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It's an image of Tungsten E. The same color, the same dimensions. There is even no reinforcing metal frame. Aluminium housing was used in the previous model of this series (Tungsten T3). Rumours about T4 release are not corroborated. The four is considered an ill-fated figure in Asia. Remember the past: there were no such model as Palm IV, Palm V appeared after Palm III.
Another T3 brand feature disappeared from T5: slider. It's a controversial solution: with all its mechanical disadvantages this slider helped shorten considerably the device. But most users will like this change: the housing has become solid, no creaking or flexing. The plastic is pleasant to touch and looks solid. It's painted well, for the time I tested the device there appeared no abrasions, peeled paint, or scratches on the housing, unlike Zire 72.
Rounded design makes an impression of a slim body. In fact, T5 is 15.5 mm thick, which is even more than in modern Pocket PC models. Device dimensions are on the verge of being "bag held" instead of "hand held". If you are using a case, this PDA may not fit into your breast pocket. T5 is convenient to hold in a palm. Despite the lack of any elements that facilitate the grip (for example – rubber plates in HP iPaq 2210), the new Tungsten does not slip out your palm.
The first impulse (to turn the PDA on) is not that easy to do. The Power button is on top, buried to the surface, and has a long stroke with its small size. It's not a simple task to grope for it, to say nothing of pressing it. I didn't learn to turn the PDA off blindly for a week. It's much easier to use the other buttons to turn the PDA on (calendar, contact list). Their design was inherited from Tungsten E. Their properties were also retained: legible click when you press them, easy to grope for. The 4-way joystick with the Action button in the middle is traditionally inconvenient in games, especially left-right directions. Because of the lack of a jog dial you'd better read ebooks in landscape orientation, in this case you will scroll text using more convenient up-down directions of the joystick.
palmOne traditionally keeps on remapping application buttons. T5 has the following mapping (from left to right): launch/switch between the two views of Favorites/Application launcher, Calendar, Contacts, File Manager. Functionality of the latter is limited, it allows viewing files located only on the built-in drive and an expansion card. You will have to use third-party utilities to work with the main memory.
The front panel of the handheld houses nothing except the display and the buttons. Entirely. No illumination sensor, no mic, no speaker. Even no LED to signal notifications. To say nothing of indicating external power. The top side, except for the mentioned power button, hosts a headphone jack (standard 3.5" jack), SDio slot, Infrared port, stylus bay along the right side. The left side is virgin blank.
The rear panel contains a speaker and a reset button. The latter is deeply recessed to the housing, you cannot press it with a stylus point. Speaking of the stylus: it's made of metal, weighty, very convenient to hold in hand. The top of the stylus can be removed, there is a needle inside to press the reset button. According to the author, the bundled T5 stylus is much more convenient than a stylus of any other handheld.
Frankly speaking, you cannot call the T5 design successful. The lack of indicators, vibra alert, dictating mac in a business-class handheld is no win. But T5 is positioned as a top model! The only positive moment against the generally negative background is its extremely convenient stylus.
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