Nice tool business and pleasure

INTRODUCTION
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I'm astonished that only 5 reviews had been written on this device, since it has been around for over a year and seems to be pretty popular. But since so few have taken the opportunity to write it up, I will share my thoughts on the T5.

I have owned my T5 for a little over a year now, and have come to regard it is an essential business tool as well as a fun device to have on hand when I'm away from the office. I should reveal up front that while I have played around with my friends' PDAs in the past, the T5 is the first one I have owned and used frequently enough to form any real opinions on. So I cannot really compare it to other units - only comment on its features and performance as I have experienced them.


WHAT YOU GET - AND WHAT YOU NEED
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My T5 came with a leather case, one stylus, a USB sync/charge cable, and a CD with the software needed to interface the unit to my Windows PC. Because of the particular offer that was in effect at the time I purchased the unit, I also got an infrared keyboard.

The "case," is a single piece of leather which clips onto the T5 and swings forward to protect the screen when it is not being used. It is a pain to install or uninstall, doesn't do anything to protect the unit from damage (aside for the screen), and in fact can make it difficult to use some of the T5's functions. My advise would be to throw it away and drop an extra 40 or so for a padded case for the device. You'll be glad you did.

The USB sync/charge cable works well, but if you're like me, you will want to be able to look at the T5's screen while it is connected to the computer. If so, you will want a dock. The OEM docks are ridiculously priced, IMHO (like most of the OEM peripherals) so you might want to shop around on Ebay for a better price.

You will definitely want a SD memory card. Get the largest one you can afford, at least 256 MB, because as you find more and more uses for this device, the devices internal memory will get filled fairly quickly. Fortunately memory cards are cheap these days, so you can always get another one if you need it.

As for the infrared keyboard, I would not pay good money for it. It is a clumsy device, and will only work when there is a fdirect line of sight between it and the T5. Which means standing the T5 up like a manuscript on top of the keyboard. I found it easier to learn the T5's "graffiti 2" script for entering text by hand than to deal with the keyboard, although I suppose if you are relatively stationary and entering a lot of data, it might be useful.

The other peripheral which may come in handy is the Palm WiFi card to allow you to connect to a wireless network (bluetooth is built into the T5, and requires no add-on hardware). This card works fine, but at a hundred bucks is a pricy add-on unless you plan to use it regularly.

And, of course, stock up on extra styluses and screen protectors...you'll need em.


HOW IT WORKS
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In a word, "well."

The T5 excells as a portable device for running standard business applications. The version of DocumentsToGo which comes bundled with it does an excellent job of letting you work with Microsoft Office files, and the bundled email and web clients are quite good, if you have bluetooth or wifi connection to the Internet. The absence of an instant messaging client is a disappointment - you must download the AIM client or one of the other thrid-party clients to chat, and none of those clients are free.

Playback of multimedia files is surprisingly good. The bundled RealPlayer plays back most standaed audio formats as well as avi format video. You will need to download a third-party app if you wish to view video in other formats, but given the memory and storage size restraints of the T5, it is unlikely you will want to use it to watch feature length presentations anyway. I have run into occasional glitches during playback of long video files, where the slider bar does not accurately reflect where in the clip you are, and does not allow you to accurate select a place in the video. This is annoying, but not the end of the world.
if you are a fan of audio books, there is a version of audible.com's player available for the T5, which does a good job. One word of warning - if you plan to do much listening, do yourself a favor and get some decent headphones. The speakers on the T5 are small, tinny, and reduce your battery life by quite a bit.

Speaking of which, how long IS that battery life? Of course, that depends on how much you are using the device and what you are doing with it. Use of the T5's beaming functionality, playback of multimedia (especially audio) files, use of Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi will all drain your battery quite quickly. That said, I generally plug my T5 in to charge when I get to the office, use it an average of 2-3 hours a day, and rarely come close to killing the battery. Back before I got the cradle so it could charge at work, I generally got 2 days between charges, which amounts to about 5 hours actual use. Some folks I knopw have gotten a lot less, other quite a bit more. If it worries you, there are third-party emergency chargers available which plug into your T5 and a 9-volt battery, and give you access to field charges. Nice unit to have around, but aside from trying it out once (it worked fine), I have never needed it.

One of the nicest things about the T5 is the abundance of games and other software that is available out there, free for the downloading. To get started, try freewarepalm.com. There are also some quite good commercial packages out there, and many of them are reasonably priced compared to desktop applications. Certainly one of the first things you should download, though, is the operating system patch from PalmOne's website, as the T5 is considerably more stable with it installed than without it.

The one feature that I LOVE about this device is the so-called "drive mode," which allows you to hook the device up like a USB hard drive. No drivers or other software needed. This has proven invaluable when I just had a few files to shuttle between work, class, and home, and didn't want to burn a CD for them.

Bottom line - this user has enjoyed the heck out of his T5, and carries it with him everywhere. As prices are dropping on this model because of the recent PalmOne releases, the T5 becomes more and more of a bargain. I would definitely give it some consideration when PDA-shopping.