TH55 vs. T5

[dmunz]

My company is replacing my stolen TH55 with a T5. Any thoughts on what I can expect in transition? I have to admit that I didn't dig very deep into the multi-media of the TH55. I mostly used it for Ultrasoft Money, the Excell hook in Docs to Go and SafeInHand. (Which, by the way, was a lifesaver. After I figgured out how to make the desktop viewer work, I was able to recover and rest all my passwords and account data. Great program!)

FWIW

DLM

[SonyStyle]

maybe u should go post it in the tungsten forum. i personally don't like the T5

[dmunz]

maybe u should go post it in the tungsten forum. i personally don't like the T5

I thought about posting there, but I really want opinions from Clie folk who have tried the T5.

I still have my T615C which I'm using with some of my arched files and programs. If the T5 isn't what I want, I might give it to one of my employees.

FWIW

DLM

[jjesusfreak01]

A T5 you say? They do not seem to be bad devices, and I have heard the new update makes them alot quicker. If you really did not delve into the media capabilities of the TH, you will likely only miss the WiFi and the battery life. If you can convince your boss you need wireless, see if you can get a LifeDrive. If not, the T5 is not a bad PDA.

[Cyker]

You *will* loose a lot of the 'Sonyisms', i.e. Sony's nice usability mods to PalmOS, 'tho.
You obviously loose things like WiFi and camera related stuff and the MP3 DSP, although the T|5 can use regular software players like PocketTunes and AeroPlayer. TCPMP runs really well on it, one of the few apps that actually takes real advantage of the monster CPU in the T|5 ;)

The transition can be a bit ropey due to Palm and Sony's slight divergence from PalmOS standards in OS5 - For safety, ZIP your entire Clie Desktop BEFORE you start. You can leave the Clie Organiser stuff - You loose ALL of that. (I tried backing up my Sony 32k memos from there, but they are not compatible with Palm's implementation apparently. Bloody typical :( In hindsight you might be able to copy the PDA-side version of those files, but I doubt it.)

And be darn careful what you transfer from your Clie Desktop's Backup folder or your MSBackup folders to the T|5 - Depending on how you use your PDA, stuff will break and either require alternatives or upgrades. In fact, it's a good idea to upgrade EVERY piece of software you added to your TH that you want on your T|5 because I find lots of older stuff doesn't like NVFS.

Now, there's no backup program with the T|5 that I could see, and I highly recommend you get one during your transition stage; The Palm Desktop System sync doesn't back up the whole PDA's RAM as per usual, and you will probably have a few crashes as you play with stuff in the beginning on the T|5 until you settle down.

I didn't have the T|5 for very long when I played with it (Like, 2 days!), but I did miss a lot of the little tweaks Sony made to the OS. Of course, I didn't have time to explore the T|5 fully to see if had any of its own, but my experiences with a T|3 suggest it's unlikely.

It does seem surprisingly stable for all my complaining about NVFS, but it is noticably less lively than the TH55; The lag time is probably not noticable to normal people, but it feels like I'm running my TH55 at 64MHz instead of 123MHz. :(
BUT! You can fix this! :D
Get the ROM upgrade! It makes a massive difference - I can see why people suddenly feel the T|5 is a lot faster even 'tho benchmarks say otherwise.
Once stuff is running 'tho, with or without the ROM upgrade, it's *very* fast - TCPMP runs insanely fast on it, and it eats 3D/high graphic games for breakfast ;)
Forgot to try ScummVM and LJP sadly, that would have been a good test! ;)

The last thing that feels funny is the battery life. On the TH, a day's use wouldn't really change the percentage, but the T|5 is more like my Zodiac, in that there is a noticable drain.
It doesn't seem too bad, about comparable with my Zod, and of course you can drain the battery all the way to tapped-out empty.