palmOne manager explains why T5 is cool

[Colin Dunstan]

AME Info Broadcast has an exclusive 4:30mins interview with Palm's regional manager, Stuart Maughan. He is quite taken by the new Tungsten T5

You can access it here.

[TadW]

Cool info. Looks like Palm is stressing on the USB-flashdrive capability of the T5. I must admit it is a neat feature, especially when you don't want to hotsync each time you copy a single file on your PDA. Other than that, I wonder what else they worked on in the background of the last months and years. I think Palm will put their main strength on the further development of the Treo line.

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by Morpheus

AME Info Broadcast has an exclusive 4:30mins interview with Palm's regional manager, Stuart Maughan. He is quite taken by the new Tungsten T5

You can access it here.

Nice clip. Thanks Morpheus. Predictably, it just brags about good stuff we've been doing for years, even on my old SJ33 with DocsToGo and MSImport utility that came with it, plus a Memory Card. I'm sure it's a solid Palm, and I'm going to get one, but it's really a faster T|E with a HiRes+ screen and more memory.

The big benefit to me is freeing up the SD slot for WiFi or a second flash memory storage. But, heck, if they built in the WiFi, I wouldn't even have to worry about carrying around a WiFi stick and could just use the slot for gig sticks for multimedia. Come to think of it, is there really any reason they couldn't put both WiFi and a gig of flash memory inside one of these pdas next year? Things are definitely getting better. But S L O W L Y at PalmOne!

But doesn't this just point out how badly PalmOne/PalmSource have marketed their pda capabilities. If people accept this as revolutionary, it just goes to show how little people understand what these things can do. Only difference is that it's all ready to go when you buy it. (Okay, I'll give it to you that this makes a big difference to the average buyer. But that doesn't excuse the lack of marketing/education from Palm on pda capabilities.)

Given the focus of PalmOne on Treo, if Tapwave pulls off another Zodiac next year as well as they did it first time around, I'll probably jump on that. As long as they have basics covered like a pocketable case and screen protectors, that is! They're like the new Sony, except better, and aimed at gaming also.

Edit: Just to be clear, I'm not going to pass on the T5. In fact, I'm grabbing a T5 just as soon as I can get my grubby little hands on one. But I'll also probably go for the next Zodiac product if it's as well-done and advanced as the first Zodiacs.

[TadW]

I made some still snapshots of the T5 in the video and attached them here. Enjoy!

[ignatz]

Looks like Palm is stressing on the USB-flashdrive capability of the T5. I must admit it is a neat feature, especially when you don't want to hotsync each time you copy a single file on your PDA.

While I agree that this is cool, there's been Card Export from Softick for a long time. I use it constantly and find it indispensible. So yes, it's a neat feature, but I'm just not as blown away by it as they seem to want us to be. The flash ROM is pretty cool though. I just feel that they should be marketing this as the T|E2. I think that a lot of the disappointment would be tempered if they did it that way.

[Brian]

Great find!

I was a bit surprised to hear his statements about smartphones vs PDAs, digital cameras, laptops, photo viewing, SD cards, vacations and friends echo almost verbatim what David Wenning, Tapwave's VP of Worldwide Sales, said at the recent NEPUG meeting I attended. I'd be willing to say it's highly probable that the two companies (PalmOne and Tapwave) have read the same exact market research by analysts like Jupiter Research and IDC. Mobile content, multimedia, gaming and wireless have been forecast to be the "next big things" in the handheld/PDA/smartphone markets.

Along those lines, it was also interesting to see gaming featured in the video, although the controls seem a bit dodgy on the T5 when compared to the Zodiac .

Brian

[hacker]

Originally Posted by ignatz

While I agree that this is cool, there's been Card Export from Softick for a long time. I use it constantly and find it indispensible.

And for those that have found that CardExport is broken on their platforms, there is always Palm-storage.

[gadgetguru]

The T5 is great if you are upgrading from a TE, or you are a not-too-techy person. But for power-users, the T5 just not too much of an advance over the T3.

[Bob Russell]

There's a PalmInfocenter forum post with directions for getting the T5 manuals from the FCC site.

I'm having trouble with my internet connection, but try the FCC site https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/c...ericSearch.cfm and Search for Grantee Code: 'O3W' and pick 10/4/2004 entries.

You should end up at FCC ID 'O3W820' if you click on details for that entry. Then you can do save target as... to get the pdf files with cover letters, pics, manuals, etc.

[johnsoax]

Got all 8 files. Will be looking at them now THanks

[johnsoax]

Here is a picture of the bottom port

[johnsoax]

Grr, I spoke too soon. The user manuals don't work. Will have to take them home and see if they work.

[Bob Russell]

I did get the user manuals okay eventually. You should be good to go as long as they don't remove the files.

[TadW]

Originally Posted by Morpheus

...Stuart Maughan. He is quite taken by the new Tungsten T5

But what does Maughan have to say of the limited write cycles problem that is typical for flash memory? Wikipedia's articles for flash memory and flash keydrives say:

Like all flash memory devices, keydrives can sustain only a limited number of write/erase cycles before failure. In normal use, mid-range keydrives currently on the market will support several million cycles, although write operations will gradually slow as the device ages. This should be a consideration when using a keydrive as a hard drive to run software or an operating system.

[Colin Dunstan]

Brighthand editor Ed Hardy had a first (very short) hands-on moment with the T5, and he doesn't seem to be too excited about Palm's latest model:

http://brighthand.com/article/palmOne_T5_Review