Manufacturer: Palm Model#: Weight: 2lbs Height: 4..8"     Width: 3..1" Length: " Average Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars	Retail Price: Unavailable Online Sale Price:
Features: Bright 320x320 transflective color screen Fast, 400 MHz Intel PXA255 processor with Intel XScale technology Built-in Wi-Fi and keyboard Secure Digital/MultiMediaCard Expansion Slot What's in the box: Tungsten C Handheld, Stylus, Flip Cover, USB HotSync Cradle, Power Supply, Desktop Installation CD, Software Essentials CD

User Submitted PalmOne Tungsten C Handheld Reviews (cont...)

I had been a Palm user for six years now--which is what prompted me to purchase the Tungsten C. Now, having dealt with Palm Customer Service, I will say that I will no longer be recommending, nor using any Palm product. The product itself is great, the features are wonderful, when they are working--ie. brand new, straight out of the box from the stores.

The main issue I have with regards to my Tungsten C resides with the customer care given if there is a problem--after having the screen on my Tungsten break, Palm set up a repair/exchange order. I received a refurbished model back, which was in a complete state of disrepair. The case was scratched was extremely loose--nothing like the Palm I sent off to repair. In total, I have been sent four replacement Tungsten C's, each with the promise of having been hand-pick/inspected by a Palm Engineer, each with its own host of problems--the sound is permanently on, datebook does not run (which is the primary tool used by most PDA users), and the latest is that the battery can neither hold a charge, nor be charged.

With most companies-customer satisfaction is the foundation of their success-yet, all Palm can offer is yet another Palm replacement (they have had four opportunities to send a functioning Palm). They have neither compensated me for my two months of time spent waiting for a working Palm, nor have they done anything to maintain my satisfaction as a customer of Palm.

Thoroughly disenchanted with my Tungsten C-once it needed to be fixed.

Date: 2004-04-24
Excellent for ebooks
I use my Tungsten primarily to read ebooks, so my review is slanted towawrds that purpose. For that purpose, it is superb. The battery life is outstanding -- I'm getting about 9 hours, possibly more, with the backlight turned most of the way down. Even with the backlight all the way down, it's still very bright. Buy an aluminum case (pricey, but well worth the expense), a travel charger, and a decent-sized SD card (256MB should be fine) and you can carry a mind-boggling amount of literature in your pocket. If you like classics, you can get them for free on the web with the free pdaconverter program (you'll have to search for it - doesn't come with the Tungsten). I've read 3 books with it already, including David Copperfield (900+ pages), and the screen is great, being easily readable in all lighting conditions. In bright sunlight the screen won't be beautiful or colorful, it'll actually look almost monochrome, but it's still easily readable, which for me is the point. Indoors the screen looks very nice and bright. I've used the Wi-Fi once or twice and it's useful in a pinch, but not optimal. But if you're looking for a good ebook reader, this is the one to get. There is another Tungsten with a larger screen, but the C's built-in keyboard is great, much easier to use than stylus-based text entry. The Tungsten completely sold me on reading ebooks. Yes, I'd rather have the book with me, but you don't normally carry around the complete writings of Dickens, George Eliot, Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare, Joseph Conrad, the Bronte sisters, Herman Melville, Hawthorne, Edith Wharton, Henry James, multiple versions of the Bible, etc etc... but with a PDA you can have all of this with you, all the time, anywhere in the world, and this is the best PDA I've seen for reading ebooks.

Date: 2004-03-28
Run don't walk.... AWAY FROM PALM!!!
To the ones of use who now own Palm this is going to bring back nightmares... sorry. But for those of you who I am about to save... your welcome. Lets start with the sad stuff. I bought a Treo 90 (My first one ever mind you... I miss it :'() back when it was owned by Handspring :-D (Great Company). Then they SOLD OUT to Palm. Now most would think.. cool bigger company more help right... WRONG!!! The week my Treo went down, (So I thought it was just a little soft reset needed... no biggie) I called for help and they said I had the thing for more then 90 days... So I am like "Yeah... and?" "Well sir... your out of warranty." Now mind you... they are talking about after 90 days your warranty doesn't exist anymore, (unless you buy there rip off plan... I mean "Extended" warranty). So they wanted me to pay 25 dollars to begin trouble shooting... Keep in mind if they mess up and it didnt take I got to pay 25 dollars again to get the right answer. So I said nevermind and hopped online and got the fix in 2 minutes and for FREE :-D. Now I have a Tungsten C now Right... Well Again it is after 90 days but this time I was told there was a year warranty on phone call support, (Apprently that is different then Repairs nowadays)... But come on this is Palm... I called and you guessed it... I was told I had to pay 25 dollars for a Yes or No question... NO JOKE. Even after PALM lied to me... not some Vendor... PALM THEM SELVES!!! RUN... if you don't listen to me on this... START SAVING YOUR MONEY NOW and make sure you have a backup ready to go at anymoment, BELIEVE ME... YOU ARE GOING TO NEED IT. :'( Good luck. :-D

Date: 2004-03-17
great product....when it works.
I received this as my 40th birthday present from my wife and loved it right away. It was great until six months later when the screen went haywire. Lost the picture but had vertical lines up and down, stuck on.

Palm sent me a refurbished unit that died within 2 months. Screen failed to come on.

Palm sent me another refurbished unit (that was pretty beat up) but I cannot use the keyboard to enter text into a DateBook line item. The cursor jumps to top everytime. Others have had this problem as I've read on a Palm Tungsten Forum.

Palm is sending me another refurbished unit. This will be my 4th and I'll sell this one and get another brand.

Pretty disappointed with Palm.

Date: 2004-03-17
Great design, poor construction, little quality control
I have had my T/C for 8 months now. It has been a great handheld, but I wouldn't buy another, and wouldn't recommend anyone else buy one.

The Good: Excellent thumb-board has led me to largely abandon use of the stylus. Fast processor, great screen, and WIFI mean you can actually surf the internet if you are near a hotspot (but only if you buy WebProV, the included web browser is poor). I always synch with my wireless LAN rather then the cradle, because it is just as fast. The battery is huge; I usually only charge the unit once a week, and I am a power user; using it for hours every single day.

The bad: construction quality is poor, and there is little quality control (a "refurbished unit" I was sent arrived nonfunctional, with the case not snapped completely together). There is a class problem with LCD screens breaking with little or no torture to the unit (this is my 4th PDA, and the first I have broken a screen on). The PLASTIC case creaks when you push it and the palm flexes; the halves are not well fastened together (which might cause the screen breakage). There is a gap at the bottom of the screen where the case does not touch the screen. The screen emits a high pitched 400 Hz hum, which has got steadily noisier the longer I have owned the product (to the point where I can hear it at arms length). About 40% of all palms developed a software glitch which caused the bottom 20-30 pixels of the digitizer to fail after a few months of use (possibly corrected with a new firmwear upgrade this month). The silver paint on the case scratches and wears off easily. The headphone jack is a 2.5 mm mono jack for use with a headset to allow for future VOIP, unfortunately, standard cell phone headsets will not work, as they swapped the connection terminal order on the jack.

The Ugly: Palm customer service. I paid $40 for an advanced exchange to fix the problem with my digitizer (covered under warranty). It was very painful: 1 defective advanced exchange, 1 promised advanced exchange that never happened, 1 advanced exchange shipped to the wrong address, 2 more promises of advanced exchanges that did not occur, 1 attempt to charge me an additional $40 for another advanced exchange, 3 emails threatening charges to my credit card of $550 weeks after tracking info on airborne express website indicated Palm had received the returned handhelds at least 7 days prior, 2 promises (not fulfilled) to charge back my credit card the $40 due to poor service, 7 long distance phone calls totalling 129 minutes. Every call to Palm was the start of a brand new conversation: their system of keeping track of customers does not work. And 2 weeks after I finally got a functional T/C, the screen broke (and I hadn't even dropped it).

My advice? As a user of both palmOS and PPC, I prefer the palmOS (as long as it has a high-res screen and a fast processor). I am not a fan of their construction quality or customer service process. If you need a keyboard (and I do), buy a Sony UX. If you want a good screen, buy a sony TH55. Stay away from Palm T3 and T/C.