Second Initial

Bad Connections

Not too long ago, I purchased a Palm Tungsten T3 PDA. The Palm travel kit only allows you to charge through an outlet, or sync through USB, not both at the same time. Instead of buying their kit, I bought a Zip-Linq cable. I love these cables because I can charge and sync through my USB port and the cables retract into quite a small package. This cable worked well for a while, then suddenly, it would no longer stay physically attached to the PDA.

After dismantaling both the cable and the PDA, I determined that the problem lies with the connector that Palm designed for the T3. This connector is poor at best and is prone to all kinds of issues. Despite the warnings, I decided to go ahead and buy the Palm Recharging USB Hotsync cable.

As the warnings suggested, the connection is a little touchy, but since I’ll only be out $15 if the whole thing goes crappy, I figured it was worth trying out. The problem is, I need a charger I can travel with. If that means replacing the charger every few months, then so be it. I’ll post a new rant if this cable also fails.

I’m not the only one complaining about Palm’s poor design skills. I really do like the Palm OS. I feel that Windows CE is a bit bloated and overkill for my PDA needs. I’m a simple PDA user with very simple needs. I just don’t need all the fancy stuff. The only PDAs I liked besides Palm’s are the Sony Clies. Since they are dropping them here in the U.S., I will be sticking with Palm, for now. If they don’t get their act together soon regarding designs and features, I may purchase a Windows CE device next time around.

» Posted by Queue at 01:00 AM (ET)
Category: Cool Technology, Rant

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