Comments on: palmOne Releases Tungsten T3 Update

"If it weren't for electricity we'd all be watching television by candlelight." - George Gobol.

http://www.red-mercury.com/t3.html

Has anyone yet got Palm to reimburse them for their barbecued SD cards? ANYONE? The "Go ask SanDisk" line Palm's been giving out may be good enough for the obedient sheep here that still worship people like the late Carl "Shiftchanger" Yankowski, Eric "Two-Face" Benhamou, David "Lefty" Nagel, and Todd "Tommy-Gun" Bradley. More intelligent people will be avoiding Palm pruducts until quality control issues are finally addressed by Palm.

Rushing crap out to be sold to unsuspecting customers and using these victims as virtual beta testers should not be an acceptable business practice. Something's rotten in the state of Milpitas.

Thank you for your kind understanding.

Is this for real or more vaporware? This would make the T3 a lot more useful. And that new Tapwave device (with dual SD slots and a great screen) could be a mini-laptop for the Starbucks generation.

Wonder if Bluetooth will soon follow?

$400 Tapwave with 128 MB RAM, $150 Wi-Fi card + $99 Bluetooth card = finally competition for the CLIE UX series.

I don'tkow if HP can make it in such small form factor at h4155 why can't PalOne make it. Like I said rather wait instead of feeling sorry around Christmas time.

Good Luck!

Free 802.11 No More Wires!!!
Support your local WAN!

The easiest way to use the Power To Go in that situation (constant use) is to start with the Palm and sled charged, use the Palm until it gets low (5 or 6 hours runtime) then clip the sled on and keep going. When the sled gets low, the Palm will be on its own again, but will have a full charge. I've not had mine long enough for a torture test burn down yet, but I get two full charges out of the sled, on top of the total runtime from the Palm's initial charge. One charge lasts me between 5 and 6.5 hours, so you just multiply that times 3...

To say nothing of the bloody huge size!! It'd make it like a Classic iPaq with sleeve!

Took you long enough, PalmOne. I hope this fixes the issue once and for all

"I pity the fool that buys a T3! I pity you! Fool!"

- The REAL Mr. T, Palm afficionado. November 8, 2003.

http://www.enfora.com

SJ30 > T|T3

I agree with you totally. From a user point of view, users have been using the SD card in the T3 as normal usage, and the T3 obviously rendered it unusable.

Palm1 should be held responsible for frying these SD cards and replace all of them.

================================
PDAs rule the world !

Care to explain how or where?
I contacted SanDisk directly and their attitude was "thanks for buying two cards. sucks they don't work now."
If there is a procedure for getting them replaced, I'd love to know what it is.

I use a T3. Why isn't it listed??

Hmm, you don't seem to be too inteligent. If they don't really know what caused, the problem, how can they fix it? And why do you think it doesn't really work? Have you tried it? And why would they not test it? You are a very odd person.

As a T3 owner, I was hoping for a more clear-cut explanation of what was wrong and a more definitive statement that it was fixed now. My recommendation to prospective T3 buyers: wait until Palm does something more definitive, or just buy a Sony instead.

If Palm gave you a clear cut explanation of the problem, chances are, uless you are a programmer, you would not understand a bit. Stop being naive or go somewhere else.

I get the impression that, although Palm did have a slight problem, it shouldn't have corrupted any cards and perhaps these cards did not meet their required tolerable level to avoid them burning up. In other words, Palm's problem may have caused cards to become corrupt, but perhaps those cards that were completely destroyed simply were not up to standard.

I'm a programmer. I know software.

If they don't really know what caused, the problem, how can they fix it?

They may not have fixed it, which is my point. They may have identified the general area in which the problem occurs, adjusted some timings, and perhaps reduced the problem.

And why do you think it doesn't really work?

Because Palm hasn't us given us any evidence that they (1) understand the problem and (2) have tested their fix enough to make sure that it is actually fixing the problem.

Have you tried it?

No. My T3 has developed other hardware problems as well and I can't try anything with it.

And why would they not test it?

Well, whatever testing procedures they are using, the first bug slipped through, right? These are intermittent problems that probably involve subtle timing and hardware issues. They simply may not have the resources to test it enough to make sure the problem is gone. Hence, my suggestion that they may be throwing out a fix and then waiting for more reports from the field.

It's the way this industry works. Microsoft does a lot of their testing that way as well.

You are a very odd person.

Yes, people who know software actually may seem odd to people like you.

If Palm gave you a clear cut explanation of the problem, chances are, uless you are a programmer, you would not understand a bit.

I am a programmer. I would understand it. And programmers like me can then communicate to people like you whether (1) Palm actually knows what they are doing, and (2) whether their fix will work. That's why it is important for companies to be open and clear about technical problems even if only a small fraction of their user community understands what they are saying, because that fraction can evaluate it and pass on their impressions and analysis to the rest of the user community.

The fact that Palm hasn't been clear about what is wrong and how they fixed it raises big suspicions that they still don't know what is really going on and are just trying different hacks. And that was my point.

Luckily it installed today (attempt #4), but my SanDisk SD card is still *smoked* - I don't see why - based on the info. PalmOne has put on their web site that SanDisk should replace my SD card...I already wasted time contacting SanDisk to replace my SD card and got no help from them.

PalmOne screwed up - PalmOne should bite the bullet and replace these cards that the T3 mangled.

Oh well, gotta run and send another e-mail to SanDisk.

With that bloody awful stylus it has, I can see why you'd need more time... "Hey, that %$#$@# stylus slipped out of my hand again!" Hah!

Hahahah! You must have been in Marketing!

The question is, was my T3 updated or not?. how can I tell if the update was successful?.

Update worked perfectly (admittedly I didn't try the Mk1 file), and I didn't fry any of my cards in the meantime.

I'm just waiting on Proporta to finish working on their aluminium case and I'll be in hog heaven. And the free neoprene case they gave me while I wait for the hard case is quite good. Kudos Proporta.

Vx-> M500-> M505-> M515-> TT-> T2-> TC/T3

Note: If you have a card which had bad blocks or severe errors, it may need a full format in a card reader, as the Palm format is a only a quick format.

Er, uhm, not to incite panic -- but could you also Restore from those cards?

Man, that is wicked fast!!

Motorola StarTAC -> Ericsson T28m -> Ericsson T39m -> Ericsson T68m -> Ericsson T610

If it still has the problem, then it is a problem with the ROM update or hardware. Contact palmOne support if this is the case, and they will take you through a few more steps then authorize a return for you.

This also implies that the ROMs are different.

It still seems to be a bug to me. My Palm is set to turn off after 2 minutes, at which point it applies the keylock. The AutoLock doesn't kick in til 30 minutes later. I'd understand if it locked (or even turned off) in the cradle after 30 minutes of inactivity - but my 30 minute AutoLock is turning it off after 2 (and still not locking the device until 30).

Not well thought out...

I also had some inconsistent results when security AutoLock was set for a couple of minutes and the AutoLock never activated occasionally when in the cradle. However it is worthwhile checking out at least.

I was planning on giving her my T|T. However, she used my T3 and fell in love, then promptly announced she did not want the T|T anymore! Fortunately I got a good price for the T|T which almost paid for the T3, so that helped minimize the financial damage.

We have tried BlueChat, but she liked the BlueBoard because her Graffiti skills are still being developed. Being able to commumicate silently is a bonus with a house full of kids. The BlueTooth games are kind of cool, and you don't have to line up the IR or even be in the same room (Biplane Ace, Pong2, Monopoly and RifleSLUGS-W). I'm sure the number of BT games will increase with most of the top end devices being BT equipped. I'm hoping that some those hi-res+ games will be useable on the T3 :)

Motorola StarTAC -> Ericsson T28m -> Ericsson T39m -> Ericsson T68m -> Ericsson T610

http://www.palmone.com/us/support/downloads/tungstent3/t3_update.html

NOTE : Incase you experience the same issue, or you have downloaded the above update after the date mentioned above, then please refer to the instructions listed below.

However, if you already have the revised version of the update, then, I would like to inform you that the T3Update.zip file contain 6 compressed files. There are application files for all types of Palm OS(R). If you are using an international or non-US or multilingual version of Palm OS, then you need to ensure that you have all the 6 files installed on the Palm handheld via Quick Install Tool of Palm Desktop software.

However, if you have a US or English version of Palm OS on your Palm handheld, then you will need to install the T3Update.prc and T3Update_enUS.prc files on your Palm handheld. If you attempt to install any of the other files, then the incorrect error message or the Tool not compatible on this device will occur.

You may verify if you have an international version of Palm OS loaded on your Palm handheld or not by performing a hard reset. After a hard reset, all international version of Palm handhelds will prompt you an option to select a language.
***

The trick for me was to load all the language files and then it worked - the test seems to be matching your old T3 ROM to the update files you have in RAM.

You can put the 15M download file on a card with McFile in Launcher on the card - do the reset on the T3 and copy the TT3Update and language files to Ram and go.

If you have had any problems on your T3 recently dont do a restore from backup as something in there is the problem - reload everything again.

Before the Update my T3 was "reliable" after I bit the bullet and reloaded everything to the T3 from scratch + dumped some problem favourites like Avant Go. By "reliable" I mean that I have BackupBuddy VFS 2.04 being able to do 100% Backups to a card (Fat16 formatted in the T3) with no problems and Restore fully on demand. - for my BBVFS restores to be trouble free I need to delete Datebook on the Ram (using McFile in Launcher on the SD256 card) before clicking Restore.

Most 3rd party software has not caught up with the T3. When they say OS5 compatable that does not mean "will cause no trouble on a T3". Look for the words "Tested on the T3". The only software giving me hard Resets recently is Documents to Go v6.002 and v6.005.

One trick with the T3 when hit with a Hard Reset Failure is you can hold the UP button when pushing Reset and go back to working for long enough to copy your latest data to the card before having to do the hard reset.

Buy a T3 Now! My choice is to pay a few more $ from a smaller local retailer who will respect your business and solve problems promptly.

Kind Regards,

Christopher Spera