New Palm

5 Comments

I've been waiting for months for there to be a PDA that uses Palm OS 6, a.k.a. Cobalt. That (latest) version of the operating system is faster than older versions, lets more things happen in the background, and has support for more hardware features built in. It was released months ago, and the rumor sites suggested that PDAs released this fall would probably use it.

Cobalt version 6.1 was released recently, adding more cool stuff, which was a little annoying, 'cause presumably it'll be months longer before there are PDAs that use that version. But meanwhile the rumor sites had been saying that PalmOne (the company formerly known as Palm recently split into a hardware company, PalmOne, and a software company, PalmSource) was coming out with a new PDA any minute now, and it was sure to run Cobalt 6.0.

Yesterday, PalmOne announced the Tungsten T5, to be available in a month. It has many big advantages over my current Palm M500: 320x480-pixel color screen instead of the 160x160 black-and-white screen I've got, 256MB of memory instead of the 8MB I've got (and it's special memory that doesn't go away when the handheld's battery dies, which would be a huge plus; I've lost data that way more than once, despite regular backups), much much faster (400MHz processor instead of the 33MHz processor I've got), and various nifty new features that add new capabilities.

On the down side, the case of the T5 is plastic (the M500's case is metal on the front, plastic on the back); I'm not sure I'll be able to tell, but I think I will, and I think I won't like it as much. And the T5 runs Palm OS 5.4, a.k.a. Garnet—which is better than what I've got, but not as good as Cobalt. (And PDAs, unlike computers, generally can't be upgraded when major new versions of the operating system come out.) Also, the T5 is apparently noticeably thicker than the M500; one of the best things about the M500 is how thin it is.

I'll probably end up getting a T5 anyway; I've been pretty dissatisfied with various things about the M500 lately, and I've been itchin' for a new gadget. And who knows how long it'll be before Palm comes out with a PDA that runs Cobalt.

Still, a little disappointing.

5 Responses to “New Palm”

  1. irilyth

    I still really like having my phone and PDA in the same gadget, and am waiting for the new Treos to come out, in hopes of picking up a Treo 600 at a bargain price. (I have a 270 now.)

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  2. Jed

    Yeah, I forgot to mention that I’m also considering the Treo 650, which is rumored to be announced late this month. I’ve been dubious about having phone and PDA in the same gadget, for various reasons: more things to go wrong (if the PDA part breaks, you presumably lose the use of the phone part while it’s getting fixed, and vice versa); bulkier (but not bulkier than the phone and PDA separately); makes it harder to talk and use the PDA at the same time (though I gather that earbuds and speakerphone mode make that less of an issue); etc. On the other hand, it would be mighty convenient.

    Have you run into any of the problems I mentioned? The few people I’ve talked with who have phone+PDA units love them, so maybe my dubiosity is unfounded.

    What do you think of the little keyboard on the Treo? (Or does your model have that?)

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  3. irilyth

    Lessee.

    Neither part has broken while I’ve had it. I have an old PDA and an old phone, which aren’t in great shape but are functional, so I figure I could flip back to them if the Treo ever died.

    It’s non-bulky enough to fit comfortably in my pocket, which was my big test. I’m actually a little worried about the Treo 600 because it doesn’t have a flip thinger that covers the screen, so I’m not sure if I can safely carry it in my pocket without a case. I don’t want to wear it on my belt, and I don’t want to have to tug it out of a case to use it… I’ll need to get my hands on one to try it before I buy. Anyway, bulk is largely up to the user I think, depending on whether you want to keep it in shirt pocket, pants pocket, belt holster, belt pack, small purse, huge purse, backpack, or what.

    Talking and using the PDA at the same time is hard without a headset/earbud type thing, but easy with one. My earbud died, and the replacement one (a cheapo third-part from Target admittedly) has the problem that it frequently causes the phone to hang up if I plug it in while I’m on the phone, which is annoying but not a showstopper. The one it came with didn’t do this, and a genuine Handspring Brand Replacement (at 3x the price) would presumably not either.

    This is where I’d say “my major hassle with it, personally, has been …”, but I’m really not sure I have any major hassles with it. If it fits your wa, I’d say go for it.

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  4. irilyth

    Oh, and: I like the little keyboard fine; it’s faster than Graffiti for me.

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  5. algogocom

    🙂
    I like the little keyboard more,too!

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