Decisions, Decisions
14 June 2004
I knew this day would come. My E, long a faithful companion, is about to give up the ghost. It has a dead spot in the Graffiti area that makes writing difficult and the "D" key in Fitaly nearly useless. It's also developed an inability to play sounds that no number of soft resets seems to be able to clear. It's time for a change.
So what should I get? First, let's take a look at the devices I've already ruled out.
Sony TH-55: This device looks great on paper. WiFi, 320x480 screen, camera, voice recorder, MP3, and a very battery-friendly processor. The downside is that, well, it's a Clié. Sony recently announced that they're leaving the PDA business, and I know what that means. I've been a Clié owner before, way back when I owned a N710C, and I know Sony doesn't tend to support anything but the latest and greatest model. How are they going to support an entire product line they no longer sell? No, if I'm looking for something with any sort of future, not to mention accessory availability, Sony is not an option.
PalmOne Zire 72: This would certainly be my cheapest option (short of getting another E) and it's got a lot going for it. It uses the same cables and chargers as my E (and my Samsung cell phone), which would keep my mobile device powering simple. The voice recorder and camera are both boons for mobile journalism, although the 72's Bluetooth doesn't do me any good right now. Slim and stylish, the 72 seems to have replaced the E as the "It" PDA, and is selling briskly. I'm going to pass on this one mostly because while it's got nearly three times the processing power of my E, it's the same 32MB of RAM and I tend towards only 4-6MB free on my E as it is. If I'm going to use voice recording or the camera, I'm going to run out of memory quick. Plus, I'm paranoid about the exposed camera lens. Next!
HP iPAQ 4355: I could jump ship -- again -- and switch to the iPAQ. There's a lot to like. Thumb keyboard, Bluetooth and WiFi, bright screen, removable battery. And I do have all that Windows Mobile software lying around from my Jornada/Toshiba/Viewsonic days. I'm a little put off by the price, a good hundred bucks more than my two other alternatives, but more than that, I'm not sure I want to go back to Windows Mobile. As I've said before, when I was a Pocket PC user I spent more time maintaining my device than actually using it, whereas my experience with PalmOS is the other way around.
So what are my two main choices?
In This Corner...
The first choice for a writer's PDA would pretty much have to be the PalmOne Tungsten C. You've got a very typable thumbboard, Documents To Go, lots of memory and built-in WiFi for on the fly research (Google is your friend). Pretty sweet.
And I know the Tungsten C is a great PDA for writing. I have two close friends that use the C. One is my writing partner, who while not writing exclusively on his C, does a lot of writing on it. The other friend isn't a writer but is on an extended job search and uses his C to send out resumes. He tends to get reactions like, "Wow, that was fast," and "No kidding! This came from a Palm?"
The C has everything a writer could need in a mobile word processor. So why the hesitation?
Well, it doesn't have everything a writer, me, really, could want. First off, the headphone jack on the C is a 2.5mm cell phone mono jack, not a proper 3.5mm headphone jack. Not only can I not use my favorite headphones to listen to MP3s and Audible on the C, but I can't even use the same 2.5mm earphone I use with my Samsung cell phone. The C is nearly useless for audio, and I do love having a little mood music while I write, not to mention Audible audiobooks.
While WiFi would be cool for short research missions, it's not all that useful otherwise, at least to me. AvantGo content synced from my PC each morning is current enough for news, and I get so much spam now (which started shortly after writing a column stating I didn't get much spam, hmm...) that without a server side spam filter it's pretty much futile to check my mail from a mobile system. Better to wait until I get home and have a good Bayesian filter to remove it.
And the C has some design "quirks" that make me twitchy. The screen has a much higher incidence of shattering than other PalmOne devices (and yes, that's covered at CompUSA where I work, but I'd still rather not break it) and the Cs also tend to develop a syndrome where the bottom part of the screen (where so many developers put buttons and toolbars) stops responding to stylus taps. This was supposedly addressed in the latest ROM update from PalmOne, but C users with the updated ROM are still reporting the problem.
So the C looks promising, but with a few potential gotchas. What's the alternative?
And the Challenger...
My other option, at exactly the same price point as the C, is the PalmOne Tungsten T3. On its own, it's not as good a writer's PDA as the C; I'll admit that up front. But it may be a better overall fit for my mobile lifestyle, with a little help.
First, let's talk about the screen. The T3's HVGA screen is the biggest thing out there short of Toshiba's now-defunct e800. Not only is this extended screen spectacular in eReader, but it gives me lots of options for data entry. I can write Graffiti anywhere on screen (thus avoiding the creation of dead zones, which are caused by excessive wear over the same part of the screen) while still using the full capability of the device. I can not only pop up a QWERTY keyboard but I can also install Fitaly Virtual, and use Fitaly where convenient. The T3's screen means more text visible at one time, a better look at the "flow" of my prose (which tends towards shorter, choppier paragraphs when I write on the Palm instead of the PC) and a more varied and flexible writing experience.
Where the T3 really comes into its own though, is when I use it with my Palm Wireless Keyboard. Here I can rotate the T3 into landscape orientation and really get into it. A T3 and PWK in this fashion really equate to a small laptop, and it makes word processing much easier, given that I'm dealing with a more readable line length. Editing and revision doesn't seem as "crowded" that way.
The audio jack on the T3 is a standard 3.5mm stereo headphone jack, so I can use my favorite headphones to listen to MP3s and Audible. To sweeten the deal, PocketTunes natively supports the extended screen on the T3 and allows me to see more of my playlist.
While I'm on the subject, most of my favorite applications (eReader, Documents To Go, Agendus and others) fully support the extended screen on the T3, showing more information than they would on a standard square Palm screen. This is only going to become more common as applications start to be developed with either the T3 or Cobalt in mind.
Speaking of Cobalt, both the C and T3 have the hardware necessary to run the next generation PalmOS, but the T3 also has the screen. The toolbar at the very bottom of the T3's screen is very similar to the one used by Cobalt, and if existing devices are going to be upgradeable at all, the T3 would be the easiest port. In the meantime, as I've mentioned in an earlier column, I get to use PalmOS Garnet with all my system extension and move to Cobalt when I'm ready.
This may sound goofy, but I even like the included screen cover on the T3. This leather and suede flip-cover opens up over the top of the T3 like a reporter's notepad. As a lefty I much prefer this to the E and C's "open to the left like a book" covers.
Given the variety of pen-based input on the go and the Palm Wireless Keyboard when I'm going to sit for a while, I think the T3 more than compensates for the thumbboard on the C. About the only significant downside I can see is the inclusion of Bluetooth over WiFi. As a Sprint user (meaning a CDMA phone), Bluetooth doesn't do much for me yet. Later this year, Motorola is supposed to come out with a CDMA, Bluetooth-equipped phone that unlike the ill-fated Sony Ericsson T-608 actually has decent battery life. We'll see about that when it comes out, but really I've kind of lost my enthusiasm for mobile data. Mobile friendly sites are still often a pain to navigate and spam has made mobile email almost useless. I don't need to be that connected. I am looking forward to Bluetooth hotsyncs and leaving the powered cradle on my nightstand for after-reading bedtime charging. I'm also seriously considering picking up Navman's new Bluetooth GPS unit for the Palm. Never get lost again!
So that's it. My next PDA will be a Tungsten T3. Unless I change my mind.
Jeff Kirvin
Jeff@writingonyourpalm.net
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