Palm Tungsten T Q&A |
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Saturday, November 23, 2002
Flip CoverA reader, Chris Mellor, has sent me this link: http://thepocketsolution.com/tungsten.htm. It appears that this company are making flip covers for the Tungsten T, though there is a long lead on their delivery (4-6 weeks). The design looks good, aluminium with padding for the screen and a cutaway for the navigator, but the attachment is by velcro. They have done nothing to take into account the unique sliding design of the TT, presumably because they have assumed that the only times the TT will be 'open' will be times when it is in use. I think $24.95 plus shipping is a bit steep for a flip cover, and I cannot see why the TT cover is $5 more than the ones for PPC and Sony machines.
It has just occurred to me: what is the point of having a cutaway for the navigator button if the flip-cover is opaque? Have I missed something? Thursday, November 21, 2002
LaunchersThe first launcher replacement to take advantage of the Tungsten T was Embark. I had a quick look at v.1.0 but found it a bit slow (I don't expect to ever see a 'please wait' box on the TT). When v.1.01 came out 10 days later, I tried that but found my free trial period had expired. This is cheap shareware ($12), so I was a bit taken aback by the stinginess of the author. Anyway, LauncherX was released on Tuesday and I have been enjoying it immensely. To anyone familiar with LauncherIII, this will be very familiar. There is slightly greater control over the appearance, a few more gadgets, and improved card support allowing it to use multiple folders on the card. The long awaited 'Homer', which will add McPhling-style application switching has not been implemented yet. LauncherIII was not the most visually spectacular launcher, but it was small, fast, well-featured and very robust. LauncherX will probably be outdone on the skins and custimization front by an OS5 version of SilverScreen, but I suspect that it will soon be established as the launcher of choice for power users. For example, there are three options for refreshing the apps list: Automatic, Manual and Ignore Card. Whichever you set, there is a little refresh button on the top of the screen by the time, so a full scan of RAM and all designated card directories is only a tap away. Monday, November 18, 2002
CasesI am getting really fed up with the plastic screen cover that comes with the TT. It makes simple jobs fiddly and slow, plus I am always worried about dropping the Palm during the process. Unfortunately, even the Palm Store has no stocks of the cases yet. But Amazon has a larger than life photo and a bit of a description of the so-called 'Scuba' slip case. I expected it to be a neoprene glove from which the TT had to be completely removed. But the description at Amozon mentions metal re-inforcements and ability to access all functions. Close scrutiny of the photo suggests that it has a rigid front panel that opens to the left, exposing the TT. The big question is how they manage to bind case and device together while still allowing the sliding mechanism to work. I hope it is not velcro, but uses the elasticity of the material to grip the Palm (like Vaja leather cases). And a big brownie point for the first person to spot a third-party TT case. |
