PalmOne Tungsten T Handheld

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Manufacturer: PalmOne
Price at amazon.com: $317.94
This item is not stocked or has been discontinued.

Product Features:

• Reflective TFT color screen with brightness control and support for more than 65,000 colors
• ARM-based Texas Instrument OMAP1510 processor
• Integrated Bluetooth Radio and Antenna
• Secure Digital/MultiMediaCard Expansion Slot
• What's in the box: Palm Tungsten T handheld, stylus, protective cover, USB HotSync cradle, power supply (120 VAC), installation CD with user manuals, Software Essentials CD

Product Description:

The Tungsten T is Palm's most compact device yet. But don't be fooled by its diminutive size. Inside, the new Texas Instruments OMAP1510 processor (an enhanced ARM-based processor) gives you the performance you need to organize your work and your life. Stay productive when you're on the go with access to your essential Word, Excel, and PowerPoint-compatible files. Built-in Bluetooth technology allows you to access e-mail and connect to the Internet with the use of a Bluetooth-compatible mobile phone. On top of all this, the Tungsten T handheld has a new color screen, a built-in voice recorder, a five-way navigator button for one-hand operation, plus dual expansion for adding functionality so your Tungsten T handheld grows with you. Display The Palm Tungsten T features high resolution on its 320 x 320 pixel backlit color display, which can display more than 65,000 colors. Expansion The Tungsten uses MultiMediaCard and Secure Digital expansion cards, which instantly add software applications, additional memory, large databases, and more without taking up built-in memory space. Operating System The Tungsten is powered by Palm OS 5, which provides higher performance, enhanced multimedia features, support for Bluetooth connectivity, and enterprise-class security. Extra Software Along with the standard Palm software, you'll receive a Software Essentials CD-ROM containing Acrobat Reader, ArcSoft PhotoBase Palm Edition, BlueBoard, BlueChat, Copytalk, Dialer, DataViz Documents to Go 5.0 Professional Edition, Handmark, Palm Reader, Palm WAP Browser, Palm Web Browser Pro, Phone Link Updater, powerOne Personal, SMS, and VersaMail 2.0. Compatibility The Palm Tungsten T is compatible with PCs running Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0, 2000, Me, and XP, and with Macs running Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X 10.1.2 or later. In the Box Palm Tungsten T handheld, stylus, protective cover, USB HotSync cradle, power supply, installation CD-ROM with PDF user's manuals, Software Essentials CD-ROM, and Read this First document.

Description from Manufacturer:The Tungsten T is Palm's most compact device yet. But don't be fooled by its diminutive size. Inside, the new Texas Instruments OMAP1510 processor (an enhanced ARM-based processor) gives you the performance you need to organize your work and your life. Stay productive when you're on the go with access to your essential Word, Excel, and PowerPoint-compatible files. Built-in Bluetooth technology allows you to access e-mail and connect to the Internet with the use of a Bluetooth-compatible mobile phone. On top of all this, the Tungsten T handheld has a new color screen, a built-in voice recorder, a five-way navigator button for one-hand operation, plus dual expansion for adding functionality so your Tungsten T handheld grows with you.

Display
The Palm Tungsten T features high resolution on its 320 x 320 pixel backlit color display, which can display more than 65,000 colors.

Expansion
The Tungsten uses MultiMediaCard and Secure Digital expansion cards, which instantly add software applications, additional memory, large databases, and more without taking up built-in memory space.

Operating System
The Tungsten is powered by Palm OS 5, which provides higher performance, enhanced multimedia features, support for Bluetooth connectivity, and enterprise-class security.

Extra Software
Along with the standard Palm software, you'll receive a Software Essentials CD-ROM containing Acrobat Reader, ArcSoft PhotoBase Palm Edition, BlueBoard, BlueChat, Copytalk, Dialer, DataViz Documents to Go 5.0 Professional Edition, Handmark, Palm Reader, Palm WAP Browser, Palm Web Browser Pro, Phone Link Updater, powerOne Personal, SMS, and VersaMail 2.0.

Compatibility
The Palm Tungsten T is compatible with PCs running Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0, 2000, Me, and XP, and with Macs running Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X 10.1.2 or later.

In the Box
Palm Tungsten T handheld, stylus, protective cover, USB HotSync cradle, power supply, installation CD-ROM with PDF user's manuals, Software Essentials CD-ROM, and Read this First document.Average Customer Rating:

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Comment: I gave up my Palm V for this one. Rating:
Finally, a PDA worthy to replace my old Palm V!

The color screen is so sharp and bright, and the processor is so fast -- I'm delighted. It's noticeably heavier and slightly thicker than my Palm V, but shorter (when closed) and less wide. It took me a couple days to get used to using it with the slider closed.

If you have a Bluetooth phone, this is definitely the Palm you want. Surf the web during boring meetings! I can sync with my Mac over Bluetooth too, so I didn't need a second cradle for my office. I don't care about having mp3's on my Palm, unlike some other reviewers.

I still think that the V has the best design of any Palm ever. But this is certainly beautiful and I love the display and Bluetooth. When the new Ultra-thin keyboard is available, I'll have a complete mobile web and email solution that weighs under a pound (including cell phone).

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Comment: Wonderful product Rating:
I am a college instructor, and had been carting around all sorts of things between home and class, and needed a way to keep everything on hand in a package that was smaller than a laptop. I looked at all of the PDA's and Pocket PC's, and first tried a Palm i705 (which went back the same day..couldn't even see the screen!)The older color Palms did not have good resolution on their displays, and the Sony's seemed hard to read. I finally decided to get the Tungsten T when I found it with an amazon.com rebate and a free mail in camera offer.
This thing is remarkable. I use it to keep my class grades with me (using Excel with the Documents to Go software). I can instantly update grades or attendance records, and the spreadsheets are completely readable even at the smallest zoom level.
I can bring Powerpoint lectures with me and edit or transfer them to computer at work.
I use the to-do list and daily calendar to remind me of the myriad of small things that have to be done for my classes and students.
I am still getting used to all the features and optimizing button selection. I've gotten it set so I rarely need to open the slider to access what I need now (have a graffiti program that works on the full screen).
I have found enough programs for OS5 to keep me happy, and have loaded quite a few into the thing with good results. (I suppose if you have a lot of old OS programs you might be unhappy if they weren't accessible on this, but I do not have that problem, and there seems to be plenty out there that works on it.)
So, in summary, I would HIGHLY recommend this unit to anyone who needs a compact way to keep organized and to take their Office apps with them. It is a really great product.

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Comment: Good features but serious hardware bug Rating:
Background information first: I'm a health care provider, so I use the tungsten for inputting and modifying appointments several times per hour, 40+ hours a week. For me, the ease of inputting and accessing the address book, date book, and to-do's is the make it or break it factor. I upgraded from the Palm IIIC because even though it always served me without any problems, it was getting slow in searching for patients' names after 3 years of appointments built up in my datebook.

Good news second: The display is pretty and easily readable; the form factor is nice and small so I can just keep it in my pants pocket; it plays mp3's very nicely with a free download of the RealPlayer; the voice recorder activates at the press of a hardware button and comes in handy while driving; this PDA can sort through 3+ years of my appointments in no time flat.

Bad news third: Under serious usage, the digitizer becomes erratic and terribly frustrating. Where you place the stylus can be off by as much as several characters, first one way, then another, then back again, with no predictability. Unfortunately, you usually spot the error after writing in the wrong area, or worse, pasting instead of copying. It requires almost continual recalibration. It's clearly a hardware problem since tapping it on the side causes it to happen, but it's random and unpredictable. The result is a much slower inputting of data (and ample swearing).

Perhaps worse is that the support I have gotten from Palm has been very, very frustrating. They have replaced the tungsten with another return a couple different times, and the exact same bug was present in each machine. While the tech people adamantly deny a hardware problem, one of their engineers was upfront with me. He acknowledged the hardware problem, but unfortunately couldn't do anything beyond sending me another or advising me to briskly smack it open and shut several times.

Conclusion: If you don't demand too much of the digitizer, you'll probably be happy. If you get in any trouble and need tech support, you may be very unhappy with the company. Personally, since I like the Palm OS so much, I am about to purchase a Sony Clie.

Posted at November 11, 2003 06:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)