# Received the first of two new devices
### Entered on Palm Tungsten W in CardTXT
### 20190826

Today I received a Palm Tungsten W. It
is the Palm Tungsten cellphone that
features Blackberry-like keys on its
thumb-board. The interesting thing 
about this particular one is that a former
owner has replaced the bezel with one
from a Tungsten C. Thus, the logo on
the top is all wrong. The battery on this
unit is also near its end of life and will
need replaced. I am typing this phost
tethered to a USB charge cable.

The screen on this device is gorgeous.
High-res, sharp, and clear. Compared
to my beloved Treo 90, it is night and 
day. The Treo 90 has a 160x160 color
screen, the T|W has a 320x320 color
screen. The Treo wins in the form factor
department, however, it is significantly
smaller in all dimensions. I did learn not
to use the T|W to format Chinese SD cards...
It nuked the card into no longer being
recognized. Hopefully I can bring it back
on my laptop.

The T|W has a lot in common with the
Treo 90. Both are Palm OS 4.1 devices.
Both are running 33MHz Dragonball
processors, both have 16MB of RAM/
storage. This is not the case with the 
other device I have coming...

The other one is a Palm Tungsten C. The
T|C is a 400MHz arm (X-Scale) with Palm OS 
5.2.1 and 802.11b. The T|W only offers 
GSM/GPRS and IRDA connectivity natively. The 
T|C I have coming also features a new 
battery installed by the seller on eBay. This 
was the reason I felt good about the $50
pricetag on that one. Plus the screen,
while lower in resolution than the Sony
Clie PEG UX50, will display PVTerm larger
and make it easier to see and use for telnet.
As an aside - this seller has quite a few 
of these Tungsten C's. So if you want
one you'll find it with a quick eBay search.

I also have a new old stock, still in the 
blisterpack Palm OEM leather case coming
for the T|C. It'll take a bit to get here as
it is coming from NSW, AU. Southern
hemisphere, Y U so far?

The C model device may end up being 
my daily driver, especially after it is 
protected in the case. The extra bulk
over the svelt Handspring Treo 90 will
be made up for by sheer horsepower.
The WiFi connectivity is something that
I find indispensible on my UX50. I also
am a huge fan of thumb-boards. This
is why the Palm T|X and the Palm LifeDrive
both failed to _click_ with me. The Treo
90 that preceded them spoilt me for
input devices.

The main reason I bought the T|W was 
the cheap price I found it for, and having
both the phone and nonphone versions
appealed to the collector in me. Also,
I did not previously have a Palm OS 4
device with a high res screen. That may
come in handy down the road. I do truly
wish the United States had not shutdown
the 2G network as I would use this as my
primary phone in a heartbeat. I have
fond memories of my Treo 270 back
in 2002 (tragically lost in 2003). The
web back then felt peppy on such a 
device. Pages did not weigh in at a 
hundred meg. 

Semirelated plea:
Cameron Kaiser - if you read this, I know
you don't consider it ready for prime
time, but please do reconsider releasing
your Palm OS gopher client!!