The first impressions of the new Tungsten T5 rates a ho-hum from various pundits. One developer, Paul Nevai, wrote the T5 rates as useless for him since it continues to lack Wi-Fi. From readers of WOYP to various techheads, the verdict for PalmOne is too little, too late, and for too much. I tried to take the opposite view, because what I wanted was so little: a 320×480 screen in a workpad format — no clam shell, no slider. But I find myself piling it on, that PalmOne had misfired.
The unit has 256 MB of RAM — non-volatile, no less. The purpose of this gimmick is that the device is meant to be used as a portable storage device (termed “Drive Mode”); any SD memory card that is inserted into the unit will appear as a drive when the T5 is plugged into a computer, along with the 160 MB set aside as card storage (the T5 also treats is as a separate, “external” memory). This means that one does not need conduits anymore to sync to the SD card; one can copy files directly using File Explorer onto these drives. The unit can be plugged directly into a USB port, obviating the need for PalmDesktop software. About 55 MB is reserved for users and the remaining 40 MB is used as heap memory.
That is a great advance in how memory cards are treated on PDAs. But that’s the only innovation on the machine. The form-factor has been what various PDA users have clamored for; it includes BlueTooth; it has a half-vga screen; it has only a single SD slot. This, unfortunately, is everything the Zodiac 1 already has, and for $300, instead of the $400 the T5 costs. If part of the internal memory is to be treated like a memory expansion card, then I might as well just buy the cheaper Zod1 and add an SD card, with one slot leftover for expansion. As a matter of fact, I did just that.
For $500, I can buy one of the new VGA PocketPCs. Here, I think PalmOne didn’t realize that it landed on the downside of the marginal cost of upgrade divide. For $100 more, I can get a VGA PocketPC, that has 2 expansion slots, and in one case, a 1.3 megapixel camera. For $100 less, I can get a PalmOS machine (the Zod1) that has everything the T5 has. For the same price, I can get the same PalmOS machine (but the Zod2 has 2 expansion slots) or a PocketPC (also with 2 expansion slots, albeit with a quarter-VGA screen.) If Dell comes out with their putativeVGA machine, the X50, and knowing Dell, they’ll likely put it at the lowest price point possible - $450 - then the T5 is dead in the water.
The T5 is too little, too late. Aside from the WiFi or Bluetooth question, nothing else in the unit recommends itself as being superior to the competition. It is a “yet another” PDA. It could have distinguished itself on price: $300-$350 range. And I think $350 is too much; considering that one would like need an upgrade on peripherals - no more Universal connector! - PalmOne should have had the courtesy to charge less to encourage users to dip into a molten vat of Tungsten.
However unfair it may be (and I think we geeks tend to think that new machines ought never to cost the same as the machine we’re using), I think Kent Pribbernow of PocketFactory made a good observation: PalmOne thinks its T3 is a $400 machine, except that it isn’t. I think that same observation holds for the T5.
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