Tungsten converts: your opinion, please

[Magpie]

If you embraced the TT, I want to hear from you.

I'm debating between the Tungsten T and the Clie T665. I love the Tungsten's form factor and screen 'resolution' (it looks better in the store's harsh fluorescent light compared to the T665). But for $250 (Cdn.) less, I can get the T665 plus a free 32MB memory stick.

My left brain says T665; my right brain, the Tungsten.

If you love your Tungsten (and there's a metaphor I don't want to explore), convince why I should pick the TT over the T665.

FYI, I primarily use my PDA for DocsToGo, SmartListToGo and an educational app called TeachFile.

[Larken]

I love the Tungsten screen. I love the Tungsten's small size. It feels very good in your hand. It has excellent sound quality. I have never seen a better Palm. But I had one major problem that caused me to return it. Palm is talking about a new OS6 due to release in February. According to what I've heard, the unit this version of the OS runs on will need at least 64MB of memory and an ARM processor. If the timeline is correct and there are no delays (although I'm sure there will be), it means that I have just paid $500 for a Palm with a lifespan of 4 months. That seemed a little foolish to me, so I returned mine after about three weeks. I exchanged it for a Toshiba PocketPC. I've never had a good familiarity with that area of Microsoft turf, so I thought I'd take a couple months to familiarize myself with it. Understand that my view is from a support perspective. When a new model comes out, it is typical that I trade up for it. If anyone has any more information on the new Palm OS6, please share. I'd like to know if the information I've heard is accurate.

[sleuth255]

I would doubt that. Even the PPC doesn't take that much. Maybe some simulator version of the new OS took that much, but nobody would make a PDA OS that large. I've heard that the TT will be upgradeable to OS6 (that's why there's so much extra flash available). All this is just conjecture and heresay though.

I love my TT. Some things I never thought I would need in a PDA that now I can't see how I live without:

1. Voice recording. Wow!
2. Movies with sound (great clips of my daughter to bore everyone now)
3. Pictures that have photo resolution!
4. Bluetooth. All I can say here is WOW. Internet to my GPRS phone and high speed to my access point at work
5. 512MB SD card with access speed so fast I now launch apps from it!
6. Tiny size: fits my pocket better than my M515 did
7. D-Pad! Sure is a nice one handed navigation feature.

Wait'll you see Docs-to-Go v5.0 running on the TT in high resolution. The fonts are terrific. I've never seen word-to-go work so well. Spreadsheet to go can display 18 rows too.

[jotjot]

I have a Visor Pro and until recently a visor phone. I am ditching the phone due to the bad reception and more importantly the repeated sending back for the headphone jack not working. Without the headphone working there is no use in having everything in one package! The blue tooth to a GPRS tiny phone is a good replacement. I too like the form of the TT. And with Newpen I won't have to open the slide. The power of checking my e-mail and get web info on the fly was nice with the Visor Pro VP combination. Anyone with expericence with the TT, especially with a blue tooth GSM GPRS bluetooth phone would be appreciated. Especially the Sony Ericsson T68i. My concerns are the following:

How is the phone to TT and vis versa?

How is the web browser?

Can JAVA run on Palm OS5 or in the future OS6?

With the huge increase of websites requiring JAVA is there a compatable browser the can handle JAVA not to mention SSL etc. etc.? I would prefer not being dependent on a proxy to reconfigure the pages.

I really want to convert. I just want to look before I leap!

[sleuth255]

Well, the TT's included browser, WebPro isn't bad (I'm using it to respond to this post btw via my GPRS connection). It does SSL, javascript, etc. but no java or activex. It's a proxy based browser & really does a great job reformatting sites such as this one. My main complaint is that it doesn't start where it left off, so if I jump to calendar, for instance, to enter an alarm, when I return I'll be back at my home page... really annoying.

[The Nush]

I finally went ahead and purchaed the TT after reading this forum for 2 weeks. My IPAQ has been sold (recent convert) , but I'm holding on to my 515 until I'm sure I like the new Tungsten. The screen really IS incredibly good...BTW, no dust... and the feel of the unit is great. I really use my PDA's more as an organizer than anything else, and this platform far surpassses PPc's in speed and ease. Althohg a bit thicker, the unit feels small than my 515 in both my hand and in my pants pocket. I just ordered a case from Vaja (I've loved their products before), and really need something to replace the awkward plastic "shield" that comes with the TT. I've downloaded Newpen, which eliminates the need to slide open the graffiti area for writing....very handy! Just put on some of my photos from my Nikon and they look beautiful. Bottom line..size, speed, screen quality made this the choice for me.:)

[Monon333]

I also bought a Palm Tungeston and after a month returned it for a Toshiba, Palm has lost sight of what made it great. To me what made the palm a palm was the fact that no matter which palm you bought it all ran the same software. This simple fact kept palm on top, When CE came out you had to check which processor and sound chip you had to buy a program for it. Yuck who wants to mess with that, software designers didn't want to write various versions of a OS, so they made Palm software. Oh I also forgot a little thing about cost old CE PDA's where twice as expensive as Palms.
Now lets look at today, Palm has decided to get rid of the OS that made them, Sure sure I hear your crys, "No it's still compatable with the old OS" Not True, if the old program has been rewirtten for OS5 then it's compatable, some do work right out of the gate but not all, and remember OS 6 is coming soon and it's a BE based OS, if OS 5 has trouble with programs and it's at least still basically the old OS then what will OS 6 have in store. So I ask myself WHY.... I've heard they had to stay competiive with Pocket PC, Sony had a MP3 playing/Movie viewing PDA that still had the old OS, So that can not be it. Well Then if not why let's look at the result Palm now has a PDA that cost more than PocketPC's and will require you to check on the version of software your PDA needs, (Different Sound chips and Processors- Remember those old CE PDA's) but Scott it has a more powerfull Processor, Yes it does have a Arm processor doesn't it, so why did Sony release Everquest for PocketPC and not their own PDA, BECAUSE TO USE THE REAL ABILITY OF A ARM PROCESSOR YOU NEED MORE MEMORY, like in bigger more advanced programs need at least 32 meg of ram. So palm walks further away from what made them great, So lets look at PocketPC
PocketPC listened ot their users, they standardized their PDA's they have to all use the same programs (Like old Palms) they then Lowered the Price, a Brand new Xprocessor PPC = 300.00, and so hardware makers are now flocking to PocketPC, in the last six months Toshiba, Viewsonic, Dell, Lookz, Acer, all have joined PocketPC, when has a new maker come out for Palm ?
So in short
Palm = Unknown future OS, more expensive PDA, non-standard requirements for Software developers.
PocketPC = a stable OS, Lowest price for color PDA's on the Market, Tons of new Manufactures rolling out PDA's, and most important All their software runs on all their PDA's..........

Hate Microsoft all you want but they do listen to what people are asking for and adjust their products to meet that need. Palm still can not figure out that users like scroll wheels...................

Monon333

[OldBlue]

Magpie, a $250 difference in price is big! If you've compared the T665 and the Tungsten side-by-side and personally feel that the Tungsten does not warrant the difference in price, then I'd say that you decision has been made. In addition to the feedback on these boards and the on-line and magazine reviews, you might consider dropping by a Palm Users Group meeting as a guest and talking with Palm and Clie users there about their likes and dislikes.

I bought my TT the day after it was released and it's been great! I use it daily both at work (I use DocsToGo, too) and personally. The high resolution screen looks great, the apps are easy to use, the syncing is seamless, it doesn't crash, etc., etc. Sony makes great PDAs, too, and they are very innovative. I was not at all impressed with the PocketPC devices. (I owned one very briefly a couple of years ago.)

Monon333, try protesting a little less. Magpie only asked for a comparison between the T665 and the TT. Just because you like scroll wheels doesn't mean that everyone does. I like my TT's D-pad.

OldBlue

[Random]

Old Blue

I wondered about the Tungsten and the small amount of RAM. 14 seems low to me. Do you have an opinion?

Thanks
Random

[sleuth255]

When I went to a TT from my M515 most of my stuff worked just great. Only my hacks didn't work, and I expected that.

Here's a little story that happened to me yesterday that makes me glad I didn't move to a PPC:

I (stupidly) loaded the new webbrowser app that I downloaded from palmsource just to see.

After hotsync, my poor TT went into a reset loop: Palm logo, power off, Palm logo, power off... endlessly cycling.

I felt the cold grip of fear as I realized it was gonna take a cold reset to fix. I'd loose everything. But there was no way out. I pressed the up button and my TT was erased.

But I have a Palm, you see, so I simply went to my backup directory, removed the offending webbrowser2.prc file and pressed the hotsync button.

Let me tell you, the TT syncs faster than anything I've ever seen. My entire configuration including many third party apps synced back to my TT in less than 5 minutes. Docs to go restored my files, Smartlist to go restored my critical passwords database, wordsmith restored my documents (1 of which I had just updated at a client site earlier that day). When finished I pressed the reset and I was 99% there. My only problem was that launcherX powered off the TT when I went to the launcher. Re-hotsyncing LauncherX fixed that problem too. My configuration was completely restored and uptodate. I lost absolutely nothing! It took 5 minutes.

You see, Palms automatically back themselves up. That backup was completed before the webbrowser hotsync trashed me.

Remember this: PPC's don't automatically backup like Palms. When you set activesync to do a "full" backup on each sync, it takes up to 20 minutes to complete! Most people can't even find the backup location to even do a backup during activesync and so when the inevitable happens, they've lost everything.

PalmOS will never let you down like that.

BTW: don't try loading palmsources new web browser! When they say it takes OS5.1, they mean it!:rolleyes:

[reddington]

My TT is the first PDA I have owned so I am not familiar at all with Palm OS (I just bought it yesterday!).

How does the Palm automatically perform a backup? I have seen that Palm sells a rather expensive backup expansion card, is this what you mean? Or is this part of the Palm Desktop software that effectively keeps track of everything that has been installed through it?

Martin

[sleuth255]

Watch yours as it hotsyncs. The last thing you will see on the desktop dialog box is "backing up palm databases". Look at the Palm and it will show each database that's being backed up.

[reddington]

Ah yes! So does that mean in the event of a PDA problem, I just force a desktop to PDA hotsynch?

Martin

[iiicRules]

OldBlue- where did u find the Tungsten T and T665 with $250 difference? I was looking at buydig and the difference is only $120...

[iiicRules]

OldBlue- where did u find the Tungsten T and T665 with $250 difference? I was looking at buydig and the difference is only $120...

[sleuth255]

Originally posted by reddington
Ah yes! So does that mean in the event of a PDA problem, I just force a desktop to PDA hotsynch?

Martin

If you ever have to do a full reset, just remember to enter your name in the Owner prefs the same way as it was before and the next hotsync will automatically recognize that fact and do a full restore without you having to do a thing.

[OldBlue]

iiicRules,

I was taking Magpie's quote at face value. Look at the very first post in this thread. Magpie wrote, "But for $250 (Cdn.) less, I can get the T665 plus a free 32MB memory stick." I am assuming that Magpie has found such a price difference (although I personally did not.)

OldBlue

[iiicRules]

Ah yes I see, thanks. Magpie if you are reading please let us know!

[iiicRules]

ah wait a sec he put $250 (Cdn)- I spose that means 250 canadian dollars- that makes sense cus thats about 150 us dollars...:)

[JEMShoe]

Originally posted by reddington
My TT is the first PDA I have owned so I am not familiar at all with Palm OS (I just bought it yesterday!).

How does the Palm automatically perform a backup? I have seen that Palm sells a rather expensive backup expansion card, is this what you mean? Or is this part of the Palm Desktop software that effectively keeps track of everything that has been installed through it?

Martin

Assuming you can read the SD card (the expensive backup expansion card), you could restore your PDA apps and db's without your PC. Think of it as an external HDD backup for PDAs.