Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA • The Register
`
`https://www.theregister.com/2003/10/27/palm_tungsten_c_wifi_pda/
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`Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA
`A Reg in-depth review
`Tony Smith
`
`Mon 27 Oct 2003 // 09:33 UTC
`
`Each member of Palm's Tungsten line of pro-oriented PDAs offers wireless
`connectivity of one form or another. The original member of the family, the
`Tungsten T, has built-in Bluetooth. Earlier this year, Palm shipped the W,
`which can talk to cellular networks. The newest addition to the line, the
`Tungsten C, sports integrated 802.11b Wi-Fi connectivity.
`
`In addition, the C provides a more general upgrade to the Tungsten line,
`offering the latest version of the Palm OS, much more memory and a
`significantly faster ARM-based processor. A must-have purchase for the
`discerning Palm owner then?
`
`Not quite. Wi-Fi may be the IT world's flavour of the month right now, but we'd
`question how useful it is to the average PDA user, and for all the C's power,
`we think the T remains the best mainstream machine Palm has produced.
`Indeed, when a faster, more capacious version of the T ships, we think it will
`relegate the C into something of a niche role.
`
`That's not to say the C is a poor product - it's actually a rather good one. A
`look at Palm's product page will show you its chief physical attributes. To add
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`Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA • The Register
`
`https://www.theregister.com/2003/10/27/palm_tungsten_c_wifi_pda/
`
`to that, the C's construction is solid, feeling meaty rather than heavy (it's
`178.6g or 6.3oz). Alas it's case is scratchable plastic rather than the T's
`durable metal. It's bigger than the T, being thicker, slightly wider and an inch
`longer when the T is shut. It's the same length as an open T.
`
`Hidden within the T's slide-open case is the PDA's Graffiti character-entry
`pad. The C has a Blackberry-style micro keyboard instead, which makes for
`faster (with practice) writing. The C also has a T-style five-way navigator
`button, though it's smaller and thus more fiddly than the T's.
`
`Graffiti vs Graffiti
`
`Despite the keyboard and lack of a dedicated character-entry area, the C
`retains Palm's pen-based text entry mode, offering Graffiti 2 rather than the
`original version, which the company was forced to ditch after being
`successfully sued by Xerox for patent infringement. CIC, the developer of Jot,
`which Palm has rebranded as Graffiti 2, presumably has as a licence from
`Xerox.
`
`Graffiti 2 lets you use the whole screen to enter text. Text is entered on the
`left-hand side of the screen, numbers on the right. It will display your pen
`strokes on the screen if you wish so you can see what you're writing.
`
`Graffiti 2 is an improvement over its venerable predecessor. Some character
`shapes are different and require two strokes of the stylus, but it took us
`almost no time to get the hang of them. It makes mixing upper and lower case
`characters far easier that the original did - you just write in the middle of the
`screen for capitals. That's much better than having to manually select caps or
`caps lock mode as you do with Graffiti 1. Entering symbols is much easier
`too. For many of them you no longer need to select symbol mode.
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`Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA • The Register
`
`https://www.theregister.com/2003/10/27/palm_tungsten_c_wifi_pda/
`
`The sooner Palm offers a Palm OS 5.2 update for the Tungsten T, the better,
`though we suspect licensing issues and the commercial realities of today's
`PDA market may prevent this.
`
`While we like Graffiti 2, we wish Palm hadn't implemented it in the C. Pen
`input may be part of the operating system, but the hardware hasn't really
`been designed with it in mind - hence the lack of a dedicated (or even virtual)
`text-entry area. If you don't use the keyboard for text entry, you can run into
`difficulties. For instance, if you write a line of characters with Graffiti on, you
`can't highlight the selection to delete it - you have to switch Graffiti off first,
`select it the text, then switch full-screen entry back on if you want to use a
`stroke of the stylus to delete the text. Use the pen this way is how most
`existing Palm users work, and they'll be surprised when the C doesn't
`accommodate them.
`
`Incidentally, this isn't an issue with Palm's other Graffiti 2 PDA, the Zire 71, as
`we'll explain in our upcoming review of that product.
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`Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA • The Register
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`https://www.theregister.com/2003/10/27/palm_tungsten_c_wifi_pda/
`
`Despite the C's keyboard centricity, users will still need to pull out the stylus to
`work with the UI. You need it for UI elements like on-screen buttons, moving
`the text caret and entering symbols that don't appear on the keyboard, such
`as % and £. Buttons on keyboard provide access to menus, the app launcher
`and the Find... dialog. But while you can type in your search string, or call up
`the list of applications to beam, you can't select which application you want to
`send, or activate the search without the pen. Actually, you can do the latter -
`pressing the centre button clicks the dialog's left-most button, which is fine if
`the app developer has put the default button there.
`
`Palm really should have gone all the way and configured the C to operate
`without the stylus. That doesn't necessarily mean forcing one way of working
`on the user, but giving the choice to use one or the other, not requiring they
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`Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA • The Register
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`https://www.theregister.com/2003/10/27/palm_tungsten_c_wifi_pda/
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`use a mixture of the two.
`
`Palm OS 5.2
`
`Graffiti 2 is part of Palm OS 5.2 - the Tungsten C ships with a minor update,
`5.2.1 - which also incorporates some under-the-hood enhancements such as
`support for 64MB of built-in memory, which the C duly provides. Rather more
`fun is the ability to change the UI's colour scheme, including a theme called
`Nostalgia for folk missing the PalmPilot's green and black monochrome
`display. Alas you can't create your own themes out of the box, which defeats
`the object a bit.
`
`Palm offers all the usual PIM applications in the C's ROM, where it has also
`installed bundled apps, including updated versions of Palm's own VersaMail
`e-mail package, WebPro browser and PhotoBase picture gallery software (the
`last two now renamed Web and Photo, respectively). All contain worthwhile
`enhancements and like Graffiti 2 should be made available to Tungsten T
`users.
`
`New adventures in Wi-Fi
`
`Web and VersaMail naturally take advantage of the C's integrated Wi-Fi
`adaptor. Palm has integrated 802.11b access rather well, and once we'd
`made the necessary security adjustments to our base-station, we could
`connect to the Internet via the C with ease. Palm wisely prints the device's
`MAC address on the back of the case, making it easy to add the device to
`your WLAN base-station's list of permitted clients.
`
`Public Wi-Fi access should be a doddle, but with so few hotspots around, how
`often owners will connect this way is open to question. Palm probably has its
`eye on corporates rolling out Wi-Fi at the campus level, allowing the C to be
`used as a mobile email terminal or for wireless vertical applications. Of
`course, you can check your email in Starbucks, etc. but how often would you
`want to? Many users will, but most, we reckon, will prefer the freedom of
`movement offered by a cellphone/Tungsten T/Bluetooth combo. Yes, it's
`slower, but until hotspots become more widely available (and cheaper), it may
`be the preferred mode, particularly since the PDA, even with Palm's fine Web
`software, isn't really a browsing platform of choice.
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`Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA • The Register
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`https://www.theregister.com/2003/10/27/palm_tungsten_c_wifi_pda/
`
`At home, most WLAN users will surf using a Mac or PC, for that very reason.
`The C might make a good portable music terminal, pulling songs off a desktop
`system via the WLAN, but the software's not there yet - RealPlayer, Palm's
`preferred MP3 playback software can't yet see music files stored on the
`network, only on the PDA.
`
`And you'd have to use the device's built-in speaker - the headphone socket
`isn't a standard 3.5mm job, nor is it stereo.
`
`The C displays the Wi-Fi signal strength in the Command bar, once you're
`connected, but for such a key component, you'd have thought it would be
`more prominently displayed, like next to the battery life indicator. Speaking of
`which, Wi-Fi eats into the battery life - the battery fell from 100 per cent to 84
`per cent after just an hour's usage. You can set the Palm to conserve power
`by shutting down the WLAN connection when it's not being used.
`
`Irritatingly, though, the device continually pops up a Connecting... dialog box
`every time you access the WLAN. It does this even when you tell the device
`to stay powered up permanently.
`
`The C can HotSync via the WLAN, but only if your computer is a PC - Mac
`HotSync software doesn't support this mode, alas.
`
`T or W?
`As a Tungsten T owner, we were keen to see how the two compared. The C
`certainly has the better screen. The new 'transflective' display is much
`brighter than the T's screen - and readable at wider vertical angles. Colours
`are more vivid, more realistic - a white screen looks more like paper, less like
`a backlit LCD. The backlight is always on, by the way. A Big improvement, we
`thought. Well almost. In bright light conditions, there's less of a benefit, and in
`some instances, outdoors, we even found the T's screen easier to read.
`
`The C lacks the T's voice memo facility. We don't use the latter very much,
`but it's a nice feature limited only by the T's memory capacity. The C has the
`memory capacity, but not the built in microphone. Palm has chosen not to
`bundle a headset.
`
`Where the C definitely does beat the T is speed. The T seemed quick after
`years spent using a Palm V, but the C seems another order of magnitude
`faster again. That's thanks to its 400MHz Intel PXA255, the mainstay of
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`Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA • The Register
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`https://www.theregister.com/2003/10/27/palm_tungsten_c_wifi_pda/
`
`PocketPC PDAs. It runs 178 per cent faster than the T's 144MHz CPU. The
`C's 64MB of memory (51MB for user data and apps) outshines the T's
`meagre 16MB too, though both are expandable with SD cards.
`
`Verdict
`
`So would we swap our Tungsten T for the C? Sorry, Palm, but no, we
`wouldn't. We'd certainly like to add Palm OS 5.2 and Graffiti 2 to the T, not to
`mention more RAM and a faster processor, but we prefer the broader utility of
`the T - the standard headphone socket makes it a better media player, it's got
`voice recording built in, and Bluetooth lets gets us quickly online whenever we
`can't find an Wi-Fi signal. We prefer the T's smaller size too.
`
`Wi-Fi is a strong draw, but we'd happily wait for SanDisk's SD card Wi-Fi
`adaptor, which is due this autumn. Wi-Fi access isn't widespread enough to
`warrant buying into for PDAs just yet - having to find a specific location just to
`check your email on the move defeats the object of portable computing that
`the PDA was designed to provide. That said, the C should appeal to
`corporate users with on-site WLANs.
`
`And the keyboard? Like Wi-Fi, there will be users who demand it, and heavy-
`duty email users will want the speed it brings to writing messages. Graffiti is
`good for basic stuff, but for anything long you really need a keyboard. It's an
`important feature of the C - just as it of the Tungsten W - though it's a shame
`that its integration isn't as tight as it might be. ®
`
`Rating
`Pros
`
`Cons
`
`75%
`
`! Very fast
`! Realistic colour display
`! Integrated Wi-Fi
`
`! No built-in voice record facility
`! Non-standard microphone socket
`! Keyboard integration could be better
`! Weighty
`
`Price
`
`$499/£395/€560
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`Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA ¢ The Register
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`https://www.theregister.com/2003/10/27/palm_tungsten_c_wifi_pda/
`
`Research: KeyCriteria for Evaluating Kubernetes Data Protection
`
`(T) sHare
`
`Corrections
`
`Send us news
`
`China-linked Twisted Panda caught spying on Russian
`defense R&D
`
`Because Beijing isn't above covert ops to accomplishits five-year goals
`
`Jessica Lyons Hardcastle
`
`Fri 20 May 2022 // 20:03 UTC
`
`4()
`
`Chinese cyberspies targeted two Russian defense institutes and possibly
`anotherresearchfacility in Belarus, according to Check Point Research.
`
`The new campaign, dubbed Twisted Panda,is part of a larger, state-
`sponsored espionage operation that has been ongoing for several
`months,if not nearly a year, according to the security shop.
`
`In a technical analysis, the researchers detail the various malicious
`
`CONTINUE READING
`
`FTC signals crackdown oned-tech harvesting kid's data
`Trade watchdog, and President, reminds that COPPA can ban ya
`
`Thomas Claburn in San Francisco Fri 20 May 2022 // 19:26 UTC
`
`=
`
`The US Federal Trade Commission on Thursdaysaid it intends to take
`action against educational technology companiesthat unlawfully collect
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`Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA ¢ The Register
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`https://www.theregister.com/2003/10/27/palm_tungsten_c_wifi_pda/
`
`data from children using online educational services.
`
`In a policy statement, the agencysaid, "Children should not have to
`needlessly hand overtheir data and forfeit their privacy in order to do
`their schoolworkorparticipate in remote learning, especially given the
`wide and increasing adoption of ed tech tools."
`
`CONTINUE READING
`
`Mysterious firm seeks to buy majority stake in Arm China
`Chinesejoint venture's ousted CEOtries to hang on - who will get control?
`
`Dylan Martin
`
`Fri 20 May 2022 // 18:49 UTC
`
`»
`
`The saga surrounding Arm's joint venture in China just took another
`intriguing turn: a mysterious firm named Lotcap Groupclaimsit has
`signedaletter of intent to buy a 51 percent stake in Arm China from
`existing investors in the country.
`
`In a Chinese-language press release posted Wednesday, Lotcap saidit
`has formed a subsidiary, Lotcap Fund, to buy a majority stake in the joint
`venture. However, reporting by one newspaper suggestedthat the
`investmentfirm still needs the approval of one significant investor to gain
`51 percent control of Arm China.
`
`The development comesa couple of weeks after Arm China said thatits
`former CEO,Allen Wu, was refusing once again to step down from his
`position, despite the company's board voting in late April to replace Wu
`with two co-chief executives. SoftBank Group, which owns 49 percentof
`
`CONTINUE READING
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`Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA ¢ The Register
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`https://www.theregister.com/2003/10/27/palm_tungsten_c_wifi_pda/
`
`SmartNICs powerthe cloud, are enterprise datacenters
`next?
`
`High pricing, lack of software make smartNICsa toughsell, despite offload potential
`
`Tobias Mann
`
`Fri 20 May 2022 // 17:32 UTC
`
`»
`
`SmartNICs havethe potential to accelerate enterprise workloads, but
`don't expect to see them bring hyperscale-class efficiency to most
`datacenters anytime soon, ZK Research's Zeus Kerravala told The
`Register.
`
`SmartNICs are widely deployed in cloud and hyperscale datacenters as a
`meansto offload input/output(I/O) intensive network, security, and
`storage operations from the CPU, freeing it up to run revenue generating
`tenant workloads. Some more advancedchips even offload the
`hypervisorto further separate the infrastructure managementlayer from
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`Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA ¢ The Register
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`https://www.theregister.com/2003/10/27/palm_tungsten_c_wifi_pda/
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`the rest of the server.
`
`Despite relative successin the cloud andaflurry of innovation from the
`still-limited vendor SmartNIC ecosystem, including Mellanox (Nvidia),
`
`CONTINUE READING
`
`US fears China may haveten exascale systems by 2025
`China refuses to share benchmarks, US sharpensfocus on developing optimized software
`
`Dan Robinson
`
`Fri 20 May 2022 // 16:04 UTC
`
`6()
`
`The USis racing to catch up with China in supercomputing performance
`amid fears that the country may widenits lead in exascale computers
`over the next decade, according to reports.
`
`The Frontier supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is
`expected to bethefirst exascale system in the US onceit is fully
`operational, but China already has two exascale systems up and running
`since last year, as reported on oursister site The Next Platform.
`
`CONTINUE READING
`
`Repairability champ Framework's modular laptop gets a
`speed boost
`With any other portable, this would be bad newsfor existing owners
`
`Liam Provenin Prague
`
`Fri 20 May 2022 // 15:07 UTC
`
`7
`
`Laptop vendor Framework Computer has launched newfaster models.
`Unlike in the case of any other laptop maker, if you already have one,this
`is good news.
`
`Modernlaptops tend to be promotedonthe basis of thinness and
`lightness, and the Framework rangeis no different. The machines have
`13.5-inch (8.89cm) screens, are just under 16mmthick (0.6 inch), and
`
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`Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA ¢ The Register
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`https://www.theregister.com/2003/10/27/palm_tungsten_c_wifi_pda/
`
`CONTINUE READING
`
`Boeing's Starliner CST-100 onits wayto the ISS 2 yearslate
`A couple of thruster failures shouldn't affect the Calamity Capsule's second attemptat
`reaching spacestation
`
`Richard Speed Fri 20 May 2022 // 14:34 UTC
`
`17()
`
`Two and a half yearsafterits first disastrous launch, Boeing has once
`again fired its CST-100 Starliner capsule at the International Space
`Station.
`
`This time it appeared to go well, launching at 18:54 ET from Space
`Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral. The RD-180 main engine and
`twin solid rocket boosters of the Atlas V performed as planned before
`Starliner was pushedto near orbital velocity by the Centaur upper stage.
`
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`Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA ¢ The Register
`
`https://www.theregister.com/2003/10/27/palm_tungsten_c_wifi_pda/
`
`CONTINUE READING
`
`Biden tours Samsungfab, talks chip cooperation with
`South Korea
`
`Factory is a model for one the companyhasplannedin Texas
`
`BrandonVigliarolo Fri 20 May 2022 // 14:00 UTC
`
`if
`
`US president Joe Biden kickedoff his first Asian tour since taking office in
`South Korea, where he visited a Samsung semiconductorfab said to be
`the model for the company's plannedplant in Taylor, Texas.
`
`While speaking at the Samsung Electronics Pyeongtaek Campus, Biden
`said the region will be a key part of the next several decades — a reason
`"to invest in one another to deepen ourbusiness ties.".
`
`Muchofthe talk on Biden's five-day trip to South Korea and Japanwill
`center around broader deepening of economic and businessties. In
`Pyeongtaek, however, the emphasis was on semiconductor cooperation.
`
`CONTINUE READING
`
`Meta to squeeze money from WhatsAppwith Cloud APIfor
`businesses
`
`How to makea free messaging platform boughtfor $22 billion profitable
`
`Richard Currie
`
`Fri 20 May 2022// 13:30 UTC
`
`8)
`
`At Meta's first Conversations keynote yesterday, the company
`announced the WhatsApp Cloud API, aimed at improving the customer
`service experience for businessesof all sizes.
`
`Meta already has the WhatsApp Business API, the first revenue-
`generating enterprise productfor the otherwise free messaging app,
`where companies pay WhatsApp on a per-messagebasis and can use
`the platform to direct customer communications to otherlines like SMS,
`email. other apps. and more.
`
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`Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA ¢ The Register
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`https://www.theregister.com/2003/10/27/palm_tungsten_c_wifi_pda/
`
`to makeit easier for customers to get in touch. But the WhatsApp
`Business APIis on-premises and would normally need a solutions
`providerlike Twilio to facilitate back-end integration.
`
`CONTINUE READING
`
`Microsoft patchesthe patch that broke Windows
`authentication
`
`May 10 update addressedserious vulns but also had problemsofits own
`
`Richard Speed Fri 20 May 2022 // 13:00 UTC
`
`12()
`
`Microsoft has released an out-of-band patchto deal with an
`authentication issue that was introduced in the May 10 Windowsupdate.
`
`CONTINUE READING
`
`Daisy Groupto take on someof data management company
`Sungard's UK customers
`Customers at other Sungard datacenters are not affected
`
`Dan Robinson
`
`Fri 20 May 2022 // 12:30 UTC
`
`=
`
`UK customers of datacenter and colo service provider Sungard
`Availability Services are to be transferred to Daisy Corporate Services,
`part of the Daisy Group, months after Sungard wentinto administration.
`
`According to some reports, Daisy Group has signed a deal to acquire the
`UK arm of Sungard, in a move that would see the companypick up
`Sungard's former customers,including major banks and otherfinancial
`institutions.
`
`However, a statementgiven to The Register by the administrators, Teneo
`
`CONTINUE READING
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`Palm Tungsten C Wi-Fi PDA ¢ The Register
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`https://www.theregister.com/2003/10/27/palm_tungsten_c_wifi_pda/
`
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