Palm Tungsten T5

Reviews: Electronics

Digital Cameras | PDAs | Communications

Palm Tungsten T5

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Richard Poelling
Kurtis
PalmOne
Jan. 31, 2005

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Conclusion

The T5 is a new PDA, sort of! When the T3 came out it made a bold statement, but the T5 has sort of calmly walked in behind it. I loved the color depth of the screen and the overall look and feel of it. The software was very familiar since it used the Palm OS, essentially removing the learning curve if this is your second or third Palm-powered PDA. Likes its other counterparts, the surface will become dirty quickly and the provided cover will most likely mar it over time. The one big new feature of the T5 has to be the ability for it to operate as a USB drive. As long as you have the USB cable, you can move files on or off your PDA with any computer (with Windows 2000 or XP), no software needed. By combining a small SD card with it, you have an ever expanding portable storage device, albeit a hefty one.

The most prevalent issues that I had with the T5 were the lack of a cradle and of built-in WiFi. I am annoyed by the fact that the T3, which costs $50 less, comes with its own cradle, and if you want a cradle for the T5 you will be shelling out an additional $50 over the purchase price. Pet peeves aside, I do think the T5 is a nice PDA. At $400, it is also a very pricy one. That is a high price to pay for a larger screen and some extra colors, but what it comes down to for me is that added portable storage functionality.

If you don't care about the USB drive functionality, and you are going to spend the money, then the T5 probably isn't for you. There are several other PDA's on the market that not only give you built-in 802.11 WiFi, but also come with a cradle.

Pros

Brilliant color screen
Landscape viewing mode
Large screen size
USB drive functionality
Bluetooth

Cons

Fewer feature for more money
No voice recorder, cradle, or built-in WiFi
Unforgiving finish (fingerprints galore)
Can't easily change battery

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Page 6 of 6

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Impressions & Getting Started
Page 3: User Interface
Page 4: Testing
Page 5: Quality Check & Software
Page 6: Conclusion

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3 User Comments

1 - Posted by EmoMakesMeCry on January 31, 2005 - 11:54 am

the T5 seems pretty sweet but i prefer pocket pc's over anything running the palm os. like the ipaq rx series, the old hp 1900 series, dell axim x50, x30, and of course the fujitsu loox.

2 - Posted by Rich on January 31, 2005 - 12:58 pm

The T5 is nice, but by the time you add the WiFi card and a cradle, you could buy one of the new Axim x50's which I think have a better screen anyway. I am currently using an old HP Jornado and I like it alot. It is using an old version of pocket PC but runs nicely.

3 - Posted by Guest on April 11, 2005 - 8:44 am

Helpful, thorough, guided me to a (not) buying (for now) decision.

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