PDA

...P>Simply put, Palm has hit a home run with the Tungsten C. The screen is beautiful, right on par with the Sony Clies and any of the Pocket PCs. Colors are bright and clear, text is crisp and clean on a bright white background -- it looks amazing.

Consider the 400Mhz processor, which zips through apps with blinding speed. Consider the 64MB ram, enough for apps, docs, pictures, just about everything I'd ever use this Palm for (and even if I run out of memory, the unit is upgradeable via the expansion slot, which accepts memory, application cards, etc.). Consider the built-in Wi-Fi, which worked automatically for me on my Linksys 802.11b home network -- super-fast browsing with a browser app that, in my opinion, outperforms the comparable Pocket Internet Explorer app that ships with PocketPCs. Consider the built-in keyboard, which feels and works great, with tactile response and easier thumb-typing than the comparably priced Sony models.

The unit comes loaded with excellent software, including Documents-To-Go, Palm Reader, Adobe Acrobat, Handmark Solitaire, and more. The new Palm OS 5.2.1, which includes a brand new preferences interface, allows you to apply themes to your screens, and makes everything much easier to access and customize.

I've owned earlier editions of Palm, and while I loved their simplicity and reliability, I always felt they came up short when compared with the Sonys and PocketPCs. No more. With a killer feature-set, an attractive form-factor, and across-the-board hardware and software upgrades, Palm should easily maintain its narrowing lead in the PDA market. The Tungsten C gives me the Palm simplicity I love, and the power I crave. I can't rate this unit highly enough.

All of the specs you can get from the other reviews and from Palms website directly. My post here is because I am a new owner of the Tungsten C. Ive had mine about a week now and I am really glad I got it.

THE GOOD: tons and tons of great apps and games for this! Some of them like billiards, megabowling, bejeweled, monopoly, pinball, GTS racing, mahjongg.. have high res graphics which make game play estounding! The wifi internet ability makes this palm a 10 star PDA. I can walk near my local apple store or stop into my local coffeehouse and check my email and pull up a website on this palm for free. This PDA will keep me VERY busy for hours on end when I travel on flights. I can even check email in airports too. Im writing a book right now and the built in keyboard is alot easier to type quickly then using graffiti feature. Its great to finally have this PDA to write my book, I no longer need to bring my laptop anywhere! As you can see im not a serious business PDA user but this will last me many years Im sure because it has all the features I want. I recently rode the new Pasadena-Los Angeles metro gold line subway and relaxed doing my Tungsten C.. played some games, replied to some emails, and checked my metro timetables stored as PDFs. Im set for the the future and beyond! (I cant wait until the software to make my Tungsten C a worldwide cellphone is released in September!)

The BAD: Palms website rarely works for me during Pacific daylight hours. The built-in palm web browser cant handle popup windows. In some ways thats good, in some ways its bad. The only other bad thing I can think of is people have complained here of the mono audio feature this palm has. I too think Palm either overlooked this feature on the most powerful PDA on the market or they ran out of room on the pda itself for the jack... or they just want you to go buy their new ones coming out a year later! I couldnt wait and Im glad I got this one NOW. I did fix the mono problem. I bought a $15 Nokia cellphone headset and cut the wire 3 inches above the mic. Then I got a nice set of walkman style stereo headphones and cut the end off. I soldered up the leads and now ive got a great set of headphones with mic for my palm. If you know how to solder its fairly easy to do. Just solder the ground leads together, then solder the mono lead to the two stereo leads and youve got mono piped into both headphone speakers. Finish it off with some black electrical tape. Do a great job and take your time and no one will ever know you spliced it! Its a 15 minute fix until Palm comes out with their own version.

Palm's update corrupts the MAC address and renders the WiFi functionality useless. Support does not respond to any of my requests. BUY SOMETHING ELSE!!!!