[N@Z]

Just got myself this new Gadget on my trip to Malaysia. The package was bundled with the original Palm leatherette case, additional 32MB multi media storage card, Bluetooth USB adaptor for PC & Creative mp3 player. All for about US$543.

This is my first stand alone PDA. Previously owned an Ericsson 380 & Nokia 9210 (mobile phone/PDA). Still have the 9210... I actually wanted to get the Toshiba e740 Pocket PC with built in wi-fi but it was out of stock at the time. Also about the same price but with no extras.

Just wondering if anyone here owns one as well or a similar m5XX series Palm. I want to find out if there is a PC software that can synch with the unit/card like a normal drive letter in Windows Explorer (aka 9210 stylee).

Photos:

Next to Fixup's super mini amp to give you an indication of it's physical dimensions.

Fully extended with the telescopic stylus.

Sorry about the quality of the photos, I was in a rush...

 

[plainsong]

Hi fellow Tungsten owner! As for software for mounting an sd card like a drive. I'm not so sure you can with a Palm. I know this is a feature of the Sony Clies, but offhand I don't think you can do it with a Palm.

But just in case I'm wrong, here are some good websites to check out..

www.palmgear.com <--- lots of software
www.palminfocenter.com <--- discussions and helpful people
www.brighthand.com <--- same thing
www.pdabuzz.com <--- same thing


Now what I wanna know is if Headroom's ipod bag will fit a Tungsten in the spot ment for the TA amp. No one seems to know.

 

[N@Z]

Thanks for the info plainsong.

I'm familiar with palmgear.com it's really cool, have to try out the other URLs later.

If you are still looking for a really cool Tungsten holdster/case, try: http://www.eholster.com/?ref=FindWhat

I did saw your post previously, not sure either whether it would work with the ipod bag. Probably could but it might not be a good fit since the Tungsten is thinner.

 

[plainsong]

I'm strictly a Vaja woman when it comes to cases. The Tungsten i-Volution case is coming out soon, I can't wait. I've used Vaja cases ever since my Palm IIIc days. They're expensive but good. I'd like to eventually get the i-volution case for ipod too, but that one has a case, the Waterfield one.

Previous PDAs - Jornada 680, Palm IIIc, First-gen Ipaq (3630 I think?), Psion Revo, Clie 770c, Fujitsu Loox, and now the Tungsten.

My gear bag - Waterfield small cargo bag

www.vajacases.com

www.sfbags.com

I think I'm off the pda train for a while though. I'm tired of this early-adopter crap of getting a cool pda, paying top dollar, and being happy if the thing simply turns on. We ask for so little, and boy do we get it. I got the Tungsten with the hope that I could use the thing and not worry about it.

That's turned out to be mostly true, except that there's a bug that prevents decent Internet connection sharing in Windows (Tungsten resets). I swear, bluetooth must have been an April Fool's joke, I have yet to see it work bug-free on any device.

 

[N@Z]

Hadrcore PDA user!

The only other PDA's I used were not quite dedicated ones so they don't really count... an Ericsson 380 & Nokia 9210.

The vaja cases looks extremely sexy!


Quote:

... I swear, bluetooth must have been an April Fool's joke, I have yet to see it work bug-free on any device.

Even with popular bluetooth enabled phones like the Nokia 6310 or Erricson T68i? I was thinking of getting the T68i next month.

 

[Gergor]

Quote:

Originally posted by plainsong I'm strictly a Vaja woman when it comes to cases. The Tungsten i-Volution case is coming out soon, I can't wait. I've used Vaja cases ever since my Palm IIIc days. They're expensive but good. I'd like to eventually get the i-volution case for ipod too, but that one has a case, the Waterfield one.

Wow, the Vaja case is way cool! Unfortunately the stock case I'm looking for's sold out, looks like I'll have to go for a custom case...

Thanks for the tip, plainsong!

 

[Old Pa]

Very nice Vaja cases! My Vx rides in my right shirt pocket, so thick cases are out. I've looked at the Tungsten carefully (and longingly), but with a keyboard, modem, GPS attachment, etc. for my Palm Vx already in hand (and in regular use), the cost of changing PDAs is no longer just the cost of the PDA!

 

[plainsong]

I'm waiting for the Tungsten i-Volution case myself. They can be slow to release once they announce something...grrrr..

But then my ipod will be jealous and will want an i-volution case too.

Ever since my Palm IIIc days, I've found I can't go wrong with a Vaja case.

As for bluetooth phones. I'm waiting to see what happens when Nokia finally releases that BT 3xxx phone that will supposedly rival the t68i and have a groovy design. Nokia is the one company that actually tends to release in Finland first.

If that phone sucks, I'll get the t68i.

I have internet connection sharing set up so that I can surf the web from my Tungsten using the Mac's net connection via bluetooth, but the range on my mac's d-link bt usb dongle is sad. My husband's TDK dongle on the pc is better, but I can't get XP and the Tungsten to work well together. XP assigns a default gateway that's out of left field and not even in our subnet. *sigh* I'd like to use connection sharing with Windows to get the the better range of the TDK dongle, but oh well.

 

[N@Z]

Plainsong:

I believe you are referring to the Nokia 3650? Yeah, whacky design. All the techy bits built into it. I heard it's out already in limited quantities right now in Hong Kong & Singapore. I'm doing the wait & see bit as well. Really tempted by the T68i but I've always liked Nokia's userfriendlyness. To throw another spanner into the works, there's also the Sony Ericsson T800 which should spice things up!

You've only mentioned range problems with bluetooth on your Tungsten. I'm assuming less than 10 meters only? So far in your experience, within range, how do you find the upload & download times like say for emailing, messaging & websurfing? Just to give me an idea, what ISP connection are you using at home?


OldPa:

Unless you really need something new or your old one is giving you problems there's no real need to upgrade. As most of the software on the Tungsten is already available for the Vx. I nearly bought one used at one time but conceded to the Nokia 9210. Plus the cost of a Tungsten new is quite hefty for a Palm if you really think about it compared to a Pocket PC.

 

[Old Pa]

My thoughts exactly N@Z. My Vx is a tool (and a friend) and you are quite right about the intro prices for the Tungsten. Still, it's nice to see others paying for more R&D . . .

 

[N@Z]

In other words... I'm such a sucker for shiny new gadgets!

At least there were freebies involved!

 

[Old Pa]

I'll take my turn next . . .

 

[plainsong]

I find a huge speed increase from my Os 4.1 Clie to the Os 5 Tungsten..what with the new Omap processor and all...at any rate

As for bluetooth, the range for my d-link is 10 (is it meters or feet..one of the two), and so is the Tungsten. My husband's TDK dongle is 100f (or meters, I forget which), so he gets to wander the apartment. I get to wander the couch. I can't get stupid Windows Xp to work with the connection sharing. I set up everything right, but Windows keeps assigning a weird gateway, so it doesn't work. There's a bug in the Tungsten that prevents BT over network (which would solve the problem), you get a reset.

So I suppose I'll have to get a better BT dongle for the Mac. The speeds are good even if the range isn't. The pages load seemingly as fast as the Tungsten can display them.

If that Nokia is out in Asia, it must be released here too finally...hmmm.. must go check.

The p800 is cool, but it's still not out in Europe yet, and when it is out, it's gonna be probably around ?900, and having a Tungsten already, having two pdas is overkill. (Unless you're The Gadgeteer)

To answer your isp question, I have an adsl connection to the local phone company. We tried cable, but we got 14.4 modem speeds, and could rarely get connections out the country. The cable company has since been trying to give away connections.

 

[lextek]

I recently played with a Tungsten at a local Apple store. A PDA that can recognize my handwriting. I really liked it. Does anyone know if a GPS attachment is available for thi unit? I'd like to use it for street maps. How about downloading photos to it?

 

[N@Z]

Not sure about the GPS attachment for the Tungsten but downloading photos is possible. The CD-ROM that comes in the package contains the software PhotoBase. Picture quality is as good as albeit smaller than the original (320x320) So far I've tried jpegs & gifs & they work fine. The only problem is storage in the handheld, it is not adequate but access speed is alot faster than storing in the memory card. It struggles a little opening picture files with sizes over 50kb.