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Palm Tungsten Models Reviewed
Jason Weill writes "MSNBC has a slightly premature review of Palm's brand-new Tungsten models. These models, currently (as of 11:10 PM EST Sunday) unavailable on Palm's own web site, are the Tungsten T and Tungsten W. The Tungsten T includes a fold-out Graffiti area, new cross-key keypad, 144 MHz ARM processor, Palm OS 5, a 320x320 full-color screen, and 16 MB of on-board RAM. At $499, it's more expensive than most handhelds currently on the market. The Tungsten W replaces the Graffiti area with a thumb keyboard and includes GSM/GPRS phone capabilities. Unlike the Handspring Treo devices, the Tungsten W only works with a handset -- you can't put it up to your ear. The Tungsten W will cost $549, although most American service providers will subsidize at least part of the cost. These models will officially be unveiled Monday, October 28."
"When Palm talks, the industry listens. And users sometimes drool"
The industry then laughs, as their marketshare increase due do stupid palm decisions.
Users on the other hand are probably drooling because they are sleeping through palm's big announcement, having realized long ago, that palm has overpromised and underdelivered over and over.
Chicago2600.net more than a lifestyle, its a survival trait.
This thing's more powerful than my old Pentium that I'm using as a router and small webserver right now.. =/ My router is running linux on a 120 MHz box with 32 MB RAM...
Palm has had five years to get their act together when it comes to PDA functionality. I hate to say it, but the PocketPC devices are far superior to anything that Palm has had to date. The ability to play full-length color feature movies, MP3s, true wireless internet with a real web browser, document creation, PDF reading, chat, console emulators, and actual MULTITASKING has been available for over a year and a half now.
In short, there's no excuse for this device. Palm is dead in the water. For *LESS* than $499 I can get an 802.11b-equipped full color Toshiba E740 that will outrun, outgun, and outfeature any of Palm's new devices. Kiss your butts goodbye, Palm. This isn't 1997, this is almost 2003, and you just sat around on your market share. Watch Small-and-Flaccid(TM) eat the rest of your lunch now.
Who in their right mind would spend $500 for an electronic address book?
With the way cell phones are advancing, why buy one? Cell phones already have games, messaging, logs, and other electronic accessories.
"Those Slashdot editors are right... If I had moderator points - bam!"
Your post is blatant flamebait. Cell phones are NOT PDAs for SEVERAL reasons:
Games and other applications are tightly controlled by the cell phone provider. While you may be able to find "cellphone Java" (the name of the Java variant they run escapes me) applications, good luck getting them to download to your phone. Cell phones ALREADY HAVE the worst of what we expect Palladium to be. If an app isn't signed and delivered (usually with a FEE) to your cell phone by your cell phone provider, you're not getting it on there. Another nice feature of some applications is that they expire or require you to be using Internet airtime minutes while they're running. Even if you want to download something as simple as images or ringtones to your phone, you're likely to be hit with a download fee and only able to download from your cell phone provider or a company that has an agreement with your provider.
Next comes the issue of getting data onto your phone... The screen is small and the entry interface (press each button over, and over, and over) is awful. You can't begin to compare it to the Palm or any other PDA at all.
Cell phones are designed to be a glorified phonebook and self-setting clock if you don't pay for service. The providers nickel and dime you for every feature you're used to getting for FREE with a PDA or portable PC device. If you want wireless communication - get a cell phone. If you want a personal digital assistant - get a Palm.
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
The slide-open design is kind of nifty, but I have concerns about durability. Moving parts are typically the first things to go, but in the case of this, it's not like a flip-cover or something that can be easily replaced.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
Begging your pardon? Isn't this a GSM phone? Do the US carriers lock users in even on GSM networks? What's the point of having GSM then if you can't use whatever phone you like on whatever network you want and roam freely?
We may be behind the US on a lot of things here in Europe, but at least we got that right. My cellular carrier doesn't care, and it's none of their business, what kind of phone I use and where I bought it.
Speaking of my phone, I own a Nokia 7650. Can't see replacing it for the new Palm anytime soon, the Nokia does the same job in a smaller package.
And remember kids: Never trust a computer you can actually lift.
Why then, do all the current palm games suck?
probably because users are to cheap to buy the games when they are $30-50, that's an awful lot to spend on a handheld enterainment app.
No, it's because this amazing new horsepower isn't actually on the market for another few hours and the vast majority of PalmOS developers don't participate in "pre-release hardware" development (unlike the major game companies).
There are quite a few games that push the limits of the Dragonball and look damn nice, but even the top of the line 33mhz isn't close to a 144mhz ARM. Patience, Young Jedi, the wicked games will come soon enough, especially with the new 5-way and improved audio support.
Am i the only one that thinks the end is near for Palm? I mean, come on- look at the economoy in the US right now. Extra, expensive and frivilous items of luxury (at 499 I would say so) are probably the first things to get the axe when times are tight. I bought an m500 when it first came out and returned it after a few days because I thought the screen's visibility was a joke. I now happily own a Vx. It's showing its age now, but it still does all that I need it to do.
Because they want a useful PDA, with usable text input and a large screen?
.3 megapixel camera? Don't make me laugh. I do better with a box of Crayolas.
Or maybe because they don't want to pay the cell phone company for downloading new applications to them.
Oh, wait, your phone can't use new applications? I'm sure that somebody thinks that the phone's built in games and utilities are worth a damn, but I'm sure not one.
A PDA is more than just an address book. The killer feature of my Palm is the desktop sync. That way, even if my PDA dies, ALL that important information is ready for me to download into a new device. No hassle, no incompatibilities...it just works.
Phones are great, when you want to call people. For doing anything else, they're a user interface nightmare.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
The Tungsten T includes a fold-out Graffiti area, new cross-key keypad, 144 MHz ARM processor, Palm OS 5, a 320x320 full-color screen, and 16 MB of on-board RAM.
WHY do even the newest PDA's on the market still come with 16mb of memory?? I mean seriously, when I can get a 128mb CF card for ~$50, you'd think that a $500 palm with multimedia capabilities might have a little more room to work with than a fscking 386!
I'm a minister!
The headset is nice because it let's you interact with the palm WHILE continuing with your conversation. If it is held up to your ear, you can't interact with it.
Well, use GSM compression @ 16kbps. 14MB will give you then almost 120 minutes. The microphone can't be much better anyways, you're not really even losing quality. It also said it has SecureDigital reader... The biggest SD-cards are now 512MB, they're going to have even 4GB cards later on.
Diablo 2 is mostly big because of the cutscenes and very stupidly compressed graphics. You can make graphics intensive games even in 8MB, check just about any older console that still used cartidges (or a bit older arcade machines). Or games like original Tomb Raider (8-9MB).
Actually, yes, I can enter information into my computer and sync it to my phone. Wirelessly.
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I have an Ericsson T68m and a Mac with a bluetooth adapter, and I use iSync to sync them. It also syncs my work and home Macs, and my old Palm V, and my iPod, so that a change made on one of them is updated on them all.
The T68m can also beam appointments and business cards to Palms via infrared.
Maybe this is what you're looking for? Wait, you're saying you don't use a Mac? Oh, well
Yes, I can. I even do it on Linux. http://www.gnokii.org