Palm TX Handheld
by Palm
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Palm TX Handheld
Customer Review: Tx over Treo and Ipod
Summary: 4 Stars
My wife finally gave up on her paper/pen PDA system (a wire bound notebook), and at my prodding, agreed to look into buying a PDA. We decided on the Palm TX over the older Palm PDA models due to the screen size, processor speed, memory, and price. From reviewing internet forums, the Palm TX seemed the most reliable mechanically/electronically. As she is a non-techie, she wasn't interested in the embedded folder system of Windows CE/PDA system. It worked so well for her, I decided to get one for myself, an upgrade from my now ancient, but very reliable, Sony Clie SJ22.
The Treo 650 was a consideration, but she has a very small cellphone, which is easy for her to carry. The Treo would have forced her to carry a bulky cellphone with her at all times.
The TX has been very nice. The screen is bright, it is well built, has a nice "feel", and it's light. It uses most of it's front surface for the screen, an important consideration in a small device that you will be using mainly for reading documents and PDF's.
Adobe Reader for Palm is great, and renders PDF's that are nearly indistinguishable from the original. Documents to Go has also worked flawlessly.
The TX is also replacing my 3G Ipod. The first time you download via Wifi a podcast directly onto your PDA, you'll be thinking "why doesn't Apple do this?". Yes , you're limited by the size of you SD card, but 2GB is plenty for me.
OS has been stable, battery life is very good (I get about 4 hours of battery life with continuous web surfing, several days of battery life if I mainly use the PDA functions), and no problems with cable synchronization (though I never could get WiFi sync to work).
Examples of recent use:
I traveled to Japan, and was able to pull out my TX and connect to the Wifi at Narita Airport. Yahoo email works great on the Palm Tx.
I subscribe to New England Journal of Medicine, and can directly download videos via Wifi from that site onto my Palm TX.
The bad:
I agree with others that the power cord, sync cable, and supplied cover are very flimsy.
No voice recorder
Smartphones still make too many compromises in terms of screen size, device size, and data entry to make them good PDA's (though the Treo 650 is very close). For those of us who use PDA's for mobile information recording/accessibility, the classic PDA is still the way to go.
Follow up (2/4/07):
After 6 months, I'm still positive about the Palm TX.
It's more practical as an audio player than my old Ipod 3G. I download podcasts from WiFi network's frequently. Pocket tunes, the Palm supplied audio player, allows you to bookmark your audio files, great for podcasts or audiobooks.
As an internet tablet it performs well. I access Gmail, Yahoo mail daily without difficulty. I don't buy the Sunday paper anymore-I just read the news indoors or outdoors off my Palm TX.
For medical professionals, there are numerous helpful applications-Epocrates, Skyscape, Johns Hopkins ID program.
Negatives-the lower part of the touch screen has calibration issues that will not correct. Others have complained about this. Don't expect fast and accurate handwriting recognition-you'll have to be a little patient with the "graffiti" system.
No Flash player, no Skype/VOIP, no Java on the web
At 9 months, I have no regrets about my purchase.
Customer Review: Very Good
Summary: 4 Stars
I have had my Palm TX now for about 3 months. I have had a Palm Vx, m515, and now this one, and its capabilities blow the others away. The screen is fantastic. I love the extra space and resolution, plus the landscape mode. Having wifi is a huge plus even though I don't have a wireless network at home or work. With the better processor, this is also super fast. It sorts through 300 records in Smartlist in about a second.
Still I had some disappointments:
The screen isn't glass like the Vx. This probably makes it less likely to crack, but it makes the grafitti area more likely to be damaged and an overlay, at least in the grafitti area is a must. Even using a protector, I still had problems with grafitti skipping (like an "o" might become a "c" plus a blob even though I wrote an "o") and wound up returning the first one I got after about a month. If you don't bear down, it will skip. If you do bear down you are more likely to damage the screen. I have to take a star off for that.
I use a lot of third-party programs and many of them simply don't work or will crash the TX. Generally I can find substitutes, but I still miss some of that and it was an ordeal at the beginning. I don't think "hacks" are allowed anymore at all. But anything still being developed works fine. Also I really miss the old grafitti. I couldn't get used to the new version which seemed incredibly slow and clumsy. Fortunately there is a way to get the old version back.
I don't see why they couldn't make the silkscreen "buttons" customizable like the actual buttons are. In fact you should be able to change the icons. I don't use the Palm for e-mail and the media button is also kind of useless for me. I'd rather have the calculator and search buttons back.
The browser has problems. Wikipedia just shows up as a vertical line of letters (there is workaround for this problem documented on Wikipedia, but it only works for that site). Also, if you don't crash while browsing, it isn't uncommon to crash shortly *after* browsing in a different program. Some secure websites simply won't work at all. I have to cut Palm some slack on that since handheld devices can't have browsers as good as a desktop, but being able to turn the screen to landscape should solve most things and it simply doesn't here. There is no excuse for the crashes.
Despite the negatives, there were some nice surprises too:
I love using the Palm as an MP3 player. Among MP3 players it is bulky, but since I'm carrying it anyway, it really takes no additional space. I use the included pTunes player and bought a 2 GB card with several hundred songs on it and I love it. I use the Palm more than my 20 GB iPod now.
It also makes a great video player. Once I figured out the right mix of tools, I was able to put DVD's on another 2 GB card. I can put 8 episodes of my favorite TV shows on one of those cards and it looks great using the free full-screen TCPMP player. People are amazed with that feature. The screen is bigger and has more resolution than a 5G iPod.
Battery life is surprisingly good. It's nothing like the Vx which lasted a week or more, but it is as good as the m515 even playing an occasional movie and using the mp3 player.
The integration of everything could be better, but that's part of the deal with an open platform. This thing is like an iPhone, only without the phone. And you can buy it today for much less money.
Customer Review: Palm TX and Windows Media Center/Vista
Summary: 4 Stars
It IS possible to link the TX with Windows Media Center, but it's not for the fainthearted. I believe that the Palm software staff got overwhelmed with changes from Microsoft. If you are not comfortable installing and removing programs on your pc, skip the rest of this.
After a disappointing 4 months with a Tungsten E2, I bought the TX. I had trouble installing it on my desktop PC running Windows XP Media Center, SP2. (Had I read all the reviews, I might not have bought it.)
After research at the Palm site, I resorted to installing the TX on my laptop running Windows XP Home SP2. It was OK until I installed the downloaded the Palm update called PalmDesktopWin414e. After deleting the whole Palm program on the laptop via the Control Panel, I reinstalled just the CD that came with the TX. My laptop is currently not connected to the internet (I don't want to pay another year of antivirus/firewall when I don't need the laptop for internet.). After syncing a few times and all going well, I took the plunge of deleting the Palm software from my desktop and reinstalling only the software on the CD that came with the TX. All appears well, though this is Day 1.
So, if you have a TX and Windows XP Media Center, do not use the latest downloads from Palm. In fact, if you have any problems syncing with any level of Windows XP, try the following: Remove the installed Palm software from your PC (Control Panels, Add and Remove Programs). Install from the included CD as if for the first time. Do not allow the installation program to look on the internet for updates. Sync and have fun.
None of my calendar items, games, etc, were lost while I was having problems syncing. The beauty of the Palm is that it holds everything in itself. So, once I got sync to work, I got my most up-to-date calendar on my desktop.
As to the TX versus the E2--TX is a clear winner. I don't need many of its features which is why I did not get it in the first place. But, I do need the faster processor. When I press the On button, it turns on. The E2 could take up to 5 seconds to respond. The E2 was also slow in changing from one program to another.
I loved my Tungsten E and replaced it when the battery was showing signs of giving out. I did not realize that the E2 processor, combined with the Palm OS would be horrilby slow. An 81 year old friend has my old Tungsten E and uses it occasionally for BubbleIt.
The Tungsten E2 will shortly be in the hands of a 6th grader who enjoys Sudoku and will be able to put up with the quirky delays.
The screen on the TX takes some getting used to, as one can opt to dismiss the area for inputing text in order to get a larger window in many apps. The included solitaire game is fun on the expanded screen.
All the things I use the Palm for:
Calendar
Contacts
Games
are working great. I would give it 5 stars except for the installation problems.
May 11, 2007 Have been using the TX for over 2 months with no syncing problems with XP Media Center. The key is using the included software from the CD Rom and not downloading updates.
August 4, 2007
My XP desktop crashed, so I bought a Vista laptop. Installed the beta desktop software from palm.com and it is working well. As I suspected, the Palm folks turned their attention to Vista and have to leave the older operating systems behind.
Customer Review: Happy customer
Summary: 4 Stars
Switched from an aging Toshiba E310 - perfectly fine but battery drained in hours and a replacement battery was no better. Feel like I am buying into a dying technology but I like my PDA. Choice was constrained by budget vs functionality. Most Pocket PCs were beyond my budget. TX offered a lot for my money.
On balance I am really pleased (but would probably still switch back to a Pocket PC if one was in budget!)
PROS
Size & weight. Bought it on a business trip to USA and had it on my pocket for two weeks mainly for to-do lists, tracking expenses, and showing friends family photos.
Quality of display good for most apps though photo's colours are dull.
Excellent battery life so far.
Landscape mode - great for spreadsheets.
Media player - nice to have favourite videos & snaps for the road & showing to friends.
Wi-Fi - didn't expect to use it much but very handy when I'm expecting a mail or want to double check the weather and don't have time to boot up my pc before going to work or going to bed.
Charger is 110-240V contrary to other reports & light.
NOTE Aparently there is a 1047NA version 110V only and a 1047ML (MultiLanguage) version @110/240V
Calendar easy to use compared to my Pocket PC (that was 2002- think later versions were better).
Keep finding hidden ways to do things that help - e.g. just discovered pressing and holding "home" button brings up a list most recently used apps for quick switching.
Flip cover - provides minimal protection but fine for me - I find a fancier case inhibits my use.
Documents to go works seamlessly with no problems yet. I sync several spreadsheets (these were originally lists of info that I printed, punched and inserted in my Filofax so they still serve their original purpose!). I only ever view on the handheld, not edit so can't comment on that.
I sync with Outlook 2003 with no problems contrary to another reviewer.
World clock application. Had an independent World Time app for my Pocket PC but that was over-engineered for my requirements.
CONS
Stability, in first weeks had a spontaneous reset that lost all my contacts (but preserved all other synched info) - that shook my confidence. No data loss since but quite a few lockups and unsolicited resets.
Grafitti2. Not bad - I find I need to be spot on with my printing or I get gibberish & I miss the cursive handwriting recognition of my Pocket PC. I am trialing Mobile Write (should be Mobile "Print" because smooth writing isn't really practical) but still undecided.
Battery drained overnight on a couple of occasions - wasn't playing media or anything at the time so this remains a mystery.
Miss switching between running apps on Pocket PC
User interface feels archaic and not totally consistent. I miss Pocket PC 's interface, for example, tap and hold for a context menu.
Miss Pocket PCs today screen. Can't find a way to make a specific application the default on startup.
No Mic - I did use this sometimes so miss it but can live without it.
Addit application - snuck in under the radar - need to remove it as it slows down sync times & uses space.
MUST HAVE APP
Illiumsoft eWallet. Relatively inexpensive & I safely store credit card numbers, web page passwords, membership cards (e.g. frequent flier), document details (passport etc), software serial nos, calling card details, you name it.
Customer Review: should have been better
Summary: 4 Stars
I can recommend the TX as a good buy, but with some cautions. I briefly flirted with switching to a pocket PC, but decided to stick to machines running the Palm OS since that is what I am accustomed to and it is certainly adequate for most of my needs.
I purchased my TX as a replacement for a Clie (which was itself a replacement for a Palm). The Clie proved to be far superior to Palm PDAs of its day, but Sony is now out of the PDA market, which after a bit of shopping around led to my decision to return to Palm. The TX is a reasonable replacement for the Clie in the sense that it includes all of the same functionality (and has some improvements: larger screen, vertical and horizontal view modes, longer battery life). The only downside is that it is a bit bulkier. I knew this when I purchased it and hoped that the added features would compensate, and I feel that they do. If I only wanted the Clie functionality, the TX would be worth 5 stars; however, the added promise is wireless access and that isn't fully up to snuff.
I use a secured wireless network with WEP key, and and am happy to report it is fully supported, so internet access is not a problem area. As at least one other reviewer has noted, Palm's VersaMail is less than adequate. My internet provider is Comcast, which is in the list VersaMail supposedly supports. I can use it to receive email, but even though the VersaMail "advanced" configuration indicates authentication support is on, send mail doesn't work. Comcast lays the blame squarely on Palm, and rightly so, which I think is enough for a one star deduction. Of course, if you can access email through the web (which I can with Comcast), this is not a make or break issue. The web browser could be better, but works OK, especially given the screen size. I don't have a blue tooth enabled phone, so I can't say plus or minus regarding that feature, nor do I do text messaging. I had Documents to Go on the Clie, and while it's nice to have it on the TX for occasional use, word processing is really something for full size computers. Ditto for music (get an Ipod).
Palm's installation software is one of those that insists it knows best, which would probably have been OK on a system that had never had a PDA using Palm OS. In my case, the setup program insisted on installing in my Clie directory, which resulted in Clie specific programs getting picked up by Sync, which crashed the setup and resulted in the TX being rendered unstable (couldn't sync and had errors on startup). I got back in control by doing a hard reset on the TX (you have to go to Palm's TX site to get the user manual to find out how) and starting over, this time making sure the Clie installs were not picked up.
If you are considering Palm's hardcase, you need to be aware that it has at least one annoying design flaw - you can't get to the stylus without flopping the TX away from the case. I plan to peruse the after-market to see if anyone has one without this drawback.
One final note: the USB cable has itty-bitty plastic alignment ends for plugging into the TX that I'm sure will break off in time. I've also found that you have to push it in hard prior to sync to make sure the signal gets through. Perhaps the optional cradle doesn't have this issue.