Tungsten C reviewed

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Manufacturer: Palm
Price: $499 ( Search here for better deals)
Requirements: Money and a pocket
Web Site: WWW.PALM.COM

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PALM'S TUNGSTEN C comes equipped with a docking cradle, a stylus, and a rudimentary cover. The keyboard is small, yet functional. The screen is extremely well lit, even in daylight. One aspect of the screen that some people may find challenging is that it is difficult to view at an angle. This could pose a problem for people who are using the unit for presentations and have to turn the display back and forth.

The Tungsten C has two options for expansion; an SD slot on the top of the unit and the docking connection at the base. Palm and other 3rd party manufacturers offer peripherals ranging from keyboards to digital cameras. The C comes with an earphone minijack plug. The onboard speaker is adequate, although don't expect much out of a speaker that small. One problem I noticed is that the supplied cover, when open and flipped over to the back, effectively blocks the speaker. Some might find this annoying if they often rely on the external speaker.

The Tungsten C has everything you would expect in a PDA, and then some. One of the best features of this Tungsten is interoperability with other programs and platforms. It is shipped able to read and write Powerpoint, Excel, and Word file formats, and Versa-mail easily integrates with your mail server. The integrated keyboard means that anyone can quickly pick up this device and start plunking away. Obviously, entry of data is not as fast as a standard keyboard, but much better than using a stylus, although people who want to use that can still do so.

My experience with a stylus was limited to the original 'graffiti' days, and I found using it cumbersome. 'Graffiti 2' seems more intuitive and using the stylus is easier.

The WiFi supplied with the Tungsten C is amazingly easy to use. I have a Linksys 802.11b hub hiding in my basement and was concerned about the range of the PDA as I have had some problems with my Centrino laptop. I turned on the unit, enabled the WiFi and was instantly connected. I was able to browse the web, download email and install applications. One concern I had about the WiFi component is battery life. WiFi has a reputation for sucking juice and PDAs can't afford to be power hungry. Palm has addressed this by having the WiFi disconnect after a minute or so of inactivity. When you do something that needs the connection again, it only takes about a second for the connection to be re-established. VPN? Palm has it covered.

This PDA was better than I expected. The Tungsten C, powered by an Xscale 400 MHz processor, didn't lag at all or seem to be overwhelmed by anything thrown its way. The keyboard is a welcome addition and might result in people leaving their laptops at home. But the video playback is mediocre, whether because of the refresh rate of the screen or the compression it uses.

The cover supplied, when opened, rather handily covers the small speaker on the back of the unit and reduces the volume significantly. Most users I know end up turfing the stock carrying case and buying another case. With 64 MB system memory, (51 available) there isn't loads of storage for your music or video library, but if an MP3 player is what you are after this is an expensive choice. And if MP3s are your poison, the option of installing a 512 MB SD card is available. If you are looking for an easy to use, ultra-portable, fast device that has both stylus input and a keyboard for fast input, this is the one to pick. µ