T3 - No Ahhnold but Still a Worthy Sequel

Author's Rating:

Pros: Super screen, portrait/landscape mode, full-screen writing, 64MB RAM, fast processor, lots of included software

Cons: Pain in the butt power button

The Bottom Line: 
The T3 has just about everything a business professional could possibly want in a PDA and resolves the shortcomings of the original T.

Author's Review
I've owned a Palm Tungsten T since it's initial release last year and while I've loved it for the most part, I definitely couldn't resist the new T3 model since it covered the only major flaw that I had found with the original T: the meager 16MB RAM built-in. The 64MB (52MB actual) capacity of the T3 was a must have. Of course, the 320x480 transflective display with virtual Graffiti area (instead of silkscreened) didn't hurt either. Plus it was nice to see that the T3 was released $100 less than what the T had originally cost.

Eye of the beholder
The packaging for the T3 is much less impressive than what they came up with for the T. Just a standard grey/maroon elongated cube-ish box with boring cardboard inserts inside. The T box on the other hand was quite well designed and allowed you to actually see the unit from the outside so this was kind of a letdown.

Physically, the T3 is a bit longer and thinner than the T although the difference in size won't really make a difference except in terms of case accessories. Unfortunately the .3 inches makes the T3 a bit too long to use with my Proporta aluminum hard case and Proporta has not yet released a similar case for the T3. Still a good, pocketable size. I think the stylus sticks out a little bit more when in its stored position on the T3 but that could just be me. And the T3 is a light silver color compared to the T's gunmetal grey.

The most obvious physical difference between the two models are the application and navigation pad buttons. The 5-way navigator buttons have been elongated into an oval shape rather than the round shapes on the T. Instead of a horizontal line layout for the application buttons, they are now molded in a top/bottom layout on either side of the navigator. I'm not entirely certain that this change was a good thing. The directional navigation buttons are about as easy to use on the T3 as they are on the T but the round select button in the middle feels better on the T than the oval one on the T3. The application buttons work just fine as well but the new layout will wreck havoc on those who are used to the old button layouts for playing games. I think the new layout is not as conducive to game playing as the original layout was but this could be just a matter of getting used to the new layout.

The left side of the T3 has the same layout as the T with the earphone jack, microphone and voice recorder button. The top side has the same layout as the T with the power button, SD card slot, IR port and stylus holder. The only beef I have is that the new power button is much harder to use than the old one. The new button is more flush with the body of the unit and for some reason you really need to press down hard on it to get it to work. It almost feels like a 2-level button where you can press down halfway on it to do something and then all the way to do something else but in this case, it only turns on when you press all the way down on it. The power button on the T was definitely much better than this. The SD card slot now has a built-in cover that swings in when an SD card is being used. So no need for the separate SD card slot filler that came with the T.

The speaker on the top right of the face is also cosmetically different on the T3. The T had 2 even lines of 5 holes while the T3 has 3 staggered lines of 5 holes. The sound doesn't seem to sound much more different than the T after the update software has been installed for it. The bottom of the T3 has the same Palm Universal Connector has what's on the T so at least the cradle is interchangeable as well as the USB to Palm connector cable I bought for the T. So at least that's one less accessory I need to buy again. The sides of the T3 are also missing the notches that the T had where the clear plastic cover that came with the T would latch on to. That's because the T3 comes with a leather/suede flip cover that clips on to two small notches on the back instead. This new cover only provides minimal protection for the screen and and navigation buttons and that's about it. But at least it's much easier to use than the clip-on plastic cover that the T had which you had to remove completely first before you could do anything.

The 320x480 65k transflective color display on the T3 is absolutely gorgeous. The color seems to be more vivid and you can make it brighter than the brightest setting on the T. The extra screen real estate is nice to have but will only work if the software supports it. If not, the virtual input area will automatically rise up to fill up the extra space. The other new feature available with the T3 is the ability to flip the display into landscape mode. There's a system setting that will let you choose which way the screen flips depending on if you're right or lefthanded. I haven't really found this feature to be that useful except for the Warfare Incorporated game which also uses the entire screen. I guess it'd be a nice feature for spreadsheet programs too but I don't use those on my Palm. So for now it's more of a novelty feature for me.

Blood and guts
Software-wise the T3 is now running PalmOS 5.2.1 which contains a bunch of new features. Graffiti 2, which is included in all Palm units after the release of the T is present in the T3 but there are ways to revert back to the original Graffiti method (browse around some Palm forums for instructions). I'm still getting used to the new writing method and all I can say right now about it is that while G2 can feel more natural when writing some things, I like the original way of writing special characters better.

Another new feature on the T3 is the status bar that appears on the bottom of the screen which is actually pretty handy. From left to right it contains icons that takes you to the launcher, opens the find panel, opens the menu panels, shows the time, notifies you of important or scheduled events, takes you to Bluetooth settings, turns on full-screen writing, flips the screen from portrait to landscape mode and vice versa, and raises or lowers the virtual input area. The full-screen writing is what I like the most. Basically it allows you to write anywhere on the screen without having to open up the Palm and use the virtual input area. With the T, I had to install the freeware Newpen to get that functionality and I spent a while trying to find something similar for the T3 before I realized that it was already built-in to the OS. Great move on Palm's part to include this as a built-in feature.

Default software-wise, the T3 comes with the standard Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Memos, Note Pad, Voice Memo, Calculator, and Expense apps. There doesn't seem to be any changes to these apps except for Calendar which now has a Today mode which I think people have been asking for for a long time now. Basically it's a pretty screen that shows you what you have on your plate today. Pretty nice actually. But since I've been using Agendus Pro as my calendar/contact/task manager for awhile now, I probably won't use it as much.

Other software that comes with include DataViz Documents To Go Professional Edition 6.0 which lets you work with Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files, VersaMail 2.6 for email, Palm Photos for pics, RealOne Mobile Player for mp3s, Kinoma Player for video, Adobe Reader for pdfs, Palm Web Pro for web surfing, and BlueBoard, BlueChat, SMS for Bluetooth/communications. So you get a pretty comprehensive set of apps for business and communication use. You can also run Java apps now as long as you install the IBM Websphere Micro Environment that is available from the PalmOne site.

The new 400Mhz Intel XScale processor on the T3 definitely makes apps run a lot faster than the 144Mhz TI processor on the T. I can actually have the RealOne player going in the background and still play a decent game of Bedazzled at the same time. This was pretty much impossible on the T. The increased amount of RAM on the T3 is a godsend. I can now store all my apps on the Palm itself instead of having to move as much as possible onto my 32MB SD card. Now I can devote the SD card solely to pics and mp3s. Way to go Palm!

So was it worth it to upgrade to the T3? I think so. Between the better screen, higher resolution, increased RAM, virtual input area, and faster processor, the T3 pretty much fixed the problems I had with the original T. The only real beef I have with the T3 is that power button. Everything else is just a matter of getting accustomed to it. And of course if you use other third-party software you'll probably have to wait awhile to have the software updated to be able to use the extra screen real estate now available. So until Palm comes to their senses and finally adds Bluetooth to the Treo 600 I think the T3 will suit me just fine.

Check out my review of the Palm Tungsten T:
http://www.epinions.com/content_80642805380