Great reasons to buy a T5. Addressing the critics concerns.

[Vampire Lestat]

WHY BUY THE T5?

- No slider. On the T3, I would sometimes decide to not open the slider because it would shut while using a program. The T5 is shorter than the T3 with its slider open. Since the T5 is always 320x480, the keyboard is much quicker to access and you develop a greater appreciation for programs that run in 320x480.
- T5's battery is 1300ma while the T3 is 900ma. If you run a program full throttle non stop on both units, the T5 is guaranteed to last 45% longer. For example, if you are playing a game and your T3 lasts 5 hours, your T5 would last 7? hours. In reality, most of the time, you are not running a program full throttle i.e., 100% cpu usage, all the time. There are many moments when your program is idle, waiting for your input. The T5's new CPU has
"SpeedStepping" technology that will drop the power consumption during those idle moments. As a result, the T5 will last much more than 45% longer than a T3 throughout the day. The % strongly depends on how many moments your T5 is idle. On average, most users will see a 60% or more improvement in battery life compared to the T3. The battery life is also extended because of the T5's new ROM technology. The T5 will put data into ROM memory. Your battery will only be taxed once you retrieve the data. Of course, if your T5 is ON there is always some live RAM eating up power. A program can only run from RAM. But, of the 256 MB of memory, less than 64 MB of it is used as live RAM. If all 256 MB were RAM and not ROM, it would require much more energy. PalmOne is smart huh? ;-) Also, when your T5 is off, there is no live RAM to guzzle power (know as "battery creep"); your T5 uses practically 0 energy when off. The only power used is the tiny amounts for the clock/alarms. While PPC manufacturers are aiming for big power guzzling 624 mhz CPUs, massive batteries (e.g., HX4700 brick) and replaceable batteries (who really wants to swap batteries and carry them around?), PalmOne has decided to tackle the problem more intelligently by lowering power demands with ROM technology, SpeedStepping, and by increasing the battery milliampers while keeping the unit very slim and light. The future is with technologies that lower power consumption. Just look at the human brain, it is a supercomputer that runs on a handful of volts and our bodies are only 98'F (34'C).

The 2 reasons above alone are enough to justify a T3 owner selling their PDA and then buying a T5. But there is much more...

The T5 has far superior audio quality and loudness than any other Palm. It matches or exceeds the sound chip in the HP 2200. We finally have a Palm device that is a top of line MP3/OGG/WMA player. Millions of people love music on their PDAs and the T5 is bringing them a whole new nevel of quality. Bravo PalmOne!
-The T5's build is strong. The casing is (or feels like) metal. Its professional. The curves in the design make it very comfortable in the hand. The buttons are easy to press, very responsive and good for gaming. The unit is thin and just the right size. The HX 4700 PPC is a brick in comparison and the Dell X50v is significantly longer - too long for a PDA.
-The new ROM technology in the T5 ensures that you will never lose your data because of power drain. On the T3, I would start to worry when my battery got low (15% to 20%). With the T5 you can use the unit right until the battery is empty and not worry about losing your data. This has a psychological effect on how you use your PDA. On the T3, you stop using your device early, so even though the T3 would offer say 5 hours of life, you would only use 4. On the T5, you use it right to the end.
- The T5 is 416mhz, the T3 400mhz. The T5 has far superior computing power because it has Intel's new Bulverde processor that has built-in WMMX instruction sets. WMMX is a bunch of little programs built inside the processor that accelerate certain repetitive tasks sent to the CPU. They are like "shortcuts". Up until now, only the Zire 72 had this CPU. With now 2 major Palm PDAs with the new chip, developers will start to make software that use the new WMMX extentions. This will result in programs running many times faster than current versions.
- The T3 has 64MB and the T5 256 MB. Part of it acts like an SD card. T3 owners can get the same thing with a program named "CardExport" but they have to pay extra.
- The screen of my T5 is flawless. Remember when many of us had to return the T3 last year because of screen problems? So far, T5 owners have not reported any problems. My unit also does not have any screen buzz; although this can only be proven over time since the problem usually creeps up after a few weeks. The digitizer drift problem known on the T3 should be gone now since it was caused by a loosening ribbon cable due to the T3's constantly moving slider.
- OS 5.4 has many new features that T3 owners don't have. Drive mode, special dpad controlled selector around buttons, new launcher (with number tabs), new MPEG4 Media player (simple drag and drop conversion of any movie you have on your PC, no limits like Kinoma and much better compression, full screen playback), you can easilly tell the T5 to use Outlook instead of Palm Desktop, skinable desktop, add photos in Contacts on the T5 (not just on Palm Desktop), new File manager (easy and practical - used it many times so far, love it), etc.

THE CRITICS

Some Palm fans are upset by the T5. For the most part, their grievances are misguided. Here are a few of the most common criticisms.

- Lag in accessing data. === This is true because the T5 accesses data from ROM. However, once the data is pulled into RAM, the program operates at full speed. It is preferable to wait a fraction of a second more and in return have dramatic power savings and data security.
- Speaker on the back. === The new speaker is larger and more powerful. There is no room on the front for it. PalmOne had to put it on the back. If you are listening to radio shows or music, just turn the T5 around and enjoy. If you are playing a game or want to enjoy stereo, just plug in headphones.
- New multi-connector does not allow the use of old peripherals. === The new connector is better because it will allow new kinds of peripherals. The power and USB are now seperate. If you travel, the power cord is tiny and more compact than carrying your whole craddle. Users who have invested in peripherals can sell them on ebay; its not a total loss.
- Slow hard and soft resets. === Soft reset takes 20 sec, hard takes a few minutes. Doing resets should be the exception and not the rule.
- No cradle. === The multiconnector is just fine. It even has a Hotsync button. Its not as if you have to open the Hotsync software. Also, the new USB cradle (sold seperately) is reportedly very appealing and can be turned into a stereo system.
- No WiFi. === WiFi is wanted by many and used by few. BlueTooth is built-in the T5. If you want wireless in your home, buy a BT USB dongle. The signal is strong enough to cover most rooms and it goes through walls. If you are a WiFi fan, buy a WiFi SD card.
- No power light. === So what? Superfluous.
- No vibrating alarms. === Fact is, most people can't even feel the vibration through the pants. People who want "quiet" alarms can use the "Bird" alarm and program it to repeat often in case they don't hear it on the first try. People could even record their own sounds or words and use that as an alarm. Words draw less attention than sound effects.
- Grafitti is slow. === Just write normally and all the characters appear perfectly. There is a buffered style delay but its not slower.
- No camera. === Buy a Zire 72 or a Veo SD cam. Many workplaces don't allow PDAs with cams. It would be nice to have, but is far from essential. Perhaps future Tungstens will offer one.
- No voice recorder. === This is perhaps the only legitemate grievance.
- Software incompatibilities. === Irrelevant argument since all the bugs will be ironed out in a matter of weeks.

CONCLUSION

PalmOne understands the needs of mobile users. They know what is fundamental to being functional and efficient, and they know what is superfluous or only "good to have" if it doesn't come at the expense of more important things.

The T5 was built to address these basic and crucial mobile user needs: a) compact/thin/ergonomic design b) battery life c) speed d) quality MP3/MPEG4 e) data safety f) full 320x480, no slider g) good dpad/buttons.

PalmOne succeeded nicely. They are after all the inventors of the PDA, and it shows. Nothing is ever perfect, but the T5 is definately a major upgrade. It is innovative when it comes to power usage and design, and in step with Palm's culture of being user friendly, simple to use, productive and entertaining.

[stevevt]

You forgot two more criticisms:

* No voice recorder.
* Causes brain damage.

[zentro]

Lestat, why were you banned (if you were)? Did the mods track your IP address to PalmOne or what?

[Vampire Lestat]

Originally posted by stevevt
You forgot two more criticisms:

* Causes brain damage.

To all decent people,

This is the kind of person who criticizes the T5. All they do is insult and be negative. Many of them have no credibility.

[tomthemacman]

What type of comment was that Lestat? I criticise the T5 too. Do I sound like a raving lunatic? Make your choice. I know for a fact that I could never live without the vibrating alarms and voice recorder on my TC, and I cannot see a single valid reason that this should have been left out of the T5. I think the T5 was too rushed and not well thought out enough. Definetly not a good buy. Sure, it may suit some people, but with the way I've seen palms going, I'd never buy the first revision. Never.

[Vampire Lestat]

Originally posted by zentro
Lestat, why were you banned (if you were)? Did the mods track your IP address to PalmOne or what?

Hi Zentro,

Me banned? For what? For being polite and for giving my constructive opinions on the T5? If anyone deserved to be banned, it would be those who are vicious against me for no good reason. All they do is bash, trash and destroy.

Some people argued that I had too many posts, so I deleted them all and decided to make 1 summarized thread. I also wanted to delete some of the horrible comments some people made on my person. There are many evil people out there.

PS. I do not work for PalmOne. I am simply a satifisfied T5 owner and long time Palm OS fan.

[HarryPalm]

Originally posted by Vampire Lestat
decided to make 1 summarized thread

Appreciate that. Thanks.

[tomthemacman]

Yeah Lestat, the reset post count is really convincing me. Please, if you like this palm, let us know, but don't whore it out like you have been lately. I see this palm may have merits for some. But it's not a perfect piece of technology. It certainly isn't a good idea to yell at others and tell them their palms are bad to get them to buy this new palm. Look, it's just a new palm. Deal with it and stop bugging us about how it rules over any other palm.

[stevevt]

Originally posted by Vampire Lestat
To all decent people,

This is the kind of person who criticizes the T5. All they do is insult and be negative. Many of them have no credibility.

Do you work for Palm1?

I think the T5 has a lot going for it. But I really, truly, don't think you've done a good job at answering any of the issues people have brought up. You either ignore them ("Superfluous"; "The multiconnector is just fine") or make completely ridiculous assertions you couldn't possibly be able to back up with facts ("Fact is, most people can't even feel the vibration through the pants.")

Based on the number of people here complaining about these issues, you can't simply say they aren't valid criticisms.

I hope you and your new handheld are very happy together. I also think you're doing far more harm than good by not accepting the fact that you were banned.

For the record, you never proved that the T5 doesn't cause brain damage. You also might consider turning down the underclocking on your Critical Thinking application.

[zentro]

Ah, I see - interesting procedure. It's a shame you deleted those threads; I found them highly interesting.

The great thing about a forum is that people have the opportunity to respond to claims with which they don't agree and then you get a balanced view of things.