This “Old” Palm

Tungsten T3 and Tungsten C customers can be a little fanatical about their devices.  Some people are so passionate about their Tungstens that they have gone out and purchased a second and even third “backup” PDA when their every day unit stops working.  In this week’s not-quite-an-editorial editorial, we’ll look at some options for keeping your aging Palm on par with today’s newer handhelds.

Hardware repairs

If you have been using your Palm for a few years, usually somewhere around the 3 year mark, you might have noticed that your Palm isn’t keeping a charge like it used to.  If you are in that boat, an easy and inexpensive repair would be to replace the battery.

The touch screen digitizer is another component that begins to degrade over time from every day wear and tear.  The digitizer is the thin overlay that sits on top of the display that tracks where on the screen you just tapped with a stylus or finger.

The digitizer is, however, only one component of the display assembly.  The other component is the actual display itself.  How do you know which needs to be replaced?  If the display is damaged there will be a liquid oozing under the plastic.  If the Palm is no longer accurately tracking screen taps or fails to register a tap, and the image is fine, then it’s time to replace the digitizer.

If the Palm was dropped and both the display and the digitizer are damaged in the fall you will have to weight the costs of replacing both parts versus purchasing a new handheld.  Most parts outlets sell the display and digitizer for about $80. That money could be put toward the purchase price of a new Tungsten E2, TX, or Treo 680.

There are a few places you can purchase stock replacement batteries including PDA Parts, Used PDA Parts, and Unity Electronics.  Using the services of repair man Chris Short is another option.  With the exception of Unity Electronics, the other vendors will also repair your device for an additional service fee.

Adding new software

In 2003 Palm started using their enhanced personal information manager (PIM) applications.  The T3 comes with the new applications pre-installed.  The Tungsten C does not.  It is possible to back load the newer software on to your C, however, there can be some legal issues if you don’t already own a device that has the enhanced PIM software pre-installed on it.

There are lots of replacement PIM applications out there.  Iambic’s software comes to mind.  Agendus, Easy Address, and EasyNotes are some popular PIM replacements.  DateBK and Address TX are other replacement PIM applications that are inexpensive and have some great features.  If you are looking for PIM replacements that closely align themselves with Microsoft Outlook, be sure to read up on DataViz Beyond Contacts and Chapura’s KeySuite.

New Palm devices come with a copy of VersaMail 3.5.  Palm has released an upgrade to version 3.5 for customers who are running Palm OS 5.4.x.  The Tungstens T3 and C run Palm OS 5.2.1 so upgrading to VersaMail 3.5 isn’t in your future.

If you want to add some extra features to your Palm’s email client, you will want to consider SnapperMail or ChatterMail.  Both email clients are well regarded and have matured to the point were they have robust feature sets. 

Augmenting your storage

If you find yourself running out of memory on your handheld or expansion card, now is a great time to upgrade.  Both the T3 and C offer support for 1GB Secure Digital (SD) and Multi-Media Cards (MMC).  The SD card type is the more popular at this point.  If you shop around, you can get a 1GB SD card for about $25.

With a 1GB expansion card you will have even more room to store ebooks, pictures, Office documents, podcasts, music, and countless other types of files.  (If you want a more feature rich music player than Real Player get yourself a copy of Pocket Tunes 4.0.)  You can find SD cards at just about any major retailer that carries electronics.

Conclusion

People become really attached to their mobile devices, and owners of the Tungsten T3 and Tungsten C are no exception.  (I’m a recovering T3 cultist myself.)  The point is that if your device is meeting your needs there may not be a need to upgrade to a newer device.

In some cases repairing your broken device can be a cheaper alternative to shelling out $200 or even $300 for a new handheld.  And if you need more features than are available in the stock applications, there is a massive software library to choose from.

Just because your device is growing old doesn’t have to mean that it is any less functional than the day it was purchased.

[Editor’s Note: Alan has traded in his Tungsten T3 for a Palm TX and his Tungsten C has been replaced by a Treo 700p.]