Palm Tungsten T

Palm goes for the upper ground in the handheld computer market.

Price: £399

Manufacturer: Palm

Ratings

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Verdict

Good points:
Compact design.
Lots of features.

Bad points:
Some Pocket PCs are cheaper.
Built-in applications are outdated.

Overall:
A sign of great things to come from Palm, but the price is too high.

Julian Prokaza, Computeract!ve 12 Feb 2003

Palm OS-based handheld computers have never been the most powerful devices around but for anyone looking for a small, lightweight way of carrying important information around with them, they're ideal.

They are not really in the same league as the all-singing, all-dancing Pocket PC but that doesn't stop comparisons between the two being made and when they are, Palm devices are inevitably found wanting.

Not for much longer, though. In an attempt to shift the balance of power back in its favour, Palm has launched its next generation of handheld: the Tungsten T.

It's not quite a complete reinvention of the Palm concept but it's not far off. The small size is thanks to the Tungsten T's Graffiti area being hidden behind a sliding cover.

The device can be partially used with this cover still closed, but you'll need to open it to enter information using the stylus. The cover also houses the four application launch buttons, plus a new four-way control pad with a selection button in the middle.

The inside of the Tungsten T is new too. It uses a speedy 175MHz processor with 16MB of memory, which makes applications positively fly and such things as video playback become possible.

In fact, video playback looks rather good, thanks to the new 320 x 320 colour screen. This is four-times the resolution of other Palms and is wonderfully crisp. It also has built-in Bluetooth, although a USB cradle is supplied for docking with a PC or Mac.

Also new is the Palm 5 operating system, although little has changed on the surface. The Tungsten T is still saddled with the limited Calendar, Address Book and Memo pad application and you'll need one of the many shareware alternatives to get the same level of functionality as the Pocket PC's built-in software.

Palm OS will still run many older Palm applications but most won't benefit from the higher resolution screen and it will take a while for new Palm OS 5 software to appear.

DETAILS
Price: £399
Contact: Palm 0118 927 8700
www.palm.com/uk

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