Comments on: Rumor: Tungsten T5 Spotted in Retail Database

atleast 520Mhz
Flash ROM available
Bluetooth v1.2
Will have UC and mUSB

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Generic PDA > 5mx > Vx > m505 > N770C > T625C > NR70V > e310 > m550 > h2210 > T/T3 & h4150
StarTac > T28m > T39m > T68m > T610 > T630 > K700i (nxt week)

I keep hearing about the "athena" conector. Exactly what does this thing bring to the table & how is it better than the UC, notwithstanding $ale$ of new accessories for P1? Is is a mini-usb = others?

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

"So that just leaves serial communications out of the picture for industrial/testing/hobbyist applications."

And everyone in the telcomm industry that uses rs232 on their Palm on a regular basis. The sell apps and accessories dedicated to this function. I'll seriously have to think about this one, as it will mean I go back to lugging my laptop around again for network configurations... or NOT buy the T5.

The GPS ad probably confirms that the T5 probably has UC or miniUSB since the GPS unit comes with interchangeable power connection tips for T3 and Zire 72.

Anyway I was just thinking, the speculation that the T5 would have a new connector was based purely on the reason that there is a new cradle and portable charger. What if the portable charger and cradle are actually the new interchangeable kinds where users can remove the power tip.

Also redesigning the cradle is normal. Look at Sony and HP. Almost all their models uses the same serial connectors but for every model there is a new cradle. And who knows, its possible the T5 would have removable battery hence a redesigned cradle to accomodate a spare battery.

I have to add that this are just my speculations.

Generic PDA > 5mx > Vx > m505 > N770C > T625C > NR70V > e310 > m550 > h2210 > T/T3 & h4150
StarTac > T28m > T39m > T68m > T610 > T630 > K700i

"there are both IrDa-to-serial and Bluetooth-to-serial adapters available. Some seem not much larger than a folded serial cable"

Sounds great if they will fit in my back pocket and work with "Online", the app I use for that type of work. The BT verson would be way cool, as most of the routers and switches I work with have the console port on the back, making line-of-sight for IR difficult. Have any links?

At least two independant sources leaked pictures at the end of August. See http://www.brighthand.com/articles/pictures.php?imageURL=palmOne_T5_RU_Co_L.jpg

I love it when somebody "debunks" photos that turn out to be the real thing.

Can't wait to see if this is the exception.

______________________________
An armed society is a polite society.

I would have already bought a Zire 72 if it only had included soft graffiti. As it is, I bought a Zire 71 for only $118 after the Zire 72 was as good as shipping and there is so little advance in the 72 over the 71 I can wait until next February for a $118 Zire 72. There will be lots of them leftover. I expect to see Plam drop the regular price to $250 soon and even that won't make it a best seller this Christmas.

I am with you on the whole Palm marketing folly. PPCs may be boring, but at least they know how to make full featured model after full featured model for about the price of a feature curtailed PalmOne TE. This may be changing as HP shows a terrible lineup for this season-- $279 for a PPC with 25 MB of RAM! Are you CRAZY, HP? I hope PalmOne goes the extra mile to gain back some sales momentum.

you can't get it all BT WiFi.. and ask for a device that costs 400$ so i guess it's allright to leave the WiFi out as long as they give 2 SD slots!!!! (one slot to put the wifi sd card in)

Don't really care bout WiFi either. By the time wireless hotspots become common it would be 2006. Only then will WiFi (or WiMAX) become mandatory.

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Generic PDA > 5mx > Vx > m505 > N770C > T625C > NR70V > e310 > m550 > h2210 > T/T3 & h4150
StarTac > T28m > T39m > T68m > T610 > T630 > K700i (nxt week)

you can't get it all BT WiFi.. and ask for a device that costs 400$

Of course you can. Dell and HP both have dual wireless units for under $400, and dual wireless Dells sell for $250 or less. To say that PalmOne can't build a dual wireless unit for under $400 is lowing the bar to a ludicrous extent. PalmOne needs to face tougher expectations, rather than have people praise them for just showing up.

Dell has far, far greater leverage from suppliers than P1 does. They can really put the squeeze on the industry to meet certain price points.

PalmOne sold 950,000 units in the second quarter, Dell sold 150,000. If PalmOne can't get a better deal on handheld parts, they need to seriously reconsider how they do business.

Dell's prices also fluctuate regularly since they sell direct and adjust to market conditions. P1's products are generally purchased at retail so there's some markup there as well.

$150 worth of markup? I don't think so. Even if there were, there's nothing stopping them from selling them lower online.

By all indications, Dell's quality for handhels may be even lower than Palm's/P1's has been lately.

Not in my experience. I've had all three high-end Dells, plus the Tungsten E, Zire 71, and Zire 72. I've never felt like the Dells were lower quality, and I've never had defectivity problems with them. In fact, I've found them to be consistently reliable and well built.

Also, keep in mind that Dell can afford to subsidize their PDAs

Dell doesn't subsidize their handhelds, they make a solid profit off them. More profit, as a percentage of price, than they make off their desktop sales.

Basically, P1 has determined that dual wireless is still not yet "crucial" and has some sort of evangelistic favoritism towards BT over wi-fi (and battery life concerns as well). I think it'll take them until spring '05 at the earliest to intro a dual wireless model.

I hope they don't take that long, because if they do they're dead. Just getting WiFi into a few models would help, since PalmOne is completely missing the boat on the huge adoption of WiFi. But dual wireless is very neccessary. It's getting closer to being an entry level feature, and once wireless internet becomes standard I doubt that most buyers would find an unconnected Palm very appealing.

Yeah, what he said.

I think the WIFI can wait untill there is a real need for it and the product has the specs to take advantage of the potential..
Whats the point of WIFI browsing on a miserable small screen
I see the real need now is to move to the brighter thinner OLED screens that Sony has developed. I'm not buying a new PDA untill Palm has an OLED model to offer. OLED is the future in PDA screen technology.

I think the WIFI can wait untill there is a real need for it and the product has the specs to take advantage of the potential..
Whats the point of WIFI browsing on a miserable small screen

There's been a real need for it for years. WiFi is incredibly popular all over the U.S. and elsewhere, with millions upon millions of access points in homes, businesses, and hotspots. And, besides web browsing, there's email, IM, streaming media, network access, and dozens of other things that you can do with WiFi quite comfortably even if you don't like web browsing. To not have WiFi would be inexcusable.

I see the real need now is to move to the brighter thinner OLED screens that Sony has developed. I'm not buying a new PDA untill Palm has an OLED model to offer. OLED is the future in PDA screen technology.

OLEDs aren't really that good. Sure, they're bright and thin, but they die after a few years of heavy use and are difficult bordering on impossible to see outdoors. Their benefits don't really outweigh the disadvantages.

Yeah, what he said again.

Gekko: that is exactly why I want a built-in wifi in my next Palm....so I can go online on-the-go. I don't want to fool with a wifi card that could get broken or lost (not to mention the extra cost of the card). If the T5 doesn't have wifi built-in, I won't buy it.

_________________________
Lord, help me become the person my dog thinks I am!

I would say it's quite natural for humans to speculate and have opinions. We have current wants and a future focus. You may have saintly patience beyond most, but I don't. I've been waiting for this October since January, consuming every bit of rumor I can get my hands on.

I personally like substantiated rumor more than the baseless variety, and I think the jury's still out the inclusion of WiFi. I'm ambivalent about it, because I've already invested in Bluetooth, and am afraid that most would be unhappy with the battery life of a WiFi T5 -- I'd rather have built in low power GPRS so I could get ride of my Blackberry. But I wouldn't want to sacrifice my 360x480 screen for a Treo 650.

That's my point. We all have our own needs. A PDA doesn't need to be a religion, and differing opinions don't need to be ridiculed. =)

The city I live in has put in free Wi-Fi coverage downtown that covers 100 city blocks, including a major park. Wi-Fi is currently the future, and is rapidly becoming ubiquitous in businesses, homes, and public areas within the United States and elsewhere. Personally, I would rather connect to check my email via Wi-Fi than with my phone. The connection is generally faster, and I don't have to punch number pad keys to type out a message.

http://www.spokanehotzone.com/

_________________
Sean

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

I am a computer consultant who often works for weeks at a time in a hotel conference room or customer location far away from home. Many times I am pulled into another room where it is inconvenient or impossible to use a notebook computer. The Palm is truly essential there and I have come to depend on it.

However wi-fi is our standard in situations like this, and has been the one thing missing from the Palm. On my next trip I WILL be taking a handheld with wi-fi, even if that means buying my first Pocket PC.

As an owner of a Dell X30 that switched from a T|T and a long time Palm user I can say say there is not much to miss from switching to PPC.

Most of the major apps work the same and web browsing over Wi-Fi is a much better experience.

So far I have been very happy with the switch.

Cheers,

I have to agree with Alric. Since switching to PPC I have come to realize that waiting for Palm to build the PDA I want - and most importantly, NEED, is something I just can't afford to wait to do. I know many of you consider Pocket PC's to be the bane of humanity, but apart from hatred for Microsoft (which I must confess, I have little love for them either and I certainly deplore some of their tactics) that most of the reasons cited for hating them (if indeed, any reasons are even cited) come from outdated ideas (comparing a T3 to an old Palm Size Casio E10 is not an apt comparison!) or from people who either haven't given the platform a chance or haven't used it at all.
I certainly am not trying to start a flame war (though I'm sure I will get some venom-filled responses) but listening to people complain and complain about how they want this or that and Palm appears to either not listen, not think it's worth it, or just plain don't care. Buying from a competing product line will either get them to care and build some PDA's I need, or else they'll lose my business permanently. (Yes, I know some of you are saying "Fine, go to the dark side, we won't miss you!" and that's what is most upsetting - I used to be one of you, and now because I switched to an iPAQ (current model is a 4150), I am now evil, a traitor, etc. Seriosuly, some people are that fanatical!
Anyway, being a long time Palm user - and a Pocket PC user - I can honestly say I have used both platforms in detail, and both have weaknesses and strengths. If anyone wants to know something about either platform and a FAIR comparison, let me know, I will not mislead anyone. And I also will not stick with a platform for the sake of...what? I'll go with whatever works best for me, be that Palm, Pocket PC, Newton (RIP), or something else. :-)

NEWTON - I think many of us would like to see a "pros vs. cons" outline from an unbiased long-term user like yourself of both platforms. Please post your thoughts here or in the forums or elsewhere - we'd love to hear them.

THANKS.

>>>I can honestly say I have used both platforms in detail

So have I. I'm sticking with PalmOS.

Unless Symbian comes along in a PDA... (hear THAT, p1?).

Tom B - you (or anyone) can email me at NewtonDKC@@msn.com (remove the double @ - used to prevent grabbing my address easily by spammers). :-)

Gekko - I'd love to do a fair, unbiased comparison of the 2 platforms, but I don't want to seem like I'm trying to convince Palm users to buy a Pocket PC (not at all - just want to make sure people are informed with true information that isn't biased - and given the real facts and user preferences for what they need, this could lead to either type of device).

I'll be the first to admit that I can be extremely wordy - I like to include lots of details. :-) And I've always said if I was buying a PDA for Mom, I'd get her a Palm, a PDA for my tech saavy best friend, would be a Pocket PC. So even now I don't lean toward one platform or the other exclusively, but rather dependent on what the target audiences' needs and goals. Obviously anything that's subjective would be my opinion, but anything factual I will try to be factual!

Since PIC is Palm-oriented, I'd think something like this might be better for a site like Brighthand that features both platforms equally. Or maybe I could write it up and email it to anyone who asks? I don't, what does everyone think?

One thing that always annoys when I read message boards is when someone says "You can do by step 1-2-3 on Palm but it takes twice as many steps ona Pocket PC" or "You can do this on the Pocket PC but the Palm simply can't handle this or is too simplistic to do this, etc". Oftentimes, comparisons are made with a current model on one side - compared to an old model (or rather an older version of the OS) on the other. Obviously Palm OS 3.0 - despite being a solid OS - is not goingt o come out looking good against Pocket PC 2003 Second Edition. Secondly, comparing Palm OS 5 to Windows CE 2.1 is going to have a similar "unfairness" about it. But people do comaprisons like this in a lot of posts.

Also, I do not have a Pocket PC phone edition device, nor have I used a Treo. So my comparison would be PDA-centric, and not of converged devices of either platform (though I think it'd be great if someone who had both platforms and - in all honesty - used them both an equal amount could give a comparison of those as well. Heck, maybe it could star a whole series of editorial reviews - not a "Platform A is better than Platform B", but just a simple comparison of how a particular task or activity is done on each platform, and let the user decide which way is easier or sounds better. I tend not to like the "Palm vs. Pocket PC" articles, because there's always a loser, and it's usually the platform that the host site/magazine/etc isn't running or sponsoring. :-)

So how about we start of with questions? Anybody want to ask a real world question, like "How do I set an appointment on a Pocket PC and how do I so that on a Palm?" Or that sort of thing. For devices I actually have, I'll use the iPAQ 4150, and the Palm Zire 72, both being midrange devices. What does everyone think about that format to start?

I just feel the need to say this....

If the T5 appears & is missing wi-fi, then I think PalmOne will have shot themself in the foot.

It seems to me that quite a few loyal Palm users have been waiting & waiting for a good PDA with wi-fi. I'm still stuck on my Vx - hoping that PalmOne will release such a machine.

I've been watching the PPC's come out with bluetooth & wi-fi for over a year now, thinking that PalmOne will certainly have to compete. I really don't want a PPC - but if the T5 appears wi-fi less, then I & quite a few others will jump ship to PPC.

T5 with wi-fi - :-)
T5 without wi-fi - bye PalmOne, hello Billy Gates.

WIFI SD Card Disadvantages:

1. Extra Cost. ($400+$130=$530)
2. Klunky - Extra Piece to Lose/Remember/Store/Carry/Break.
3. Takes up Existing SD Slot.
4. Vulnerable to Damage - Sticks out of Device.
5. SDIO Bottleneck means slower SD WIFI vs. Built-In WIFI.
6. SDIO WIFI sucks up battery power faster vs. Built-In WIFI.
6. Buyer Fool-Factor considering PPC has had built-in for 1+ year at cheaper total cost.

Did I miss anything?

Yea, I would guess you'd only get about 3 or 4 taser hits before you'd have to recharge.

No builtin Wifi is a stupid omission. Wifi is not only immensely popular in USA but in Europe and Asia-Pacific.
If they think after spending $400 for the T5 people will readily spend another 100+ for a Wifi card, think again palmOne..
What, no model with dual wireless? What is palmONe thinking?
PPC and Sony have had this for a long time now.
I predict palmOne will lose even more market share as a result of this. If they think the smartphone way is the only way to go - think again.
Looks like palmOne will go the way of Handspring and will be swallowed up by someone else.

T3 user

I'd be surprised not to see BT.

And if the battery life has be significantly increased, then Wi-Fi could be a real possibility rather than a liability. I have no need for it, but if it didn't suck the life out of a battery in mere minutes, it could be fun.

I'd still like to see a very basic unit built on the V/Vx form factor. No wireless except via an SD slot, a color screen with decent resolution, and exceptional battery life.

Maybe rework the m515 to be a bit more svelte, or just update the m515 a little.

My T3, in a case, feels like a PPC in my pocket. I can carry a PPK with more concealibility.

But can't wait to see what this T5 brings.

______________________________
An armed society is a polite society.

Speaking on behalf of all us "third worlders" and those of us that were in Hurricane Ivan's path, that wasn't quite politically correct, Mike. You're a poster with a lot of status on the forum. Provide a better example for other posters, and try to keep these kinds of inflammatory quips in check please.

===

-P-A-T-C-H-W-O-R-K-
A Trini Palm Nut
III - IIIe - IIIx - M500 - T|T - ??

Come visit Trinidad & Tobago at
http://www.visittnt.com
http://www.triniscene.com

It's no mistake that a manufacturer can request temporary confidentality on certain aspects of a particular product in order to prevent spoiling the consumer because a new policy permits manufacturers to request temporary confidentiality on certain aspects of the recently approved product until a certain date so that the consumers would not blow off the product.

This happened when the Motorola i860 was first approved, and I'm expecting PalmOne and other handheld makers to follow suit on future approvals.

Intel PXA27X, Motorola's ARM Processor, or Texas Instruments OMAP? Pick one Palm Enthusiasts, the choice should be yours. When handheld makers make you choose the ARM Processor, you win.

Just ignore Mike. He is a racist, as demonstrated in other non-PDA related posts. e.g. He said something like "The people in Bangladesh can't even afford PDA's, so what would they know of it?" ---- Mike said referring to PalmOne's support perhaps being in Bangladesh.

Don't get me wrong, he has an extraordinary insight about the PDA world, and I find his articles interesting, although his obsession with the T5 is like a schizo on drugs, but all that becomes irrelevant when he makes non-PDA comments.

You have the right to feel offended about his comment referring to the carribean as third world.

>>>Just ignore Mike. He is a racist

Oh, look who's back. The libelous creep who was previously banned from PIC. Please send me your address. I have a lawyer who wishes to speak to YOUR lawyer.

I understand that if P1 thinks Sony, and not HP, is their main competitor then they deserve to be put out of business.

How's this for competition?:

Dell X50
WIFI (802.11g possibly)
Bluetooth
3.7-inch VGA screen
624MHz processor
Marathon 2700g graphics processor
128MB RAM
64MB ROM
Removable Battery
CompactFlash slot
SD card slot
iPAQ 4155 Form Factor
$400-$500 MSRP
October/November 2004

All the Palm apologists can pooh-pooh Dell/PocketPC/MSFT all they want but the waves keep getting bigger and the tsunami is still coming.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." - Sun Tzu, The Art of War

AS a person who has both a Palm and a PPC, you aren't missing much. The ability of having dual wireless and the option of Graffiti are really the only benefits that I have found. Outlook is a ton better, just still doesn't do all that you will want to do without adding another program. WOrd and Excel suck, Documents to Go is so so much better for the simple fact that you can use regular doc without changing the format. PPC will change to format to a Pocket Word format. If you really want a PPC, I would hold off unless you need something from the hardware side that you cannot get from a PalmOS device. The simplicity of use for the operating system makes PalmOS more favorable to me.

As for competition leaving, yea Sony is gone. But if P1 doesn't see that the normal consumer sees them next to Dell and HP, P1 will have missed the boat. I think that they will be fine. Of course p1 doesn't have the financial muscle to make 2 goood and 4 bad devices per model turnover. They have to make good models everytime. I think that they are willing to take a chance, just only a calculated one that will keep their bottom line growing, not so much the power user wish list full.

antoinerjwright.com

I agree with twizza, PPC is much more complicated to use (I have a PPC(My dad's) and a Palm) that's the only thing that is really keeping me from getting a PPC is the fact that it is much more complicated, for example brightness is a simple click on PalmOne's and on PPC you have to click start, settings, then one of the tabs in the settings (forgot which one) then screen, then screen brightness.

Don't forget about the Tapwave Zodiac:
- Large capacity battery
- 3.8" 480x320 screen
- Bluetooth
- Dual SD slots (one SDIO)
- Yamaha sound chip
- ATI 2D graphics accelerator
- Gaming-friendly controls/buttons including analog controller
- Built-in flip-cover
- $299 for 32MB (Z1) or $399 for 128MB (Z2)

Come on in...the water's fine. ;)

http://Tapland.com
- Tapwave Zodiac News, Reviews, & Discussion -

Patrick has it right in my opinion. HP and Dell are the competition. Dell is not offering much price/feature competition with their latest offerings. ($279 for 25 MB of RAM, come ON HP!) But, Dell is kicking the competition all over the field price-wise.
I see it is much easier to adjust the brightness with the built-in OS on the PPC than on a PalmOne, but I need to go through several hoops to shut off the sound on my Zire 71 while it was right on the bottom of every screen with one tap on my ancient Ipaq. This can be fixed with utilities on both systems, but the Palm OS is not made for such utilites and they cause trouble. The PPC OS has trouble enough without such utilities so they only make an unstable environment a little more unstable.
Anyway, I won't likely see a PalmOne model I am interested in until next Spring. Too bad, that. If I see a Asus 730 for less than $400 that would tempt me far more than a T5 with these current specs.

I’m not sure one could assume that Palm are getting lazy as a result of Sony’s departure. I believe all of their product releases over the last couple of years have been calculated market assaults – perhaps some have been unsuccessful or ill-timed, but surely none have be the result of complacency. At present, there is strong opposition and Palm shares have suffered the odd buffeting.

Competition does not mean identical OS. From my vague recollection of marketing, competition can take the form of ‘apples for apples products’, substitution products, internal staff potentially breaking off and doing their own thing (as we have seen), as well as customers just losing interest.

Therefore, one can only assume that the T5 (and the Treo 650) will be Palm’s best shot at combating existing and emerging threats. We’ll see whether their bet pays off.

T3 is dual-wireless - IrDA and Bluetooth

But I know you meant tri-wireless ;)

Generic PDA > 5mx > Vx > m505 > N770C > T625C > NR70V > e310 > m550 > h2210 > T/T3 & h4150
StarTac > T28m > T39m > T68m > T610 > T630 > K700i

Test beta photos?

You mean the fakes?

I dunno about the deafening silence part, and I'm not sure I actually agree with that -- DTG 7 wasn't that long ago -- but I really have never understood this "Software in the box" mentality. You see it regularly in hardware reviews where a product gets dinged because it doesn't include something "in the box".

Frankly, buyers of sophisticated products like a top-of-the-line Tungsten really ought not to care so much what software is in the box. What they should care about it the total cost of ownership for the device, accessories, and all the software they need.

This is what is making the (conjectured) T5 so unappealing to me -- I have a whack of accessories that won't work with it. Also, if it is indeed Cobalt, I suspect that a lot of the software titles I own will need updates to them before they work correctly as well, especially the ones which hook themselves into the OS (like snapCalc5).

Patrick, do note that I didn't say I was sitting here evangelicizing the T5 by any means. I'll still be very miffed if the UC is not present on the O5 (a likely scenario) as it was barely around for 2 years in "newly released" Palm handhelds. I also think that for $400 nowadays, a top-of-the-line handheld had better make as few compromises as possible hardware-wise. That said, P1 still knows better than anyone else that the vast majority of "PDA PIM" users never install any apps onto their handhelds other than perhaps a game or two. Even fewer buy downloadable software (as oppposed to freeware and crippled demoware) and fewer yet upgrade to "premium" or newer versions of apps included in the handheld's original retail bundle. That's why they need to make a strong impression with the OOTB bundle to impress:

A. Non-hardcore users (pretty much anyone who doesn't read PIC/Brighthand
B. Journalists & magazine reviewers who spend a few hours with a product that are reviewing then send it back out

So, do bear in mind that while I think the T5 will be rather underwhelming, it's still better to have a $400 handheld with underwhelming hardware and a strong bundle than the same $400 model with a bunch of obsolete shovelware tossed onto a CD. If you don't like Kinoma or whatever else, you can always delete it from flash.

Yes, the rumor was definitely Flash ROM. It is being used as a RAM replacement it sounds like, no real RAM at all. The flash fills the traditional function of ROM (storing constant data), along with the function of RAM (stores rapidly changing data). Supposedly this would give longer battery life since no RAM needs to be refreshed.

Or maybe it will -- urg -- have a special "multimedia" RAM like the CLIE UX? I hope not...

Imagine all those palmOne employees reading these speculations. I wonder if they have a betting pool going on who's the most wrong and right?

Hey, put me down in the Most Frustrated category!

What I meant to say in my last comment is "256 meg of flash dedicated as ROM, for running programs only would be useless". People have that much data but not that many programs.

Well, is this good or not good? Will it impact speed? How long will it take me to open SmartDOC with a few hundred files on this (*1 second* on the TE! -- 4-6 seconds on my S320!).

I'm all for keeping that battery going as long as possible (God knows the TE needs better battery life!!), but at the cost of speed? That's a Hobson's Choice!

>>>Also, if I were Mike Cane, I would also suspect that this could be deliberate dis-information put out by P1 to make us THINK that there will be no slider...but no, this way leads to madness..

I think there *has* been disinfo put out, but none of us will know for sure until the Big Unveiling (oh, is the word "unveiling" now anti-PC, anti-Muslim?). (GOOD!)

If the T5 wont come with a screen larger than 320x320, or a DIA. Screw it, I'll wait for the succesor of the Zire 72(However long). The rumored Treo 650 is a capable candidate too.

Yes, hello, the literature originated in ENGLAND. Why can't this be from palmOne's British office?

Don't you recall the first believable info on the last new Zire came from SPAIN?

And people claim *I* am Amerocentric?

From PDA247's forum re the T5- "The slides are real and so are the specs and the photos. I've held the T5 in my hand two weeks ago (under strict NDA, so please don't expose my e-mail) and all the features mentioned are correct. The button for the Files access is also there; it's a shortcut to a very well laid out file manager. The Disk Use mode is really nice .. the model I had in my hands had Tomtom maps stored on the flash drive. The Manual pic with the T|T3 photo in slide 3 just proves that marketing peeps are lazy and don't want to work any harder than necesseary."

http://tinyurl.com/6uzac

I think it's real. And the lack of *Foo* screaming "Fake!" here is verrry interesting. Could he be busy playing with that filesystem? Hmmm....

Start cashing in those plastic bottles and aluminum cans, kiddies! Ha!

It's a fake made by a PPC-boy. Period!

If that piece of shiit is the T5, PalmOne is in big trouble. People are "silent" about it because it's so bad it either has to fake or just a really shiitty device in terms of specs.

MikeCon - Please get this straight - I could care less whose name is on the product. I have no emotional attachment to either Palm, Dell, MSFT, Intel, etc. I just want to buy the best, highest value product offered.

This alleged "T5" is so underwhelming and so unimpressive that it warrants little discussion. Hence, few here are commenting on it. It's a glorified TE. If this is what these numbskulls at PalmOne are sending out as their flagship, they deserve to go bankrupt. This alleged "T5" would be an insult to our intelligence.

If this IS the real deal then I'm as disappointed as I have ever been with Palm/P1. This is right up there with my "barely incremental" upgrade disappointment from m505 to m515.

If this T|E2 masquerading as a T5 is indeed their only new fall handheld as well as the new flagship model then it's really looking grim for P1. They are putting too much faith on the Treo line and leaving the PDAs out to rot.

Say what you will, at least Palm gambled with the slider 2 years ago and tried to milk it as long as possible with mixed results. It's not that I have a problem with the specs of the model that's just been leaked. I just have a problem with trying to make it a line-topping model, with the confusing nomenclature (it should be a T|E2 and nothing more), lack of voice recording, and the utter absence of a wi-fi enabled successor to the T|C so far.

The T3 is so close to perfection IMHO that losing the slider, switching to the Treo's d-pad, changing to OS6 and sticking in a bigger battery would make for a perfect unit. I'd rather see a refreshed T3 anyday (slider or not) than this halfhearted T5.

I don't know why a fake would post something so underwhelming, unless they hate Palm. This is basically just a T3 with flash and no slider.

The screen is the same. The processor is the same, 412 vs. 400 MHz xscale. It is really just two flavors of the same thing, do you want a slider or not?

I guess if this has cobalt that might be a reason to buy it.

did you notice that there are 3 pictures? did you notice that the 3rd pic shows a different palm then the 1st pic?????
come on fakers... at least try to make it look real...

1. I don't care that much for the TE.
2. I like the flash idea too.
3. I like external drive mounting. You can do that with an expansion card now using CardExport2, but not with the device itself unless you setup a RAM Disc.
4. 256Mb: gimmie!
5. I LIKE the springy thingie! (will I get in trouble for that?)
6. Thickness, yes, length, no.

Nobody seems to notice;

7. The speaker is on the back!

With the T3, you could prop it on its side with the speaker pointing right at you. The days of setting up an instant drive-in on your dash are over.

http://theforbidden-zone.com/sounds/youmaniacs.wav

MikeCon - the thought of you in a public library where small children might be scares me.

If it is a hoax, then it deserves to not be believed.
If it not a hoax, then perhaps it is even more unbelievable, at least to me.

This T5 is so disappointing it's hard to know where to begin.

Flash RAM? So you don't lose any data when your battery dies??? Gee, that happens to me just about every day. Sure.

Mounting the Palm as a drive or two? CardExport anyone? SyncWizard?? What a fabulous advance that one is.

Lots of RAM? That must have added, oh, what? $5-$10 to the cost? We only think this is great because Palm has heretofore been so miserly with memory. This could have been done ages ago (the RAM limit bug in PalmOS notwithstanding).

A T|E frame? Has anyone compared the hardware of the T|E, particularly the hardware buttons and D-Pad, to those on the T|T series? The T|T quality is *significantly* higher, IMHO.

With the m515, with the Tungsten|T, with the Tungsten|T3, each time when I read about the specs, when I held the device in my hand the first time, my heart beat a little faster and I looked forward to the time when I could possess it.

All I feel for this purported T5, alas, is contempt.

If this thing costs $400 and is not only devoid of the UC but missing a cradle in the box.....oh man, it's gonna be a dark day in the P1 world when this thing is unleashed.

I really wish that the drive mounting feature would/could somehow be a part of any UC-enabled model seated in the cradle.