If you're interested in Palm's Tungsten W handheld, you've already seen the blizzard of reviews about this unique new device. And, if you've read any of my articles you'll know that I love this handheld. At the first Palm Developer Conference in 1998 I got to play with a pre-release Palm VII. I told the Palm rep, "Put an earphone on this so I can make phone calls and I'm in heaven."
Of course it takes a bit more to put me in the heavenly plane these days, but I like it a whole lot. Here's a summary of what I've read and experienced:
The Tungsten W arrived while I was visiting with a very plugged-in family in Southern California. I had an opportunity to put the Tungsten in the hands of some real users, rather than reviewers. I'm filing a report on their reactions because I learned a lot more from watching them than by doing a traditional review.
This family is far from normal. The six kids, mom, dad, and assorted staff all live in a large house containing at least 11 computers on two networks (one wired, one wireless). They have PCs, Macs, handhelds, an iPod, cable, satellite, TiVo, a five-line phone system, five AOL accounts, and a DSL line. They are a wired-up household and a great group of guinea pigs for anything new.
I decided to ignore the "data-centric device" label and started by showing off the phone. I asked family members to stick the earplug in their ear and make a call using the dialing screen on the Tungsten.
Dad, who claims to be a neo-Luddite, but also uses two Macs and a Palm device, said, "This is how I use a mobile phone and a Palm. I have the phone at my ear and the PalmPilot in my hand."
This is the very short version of Palm's winning design philosophy. For those who are already accustomed to a Palm device, the Tungsten solves the "three-hand problem." You need one hand to hold the phone and two hands to work the Palm device. This usually results in either a sore neck from holding the phone to your ear with your shoulder, or something expensive hitting the floor. In a car, this becomes a "four-hand problem," because you need at least one more hand to steer the car. I have adopted a policy of pulling over when using a phone in the car because otherwise I have my neck bent trying to hold the phone, both hands on my handheld looking for the number, and an elbow or knee on the steering wheel. Not safe at all.
The Tungsten doesn't make my driving any safer, but putting the Palm device and the phone together solves the three-hand problem because an earpiece is used. Otherwise, you're looking at the thing you want to talk in, or talking into the thing you want to look at. Dad, for me, represents the existing Palm user base - the target market for this phone.
Mom, on the other hand, embraces most new technology, but doesn't use a Palm. She prefers a paper system, but warmed right up to the Tungsten. "This is actually useful!" she exclaimed. "I might actually try one of these."
For her, the address book/phone integration was the compelling feature. The big screen (compared to a smaller mobile phone screen) had lots of "memorized numbers" buttons to use, or she could go to the address book itself to tap a name and make a call. It eliminated a lot of steps.
"How much are they?" she asked. She knows about the price of cutting-edge technology so the $549 (USD) price didn't cause her to blink. However I wanted to give her a complete answer, and did a bit of my own eye twitching as I waded into the various data and voice plans available from AT&T (see table, "Tungsten Care and Feeding Chart").
The younger kids were happy to try the Tungsten out by calling their friends, but wanted to see if there were any games on the device and, frankly, wanted me to do some magic tricks (a popular pastime when I visit) instead. They seemed satisfied with their own house phone system for calls and the house computers for games. I concluded that this device is not designed for ages 5-10. I moved on to older kids.
"Cool!" decided the 13 year old with a flip of her hair. "Can I send an IM on this?" I had watched her Instant Message her friends the night before on her desktop PC. She had four message windows open at a time, happily carrying on multiple conversations while listening to music, talking on the phone, and doing her homework. She would want something a bit different in a personal communicator than the Tungsten, but it definitely struck a chord.
"New gadget!" said the 15 year old as he grabbed the Tungsten away from me and used the phone, and several other features, without help. He used the Tungsten with both hands like a game controller, and was "double thumbing" the keyboard almost as fast as I can type on my laptop! When he needed to tap the screen, one of those triple-opposed thumbs would reach up and make the required tap. When he started using the Web-access features, he reverted to holding the Tungsten with one hand and tapping it with his index finger. I mentioned the stylus tucked into the right side of the device.
"Don't need no stylus," he replied. "Hey, can I hook this up to the house network? This could actually be useful, especially if I can get high-speed access."
I showed him where the expansion slots were, and how Palm encourages third parties to put all sorts of things in there, MP3 players, Wi-Fi, etc. We talked about what he might like to have in a handheld device when he starts working (five or six years from now) and I got a little dizzy. I thought I was asking for a lot at the Palm conference five years ago! I hope someone at Palm is talking to 15 year olds, but that is definitely the subject of another article.
For me, the Tungsten was a big hit, and my test family liked it as well. I know this handheld is aimed at road warriors and other corporate users, but if you talk on a mobile phone while tapping on a handheld, you should give the Palm Tungsten a test drive.
SIDEBAR
Tungsten Care and Feeding Chart
Instructions:
Pick voice anytime minutes and data megabytes. Add the
associated prices for your monthly bill. See added charges below.
(Prices as of March 31, 2003, in San Francisco, CA.)
Voice Minutes: 350 500 900Other Data Fees:
Pricing: $39.99 $49.99 $74.99
Data Megabytes: 10 20 40
Pricing: $29.99 $39.99 $59.99
Other Voice Fees:
Long distance included
Nights and weekends included
Voice over plan around $0.40 per minute
Roaming $0.69 per minute