Palm TX Handheld
by Palm
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List Price: Our Price: $249.99 You Save: $150.00 (38%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $54.99 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Palm TX Handheld
Customer Review: Amazing tool for the price!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought my Palm TX roughly 5 months ago, and I love it! I'm 16 years old and some people would call me a bit of a geek. I have bought many expensive gadjets and I know my way around a computer, so I was able to take full advantage of all the great features on this palm.
Pros:
-Wifi
-Big screen- Landscape mode!
-Pocket Tunes
-Expandability
-Battery Life
Cons:
-none so far!
Wifi - The wifi connection is one of the main reasons I purchased this. I set up a wirelss network in my 2400 sq foot house and I can go anywhere in the house and on the front porch and I am able to browse the web. Web pages load very well at a good speed using the Blazer software. Also, the Versamail program is a great tool for checking email without having to use the web browser. Be aware that you cannot use Hotmail or Yahoo with Versamail so I just set up a Gmail account and it works great.
Big Screen - The big screen gives it a great advantage over other Palms because it gives you the option for landscape mode. Using a free TCIMP media player I found on the web, I've watched full length movies on my Palm TX with amazing picture and sound quality. I highly reccomend Palm DVD Studio for converting your DVDs to Palm format and it's well worth the $30. Do NOT hotsync your converted videos with Palm Desktop or you'll get a bunch of blurry crap. The best way to put a video on your palm is to load it onto your SD card and then use the TCIMP video player and select the video.
Music - First of all, buy a large SD card, it's well worth the money, especially with the cheap prices for card media these days. I bought a 2 gb card about 5 months ago for $65 from Best Buy, and now they're even cheaper. I'm able to fit a little over 300 songs, plus four 22 minute tv shows and about 400 pictures onto my sd card. The Pocket Tunes player is really great and it makes it easy to create playlists, and has all the play modes you would ever need, excluding bass/treble adjusting.
Expandability - A palm is a palm, meaning that there are tens of thousands of Palm compatible programs out there. You can use your Palm TX for just about anything, especially with its Wifi capabilities. I have a bunch of games and they're all great.
Battery Life - Battery life is what sets this apart from other PDAs. You can get over 10 hours on music and about 4 and a half hours on video. I barely ever have to charge it doing normal tasks.
Overall, I'm extremely satisfied with my Palm TX and I use it all the time. One more small note is that the wall charger dosen't work as another power source. It soley charges your Palm's battery, meaning if your battery is at zero, you have to wait until the power adapter has given it enough juice to use it again. And that is not even a big deal, being that the charging time is just 3 hours. I HIGHLY recommend this device, you won't be dissappointed!!!
Customer Review: Realistic and Practical Technology
Summary: 5 Stars
This T|X is just right for my money! I had used an older Palm V for years, and really used it as a PDA classically was used. Putting up with the green screen, I kept my contacts names and addresses, and as importantly, free form memos that cold be searched instantly to remember things my brain would not pull up. People knew that I would have whatever bit of trivia squirreled away in my palm pilot, as we used to call it. I used the calculator and even small spreadsheets to keep my numbers straight and I secretly laughed at those who thought a PDA should also be a phone, a browser, a MP3 player, a do all device that could rival a laptop! This is silly! it will not do those things well, and we know it.
So when the old PDA croaked, I delighted in having the new T|X basically be a fantastic dream upgrade. Bright color screen, better applications and synchronization with the PC, and extras that come from the new technology that really DO something for me. For instance I have made a screen save out of google maps and synched the jpg to the PDA and taken it with me. It does surprise me with its easy bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection, grabbing public connections easily, where I get emaiil from my own pop server, just like outlook. But I couldn't have that deluge of spam and email go there, so I set up its own email name and I send just what I need on the go.
You can play mp3s on it, with built in speaker or earphones, and even videos if you want, but again this is not my use of the device. It flips from portrait to landscape, has a stylus or little joystick thing for navigation, and a little screen keyboard is not too bad as those things go. I had hoped to get benefit from already being proficient with their on screen writing, but I found it is a little buggy and will not always read my characters, and the keyboard method turned out to be easier. Serious entries I do back at the PC, where I interpret the on the fly notes I took at the doctor's office or whatever.
As far as expansion, it uses SD chips, which I popped in 1GB for $15, and expect that to do me, since it already has half that built in. All kinds of little applets out there for software add ons, and even GPS if you want to go there in one device. However I still say you are going too far if you ask too many tasks out of one device.
To conclude, this is a stable product from a stable company. Built clearly to be the best PDA they could make, with other new things as frosting on the cake. With a bright and clean screen, it is my brain in my pocket, ready to instantly retrieve what I wish my brain would hold. If near a Wi-Fi, it even googles and gets mail, and podcasts with the infinite resources of the web. No, it doesn't shine your shoes and all the goofy things that the all in one devices are reaching for, but it is a great tool for life for under 300 bucks.
Customer Review: Great device
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently purchased the Palm TX (new) from Amazon. But before i did, i compared features and reviews of the Tx to the other brands on the market. After seeing it being listed in the top 5 PDAs, i eventually made it my choice.
Everything about this gadget is great and being a systems engineer most of the software for it is compatible with my working environment. Using a palm vpn client along with PalmVNC, i can remote desktop connect to every system at work or home which runs standard VNCserver, via WiFi, bluetooth or using the hot sync cable connected to an internet connected computer. Accessing files remotely over vpn is a breeze (provided SMB signing is turned off on the server).
From the mail client to the blazer browser is great although some websites with extremely large content generates a "page too large to be displayed" error, but that is a minor issue.
I run my own email server and the blazer handles the SSL version of the webmail pretty well and also does a great job of displaying the pages.
The Versa mail also sends and retrieves my emails using the imap protocol very well without any problems connecting to my server.
As far as the battery life is concerned, it really does lasts long.
When i first got the Tx, I had it powered on for more than 5 hours (with both wifi and bluetooth activated) experimenting with all it's features and testing it's interoperability with my home network (6 comps) and during that time the battery charge never fell below 97%, i even left it on for another 2 hours and it never changed. The hot sync feature also works well and keeps my items up to date. I even tried hot syncing over a VPN connection and it worked flawlessly
The WiFi feature is excellent. It had detected some Wifi hotspots that my laptop could not even sniff furthermore detect. Even with a 1 bar signal
the Tx connects with excellent speed while maintaining a stable connection.
Overall this is an excellent device and what makes it better is that there are a lot of third party software for the Palm TX OS like Resco Explorer which supports SMB signing and Print Boy which allows printing of a wide range of document formats to a network, bluetooth or infared printer.
This device has everything which suits my needs and more and it's far better than walking with a laptop since it cannot fit into my pocket.
The Palm Tx defines the meaning of modern connectivity and since I've had it, i've never experienced any of those problems other users complain about especially with the battery life, the frequent reboots and the lockups even though i have a fair amount of third party apps installed.
I now see why the TX is listed in the top 5. A formidable device when compared to some of the other more expensive "top dogs for it's price.
Customer Review: Excellent PALM OS PDA
Summary: 5 Stars
I also upgraded from a PALM Z22 and I am very happy with the T|X. I really enjoy the larger screen (including the switchable landscape display) with much higher resolution, sd card slot, a faster processor, bluetooth and wifi (although NOT the latest versions that are now available from other vendors), albeit with a significant reduction in battery life (From ~8 hrs for the Z22 to ~5 hrs for the T|X during normal operations with an even much shorter operating time using wifi unless the conserve power mode is turned on in the user preferences window). The wifi connection was extremely simple to setup as well as operate unlike the version included with the MS Windows Mobile 6.0 OS. This pda is also much better suited for the included Microsoft Windows Suite (Word, Excel and Powerpoint) so that I can also get some serious work done with the unit too. It also has a good calculator and many are also available for the PALM OS on the web. I have also purchased a Think Outside IR keyboard which contrary to earlier reviews works perfectly with very low power consumption with the T|X. Wait until they lower the price again and get extra accessories like a desktop cradle, Saunders-Rhinoskin hard metal protective case, USB hotsync cable and plug-in adapter for charging/operating in a car (which also works fine contrary to other available reviews), screen protectors, spare stylii, an extended warranty beyond 1 year, etc.
I find that as a scientist I use this thing for most everything keeping track of my day to day demands as well as helping me to organize and plan all of my future activities. The PALM OS is far superior to the Microsoft system in my opinion. I just hope that PALM keeps producing these fine units. If they ever do design and produce new pdas, I fervently wish that they would make the internal battery user replaceable however.
Finally, I do have one serious complaint, not because I believe that Palm will ever change the choice of software that is provided on the TX, but because I just would like to alert other users to this problem. The Microsoft (MS) office package of Word, Excel and Power-point provided is called the Premium Edition and will not plot any graphs at all (which I was hoping for without spending any more money), but to get the graphic plotting capability you must separately purchase the very expensive Professional Edition available from DataViz! To provide a product called the Premium Edition that doesn't even plot simple graphics or allow you to create simple slides or even allow any simple spell checking capability is a joke in my humble opinion. This practice has been followed for many years by the producers of the MS Windows operating system versions. I thought that Palm product producers had a little more honesty left in them than to do this, but I was certainly wrong on this point!
Customer Review: Balderdash!
Summary: 5 Stars
I wouldn't have even bothered to post here but some of the reviews of this product are braindead.
This is a fantastic product. I went through the whole Palm line from the very first up through the IIIE and then to a Sony Clie (running Palm OS). Then I thought I would try MS Mobile. I bought an HP and it was a struggle! I never was comfortable with it--Outlook is very cumbersome. It was a multimedia nightmare.
But this TX is great. Very thin--only 2/3 the size of the HP. Palm is just a great OS. Very straight forward, fast, and battery conserving. I can listen to MP3s for 5 or so hours even with bluetooth running.
Wifi worked when I first turned it on. Other users that have reported problems--I don't understand that from my perspective.
Screen size is larger in inches than my HP.
Physical construction is very stable. Not creaky. Still lightweight.
Also, if you run the batteries down in the HP you'd better have a backup because you will loose everything! The palm stuff is stored in flash.
I would invest in a screen cover for it (by the Kodak ones at Office Depot) just to keep the screen looking nice. Don't pay over 7 or 8 bucks for a pack of 8.
Also, get a case if you're going to be banging around with it. Belkin makes a good one you can wear on your belt.
Also, ante up right away and buy a 1 or 2 gig card. Then start throwing stuff on it. The Palm OS really simplifies this process. Drag and drop basically. Don't expect the windows explorer interface--this is easier.
With Documents to Go included this PDA is hard to beat.
Oh, also, if you're considering a PDA type Smart Phone. Think about it. You're on the phone and you need to relay someones address. Now how the heck are you going to do that--I mean, you're on the damn fone! Get the thinest bluetoothiest phone with long battery life and run the PDA with it. The TX will connect to COMMON bluetooth phones so buy one like Motorola or Nokia or ?. Then you can even dial from the TX, leave your phone on your hip, and talk through your BT headset. I like the Jabra.
Anyway, I just get so pissed of when people buy something and can't get it to work when I find it's an outstanding product.
Okay, want to know a downside to the TX? No builtin mic. That seems like an oversight. And no camera--no oversight. I think builtin cameras are the bane of photography. Buy a little Casio and you're in better shape than PDAs with builtin cameras. Been there--done that too.
Everybody just settle down--don't get your panties in a twist--and buy a TX.
I don't work for them or any other retailer of this product. It's really my opinion.