Friday, October 29, 2004

The T5 is based off the design of the Tungsten E. The abhorrent plastic casing of the TE is gone, replaced by a case which--while still plastic--is of infinitely higher quality than its predecessor. The new casing is a darker, harder plastic, steely gray in color, with a lot more strength and appeal thant the E ever had. I'm very glad that PalmOne used a good casing--if they had used the same one as on the E, I would have had to invent a new word for flabbergasting insanity.

The biggest disappointment with the new "multi connector" is that it completely eliminates all previous accessories. From keyboards to sync/charge cables, PalmOne's Power To Go external battery, Enfora's WiFi portfolios, cradles, everything is gone. PalmOne does promise that the new connector will offer more flexibility though, we'll have to wait and see on that. Adding insult to injury, PalmOne doesn't even include a cradle with the T5 out of the box--you have to toss another $30 at it to get one. That's just insultingly cheap.

I admit a certain fondness for the design. My first Palm--in fact, my first handheld of any description--was a Palm m505, which used much the same design as the T5. I just wish PalmOne had learned from the Tungsten E and made some much needed changes. The power button, a power LED, a stylus-tip reset button... These aren't trivial things--the power button is one of the three most heavily used components on the entire device, along with the screen and stylus. And it's not like they can't do these things, because everone else already does them. On the bright side, the application buttons and d-pad are great. The overall form and design are appealing. I just wish they learned from history.

There's been a lot of confusion over how the T5 handles its memory. Part of this is created by the unique memory configuration, part of it by PalmOne's moderately befuddled marketing. In the same breath, PalmOne refers to the T5 as having 256 MB of memory, then as having 215 MB of memory. Which is right? Well, both and neither.

There's been a lot of confusion over how the T5 handles its memory. Part of this is created by the unique memory configuration, part of it by PalmOne's moderately befuddled marketing. In the same breath, PalmOne refers to the T5 as having 256 MB of memory, then as having 215 MB of memory. Which is right? Well, both and neither.