PalmOne Tungsten T5

A great-looking PDA to spice up the range

If you've played with previous Palm Tungsten PDAs, the T5 will seem familiar. Physically, it combines the build and looks of the E and T3 models and offers a 320 x 480 Transflective TFT colour screen. The T5 doesn't have the stretched display feature of the T3, but it does come with Palm OS 5.4, which includes 'alpha channel-blended graphics' that allows effects such as transparent icons.

There's also a handy 'Rotate Screen' icon to switch between portrait and landscape modes.QQ] At 146g, the T5 is lighter and more compact than other models. Nevertheless, the Intel 416MHz XScale processor and 256MB of memory make the T5 one of the most powerful PDAs we've seen.

Only 215MB of the memory is available to the user. There's 55MB for programs and data, while the other 160MB is used as an internal flash drive. An SD memory card slot allows for further expansion.

A new Favorites tool allows you to have up to eight application icons, documents or preferred URLs on the home screen. Another new application, Files, works much like Windows Explorer, displaying a list of stored folders and files.

Palm's File Transfer application has also had a makeover, and lets you easily move files and folders back and forth between the T5 and a PC or Mac. When it's connected to your system, you can use the T5 as a USB drive. It also comes with Graffiti 2 handwriting recognition and you can write anywhere on screen. A pop-up area is still available.

Battery life is much better than previous models, lasting around four hours with the back-light on maximum. GPRS fans will also appreciate the intuitive wizard that makes the connection process simpler. In fact, the only real downside to this otherwise excellent PDA is the lack of integrated Wi-Fi, although you do get Bluetooth.

Contact:
Palmone 0118 974 2700
www.palmone.com/uk

Specifications:

• Palm OS 5.4
• Intel XScale 416MHz ARM processor
• 256MB memory (215MB available); 55MB programs and data, 160MB flash drive
• 320 x 480 TFT screen
• SD/SDIO/MMC
• Bluetooth
• 146g
• 7.8 x 1.5 x 12.1cm