Digitizer and sound problems, cheap "case", and heavy.
The Bottom Line: The Palm TT has a handful of drawbacks, but none of them can make me overlook what an awesome machine this is.
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| mookiekong's Full Review: palmOne Tungsten T Handheld |
The Palm Tungsten | T (“TT” for the rest of the review) is an achievement from Palm that we have not seen in a long time. I still own a Palm V and the Palm V was the last time that Palm put out a handheld that hit the mark like the TT. The Palm IIIc was close with its color screen, but nothing is as cool, sleek, and professional as the TT -- not to mention the pure horsepower and technology behind the TT.
What is Cool? The Hardware of Course
Even now with the more powerful Palm Tungsten C and the Sony Clie NZ90 out on the market, there is just something very attractive about the Palm TT. The metal case was instantly attractive to me, it reminded me of the Palm V right away. Palm OS 5 was another factor that made the Palm TT very attractive, nothing like having the latest OS on a Palm device. But, call me a geek, the real cool thing about the TT that got my attention was the slider design.
When I first saw the TT, I though the thing was too squat looking and was somewhat "weird". After I read more about it and saw more pictures, I realized that instead of a virtual software Graffiti area (like the high-end Sony Clies), the TT has a real Graffiti area, but it is hidden when the slider area is slid up. Much like the hidden keyboard on the Sharp Zaurus SL-5600, the bottom portion of the TT slides downwards to reveal the Graffiti area. This design makes the TT shorter than any Palm ever introduced. The slider was designed for constant use and Palm says that the lifetime of the slider will be longer than the lifetime of the device. That is something real comforting to hear. But is the slider really useful or is it just a gimmick? I say that the slider is quite useful and agree with Palm when they say that most people just use their Palms for looking things up. Yes, I do some text entry direct into my Palm, but for that I use the Palm Ultrathin Keyboard.
There is one new improvement on the TT that is quite useful. The improvement is the 5-way navigator which sits between the AddressBook and ToDo List application hard-buttons. This 5-way navigator has good integration within the applications and is gaining lots of support from outside software companies. One functionality that all TT users need to learn is how to return to Home without having to open up the slider and tap on the Home icon: Just click and hold down the center button on the 5-way navigator for a few seconds and you are sent Home. Also, a good application to have (and it is free) on the TT is the application Okey. This application helps eliminate sliding open the slider and using the stylus even more. By holding down the center button for a fraction of a second then clicking to the right, that will bring down the menu for any application. It also lets you select the OK, Cancel or whatever button is on a dialog box.
The TT comes with the standard cradle that Palm has been using with most of the handhelds as of late. If you have a handheld with a Universal Connector, then that cradle that you have is instantly useful with the TT. The TT charges while it is plugged into the cradle.
Until the Tungsten C and Zire 71 came on the market the TT had the best screen that Palm has ever used in a machine. Do not get me wrong though, the screen on the TT is still one of the best, but the transreflective screens on the TC and Zire 71 are a bit brighter and more contrasty than the one on the TT. The screen on the TT runs at 320x320 resolution with 64k color capability. Unlike Sony displays the TTs screen's white is pure white, not that bluish white that happens on the Clies – this was one of my other deciding factors on the TT.
Software
The TT comes with Palm OS 5. The new OS is built for the ARM processor and inside the TT is a TI OMAP processor running at 144Mhz. The processor also has a DSP (digital signal processor), but no application uses the DSP since Palm has not released much information on how to take advantage of it. For those of you who are worried that the move from previous Palm OS to OS 5 will be difficult and involved, there are no worries. Other than the face lift, there is not much difference – at least to begin with. OS5 should be pretty simple to pick up if you are already a Palm user. All previous Palm programs that are programmed correctly will function just fine in OS5. Hacks and other software will be risky and may not work on OS5.
The underlying portions of OS 5 are different, but different in a good way. For instance the preferences are now sorted out into more logical panels (such as “Communcation”) so that they are easier to find. OS 5 integrates BlueTooth functionality very well (that is the primary way that I HotSync my TT now). And OS 5 has added multimedia functionality.
The TT can be used as a voice recorder, a function that is finally appearing on a Palm handheld. It can be used as an MP3 player, but sadly the first batches of TTs did not come with an MP3 player (strange and silly idea by Palm since Sony ships Clies with a nice MP3 player). Current TTs ship with RealOne for MP3 playback. The TT can also do video, but does not come with an application for that either. Kinoma Producer is a good way to go if you want to get video on your TT.
The default applications on the TT are just like on any other Palm. You have the DateBook which handles all of your calendaring needs. It is not as nice as the stripped down version of DateBk that Handspring includes with their Treo90 and Visors, but it does get the job done. There is the AddressBook for keeping track of all your contacts. The new version of AddressBook has some great functionality changes. For instance there is an instant lookup function. Launch AddressBook then push right on the 5-way navigation button, that will bring up the instant lookup function, just scroll the letters up and down to get to the name that you're looking for. Very fast and very efficient – cuts down the need to open up the slider to use the Graffiti area. You can also now dial a BlueTooth enabled phone using the AddressBook. The ToDo List, NotePad and Memo applications are also there and are just like previous applications.
The least appreciated application that Palm puts out is its Palm Desktop. I find the absolutely free Palm Desktop a wonder in programming and restraint. It is not top heavy like Outlook and does exactly what I need without any frills. Yes, if you are an Outlook user (because some knuckhead IT guy at work makes you use it) you are not out of luck since Palm includes a free copy of Chapura's PocketMirror on one of its two CDs. PocketMirror will let you HotSync your TT with Outlook.
Also included on the two CDs is DataViz's Documents To Go Professional which will let you take your Word, Excel and PowerPoint files with you. You can edit them on your TT and synchronize the documents right back to your PC. Documents To Go Professional actually outperforms the Pocket Word and Pocket Excel that is included with PocketPC handhelds because there is no formatting lost. The two CDs also include other utilities and demo software.
Overall, the software bundle that Palm includes on the CD (between Palm Desktop, PocketMirror and Documents To Go Professional) is an outstanding software bundle.
Drawbacks
There are a few problems with the TT though, one of them devastating. The biggest one is that the TT comes out of the box, depending on which batch you get, with a serious digitizer problem. I could not click the upper 5mm of screen on my TT when I pulled it out of the box. This problem is easily fixed by downloading the digitizer patch from Palm's support site, but it is annoying nevertheless.
The TT does not come with any useful cover. Yes, it comes with a transparent snap-on face cover that has a handy cutout for the 5-way navigator, but this is hardly protection for such a beautiful machine. I would recommend that you get an Innotech Aluminium Hardcase for the TT right away if you get this handheld.
Palm does not seem to have an upgrade path for the OS. Palm OS 5.2 has been on the market (in the Zire 71 and Tungsten C) for a while now, but there is no Palm OS 5.2 for the TT yet. Making this worse is a huge Tungsten T update that fixes BlueTooth, Sound, and rolls in the digitizer fix. This update does not get set to the ROM of the TT, instead it eats up a few hundred kilobytes of main RAM.
As cool as the BlueTooth technology is, it does suck up a lot of battery life and Palm does not have a nice automated way of enabling and disabling the BT radio inside the TT. If you use the BT radio a lot then a utility named BT Toggle will go a long ways for you.
Talking about the battery life, it is not the longest in the world and that is a small drawback also. Palm says that you can get a week's worth of usage out of the TT if you use it only for 30 minutes a day. I haven't tried to drain my TT down to zero, but it does last me a good flight from San Jose to Dallas/Fort Worth (about three hours) without totally dying – it goes down to about 25 percent or so. I wish that the battery would run longer though.
Conclusion
The Palm Tungsten | T is a handheld that has gotten my attention and has not let go of it. It does have a handful of drawbacks, but none of them can make me overlook what an awesome machine this is. The TT brings me fond memories of when Palm put out outstanding handhelds like the Palm V, but it has also raised the bar on what a cool and very useful piece of handheld hardware should be. If you are looking on the market for a PDA then the TT is just that machine for you. Yes, the Sony's are pretty cool, but they are huge. The Palm Tungsten C is nice, especially with its thumbboard and WiFi, but it is plain and ugly when compared to the TT. The Zire 71 is the only handheld that I would think twice about if I didn't have the TT, but I still think I would have picked the TT because of its metal casing (which does add a bit of weight to the machine). So, if you are thinking about getting a TT, stop thinking about it and just go get one, you will not be disappointed.
For a list of good software to get for the TT once you buy one, check out the software on my TT:
http://www.ultramookie.com/comments.php?id=P460_0_1_0_C
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 399
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Epinions.com ID:
mookiekong
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Location: San Jose, CA, USA
Reviews written: 68
Trusted by: 26 members
About Me:
Current Mookie Obsession: Apple iPhone 8GB and Fedora 8.
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