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Hi All,

I've been reading the specs for the T5 on Palm's web site, and a
couple of points leapt out at me:

1) Absolutely no mention of battery life anywhere on the pages. So it
isn't anything to shout about - ho-hum.

2) Web Pro seems to have been dropped in favour of Blazer - wonder why
that is.

I personally think the T5 is a huge disappointment - I'll be sticking
with my T2 for the foreseeable future. The only things I'd like to add
to my T2 are better battery life, and Cobalt for real multitasking.

If the T5 is the best Palm can do a year after the T3, I have my
doubts about their future in this industry.

S.

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> 1) Absolutely no mention of battery life anywhere on the pages. So it
> isn't anything to shout about - ho-hum.

T5 has 1,300 mAh vs. the 900 mAh on the Tungsten T3.

> 2) Web Pro seems to have been dropped in favour of Blazer - wonder why
> that is.

So they can standardize on one browser component across their
hardware lines (Tungsten and Treo)

> I personally think the T5 is a huge disappointment - I'll be sticking
> with my T2 for the foreseeable future. The only things I'd like to add
> to my T2 are better battery life, and Cobalt for real multitasking.

The T5 is an upgrade to the Tungsten E, not the T2 or T3.

What applications do you have now, that require multitasking?

You DO realize of course, that the multitasking limitation is not
a technical limitation, but a LICENSE limitation, right? The Kadak kernel
that PalmOS is built on top of, restricts the OS to expose only one
thread, which limits what you can do with it. Palm went with the cheaper
license years ago, and they are now paying for it (pun intended).

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Simon Long wrote:
> I personally think the T5 is a huge disappointment - I'll be sticking
> with my T2 for the foreseeable future. The only things I'd like to add
> to my T2 are better battery life, and Cobalt for real multitasking.

I have a funny feeling, now that the T5 came out and it doiesn't run
Cobalt, that maybe Palm is going to target Cobalt primarily at phones.
I would not be surprised if their first Cobalt device is a phone.
(However, I don't think Cobalt will come out ONLY on phones.)

- Logan

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Simon, Very well put.


"Simon Long" <simon@longnews.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
news:891fd138.0410050058.6ffb4e01@posting.google.com...
> Hi All,
>
> I've been reading the specs for the T5 on Palm's web site, and a
> couple of points leapt out at me:
>
> 1) Absolutely no mention of battery life anywhere on the pages. So it
> isn't anything to shout about - ho-hum.
>
> 2) Web Pro seems to have been dropped in favour of Blazer - wonder why
> that is.
>
> I personally think the T5 is a huge disappointment - I'll be sticking
> with my T2 for the foreseeable future. The only things I'd like to add
> to my T2 are better battery life, and Cobalt for real multitasking.
>
> If the T5 is the best Palm can do a year after the T3, I have my
> doubts about their future in this industry.
>
> S.

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"Simon Long" <simon@longnews.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
news:891fd138.0410050058.6ffb4e01@posting.google.com...

> Hi All,
>

> 1) Absolutely no mention of battery life anywhere on the pages. So it
> isn't anything to shout about - ho-hum.

As mentioned, it goes from 900 to 1300. That is 44% increase.

With the reduced memory power draw, some improvements in processor
requirements (and power saving), then you certainly get a nice jump. All
units today are quite power hungry. My bets about a 50% increase in battery
life. Quite a amazing improvement.

>
> I personally think the T5 is a huge disappointment - I'll be sticking
> with my T2 for the foreseeable future.

I have to assume that you had a palm T1, and then when the palm T2 came out,
you instantly dropped the "old" T1? In fact, there is more new features and
stuff in the t5 over the t3, as compared to the jump from a t1 to a t2.

Further, I have two friends that have palm t2. Neither upgraded to a t3 when
it came out.

So, often we have seen a new unit, and the features are very incremental.
(and, where the units stand now..I don't see much room for improvments on
the hardware side anyway).

The new unit has improved battery life. It also have improvments in
usiablebliry, and stabliry. To me, the BEST features of the t3 was the
included software bundle. Out of the box, I am able to take my outlook
(2003...I might note!) with me. Business users, and people who need a good
pda were not disiaapoined with the t3. I is a nice unit. Anohter friend and
bussna assoicae has had his t3 for one year..and still HAS NOT learned
graffti. (you open his plam, and the "keyboard" is always on in the
graffetit area). And, yes..thus guy takes his Excel sheets, and his VERY
large list of outlook contacts everywhere.

About the ONLY downfall I can see of the new t5 is built in wifi. However,
built in wifi increase cost, ALWAYS has extra power draw. The wifi card is
thus a option. This is a close 50/50 split on this issue. Right now, a lot
of users don't need the wifi. However, as you go up the model nubmers, and
price..the t5 is in the range where wifi could be expected.

>
> If the T5 is the best Palm can do a year after the T3, I have my
> doubts about their future in this industry.

So, what model did you upgrade from when you got your t2? Did you actaully
have a t1, and then jumped to the t2? As I mentioned, I know a good number
of people that have t2, and the t3 was no reason to upgrade. The t5 is much
like a upgrade from the t1, to t2.

Another compeeling feature is the non-slider. Howerver, once again, there is
a very big split on this issue (I like my t3, and I like the slider).

I certanly hope all those people who said that if palm gets rid of the
slider, and make a hi-res model...I will buy it installaty. Those people now
have their day in the sun..and can get their dream model. Obviously, plam
listed to those people..and I hope their answers were honest. After all, the
compnay can only listen to what people are asking for. It looks like a very
vocal group killed the slider, when in fact a good many of us liked the
feature.

Some asked for duel slots, but then why does one need duel slots? Well, the
99% response was that if I have a card (like wifi), then I don't have a
place to put the files that I download etc. So, the new palm has extra
memory for this purpose. Even better is the fact that this extra memory can
be used as a drive (once again, there are all kinds of products that allow
one to use the SD memory card in this fashion, but that is NOT the default
config!). So, these little jump drives are becoming common, and adding and
making this "jump drive" feature as PART of the unit is another very good
call on palms side.

So, we got a new memory system (that don't need power). A fixed non slider
system that everyone in this news group screamed for. And, everyone screamed
for more battery life, and the new unit got that also. And, wifi is an
option.

It seems to me, that the direction of this unit was very much based on the
vocal cries in this group.


--
Albert D. Kallal
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
pleaseNOOSpamKallal@msn.com
http://www.attcanada.net/~kallal.msn

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"David A. Desrosiers" <hacker@gnu-designs.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2004.10.05.17.54.07.957619@gnu-designs.com...
<snip>
>
> What applications do you have now, that require multitasking?
>

id like to be able to multitask email with other stuff such as calendar or
diary, its a PITA if you need to look something up to put in an email.

--
Tumbleweed

email replies not necessary but to contact use;
tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com

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In article <TOB8d.38598$N.1532@fe1.texas.rr.com>, Logan Shaw
<lshaw-usenet@austin.rr.com> wrote:

> Simon Long wrote:
> > I personally think the T5 is a huge disappointment - I'll be sticking
> > with my T2 for the foreseeable future. The only things I'd like to add
> > to my T2 are better battery life, and Cobalt for real multitasking.
>
> I have a funny feeling, now that the T5 came out and it doiesn't run
> Cobalt, that maybe Palm is going to target Cobalt primarily at phones.
> I would not be surprised if their first Cobalt device is a phone.
> (However, I don't think Cobalt will come out ONLY on phones.)

Palm? Are you thinking PalmSource? PalmOne makes the T5. PalmSource makes
Garnet and Cobalt.

From what I hear, Cobalt's currently too big for smartphones but may be
put on a diet. So you're likely to see some new smartphones with Garnet
(Palm OS 5) toward the beginning of next year, rather than Cobalt.

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"Simon Long" <simon@longnews.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
news:891fd138.0410050058.6ffb4e01@posting.google.com...
> If the T5 is the best Palm can do a year after the T3, I have my
> doubts about their future in this industry.

It may not be the best, just a "hello, we're still here". I think of Windows
ME, which was basically a waste, and then XP, which was actually a pleasant
surprise after ME.

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On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 20:27:27 -0400, Necron 99 wrote:

> "Simon Long" <simon@longnews.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:891fd138.0410050058.6ffb4e01@posting.google.com...
>> If the T5 is the best Palm can do a year after the T3, I have my
>> doubts about their future in this industry.
>
> It may not be the best, just a "hello, we're still here". I think of Windows
> ME, which was basically a waste, and then XP, which was actually a pleasant
> surprise after ME.

I don't think its intended to be their "best." But I think it is in
appropriately named. It's a TE upgrade, not a T5.

I'd believe it as a TE upgrade. As a T3 upgrade, I'd rather have a T3. And
that's coming from someone who has stuck with a m515 because he didn't like
the sliders.

--
Derek

There is no greater joy than soaring high on the wings of your dreams,
except maybe the joy of watching a dreamer who has nowhere to land but in
the ocean of reality.

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Derek <news@gwinn.us> wrote:
>I think it is inappropriately named. It's a TE upgrade, not a T5.

And perhaps the TE was misnamed also. 'Tungsten' units were supposed to be in
the *business* line. But the TE is really more of a consumer model, as evidenced
by Target and similar stores carrying it.

>that's coming from someone who has stuck with a m515...

So in reality the T5 is really a m515 upgrade twice removed? ;)

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In article <3q17m0lhqa8fo06hdc003lpu5rn8j6jt3l@4ax.com>,
Aaron <noemail@noemail.com> wrote:

> And perhaps the TE was misnamed also. 'Tungsten' units were supposed to be in
> the *business* line. But the TE is really more of a consumer model, as
> evidenced
> by Target and similar stores carrying it.

Oh jeez, I wish you hadn't told me that. Now I've got to stop using my
T|E for business. Darn! And it worked so well for that.

Do you think if I can find a T|E at a "business" store I could buy that
one and throw away my current T|E and then I could use a T|E for
business?

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On Wed, 06 Oct 2004 06:11:29 GMT, Aaron wrote:

> Derek <news@gwinn.us> wrote:
>>I think it is inappropriately named. It's a TE upgrade, not a T5.
>
> And perhaps the TE was misnamed also. 'Tungsten' units were supposed to be in
> the *business* line. But the TE is really more of a consumer model, as evidenced
> by Target and similar stores carrying it.

Following that logic, does the fact that Franklin, OfficeMax and Office
Depot sell Zire units make them part of the business line?

>>that's coming from someone who has stuck with a m515...
>
> So in reality the T5 is really a m515 upgrade twice removed? ;)

Only if one really considers the TE an upgrade to an m515.

--
Derek

For every winner, there are dozens of losers. Odds are you're one of them.

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"Albert D. Kallal" <PleaseNOOOsPAMMkallal@msn.com> wrote in message news:<0wD8d.620029$M95.384018@pd7tw1no>...
> > 1) Absolutely no mention of battery life anywhere on the pages. So it
> > isn't anything to shout about - ho-hum.
>
> As mentioned, it goes from 900 to 1300. That is 44% increase.

But Palm haven't mentioned that anywhere on their own list of specs.

> With the reduced memory power draw, some improvements in processor
> requirements (and power saving), then you certainly get a nice jump. All
> units today are quite power hungry. My bets about a 50% increase in battery
> life. Quite a amazing improvement.

But don't you think that if they were indeed going to get such an
"amazing" improvement, they'd at least make a passing mention of it on
the publicity for the thing? Instead, they are making a huge fuss
about how you can use it as a USB drive (like, wow) - battery life
isn't mentioned, despite being one of the key drivers for people to
upgrade handheld devices. My guess is that the battery life on the T5
is absolutely nothing to write home about - and that's why they
haven't mentioned it.

For many users, battery life is *the* overriding factor in their
decision of which PDA to buy - all the functionality in the world is
no good if the thing goes flat half an hour into your plane journey.

> > I personally think the T5 is a huge disappointment - I'll be sticking
> > with my T2 for the foreseeable future.
>
> I have to assume that you had a palm T1, and then when the palm T2 came out,
> you instantly dropped the "old" T1? In fact, there is more new features and
> stuff in the t5 over the t3, as compared to the jump from a t1 to a t2.

Why have you assumed that? For what it's worth, the T2 is the first
Palm I've owned, and I bought it as a forced upgrade when the late
much-lamented Psion withdrew all support from their palmtops. I bought
my T2 when the T3 was released - I chose between the two, and decided
that the bigger screen on the T3 wasn't adequate compensation for the
reduction in battery life over the T2.

That notwithstanding, the T3 was a step forward over the T2 - the big
screen in a small form factor case was a first for Palm and for the
PDA industry. The ability to use landscape mode - another first, as
far as I know. What does the T5 offer that is new, that pushes the
envelope?

> > If the T5 is the best Palm can do a year after the T3, I have my
> > doubts about their future in this industry.

To get back to my original point, put it this way - is there anything
on the T5 that it would not have been both technically and
commercially possible for Palm to include a year ago in the T3? As far
as I can see, there isn't - the T5 doesn't advance the Palm range one
iota, and is symptomatic of a company that is treading water rather
than making progress - which is the best way to get overtaken and
forced out of the market by the Far Eastern manufacturers, who push
the technology further with every new release.

Simon

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<snip>
Do you think if I can find a T|E at a "business" store I could buy
that
> one and throw away my current T|E and then I could use a T|E for
> business?


Nope, if you bought it at target (or the like) you can't use it for
business or the palm police will get you!

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n°29138
10-06-2004 at 04:11:25 PM
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