Walter Mossberg Wall Street Journal
December 30, 2002
In the world of personal digital assistants, most of the
attention has been on models that can connect wirelessly to the
Internet or double as a cell phone. But this fall, there's good news
for people who just want to use a PDA to link to their PCs, not to
the wider world.
Two new models, from Dell and Palm, are breaking new ground. But
these two new PDAs, Dell's Axim X5 and Palm's Tungsten T, are
diametric opposites.
The Dell, at just $199, is the least expensive PDA ever to use
Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system, and it is full-featured and
very capable. But it is so big and bulky that you can't carry it in
a pocket or small purse comfortably.
By contrast, the Palm is sleek, small and handsome, with a clever
expandable design, plenty of power and a bunch of innovative
features. But at $499, it is high-priced for a non-Internet model.
I've been testing both models, and both work generally well. I
still prefer the Palm operating system, with its clean, elegant user
interface, to the Pocket PC system, which I find too cluttered with
long menus and file folders. But both of these products will keep
your calendar, contact list, memos and to-do lists quite well, and
both synchronize fine with a computer.
For those who are attracted to the Pocket PC, the new Dell Axim 5
is a rare bargain--as long as you are willing to carry your PDA in a
briefcase or large purse. At $199, the Axim offers pretty much the
same PDA feature set sold for $500 or $600 18 months ago.
Axim has two models. The $199 base model has a sharp, color
screen with 240-by-320 pixel resolution, 32 megabytes of memory and
a processor running at 300 MHz. There is no cradle for
synchronization and battery recharging. Instead, you have to use two
clumsy cables. The $299 model has twice the memory, a 400 MHz
processor and a cradle.
There are two expansion slots--one for compact flash cards and
one for the newer, smaller Secure Digital cards. And its
rechargeable battery is removable.
But it's big. It's more than 5 inches long, 3.2 inches wide and
about 0.7 inches thick. It weighs 6.9 ounces, a lot for a PDA. Even
the charging cradle is very large.There are a couple of other
downsides--a jog dial on the side is flimsy, and so is the stylus.
Pocket PC fans who crave a modest price but seek a smaller device
might want to wait until January for the Hewlett-Packard Ipaq h1910,
a $299 model with 64 megabytes of memory that is very thin and
light.
Palm's Tungsten T is the best-looking new Palm I've seen in a
long time. Its dark-gray metallic case is very short, at just four
inches.
The Tungsten is three inches wide, 0.6 inches thick and weighs
5.6 ounces. It easily fits in a pocket or small purse and feels very
sturdy. As on other recent Palms, there's an expansion slot that
accepts SD cards.
The Tungsten is the first Palm to use the new, more capable 5.0
operating system and a new, faster line of processors. It also has a
new 320-by-320 pixel high-resolution screen, which allows for better
color, much sharper text and much more detailed graphics. The unit
has 16 megabytes of memory, plenty for a Palm.
A couple of the Tungsten's new features are catch-ups to the
Pocket PCs: a five-way navigation control that replaces the up and
down arrow keys, and a microphone and speaker for dictating and
listening to voice memos.
Unlike the Dell, this new Palm is compatible with the Macintosh
as well as Windows and can synchronize with a variety of PC
programs.
The Tungsten comes with a cradle, but it's Palm's universal
version, meant to fit a variety of models, and I found it to be a
clumsy fit with the Tungsten.
The biggest downside for the Tungsten is its $499 price. This is
what top-of-the-line, non-Internet Palms cost years ago. Such a
price tag is hard to swallow today.
For those with deep pockets who value style and compactness, the
Palm Tungsten T might be just the ticket. For those with tight
budgets who don't mind bulk and a more complex software interface,
the Dell Axim is the better deal.
Wall Street Journal
(C) 2002 Chicago Sun-Times. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved
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