Palm TX Handheld
by Palm
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Palm TX Handheld
Customer Review: Very pleased with this unit
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been using a Palm m515 for the past several years and was waiting for the right moment to upgrade. I purchased the TX with some reservations because Palm has had quality issues, and I wanted to avoid the aggravation I initially had with my m515. I have owned my TX for about a month and have no complaints so far.
In reading my review and other reviews, keep in mind that each person buys this unit with different expectations and uses, and what matters to one person may be irrelevant to another. With that perspective in mind, let me go over the features that I like.
The TX has a nice feel and appearance;the stylus is nicely weighted and fits snugly in the slot. The color screen is vivid and beautiful to look at. I read literally dozens of e-books each year, so screen resolution and brightness are important to me. The TX excels. Even when the brightness is dimmed to the lowest setting, which I sometimes do when reading in bed at night, reading is very easy.
Wi-Fi access is effortless. I took it on vacation and had no trouble using the wireless network at the resort where I was staying. The same is true when I use it at home. I purchased the Handmark Pocket Express software, which comes as a trial version, which I find a very convenient way to keep up with the news, sports, stocks, weather etc. when traveling. Even in my own house I use it since it is often easier to reach for my Palm TX rather than my laptop or go to my desktop. I have also ordered a cable from SupplyNet to connect my TX to my cell phone(I don't have a bluetooth phone) when wireless is not available.
I own an ipod mini, and found that trying to use the TX as an mp3 player was not worth the bother compared to the ease of use with my ipod. There is a reason that Apple dominates the mp3 player field.
Downloading photos is easy, but they don't look as bright and sharp as I would have liked, though the quality is still acceptable.
As other users have pointed out, the power button is too recessed and can be a bit of a nuisance to use. I seldom bother with it anyhow and use a free program called Off-It to turn the TX off, and one of the buttons at the bottom to turn it on.
When I upgraded from my m515, I did run into some compatibility problems, but this is no different than buying a new computer(and the TX is indeed a computer) and trying to download programs that are several years old. For programs that did not wind up on the TX after I synced, I simply beamed them from my m515 to the TX; some worked and some did not. I also had to beam my contact database and datebook database because for some reason they did not hotsync. I strongly recommend a free program called FileZ that enables you to manage your files, and beam databases. If you are upgrading from an older handheld, make sure that you have it installed in case you run into a problem, as I did, during the hotsync process.
Graffiti 2 is a bit different than the original Graffiti, but not a big deal to learn. If this is your first Palm, Graffiti 2 is so much easier to learn.
The TX comes with VersaMail, which unfortunately does not retrieve Hotmail. But it does retrieve email from most major internet providers, so when I travel I just use one of my other accounts. You do need a bit of technical knowledge to configure your mail settings, but once that is done, sending and retrieving messages is effortless so long as you don't need to send or view attachments, which always has certain problems.
I strongly recommend purchasing an SD card and a well known program called BackupBuddy, which will enable you to schedule daily automatic backups to the SD card(the TX does not need to be left on to do this--my backups are at 4am each day). When I had my m515, more than once when I was on vacation and not able to hotsync, I had the unit crash and lose all the data, which I then restored from the backup on my SD card.
I use Datebook 5 instead of the built in calendar, and find that the version for the operating system on the TX has some nice extra features that I did not have when I used my m515.
For my purposes the TX is perfect, and so far has worked without any problems. You really have to decide what you are looking for in a handheld before making your purchase decision. That way you won't be disappointed.
Update January 1, 2009: After three years and a new motherboard, my Palm TX needed a new LCD display. Rather than spending any more money for repairs or buying a new unit, I instead decided to purchase an iTouch 16 GB second generation. I have written an extensive review showing how the iTouch can be used as a pda in place of a Palm TX.
Update November 1, 2009: I have had a great experience using my iPod Touch as a PDA in place of my Palm TX. Unless there are specific applications that you need (such as medical applications) and which exist only for the Palm TX, I would definitely NOT buy a Palm TX as a PDA, especially since the price has increased dramatically even though no improvements have been made to the OS. The iPod Touch is just a superior product in so many ways.
Update December 3, 2010: I am still using my same iPod Touch 2G as a pda and am very happy that my Palm TX days are long gone. As of this date my lengthy review of the iPod Touch and how to use it as a pda is under tab 30 of my reviews, though that number will change as I continue to write more reviews.
Customer Review: Brilliant Piece of Mid-Priced PDA Engineering
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all, I had been, as of late, only sporadically using a Zaurus ZR-5000, itself, a neat piece of useful and easy to use electonics. With a huge, b/w screen you can write on, it had amazing capability for its time, including wi-fi capable -- and this was for an item from the early '90s!
However, with its built-in mini-keyboard and large LCD screen, it is relatively large and cumbersome. I used it primarily for contacts and sometimes for tasks and appointments, but it was really too large and heavy for me to carry around all the time (I don't carry a briefcase and rarely use a shoulder bag.). Using it for appointments just really didn't make sense if I wasn't going to carry it around. It had synching capabilities with a desktop, but it was slow and the built-in software was only marginally compatible with Microsoft's products. My wife has a Psion and, while more up-to-date than the Zaurus, was still in that league.
I had been eyeing Microsoft CE products and Palms, but I thought they were expensive for what they did, and I wasn't too thrilled with the Graffiti writing.
But finally seeing how streamlined, fast and capable the new ones are, I wanted to investigate. There are the Microsoft versions such as those put out by HP and Dell, but those are still pretty expensive. Then there were the Palms that were either high-priced as well, or the less expensive ones which were pretty much good for appointments and contacts. Not bad, and the new Z22 is a great value for something like that, but the Palm TX seemed, from other online reviews, seemed to be more reliable in terms of build quality than some in the recent past. Moreover, I have read that the Microsoft-based products tended to crash alot (the computer software has an internal conflict and inadvertently shuts down.).
I saw this unit on Amazon for $270 with a short-term offer of a free Palm wireless keyboard. That sold me, and I knew Amazon offered a 30-day trial anyway.
Having used it for about 6 weeks, I can tell you that it's brilliant for the money. The built-in office programs seemlessly integrate with the real things (and I understand that the software used by Palm is better than Microsoft's own stripped down PDA versions.). The internet browsing software works very, very well. It's not as robust as the one on your computer, but you'll be surprised as to how good it is. Blazer, the browsing software, is selective as to the sophistication of content it will download. While it's as fast as broadband, for sure, it's faster than my dialup used to be. There is also an option for text only downloads which is extremely fast.
The screen is extremely bright and resolution is quite good. I use a Sony CRT at home, so I'm used to great color and resolution, but this is quite good. In sunlight, it's not great.
This is not a substitute for a laptop, but for checking email on the go, or doing a quick Google, it's pretty amazing. We were in a theater a few days ago, and we were trying to figure out the background of an actress. There happened to be a wireless connection in the house, so I was able to quickly get on the internet and Google the actress and got our answer.
As for the memory and processor, it's plenty for most lay-users, unless you're going to download LOTS and LOTS of games. On the other hand, with the SD card slot, you could load LOTS and LOTS of games on a card or two or three. The processing speed? Palm has chosen well for this price range. The TX cannot multi-task. When you leave one thing, it will close down when you open up another. This means the processor does less work. Because of the uncanny methodology of the browser, the speed of going around the internet is usually good, and has been tested to be faster than the basic Dell model which has a faster processor. The reason why the Dell seems slower is because the Microsoft operating system is more cumbersome. It is capable of multi-tasking, but it's greater sophistication results in slower everyday tasks performed on the PDA. The top of the line Dell is supposed to be terrific and potentially worth it for someone who is doing a lot of sophisticated stuff on their PDA, but it's almost twice the cost of the TX.
For those who must have an even faster processer, the Palm Mobile Manager, retailing for $100 more than the TX, has a 33% faster processor and 4gigs of built-in memory (as opposed to the 128megs built-into the TX).
For me, the TX is extremely impressive and I don't need the Mobile and I didn't want to spend more money. Considering the deal I got (w/free keyboard), it was a no-brainer. I have also bought two games for it, Village Sim and Bejeweled 2, and the bright, rich screen is just the ticket for them.
And by the way, the Palm wireless keyboard works flawlessly.
Customer Review: iPod Touch+book reader+PDA at half the price?
Summary: 5 Stars
My Palm m515 was living on borrowed time.
Since I love reading eBooks on it (primarily on public transport, reading myself to sleep in bed,...) I was actually considering a Sony eBook reader E-reader 6IN LCD Portable Silver E-book Approx 170 Pix/inch or the new Kindle Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device, but their price is a bit steep for "one-trick ponies". Also, the devices are too big for my taste, and require ambient light or a bookreading light --- my long-suffering spouse wants neither in bed ;-)
Another alternative would have been an iPod Touch Apple 8 GB iPod Touch, which does have a web browser and can view PDF files --- but after trying it out in a store, I decided a PDF viewer that cannot reflow is not for me, unless I use such a small font that I need a magnifying glass.
Then, just before Thanksgiving, I found an incredible $199 deal on Amazon for the Palm T|X with a metal hardcase. For another $15 (Black Friday deal), I added a 2 GB Sandisk Ultra II SD card SanDisk SDSDH-2048-901 2 GB Ultra II Secure Digital Memory Card (Retail Package), which can hold all the eBooks I want and then some.
The screen is just beautiful: I read books in Mobipocket Reader, with the font set to regular size bold. (That way, I can actually read without my anastigmatic glasses.) At night, even the lowest level backlighting is plenty bright. In bright sunlight, no LCD screen will ever be able to compete against e-paper technology, of course.
WiFi worked pretty much out of the box on our home wireless network, after I added the TX's MAC address. (Tip: if you run MAC authentication on your wireless router, the MAC address is printed on the back of the TX, together with the serial number.) Blazer is a pretty decent browser, considering it's only a PDA.
I haven't tried Versamail, as I access Gmail via the web browser instead. Google Maps works like a charm.
Documents To Go is pretty neat, especially the ability to set up a small spreadsheet on a PDA on the fly. No experience with Word compatibility, since I loathe Word with a passion and do all my formal writing in LaTeX. (For that, any plain text editor will do.)
The media player, together with a big SD card, adds a poor man's iPod. Sound quality through the audio jack is actually quite decent, although the jack is finicky about slightly bent headphone plugs. (One of my Sennheiser pairs would have the right channel drop intermittently: sure enough, the headphone plug was a bit bent, which my 2nd Gen iPod Nano and Macbook Pro seem to tolerate just fine.)
Palm OS 5.4 shows its age a bit, and is a far cry in terms of slickness from an Apple interface, but it's well thought out in its own way. The little row of status icons at the bottom is quite neat: no more pecking for the "Clock" hotspot in the Graffiti area just to see the time of day.
(Unfortunately, the ability to quickly set the alarm from there fell by the wayside as well.)
For text entry, one has the choice between Graffiti 2 or a virtual keyboard on screen. The latter is meant to be operated with a stylus, although one can actually finger-type not much more awkwardly and inaccurately than on an iPhone.
And of course, unlike any of the alternatives I considered, one can install 3rd-party software. (Aside from Mobipocket, the first two things I downloaded and installed were an RPN calculator and a Periodic Table. Unix/Linux geeks will like to know that one can find a Telnet/SSH client for it!)
Battery "autonomy" is OK as long as one leaves the WiFi off. For that reason, people uninterested in the WiFi and who are willing to sacrifice 1/3 of the viewable screen area might consider the Tungsten E2 instead Palm Tungsten E2 Handheld, which is reported to have about twice the battery autonomy.
The Mac Palm software is probably the weakest point of the device. Various 3rd-party alternatives exist (SyncBuddy, The Missing Sync), and basic calendar and contacts syncing can be done via Mac OS X itself (iSync). HandStory no longer has a Mac front-end, but NoteTaker is an acceptable freeware alternative.
All in all, a pretty neat multipurpose PDA (especially if you're used to doing things "under the hood" on computers), and a steal at what I paid for it.
Customer Review: Best Palm so far...
Summary: 5 Stars
During the past 10 years, I have owned a series of Palms beginning with the Palm III, and the TX has almost all the functions that I have been dreaming about for years.
This is what I like:
Well constructed. Color screen is bright and works well. It shows videos and photos without any problems. It has a strong metal-like hard plastic body and is solid. The body and screen are much nicer than my previous Palm, a Zire 71.
A multimedia machine. The ability to use an SD card with up to 2 gigabytes of storage has turned the TX into a portable multimedia device that rivals the ipod. When I purchased the TX, I picked up a 512 meg SD flash card. As SD card prices have declined, I bought a 1 gig and most recently a 2 gig card. I have filled them up with mp3, jpeg and mpeg4 video files. By using the Pocket DVD Wizard, (a shareware application) I am able to convert DVDs and play them on the TX.
Built-in WiFi finally! I have been waiting for Palm to offer built-in WiFi for several years and my wish has finally been granted. Although download speeds can be slow and browsing websites on such a small screen isn't fun. The browser does work and it is nice to be able to get online. I have gotten used to checking my Yahoo and Gmail web-based email accounts. (More on using the VersaMail later.)
Edit Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint files. The DataViz Documents To Go Professional suite comes standard on the TX. This allows you to create and edit Word, Excel and Powerpoint files on the TX. I haven't run into any compatibility issues transferring Office files between the TX and my desktop. This is great value. (Alas, no spell check. If you want spell check, you need to upgrade to the Premium edition.)
Leave your laptop at home. When I purchased my TX, Palm included a mail-in coupon for a free wireless keyboard. This is a great addition. I know Palm's Graffiti language, but when it comes to typing, a keyboard beats a stylus. The keyboard folds up into a small package and it fits into my coat along with the TX. Now when I visit an office, the library or a bookstore caf', I can just take it out and start typing. Unfortunately, I noticed that Palm discontinued the keyboard give-away shortly after I got mine, but I still recommend picking up a wireless keyboard because it makes the Palm so much more useable.
Now for the features that I wish Palm had included and/or improved:
The biggest omission is there is no built-in microphone. This is strange because microphones have been included in most high-end Palms and Handsprings for several years. It would have been great if Palm had included one because combined with the WiFi, this device would be perfect as a WiFi phone using Skype. I have friends using Skype with their Windows Pocket PC phones. It would also be nice to be able to dictate memos.
A better email client. Now that the Palm TX has WiFi, an email client is a necessity. I have found that the current version of VersaMail that comes with most Palms, works OK with certain email services like Gmail and AOL, but I cannot get it to work with my hosting company's email. There is no way to set up email authentication that most hosting companies require. I understand that Snapper email, a shareware program, does a better job, but I haven't had a chance to try it out.
Incomplete multimedia software bundle. The Pocket-Tunes program that comes with the TX is an improvement over the Real Player included with previous Palms, but it still lacks the ability to play many formats, including Windows Media. I am sure this is a licensing issue and fortunately, all my music files are MP3, which it handles well. The TX also does not come with a video player; fortunately, I was able to download the free, TCPMP (The Core Pocket Media Player).
Overall, I think the TX is the best Palm yet. I have been using it for nearly four months without any problems. I know eventually, I will replace it with a Treo. But for now, with its larger screen and ability to edit Microsoft Office documents, I like the TX.
Customer Review: Palm gets it just about right
Summary: 5 Stars
As a compulsive gadgeteer I've been using handheld devices for years, including the Apple Newton, the Sharp handhelds, Casio, Dell, Handspring and others. All of them have ultimately been disappointing and far too limited or quirky for daily use.
The Palm Treo 650 is a good unit, but I found myself constrained by it because of the the screen size and lack of WiFi.
I looked at the LifeDrive and the TX and chose the TX.
And I am absolutely delighted with the TX. It is not perfect, but it comes within spitting distance of being so.
Since my list of the TX's deficiencies is short, I'll list it first.
Battery life and non-removable batteries. That's my personal list of shortcomings, though I am sure others will have different opinions.
The internal battery is not removable. I think that's a dumb move on the part of Palm or any other handheld device manufacturer. Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity quickly run down the battery, seemingly within a couple of hours or so. Third party battery extenders provide some relief, but being able to pack a spare battery or two for extended use would be a joy.
The rest of the story is all good, all praise.
The 320 x 480 screen is gorgeous. Not quite bright enough to easily use in bright daylight, it is more than usable under all other conditions. Rendition is very crisp and small type is surprisingly easy to read. Photographs are well displayed and video has no trace of ghosting.
The built-in speaker is weak and, except for alarms, useless. Music and other audio listened to with headphones, however, is robust and rich.
Video playback is very good. I've observed no skips so far using TCPMP.
Graffiti2 is a delight. Much easier to use than earlier implementations adn far more tolerant of scrawls like mine. The touch screen is very responsive and I am able to write almost as fast on the Palm as I can using pen and paper. Very, very impressive.
Palm's 5-wey toggle is, for the most part, a delight to use. Neither too squishy nor too firm, the only drawback for my large fingers is the center button. Ultimately I'll remember to use only a fingernail to access it. Until then I will accidentally hit one of the other toggles from time to time.
Palm's normal applications are, as always, Palm's typical applications and I suspect most users will supplement or replace them with more powerful third party applications. The standout Palm app is the Blazer browser. So far it has handled every page I've thrown at it with grace, reformatting them nicely to fit.
The four function keys can be easily programmed and are responsive to a fairly firm touch, which is nice because they will turn on the unit.
The power switch is slightly recessed and requires a firm touch. A nice way to prevent accidental power-ups, but sometimes a bit of a pain when you want to quickly turn the unit off.
The WiFi implementation is flawless. Set-up takes seconds and WEP is provided for. I have used my home WiFi outside at distances of more 100 feet. I've connected to three other WiFi nets without problem.
Bluetooth is easy to set up.
I've used the TX with a wireless keyboard and, frankly, the combination could replace my laptop in many instances.
I'm glad to have chosen the TX over the LifeDrive. With 2GB SD cards selling for less than $100, I can get all the storage I need without the delay and possible fragility of the 4GB microdrive in the LifeDrive.
Many have complained of the lack of a microphone on the TX. Since I've never used the voice recording capabilities of any of my handhelds, I don't see it is a lack. Others with different needs may justifiably disagree.
Overall the TX is a pleasing purchase. It isn't perfect but it is the best handheld device I've owned to date. Now if they would add a camera and a phone in the same form factor . . .
Jerry