The Tungsten T's new design is good, and most old applications ran fast on it in my tests. Still, many crucial third-party applications, such as Pimlico Software's DateBk5, need to be OS 5-enabled to leverage the five-way Navigator control. And a fair number of old applications announced they were incompatible with the new OS 5 and wouldn't function, including some games included with the Tungsten T software CD from Palm. Software compatibility could be an issue for enterprises upgrading from older, DragonBall-based Palm OS units, and users with a significant software investment will want to test necessary applications and ask their vendors about OS 5 upgrade plans before buying the Tungsten T.
Battery life, even with the new screen, faster processor and additional functionality, was at least as good as that of the m505/m515 PDAs. Palm claims you'll get seven days of basic use on a charge, but I found heavy usage drained the batteries more quickly. Still, it was clear during testing that one of the primary differentiators between Palm OS devices and Pocket PCs is that usable battery life for the former is measured in days and for the latter in hours.
|
Vendor Info
Palm Tungsten T, $499. Palm, (888) 956-7256. www.palm.com
|
As for functional improvements, I'd like a menu button or multifunction jog wheel when the unit is closed. Also, the Tungsten T's clear plastic screen cover isn't up to the high level of design and functionality of the rest of the product. By the end of my testing, it had come loose and I'd lost it.
Bluetooth at Last
In a previous review (see "Here Comes the Bride--Getting Hitched to Bluetooth"), Bluetooth showed promise for Palm OS PDAs, but it didn't integrate well enough with Palm OS to be fully usable. With the Tungsten T, Bluetooth has found its match. After an easy configuration, I was able to sync my Palm to my Apple PowerBook and communicate wirelessly with my Ericsson T68i phone, which also acted as a wireless WAN hub for all my PDA activities. The bundled Web browser, phone dialer,
Pending 6GHz spectrum availability, faster speeds, and private wireless access use drive FWA forward.
The new HPE Aruba 730 series Wi-Fi 7 access points tout high performance, enhanced security, location tracking capabilities, and more.
Verizon is demoing crowd analytics technology that uses 5G along with AI and mobile edge computing to give stadium operators insights into the flow of fans throughout a venue.
