T5 - Rip?

Is it just me, or is the T5 quietly disappearing from shelves?

About 3 weeks ago, all my local Staples stores sold off their remaining T5s at $CDN297.00 and the bundles - the T5 with the 'free' WiFi card is harder to find around here than hen's teeth - and are running at about $150 less than the the original retail price of the T5 alone

Okay, I know there was much discussion when the T5 came out - not for what it had, but what it didn't (and at an unrealistic price) but is it possible that Palm has actually noted the rumblings, the dodgy support issues and the retail failure and has quietly stopped flogging it?

So we're left with the Zire 31, TE2 and LifeDrive as the only PDAs Palm has on the market now - each with their own, uh, issues when it comes to competitive features and price?

Oh how the mighty have fallen....

Ah well, I thought that might be the case - I'm hardly the Palm Illuminati's favourite flavour of person - questioning on a regular basis design, recent sloppy build quality, poor Support (relying instead on a user forum on their own site for 95% of the solutions) and for brain-dead decisions with stuff like their OS (like imbedding 3rd Party programs, previously available in owner memory and easily upgradeable, into a locked environment) - so small wonder the word has gone out to hide the products whenever I walk into a store...

Yet still I would like to upgrade to a more recent PDA - preferably one that had Wi-Fi, a large enough internal memory that meant that switching out an optional Wi-Fi card (already reported as problematic) wasn't required, that didn't crash on a regular basis and that didn't cost as much as a bargain basement notebook. 

Okay, so that product doesn't exist with Palm - the T5 Wi-Fi Bundle being the closest - and I have found a few retailers who haven't moved fast enough when I walk into their stores - that actually have the audacity to have cranked up the price of these recently to over $CDN500. But given I could pick up a LifeDrive for $CDN588 (if I was so stupid as to pay that sort of cash for $50 worth of hardware in a PDA) it's hardly a consideration. Set the T5 Wi-Fi Bundle at $CDN399 and its still well over-priced but maybe worth considering...

Despite the Illumuminati's best efforts, I really would like to buy another Palm as my next PDA, but the alternatives (like WinMobile) are starting to look good. The only thing saving me from going there so far has been, well - the OS, the inefficient use of (very little) memory and the need for Outlook on my machine (Ick! Yuck! Pooh!)...

Sigh. I guess my little E (with the crapped-out sound - 100 days in on a 90 day warranty) will be the PDA of choice for a while yet...

Well, I tried Kermit, I really did.

I found a few T5 w/ the Wi-Fi bundles still kicking around in the stores. I futzed about in the Garnet OS and wasn't too concerned by what I found - but then, if I'm going to upgrade (from my TE) in an effort to gain Wi-Fi, do I really want a PDA where that is a forgotten feature and 'fixed' by a breakable dongle bunny ear blocking the only expansion slot?

Then I (briefly) thought about the LifeDrive - as it remains Palm's only all-in PDA. But, like you, I think it's been rushed out the door. It may be multi-purpose, but it's big, expensive, inefficient and prone to crashes - it's the Ford Explorer of PDAs. Nope, I'll give a pass on that, too.

So....?

Well, you mentioned the inevitable in your post above. For better or worse (I guess I'll find out soon enough) I'm switching over to a WinMobile PDA - I've just got off the phone with Dell, having ordered their mid-range Axim X50.

For $CDN115.00 less than the T5 Bundle, I'll be getting slightly less onboard storage, but I'll gain two expansion slots, built-in Wi-Fi, a faster processor and a full year of Support, including next business day replacement, if required.

The X50 is upgradable and Dell will be sending along the WinMobile 5 OS when its available. Reviews I've found on the net seem to be, on the whole, positive - and that can't be said for either the T5 or LifeDrive.

Now granted,  I'm not dead keen on Active Sync and even less-so on Outlook (and I'm not looking forward to the migration) and it would certainly be a whole lot easier to upgrade to a similar OS (and keep some of my favourite freeware programs), but I can't help but feel that Palm has lost it's way - but it doesn't have anything competitive out there, even against a product that is nearly a year old.