Tungsten T5 disappointment: OS 5.4 and no WiFi

[Laurens]

Originally Posted by ignatz

I'm stunned too, though it's just as I feared. This should be the T|E2.

Apparently, PalmOne is trying to capitalize on the T|E's success, not realizing that the T|E has sold so well because of its relatively low price.

[rclodfelter]

The final specs were a real bummer for me! I hesitated buying the Sony UM-50 and TH55 and decided to wait for the T(whatever) with OS6. Well it didn't come in this offering. Who else is developing PDA devices with OS6?

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by Alexander

Bob given that PalmSource announced the first smartphones (and now I definitely believe that this includes PDAs as well) would emerge in the beginning of next year, I'd wait if I was you the two or three months longer.

Also, wouldn't you miss built-in WiFi?

Yea, I probably should wait. But you know how it is... gotta have it! I'll worry about the next one when the time comes

[TadW]

I'd wait for at least 2-3 weeks, Bob. I must admit, before I was also 99% sure to buy the next Tungsten (i.e. T5), but now I am not sure anymore. I mean, no WiFi, what's this? Everything is WiFi-enabled nowadays. You know what I think? palmOne didn't implement WiFi on purpose - to not canibalize its Treo-line plus to have an additional selling point for its pathetic external WiFi card.

Remember my words: the future belongs to PPC.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by TadW

I'd wait for at least 2-3 weeks, Bob. I must admit, before I was also 99% sure to buy the next Tungsten (i.e. T5), but now I am not sure anymore. I mean, no WiFi, what's this? Everything is WiFi-enabled nowadays. You know what I think? palmOne didn't implement WiFi on purpose - to not canibalize its Treo-line plus to have an additional selling point for its pathetic external WiFi card.

Remember my words: the future belongs to PPC.

I think they did not want to directly compete against their own Tungsten C which is really no slouch for power. If they had added WiFi to the T5 they would have had to go over their US$399 price point, or be forced to lower the T|C price.

[Alexander Turcic]

They could have offered it as two (or even three or four) different versions:

palmOne Tungsten T5 $399.00
palmOne Tungsten T5 BT $449.00
palmOne Tungsten T5 WiFi $479.00
palmOne Tungsten T5 BT+WiFi $529.00

Just an example. But to skip WiFi like this is a major strategic mistake, I think.

[Bob Russell]

I agree with some comments that have appeared in Palm forums.... this is really an E2 branded as T5. Makes me wonder if it was supposed to be Cobalt and problems plus lack of product development resources (due to Treo work) caused it to go Garnet.

I'll be quite relieved if and when PalmOne is able to release a successful Cobalt pda that actually works. Kinda important to their future...

[Brian]

While I'm a bit surprised that the T5 doesn't have Wifi built-in and is running Garnet, I'm even more suprised that people (some folks over at 1src seem despondent) are seriously considering switching over to PPC because the Palm platform isn't "keeping up" in terms of hardware and features. I said previously that the release of the T5, if a "disappointment" to some my cause them to look to the PPC, but to me, it's a fundamental, philosophical difference.

For those of you that are truly serious about switching over and not just venting, please read The Zen of Palm first, paying particular attention to the sections titled "A Balance of Features", "Nirvana - The Sweet Spot", and "Solutions, Not Features". Then take an honest, hard look at your actual handheld needs and then decide on which platform best fits your PDA philosophy.

IMO, the T5, and to a greater extent Cobalt, are remaining true to the Zen of Palm Philopsophy, retaining elegance and simplicity while at the same time stretching the sweet spot.

Brian

[ignatz]

I'm even more suprised that people are seriously considering switching over to PPC because the Palm platform isn't "keeping up" in terms of hardware and features. I said previously that the release of the T5, if a "disappointment" to some my cause them to look to the PPC, but to me, it's a fundamental, philosophical difference.

I think that you're right Brian, but it's becoming a harder and harder choice. I recently bought an Axim x30, thinking I was ready to switch over. (I've been meaning to write about it for a while now.) I wanted a bigger screen and wifi and I could get it for around $100 cheaper with a PPC. But I found that I just couldn't do it. It wasn't "better enough" and I found that I really didn't like the Windows Mobile OS. So for now I'm sticking with my T|E and I'll give it another 6 months or a year. But on the other hand, if I didn't have a PDA already, there would be no contest: I would buy a PPC and probably an Axim. The Palm philosophy is great, and I agree with you and it: to a point. But there comes a time when you simply crave power and features. A delay is acceptable, but when it begins to look like Palm is headed down a different philosophical track from many of us, then we all start to think that we may have to change trains. Hell, 6 months ago a buddy offered to trade his Axim x5 for my T|E and I laughed at him. "I would never use a PPC!" Oh, how things change...

[hacker]

People seem to want to compare the T5 with the T3, and consider it an upgrade. I can see where the naming and the screen size would be misleading.

Consider that 21% of palmOne's profits last quarter were from Tungsten E sales alone, I think this clearly states exactly why this device exists, in the configuration it exists in. Also consider that the Treo650 (yes, with Cobalt 6.0 onboard) is just around the corner, and it will have all of the bells and whistles you want in a PDA/Smartphone.

The Tungsten T5 is an upgrade from the T|E, not the T3. The T5 has a plastic case (T2 and T3 are metal), Athena connector, no cradle, no voice recorder...

But it does have 1,300 mAh of power (compared to the 900 mAh of power in the T3). It also is lighter, faster, and doesn't have the problems with the slider that the T3 has. The T2 never had these problems.

The T5 also has some interesting "bridging" technologies, which are being launched in OS5.4, and will continue to be supported in Cobalt, such as the "File Drive" option, and the new 160M heap RAM space for copying arbitrary files.

Its not all bad, its just not the dream device everyone wanted.

[Laurens]

Originally Posted by ballistic

IMO, the T5, and to a greater extent Cobalt, are remaining true to the Zen of Palm Philopsophy, retaining elegance and simplicity while at the same time stretching the sweet spot

You are absolutely right. However, from a technical standpoint OS5 and earlier make it difficult to develop advanced applications. Even though you are running ARM hardware, the Palm OS itself (prior to OS6) has significant limitations. Essentially, you're still compiling against the Motorola 68K instruction set and not taking full advantage of the ARM processor. (I won't bore people with the technical details.) Anyway, this is why applications like Skype are not available for PalmOS. Developing such an application for PalmOS is much harder than it is for WinCE.

It's not just Microsoft's marketing machine that is making PPC more popular. Developing database applications (important for businesses) is far easier under WinCE as MS thought of building in database functionality from the start. (PalmOS only has a very crude concept of a "database".) GPS navigation programs like TomTom navigator were first released for PPC. I'll mention Skype again. (I could go on for a while.)

Now Cobalt is the chance for PalmOS to get back in the game. It makes some programming tasks far easier and thus makes it feasible to develop advanced applications within a reasonable time and budget. If this is coupled with the ease-of-use and stability of prior versions then PalmOS definitely stands a chance to succeed. But only if actual Cobalt devices appear very soon, as the window of opportunity is rapidly closing. Until then, there's no real incentive for developers to dedicate time and money in developing programs for a platform that, for all intents and purposes, is still vapourware.

Anyway, this is just one developer's perspective on things. As a company, PalmOne is still doing reasonably well and they're in better shape than they were a year ago.