graffiti 1 on T5 + some rant

[Rebecca Cullen]

Finally I've got hold of T5 and the first thing I did was of course to install graffiti 1. And after the reset it locked up and refused to go beyond "palm powered" screen and I had to hard-reset. Now what I going to do? Stay in keyboard mode? I cannot use this G2 crap Heeeelp!

And I must say, apart from that, I am not impressed at all all. Screen quality is way below par - illumination is uneven, touchscreen sensitivity is also uneven. Multiple cosmitic bugs in a gaudy interface. And the way they've rendered the datebook hardware button useles no doubt is a strike of evil genius on MS payroll. It is now launcher or menu and cannot be remapped to anything else

Fortunately, I didn't foot the bill, and I still have my T3

 

[donut tribe]

When someone says "I don't like the T5," that's one thing. When someone that lists TEN PDAs culminating (pre T5) with a T3 says "I don't like it," I hate to say it but it sure makes me glad I stuck with the T3.

We've beaten the pros and cons to death but it sure sounds like a formidable effort to just MAKE THE THING WORK. This might have been the case with "the new Palm VII" or the "new 500 series;" it's unforgivable it happen after this much model experience at Palm/PalmOne.

I think the T5 will become the "Pet Rock" of the Palm line within a year - it'll be the "Oh, you got a new PINTO WAGON, huh?" What steams me is I've now WAITED TOO LONG to get a spare T3 (thought about it a month ago and should have acted IMMEDIATELY). Mine had better last or I'll try and dig one up somewhere. I'm sticking with T3/OS5 and have no idea what I'll do "after that."

Sorry for your trouble - and you didn't even list application conflicts - I don't buy it that "software developers should be required to fix the software to work on the T5." PalmOne made an inferior OS and product it failed to test properly and that requires fixes no previous Palm required.

 

[miiiikeee]

Some of my woes are actually caused by my long and vast palm experience Or rather by Palm's disregard of the existing palm users. Take graffiti, for example: they've developed G2 to avoid Xerox lawsuit and made it a bit easier to learn for new users. One may argue whether it is better than G1, but it is definitely different, so those who used palms for years suddenly found that their skills are out of date and they have to start learning once more. Is it a good thing to do to a loyal customer? And did palm reintroduce G1 after they've won the Xerox case? No - what for? Loyal customers will buy palms anyway, so why should we bother about their silly needs? Bastartds. The same applies to other changes like remapping hardware buttons - if T5 were my first palm I perhaps wouldn't be so negative - the've just broken too many good things at once. As a matter of fact T3 is not ideal either - I was not at all happy at the way the've rearranged the hardware buttons, but at least their functionality remained the same and they are fully customsizable.

But there are some objective faults too: screen IS unevenly illuminated, it has got a darker zone at the bottom - tried to fit large screen into the smallest case possiblle, no doubt, touchscreen sensitivity IS uneven and it feels all wrong. Flimsy and uncomfortable hotsync cable, always askew and cannot be attached properly, started getting problems with it from the very first day. Voice recorder, and what is even more important, voice recorder button are missing. Speaker is too quiet - again. The same old-fashioned flash card slot with a plug, not the nice spring-loaded cover like on Zires and T3. Even crappier cover - now it is of jet-black artifical leather of appallingly low quality unevenly sewn with light-gray thread - and this is a top model?

There are some good things in T5 - like it can act as a USB storage device without any software (but I've already bought CardExport...) and they've made a nice stylus slot - feels like m5xx series, slides in almost without a resistance and then locks. Idea with a built-in flash memory isn't bad either, but it is not enough... Every new palm had some small faults, but still every new palm made me happier - until T5. This one I will not use and hope for better things to come.