Palm TX Handheld

Much easier to stay organized with this than with anything else. The battery's also a lot better.

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

Good working condition. It is working well.

First, note that although I have tried out a Palm TX at a local retailer, I don't own one yet, mostly because Amazon doesn't actually seem to have any yet and doesn't seem to know when they'll have them ... As a Palm m505 user, I've been wanting to upgrade for some time, but the devices that did what I wanted were both rare and expensive, usually because they had features that I didn't need (like the Tungsten C's thumb keyboard or the LifeDrive's 4GB HD). SanDisk promised a WiFi SDIO card for the m5xx series for a long time, then finally reneged. And the m505's 160x160 screen with its washed-out color left something to be desired. Once I finally get one a TX, it'll be a huge step up. The Palm TX's screen is great; 320x480 makes a big difference. The backlight has several levels of brightness rather than just on/off. Over 100MB of usable memory is huge compared to the less than 8MB on my old Palm. It has an SDIO slot, so I can use the SD cards I already have. Built-in Wi-Fi means I won't be tying up the SDIO slot with an adapter and don't have to swap cards if I want to be online. Stereo audio means I can load up a card with MP3s and have a solid-state MP3 player. And one of the first things I'm going to try is using WiFile and PocketTunes to effectively stream MP3s wirelessly from my computer's hard drive. I'm glad the Palm TX doesn't have a camera; the last thing I need is a PDA that I'll have to leave at the front desk when visiting certain companies for work. With more and more places banning gadgets with cameras, I just don't want the hassle. I'm also glad that it doesn't have a phone -- I don't have a cell phone and don't want one, and besides, I don't want to drain my PDA's battery by talking on the phone, and vice-versa. I'd rather have my camera, phone and PDA be separate devices. This is not to say that I think it's perfect -- the biggest adjustment will be the lack of a cradle. Attaching plugs isn't going to be my favorite thing to do. Cradles are sold separately; I may eventually end up getting one. I'm going to miss the blinking-light and vibrating alarm features that the m505 has but the TX lacks. Voice recording is conspicuously absent on the TX, but as I didn't have it before, I'm not going to miss it. As for Bluetooth, this will be the only Bluetooth device I own, so it's like having a fancy piece of string with one tin can attached. Overall, I like this device. I'm going to be able to access the Internet from anywhere in the house, and make use of the ever-growing number of Wi-Fi hot spots. The features may not be the absolute latest and greatest, but they're light-years beyond what I have now, and the price is quite right.

Good item. Thank you.