Palm Tungsten T3

...way since I used a Palm 100 in the early 90’s – they had rather dodgy software and hot synch connections, a black and white screen and minimal applications. Still, it was a little revolution in its own right back then. The one I upgraded to was the Palm V which was really quite similar, but more robust and reliable; but still reliant on the cumbersome “grafitti” stylus-writing unless you bought a little keyboard to go with it.

So when ...
...my thoughts immediately turned to Palm once again. I did research my options on the internet but really found very little honest comparisons of the various machines out there and very many praise-filled opinions which were really nothing more than justifying purchasing decisions already made.

@@@ Size & Weight @@@

My Tungsten T3 is 7.6cm x1.7cm x 10.9cm. So it’s fair to say that it is about average size for most PDAs. ... more

PDA’s have come a long long way since I used a Palm 100 in the early 90’s – they had rather dodgy software and hot synch connections, a black and white screen and minimal applications. Still, it was a little revolution in its own right back then. The one I upgraded to was the Palm V which was really quite similar, but more robust and reliable; but still reliant on the cumbersome “grafitti” stylus-writing unless you bought a little keyboard to go with it.

So when I came to buy a new PDA late last year my thoughts immediately turned to Palm once again. I did research my options on the internet but really found very little honest comparisons of the various machines out there and very many praise-filled opinions which were really nothing more than justifying purchasing decisions already made.

@@@ Size & Weight @@@

My Tungsten T3 is 7.6cm x1.7cm x 10.9cm. So it’s fair to say that it is about average size for most PDAs. However, it has the new Palm stretch display which means that a further 2.5cm of screen space is available to you. Clever eh? It weighs in at 156g which I believe is also about average for current PDAs

@@@ Techy stuff @@@

It has an Intel 400 MHz Intel XScale processor, 16MB of ROM and 64 MB of internal memory.

@@@ System Requirements @@@

Palm OS 5.2.1 is the operating system and the T3 is compatible with PCs:

Microsoft Windows 2000/NT4.0, Microsoft Windows 98/ME, Microsoft Windows XP, Apple MacOS 9.1 or later, Apple MacOS X 10.1.2 or later Apple MacOS X 10.2.6

@@@ Display @@@

The display is transflective and 16-bit (i.e. 64k colours) which is really excellent – it means that light hitting it from any angle causes minimum problems and clarity of view is high. I can’t emphasis enough how important this is – it stops that nasty feeling you get (when it’s too late) as you realise you have been squinting at something fuzzy for too long! Apparently I have TFT active matrix to thank for this – but I’d be lying if I claimed to know exactly what that means!

The other most noticeable thing about the display is that you can use it either in normal “portrait” format or turn it around to use in “landscape” too.

@@@ Set up @@@

Set up seems easy and the initial hot synch operation to get all your data transferred over couldn’t be more straight-forward. You are provided with a CD to get the software onto your computer and a cradle in which the PDA sits whilst you are transferring the data – all much as you would expect from any PDA. However, beware! If you are somebody who finds categorising your contacts very helpful then you have a potential problem. The Palm T3 can only cope with 15 or 16 categories – any more and the remaining ones (by alphabetical listing) will simply not be transferred over.

I found this out the hard way – when I was out and about needing some numbers, so as soon as I got back to my desk I was on the phone to technical support – and sadly this is a “known” issue that not much can be done about at the moment. Don’t let it put you off too much though, because if you are like me it should be easy enough to re-jig your contacts so the list of categories is reduced.

@@@ TALKING OF TECHNICAL SUPPORT @@@

They seemed OK to me - particularly in this field where many companies are barely offering any real support at all. I didn't sit in a queue listening to Marvyn Gaye for six hours and the chap did have English as his first language when I got through to him. I'm still tenative, but fingers crossed, my first experience was a good one.

@@@THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL @@@

There is good paper support in the box with the PDA covering Photos, Music and Videos which is straight-forward and easy to use. There is also much more detailed written support which is on the Installation CD - I found this less straightforward than the booklet and wished that they had picked out the most perinent issues for me rather than leave me scrolling through so much data. However, begrudgingly, I did manage to find everything I needed to know.

@@@ USING IT! @@@

So we are finally onto the bit about what you have to play with – hoorah! Well, as you would expect there are icons on the main page for:

@@@ Quick Tour - says what it does, to get you going!
@@@ BlueBoard – a ditzy little programme which allows you to share drawings and freeform writing with anybody else with appropriate hardware in real time thanks to Bluetooth. I don’t really use this in anger, if you know what I mean, but it can be VERY FUNNY in meetings when two of you are forced to listen in silence to some nonsense from the front of the room and feel the need to share your exasperation!
@@@ BlueChat – A chat system using Bluetooth (free is so much cheaper than a phone call isn’t it?!)
@@@ Calculator – it’s for adding up y’know
@@@ Contacts – as per your Outlook contacts
@@@ Dialer – to dial phone numbers via Bluetooth (assuming you have a Bluetooth enabled phone of course!)
@@@ Documents To Go – The very best thing about this dinky little machine. Finally Palm have sorted out how we can download, edit and save word and excel files on the hoof. No longer is the PDA just a clever diary: it now means that you can share complex data any time, any where!
@@@ Expenses – just a list of expenses really
@@@ Memos – Large notes that are great for downloading at night to remember those passing thoughts/ideas you had whilst out of the office.
@@@ Tasks – the task list format that most people are aware of from Outlook.
@@@ VersaMail – Your e:mails!
@@@ Voice Memo – yep, you too can be one of those odd people talking into a small grey box in your hand as you walk along…
@@@ WebPro – an internet connection (assuming you have a compatible Bluetooth enabled phone of course)
@@@ Photos – Guess what, now you can transfer that picture of your wife that sits on your office desk, onto your PDA – never be lonely again eh?!
@@@ Music – this one takes a little organising on the set-up front but is easy enough: you will need to buy a separate expansion card and then download RealOne Player. Then it’s just a case of copying music files over from your hard disk and you’re away.
@@@ Video – To play video clips all you will need to do is download the “Kinoma” software and from then on you should be able to convert, transfer and play video clips to your hearts desire.

There are also hundreds of bits of freeware and games etc on www.palm.co.uk to keep you entertained.

Phew!

Now all you need to do is to “HotSync” your T3 with your computer – I’d recommend at the end of every day so that your new data is transferred both ways.

@@@ Accessories @@@

There aren’t too many accessories around for the T3 yet, I imagine that this is because it is so new on the market. It’s worth checking out the tiny compatible keyboard that comes with it though. The only other thing is that it comes with just a leather flap that flops over the face of the machine but doesn’t encase it in any way. This could be a problem if you dropped it so you may want to take a look at some sturdier cases.

@@@ Money! @@@

This is not the most expensive PDA on the market but it competes very favourably to my husband’s new iPAQ (erm technically known as the HP iPAQ Pocket PC H1940) in terms of quality and resolution and is about the same in terms of software and flexibility. They are also rather similar on the pricing front.

Prices always seem to be on the move, but at time of writing this review the best internet quote I can find for the Tungsten T3 is £269.99 from Amazon. That’s where I bought mine from just before Christmas for £289.99 – and that was the best price available at the time, so keep your eye out for a bargain!

@@@ My Thoughts @@@

I can’t help but think that a good many of the added improvements on the T3 which other Palms don’t have are actually non-essential to the business person – videos, photos and music all make life a bit more fun when travelling but won’t really contribute to a successful business life in most career paths! However, the one big case in which this T3 has moved the Palm technology forward by miles for the real business user is the new ability to download, use and create new spreadsheets and word documents.

If I had the option to have all the functionality and design of the T3 and yet still have software that I was used to, then I would grab it with both hands. As ever there is a play off - some other PDAs literally use Word, Outlook etc as their software but all Palm ones have their own software which is compatible but different. This hasn't caused me any problems whatever, but if just makes me feel slightly uncomfortable if things are to go wrong in the future.

Overall, buying this T3 is probably only justified if you are working away from the office a good deal of the time – even then you could take a laptop instead of a PDA, so think hard before you jump. If you do want a good quality spec product without the mad price tags then this could well be the PDA to suit you.

My final thought is this: whenever I go to a meeting with people I haven’t met before somebody will inevitably swoop on my T3 before long to have a little play, and they are always amazed at the variety of things it can do – but more importantly, they think it’s a very good looking toy!

Jealousy is great ain’t it?

Thanks for reading.

 

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