PalmOne Tungsten C Handheld

• Bright 320x320 transflective color screen
• Fast, 400 MHz Intel PXA255 processor with Intel XScale technology
• Built-in Wi-Fi and keyboard
• Secure Digital/MultiMediaCard Expansion Slot
• What's in the box: Tungsten C Handheld, Stylus, Flip Cover, USB HotSync Cradle, Power Supply, Desktop Installation CD, Software Essentials CD

I bought my Palm Tungsten C two days ago and am writing this review on it. Which shows its pluses and its limitations.

Its pluses? I've got a wireless network (apple airport) at home and at the office. I've been able to launch the web browser on the PDA, log onto amazon using my email and password, find this page and start writing my review.

I'm also typing this on a keyboard (well, kind of!), which is a huge improvement on the old grafitti system, which is of course still included for those who got the hang of it. I'm also able to surf and type on a colour screen that is as good as anything I have ever seen on a PDA.

Checking emails and going onto the internet is extremely straight forward the only hitch I encountered is down to Apple not palm you need to select network password equivalent in the airport configuration to get the letters and numbers that make up the key you need to log into an encrypted network.

And though I've seen the reviews questioning the wireless range of the tungsten c, I found that I was able to log onto my network at home and collect my emails two rooms and one hallway away from the airport base station. Not as good as my airport enabled ibook, but comparable to the cordless phone I have at home.

The downsides? Other reviewers have already questioned the lack of bluetooth and if I didn't have wi-fi at home I'd be taking this product back. When you spend this sort of money you really have to be sure you are getting the most out of it.

You also need to be realistic. Yes I've been able to connect and access every site I want but as with any PDA the experience is not anywhere near what you get on even the smallest of notebooks. Having to scroll backwards and forwards to read what is on the screen can be a pain in the backside. As is typing in several hundred words, something that I am doing now. Sure it can be done but it will take you twice as long as on your PC, though I suppose it does teach you to be brief!

I've not played around with the documents to go feature just yet, but I would think it's the same there as well. Use it to write or amend short presentations or documents, but don't write your board report on it.

In summary this is a great product, light years away from the psion and handspring I owned previously. Just be realistic what you are going to be using it for and the limitations of a tiny screen and keyboard.

Buy PalmOne Tungsten C Handheld Now

The Tungsten C stands out for me because of 2 things: (1) A nice bright screen and (2) Simple hookup to WIFI (and very good battery life to boot was surfing about 4 hours last night and only drained half way-my ipaq 5455 would have been retired after an hour).

The WIFI hookup is simple as easy as click and surf. Sometimes when I turn the unit on and attempt to access the web after not having used the device for a while it seems to hang as if it cannot find a WIFI connection. In those instances I manually search for a signal -however I would definitely like to see it automatically attempt a lockon to the last signal it used.

The things that are puzzling are: (1) Device lacks stereo output so if you want to listen to MP3 it has to be mono (2) Uses a cell phone headset jack versus a standard stereo headset jack (3) Makes an odd crackling/popping sound when you use the stylus on the screen [this HAS been widely reported by other users] that resembles static electicity (4) The keys are NOT backlit (5) The email won't display HTML (6) On my initial device the case in the lower right corner by the power button was loose, wiggled and applying pressure to it actually started activating some buttons [have seen this reported by other users though does not appear widespread].

I would rate this higher but for $... I think Palm should be able to get these relatively simple issues corrected. You may be able to live with them. Might think they are no big thing. My point is for the kind of cash these companies charge we shouldn't get something with these types of issues.

Just my .02 with these types of quality / functionality concerns I hope nobody at Palm is sitting around wondering why future sales are down...

Read Best Reviews of PalmOne Tungsten C Handheld Here

On first impressions the Tungsten C is awesome. The display is the best I've ever seen on a handheld and the keyboard, although small, is well laid out, very easy to use and responsive. The software that comes with it is very good and the overall feel of the unit is one of quality. The WIFI capability was great and I had it connected to the Internet via my home wireless network in about two minutes or maybe less. It is very fast. Everything happens almost instantly. The 400mhz chip is probably overkill in a unit like this, but it sure makes handling pictures and other processor hungry tasks an absolute breeze. Lastly, I was impressed with the battery life. Palm have done a great job of squeezing so much life out of the rechargables.

Unfortunately, after just one day of using it my initial joy had turned to frustration. It wasn't really anything particularly big, just an accumulation of little niggles. You'll have read some of them in other reviews as they are things that everyone seems to have noticed. I find it very strange that the designers of the product didn't uncover them in beta testing.

To start with the clicking noise that seems to appear randomly on certain key presses becomes pretty annoying. At first I thought it was a setting in the preferences so I had a look and made sure the "click on key press" option was off, but I still got it. Then I switched the unit to completely silent, but it still didn't go away. It's only a little click, but once you've noticed it you can't help but think it is getting louder and louder. I've never encountered it on any other Palm device.

Another major gripe is the silly mono connection for the headset. This just seems absolutely crazy. Not only is it mono, but it is not even a standard headphone connection it is one of those plugs like you get for a mobile phone headset. Granted, this is probably what Palm were thinking of when they put that kind of socket on the unit, but a little user reacher would have told them that anyone buying a machine with 64 meg of onboard RAM and the ability to plug in addition SD memory are likely to want to use it to listen to music or audiobooks from time to time (in my case that means ALL the time). This is a MAJOR glitch and one I am sure Palm will look to amend in a future model at least I hope they will.

Lastly, although the unit has WiFi, which worked well for me, I felt that for the money there should also be built in Bluetooth. I was used to this with the Tungsten T and just assumed the Tungsten C would include it and so was disappointed to discover it didn't.

I've given it 3 out of 5 because it does have its merits a lot of them, but unfortunately the clicking, the silly mono socket, and the lack of Bluetooth really let it down badly. I'm going to be returning mine tomorrow and sticking with the Tungsten T.

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I've expected for a year that I would soon purchase a new wireless Palm or Pocket PC handheld, and use it to access the Web. However, as each such device has appeared, I've been disappointed, usually in both the speed of Web access and the very limited number of usable sites. There is also the problem of ongoing cost within a year, using a wireless handheld for Web access would cost more than buying it.

After recently setting up a Wi-Fi access point in my home, I realized a new Palm Tungsten C might be the solution for me. Five minutes of testing at a local dealer confirmed that access is as fast as my SDSL link, rather than feeling like a 56K modem like the Treo 270, Palm W and Pocket PC cellular-based handhelds I'd tested before. I was also easily able to visit my favorite ordinary Web sites, rather than being limited to the few sites compatible with WAP.

I had no trouble setting the Palm C up for secure access to my home access point, and love the new keyboard even though I'm a quick writer with graffiti.

The screen is much brighter than on the Palm m505 I've used up to now, and Palm claims the battery will last through a full 8 hour day of continuous use.

It's a bit thicker than the m505, and a bit taller, but not enough to bother me. The cover is just like the one on the m505, and works well. The stylus is sturdy metal, and the Pilot pen/stylus from the m505 fits the C, as do all the accessories I have for the m505.

The high speed (400MHz) CPU and large (64MB) memory are real pluses, as is the compatibility with all the Palm software I've purchased over the past decade.

If you must have access anywhere, that is not yet possible with Wi-Fi. But for me, access at home, office, and some nearby commercial hotspot is good enough.

This is my fifth handheld. My first two were palm, my third was a Sony, and for my fourth I went back to palm. All four had 8MB of RAM and a 33 MHz processor. When I first turned on the Tungsten C I was amazed at how fast it was. When I clicked on an application it would instantly open, without that 1 or 2 second delay seen on older handhelds. This handheld includes 51 MB of memory, which is very nice for storing applications, movies (using the included Kinoma player), music, pictures and just about anything else. The display is one of the best I've seen, and the high-resolution is really nice. I like the Tungsten T3 expandable display, and was considering getting it, but I realized WiFi was too important. The WiFi is one of the best features of this handheld. I opened the WiFi setup application, it instantly detected my home network, I entered my WEP key and it was connected. Browsing the web on the Tungsten C is not anything like on a desktop or laptop. There is A LOT of scrolling involved, and many web pages take a long time to load, even with cable internet. There are also a lot of bugs in the web browser, and I've had to do many soft resets. I've downloaded AvantGo, which can be used as a web browser, and I never have to reset. The e-mail application, VersaMail, works very well. I just entered my POP3 mail account, and it worked. The keyboard is also a great feature. It is much better than Graffiti, and I'll never go back to a handheld without a keyboard. Palm includes Graffiti2, but I don't even bother using it because the keyboard is so convenient. One thing I've been hearing other reviewers complaining about is the mono headset jack. It would be nice to have stereo, but it's not that important to me. If I want to listen to music, I'll use my iPod. It works just fine for audiobooks, though. The headphones (sold separately from palm) look like ones for cell phones, however, they do not work with cell phones. Overall, this is a truly great handheld. It has a few minor problems, but so does any other electronic device. I've compiled a list of pros and cons:

Pros:

-400 Mhz Processor

-51MB RAM

-Built-in WiFi

-Thumb Keyboard

-Excellent Display

-Comes With Good Array Of Applications

Cons:

-Web Browser Has Too Many Bugs

-Mono Headphone Jack

-No Included Headset