PalmBlog: 3 New Palm Handhelds Offer Stellar Options

October 02, 2003

3 New Palm Handhelds Offer Stellar Options

As expected, Palm (aka PalmOne) announced three new handheld models this week (all images from Palm's Web sites):

the Zire 21 Palm Zire 21

which becomes Palm's new entry level handheld,

the Tungsten E

which was previously discussed here in PalmBlog,

and the new revolutionary Tungsten T3

which joins the Tungsten C at the top of the Palm PDA family.

Each of these units fills a different niche. The Zire 21, which marries the old 160 x 160 pixel monochrone display of the last generation of Palm handhelds with a faster 144 Mhz ARM processor (versus 16 Mhz in the old Zire), OS 5.2.1, and 8 Megs of RAM (to the Zire's 2), is a strong entry-level unit which should run all current software. The Tungsten E is to my mind the most important new unit: affordable ($199 retail), powerful, great screen, expandable; in short, everything the average business user needs.

For power users, though, there are two choices, each of which reflects different needs. The new Tungsten T3 is certainly stellar in its offering. Start with a 400 Mhz processor, 64 Megs of RAM and SDIO expansion slot (the same as the Tungsten C). Add Bluetooth connectivity (compared to the 802.11b Wi-Fi capability in the Tungsten C), and a stereo headphone jack with a built-in microphone (the T|C has a mono voice/headphone jack meant for private voice recording and Voice over IP functionality). Then blow everyone away with a 2-mode high-resolution display. The Tungsten T3, like the T and T2 before it, has a sliding cover (the Tungsten C has a mini-keyboard below the screen). The difference is that while the sliding cover in the earlier models revealed a silk-screened Graffiti area with an unchanging display, the T3's slider increases the display size from 320x320 (the same as the Tungsten C) to a tremendous 320x480, half the screen real estate of a standard VGA monitor. This is the first non-square screen for a Palm-branded handheld, but the innovation doesn't stop there. The standard mode of this display is so-called portrait, making it taller than it is wide, with the Graffiti area being displayed via software and customizable and hideable at the user's option. These images from the Palm Web site make it clear:

(Graffiti area showing)

(Graffiti area hidden; screen expanded to fill available space)

What's really new is the availability of landscape mode: the T3 can be turned sideways, and many applications (including updates to the built-in datebook) have been modified to take advantage of the wider display:

And the price? At $399 retail, the Tungsten T3 is $100 less (currently) than the Tungsten C.

So which would I recommend for power users? It really depends on your needs. If you do a lot of spreadsheet work or heavily-formatted documents where the landscape mode will really be of value, have Bluetooth equipment like cell phones or printers, are comfortable with Graffiti 2 as your sole input method, and stereo sound is of value, you will be thrilled with the Tungsten T3.

For myself, Bluetooth isn't something I need, but Wi-Fi is something I use everyday. While I'd love the additional screen real estate, I expect that the one piece design of the Tungsten C may be somewhat sturdier, which is useful given the heavy use to which I put my Palm. If your needs are closer to mine, the Tungsten C still represents a state-of-the-art combination of price, functionality and form, and I'm sticking with mine. {Jonathan}

Posted by jezor at October 2, 2003 12:04 PM

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