I got into PDAs a while ago and after owning a couple of them, as well as test-driving quite a few, I settled down with a Toshiba e750 (see my review). The downside of that machine is that it’s geared up to sync with Microsoft Outlook, and at my new job I have to use Lotus Notes. I then heard from some of my co-workers that Palm machines handle the sync with Notes better, so I decided to try out my friend’s Tungsten T3. This is the second time I’ve ever used a Palm device since I had my m130 (see my review) and I was quite impressed at how far Palm have come in their OS and features in the last couple of years.

The T-series Tungsten’s share a similar design and feature the slider that usually covers the writing area. It looks very similar to a T2 or a T Tungsten and in fact the devices are the same size. The main difference here is that the T2 slider hid the Graffiti writing area which was pre-set, whereas the new T3 has a virtual graffiti area, where if it’s not used can contribute to the already large screen area. This gives you full use of the 320x480 screen, great for all those spreadsheets. The screen can even pivot to make viewing documents even easier which is a nice feature. The metallic polished casing looks quite stylish and durable. It’s weight is quite hefty for a Palm device however it didn’t weigh down my pocket as much as most Pocket PC devices.
At the top edge of the device hosts the stylus holder, the power button, infrared port and a SD slot. The left side sports the mic and the voice memo button and a standard-size headphone jack. There is a small speaker at the top of the PDA, with a familiar navigation pad and Task, Calendar, Memo and Contacts buttons at the bottom on the slider, which will be familiar to any PDA user. The cradle and AC connector is at the bottom of the device.
The unit comes with a nice looking sync cradle, a separate USB cable and a AC adapter. The weird thing here is that the standard USB cable didn’t seem to charge the device and I was told that I had to get an special traveller’s USB cable that handles both syncing and charging. A leather flip cover is a nice touch and is an improvement on the T2’s glass protector contraption.

The processor is the super-fast 400Mhz Intel Xscale (which is the latest one at the moment apparently) and it has 64MB of RAM on board, but if that’s not enough the SD slot takes both SD and MMC cards. The new OS version 5.2 adds a couple of much needed facelifts and improves greatly on the old Address Book and Date Book with Contacts and Calendar respectively. This adds usability and makes syncing with Outlook much easier (although I mostly used it to sync with Notes, which worked really well). This devices comes with built in Bluetooth which worked quite well with my v800 phone (see my review), however it would have been nice to have built-in wi-fi as well.
The software package is very impressive, with Documents to Go Professional 6.0 suite allowing you to view and edit Word and Excel files and even view some PowerPoint presentations on the go. There is also better support for Acrobat files and Java applications. The device also comes with some great multimedia software, such as RealOne Mobile player (which I personally don’t think is as good as Windows Media Player Mobile) and Kinoma’s Producer and Player software for video handling.

Due to the fast processor everything worked very smooth. Java applications and games ran quite fast and there was no lag or slowing down during MP3 and video playback. One issue here is the fact that the headphone output wasn’t loud enough, and it certainly didn’t drown out the London tube in the morning. The screen is the device’s main selling point and it is amazing – clear, crisp and large. As for battery life I was a bit disappointed, since full screen video playback only lasted for a laughable 1 hour and 45 minutes. However if you carry it around doing calendar and contacts entries and viewing documents, it lasts about 2 days or so. However if you in an office, keep it in its cradle and you’ll be fine. Overall this was an excellent device and if you don’t mind the fact that it doesn’t have wi-fi and is quite pricey at around 250 pounds, this will be a perfect office companion.