Palm TX Handheld
by Palm
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Palm TX Handheld
Customer Review: Great features for the price
Summary: 5 Stars
I think that the Palm TX represents one of the best values in today's world of consumer electronics. It is powerful, fast, has a generous amount of built in storage ( with a SD/ SDIO slot for more ), infrared, and has both Bluetooth and WiFi technologies.
This is the 6th Palm device that I have owned and it is by far the best. Aside from performing it's basic PIM / HotSync tasks flawlessly with my iBook, the screen is large enough that I can actually read documents and play games without going blind. Although I own an iPod Video, the TX is much better for sharing photographs.
I am also impressed by the quality and usefulness of the basic software package. You can easily surf the web check email ( even .Mac accounts! ) open a variety of documents, view photos, play mp3's, and watch film clips without needing any third party applications. I am particularly pleased by the ease of setup for using the Bluetooth and WiFi functions. The WiFi is completely intuitive, with extremely clear instructions. Whether connecting to your home wireless network or a T Mobile Hot Spot you're up and running in seconds. But what really amazes me was how simple it is to pair my TX with my Motorola V330. I have the T Mobile Unlimited Internet plan and have used my phone with my iBook to get online when I am on the road in places where there is no other internet access available. That combination has functioned very , very well, but it involves numerous steps that must be followed EXACTLY. However, I found that the nice folks at Palm have already anticipated situations such as this and the setup for the TX is virtually automatic. I can honestly say that I was stunned by the simplicity of the process.
I also purchased the Palm Universal Wireless Keyboard ( once again a snap to utilize ) and found that I could use it to write emails while connected to the internet either by Bluetooth or WiFi. In spite of my large, clumsy fingers, I find the keyboard to be highly easy to use. I also purchased the extended warranty, and, as I have found to be the case in the past, the tech support is absolutely first rate!
Finally, I must concur with the other reviewers who have written about the occasional performance glitches. Frankly, I have never owned a Palm that didn't have it's little " moments ", but Palm is Mac friendly and I think that the TX delivers so much for the money that I have no problem overlooking the rare hiccup.
The TX is well designed, extremely versatile and reasonably priced. If you're in the market for a PDA ( listen up fellow Mac users ) you should give this product a close look.
Customer Review: Gotta Love this thing. Couldn't manage without it
Summary: 5 Stars
I used a a few different Clie (the Sony version of PALM) and always really liked them.
But the PALM T|X I think is better.
Of course, the use of calender and address book is intuitive and the
WI-FI works great (which I found out during my break on Jury Duty (yeah! they have WI-FI in court here now!)
I love looking for new (and usually free) applications to play around with (Tip Calculator, Unit Conversion, Knot Tying displays). My favorite game is Bike or Die. It is great to relieve boredom and not an easy game.
I also find no end to creative uses. I'm a photographer and sometimes shoot archival photos for theater. So, I film the show, vidcap images I want into a memory card & transfer them to my PALM. Then I can go to the photo shoot, show them the pictures on my PALM and say "Get in this scene." It cuts 75% of prep time off each photo.
I would also recommend getting the top flip Rhino Skin. I was running with my PALM in my coat pocket and it fell out onto the sidewalk the first week I had it. Even the sound of the PALM hitting the ground sounded like it wasn't going to be hurt. Sure enough, it was fine.
That's more than I can say for my poor repeatedly cracked cell phone.
So, anyone who doubts switching from Clie (I don't even think they're around anymore), have no fear. Switch over. A Palm store even switched all my info over for free.
Oh yeah! The screen switching to horizontal makes reading documents in the T|X a lot more pleasant. And thank you for making a left handed option!
I do have a few issues.
When I first bought the PALM, it had this application called Addit.
Every time you HOTSYNC, it would give you the days news from Reuters.
Not only was this great when I didn't want to carry a magazine, it also motivated me to HotSync every day.
But Reuters stopped doing it a couple months after I bought the PALM. Now I usually don't Hot Sync more than once a month.
I also don't think the plastic screen covering that comes with the PALM works too well. Often, trying to make a "T" turns into an "l" and a space. But I worked on another persons T|X and it was WAY easier. So I think I need another protective cover.
I suppose I shouldn't expect it, but the videos have tended to run slow if they are too big (and I'm talking YouTube quality). I actually haven't tried to play video on it for awhile, so I might not know what I'm talking about.
Over all. Great Product.
Customer Review: Failed hardware, poor software, terrible product, PalmOS obsolete
Summary: 1 Stars
This product really deserves 1/2 star.
Another reviewer mentioned that, "My Palm TX died tonight, for the last time. I've struggled with it for almost 2 years..."
Same end, a bit of a different story.
I bought mine and it worked for 6 months.
[-- CALIBRATION PROBLEMS --]
Then, all of a sudden I had to calibrate the screen every time I turned it off and back on. I figured I had a bad piece of software installed -- since most Palm software feels as if it is developed by untrained programmers.
I uninstalled everything, restoring the original ROM OS. Still terrible.
I previously had an old MS Pocket PC, but the old PocketPC didn't have wireless so I purchased the Palm TX. Terrible mistake.
[...]
[-- PALM OS -- OBSOLETE / SUNSET BY PALM --]
Also, did you know that Palm has sunset the PalmOS. That's right, there will be no more support for the OS on this piece of junk. That means on new OSes (like Windows 7) the sync software probably won't run.
[-- BLAZER WEB BROWSER : TERRIBLE --]
So, the biggest reason I bought this piece of junk is so I could surf the web from coffee shops and book stores. However, the web browser that comes on the thing (Blazer) is, again, one of the worst pieces of software I've ever used. It would constantly lock up in the middle of a page. None of the Macromedia Flash (definitely not silverlight) or special features of web sites would work.
[-- HANDWRITING RECOGNITION --]
Remember I came from the PocketPC which could keep up with my handwriting and recognize the characters I wrote.
During the entire year that I used the Palm, the handwriting recognition continually failed. I couldn't even write simple notes on the stupid thing. It drove me crazy.
Say what you will about microsoft, but I switched back to my PocketPC, which is 9 years old and it still works.
[-- NEVER BUY ANOTHER PALM PRODUCT --]
I will never buy another product affiliated with the PALM company. Absolutely terrible.
[--THE END : HARDWARE FAILURE--]
The end of my Palm finally came when I would be typing on it and it would freeze. I kept having to reset it. Then, finally, I couldn't even reset it. The screen would stay on until the battery died. It's not even effective as a doorstop now.
[-- CAVEAT EMPTOR --]
You may be thinking, "well, this owner didn't take care of it and he abused it." I never dropped it or had any physical problem with it. It's just a piece of junk.
Customer Review: Best of the Palm Series!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been a Palm user since 1997. I never thought I would upgrade from my trusty and reliable Tungsten T3 until I got the TX. It works great. It's got plenty of speed, more than enough for what I need it for, and plays videos smoothly using the TCPMP freeware player.
The Pros:
- lots of memory (100MB available to user)
- memory is non-volitile flash memory, so when the battery runs down, you don't lose anything (I had to charge my T3 daily because of this)
- bright screen
- wifi
- bluetooth
- Docs to Go v7
The Cons:
- it comes with a plastic digitizer, which if you don't use screen protectors, will wear out very very quickly. Once my warranty with Palm expires, I'm going to replace it with a glass digitizer. (This IS the solution to digitizer drift for the TX)
- the hotsync and charger cables are completely separate (unlike the old Tungsten TE which had a split cable for syncing and charging via usb, but you can find a combo charger/sync cable easily)
Soft Resets: Okay, I've only had this happen once since I've had the unit. The reason was because I had a piece of 3rd party software that was totally incompatible with the new Palm OS and NVFS. Once I got rid of that one piece of 3rd party software, no more crashes. (Mind you, I have 127 software programs installed on my TX or memory card and they all work well without crashing the unit.) If your TX soft resets on you, it's guaranteed that it's some piece of software that is incompatible. Most likely, it's the one piece of software you were using just before the crash.
Final Thoughts: I still like my T3, but my TX can do much much more and I can go hours on a single charge. The most I've had it on constantly was 4 hrs 2 min. I could have gone much longer, perhaps up to 5 hours. Your mileage will vary based on what you're doing. Docs To Go plus mp3 playing will get you 4 to 5 hours. You can watch 2.5 - 3 hrs of video on a single charge.
If you need the speed and power of a unit like this, plus wifi, it's highly recommended. The Palm OS may be old, but it's way more stable than Windows PCs.
I actually choose to bring this with me on trips (along with my folding IR keyboard) because it's move convenient than bringing my laptop. I can read eBooks, watch videos, listen to mp3s, edit Word/Excel/PowerPoint documents, and use the wifi feature to download, read, and respond to email. It doesn't get any better than this!
Customer Review: Lackluster Device from Palm does a little of everything poorly.
Summary: 2 Stars
The Palm TX certainly has promise. It says it does a lot of things -- web browser, contact and data management, audio and video content as a media player... but it fails to deliver on almost all fronts.
Most of the time, it's the little things that really detract from the device though. The handwriting recognition is embarassingly innaccurate at times, making it impractical for any kind of note taking. The device will frequently fail to power up when pressing the power button or any other button -- I'll usually have to mash the buttons three times before the device responds.
I have a Mac, and it doesn't really sync well with it. Neither did the PocketPC I owned, so that's probably more the computer than the device, or the third-party syncing solution I bought.
Battery life is so-so. The UI is clunky and while worlds better on the "high-res" screen compared to the Z22 or older low res screen, it's still feels dated, ugly and non-customizable.
The browser is a joke. I thought this even before Apple delivered Safari on the iPhone. It's ugly, and it can't really render pages, it can't cache anything so you're forced to download pages constantly.
Versamail was buggy and was of no use to me, either. Bluetooth syncing never worked right, the device would constantly drop the connection. Not sure again if this was my computer or the device, but it still never delivered.
The only thing this device kind of sort of does right is contact and task management. I use it primary for that purpose. Everything else is impractically marred by its frustrating UI. But $250 is a lot to pay for a device that's supposed to be so much more but in reality is no good for anything beyond what it's cheaper sibling, the Z22 can do. But I bought TWO Z22's and they both died on me within a week, which basically forced me to buy the TX. The Tungsten E2 is a cripped version of the TX with no wifi and without that it's just an overpriced device.
Palm really needs to change itself in order for me to ever consider buying another device. The Palm OS is dead and needs an overhaul, and I only keep this device around because I can't afford to buy anything else right now - I begrudgily keep it.
It is much better than the PocketPC I owned, but when people ask me if I like the device, I have to say no. I don't like it. It works, sort of, and I so I merely tolerate it.
I shouldn't have to to say that about a device like this.