The Tungsten T2

Technical Summary

Processor: 144 MHz Texas Instruments OMAP

Memory: 32 Mb

Screen: 16-bit colour, backlit, 320 x 320 resolution.

Operating System: PalmOS 5·2

Battery: 900 mAh Lithium Ion Polymer rechargeable

Form Factor

When stored, the Tungsten T2 is slightly smaller than the m500 form factor, but approximately twice as thick. However, the T2 has a secret weapon - the case expands to show off the silkscreen. Furthermore, this silkscreen is a software facility: tap an icon and it vanishes, giving you more on-screen real estate.

The device has a green LED / power button combination at the top left of the case. On the left hand edge you’ll find a headset socket, microphone and button. Under the screen, you’ll find the four traditional hardware buttons arranged with a D-pad in the middle, which I’ll detail later. At the very bottom of the device, one finds the Palm’s Universal Serial Connector. Finally, at the top of the device you’ll find the SD / MMC slot and the infrared port.

Screen

The T2’s screen is excellent. It is sharp, bright and crisp and the backlight may be varied and can be set to “runway landing light” brightness if needed; for review purposes I did push the brightness up but for my purposes, I am perfectly happy to have the backlight set at the lowest level.

Unfortunately, as standard there is no scope to turn off the backlight although there are third party alternatives available.

Sound and Notifications

The T2 is MP3 playback capable and it comes with a reasonably powerful speaker and a headphone socket.

Storage

The Tungsten T2 has 32 Mb of main memory, although 3 Mb of this is reserved for the system. I typically run it with around 10 Mb free.

OBD-II Scanner

The T3 uses the Palm Universal Connector and is therefore fully compatible with my existing OBD-II Scanner hardware.

Communications

The T2 has an integrated Bluetooth radio, which one can use to communicate with other PDAs (including the Tungsten W), mobile ‘phones, or computers for Hotsync purposes. As standard the device does not have any form of on-screen telltale indicator for the Bluetooth radio so it’s easy to leave it switched on and run down the battery. I’m pleased to report that PalmOne solved this for the Tungsten T3 and later handhelds, or launchers such as ZLauncher can show Bluetooth radio status.

Battery Performance

Whilst the Tungsten T2 has the same battery as the original Tungsten T and the later Tungsten T3, it has superior battery longevity to both. I would suppose that Palm made some incremental improvements to the T2 over the T as far as power consumption goes, but for whatever reason the T2 lasts for longer.

As with all modern PDAs, the power consumption of the hardware is very variable. The backlight setting, Bluetooth radio, processor load and memory card load all play their part. If I accept a dim screen and don’t use the Bluetooth radio much I can squeeze over ten hours of uptime from a single charge, which is impressive. If I keep the backlight reasonably bright, use Bluetooth a lot, play MP3s and games I’ll be lucky to see four hours from a charge, perhaps three.

Expansion

The Tungsten T2 has a SD I/O slot, allowing the device access to memory cards.

Summary

The Tungsten T2 is a very respectable piece of kit. Although it is a similar device to the original Tungsten T, twice the memory and better batter life makes a significant difference. Yes, it’s very much the little brother to the Tungsten T3 but it also lasts for much, much longer to a charge. I’ve made a T2 my primary device.