When Palm, or palmOne as it was known, released its LifeDrive in May, we were thrilled that the company had finally integrated Wi-Fi into one of its PDAs. Unfortunately, when we saw the wallet-stretching price tag, the celebration was short-lived. Now, it appears we can put our party hats back on, because the new Palm TX offers a more affordable solution (£240) that should please a wide range of users, both professional and casual. Aside from built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the TX crams a long list of features and solid performance into a sleek package that can go head-to-head with its Pocket PC counterparts, such as the Dell Axim X51 and the HP iPaq rx1950.
Design
With the exception of the colour scheme, the Palm TX largely resembles the Tungsten E2 and the Tungsten T5 in design. Rather than the classic metallic silver chassis, the TX sports a chic midnight blue colouring that can easily pass as black. In addition, the solid-feeling PDA is sleek and compact -- 78 by 121 by 15mm and 136g -- and should have no problem slipping into your bag or coat pocket. Palm does package the device with a flip cover that attaches on the left side to protect the screen and outer face from scratches, but if you want complete protection, we suggest you invest in a full-size case. Besides, once you take a look at the TX's gorgeous screen, we suspect you'll want to do everything to keep it that way.
The Palm TX's spacious 102mm (4-inch) display supports 65k colours and a 320x480-pixel resolution. Text and images are sharp and crisp, and you can even customise the PDA with a number of colour themes. As with the Tungsten T5, there is a toolbar along the bottom edge of the screen, where you can switch between landscape and portrait mode, bring up the virtual keyboard and turn on the wireless radio with a tap of the button, among other things. One-touch access to Home/Favorites, Calendar, Contacts and Web is also available through the four shortcut keys below the screen. The five-way navigation toggle sits in between this quartet. Overall, the layout is spacious, and all buttons are tactile.
On top of the Palm TX are an SDIO/MMC expansion slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a power button and a stylus holder. To sync with your PC or Mac, you can use the included multiconnector USB cable, which plugs into the bottom of the PDA. The connector for the AC adaptor sits immediately to the right of the USB port -- this made for a tight fit when both connectors were plugged in. If you ever need to reset your device, you can do so by pressing the button on the back of the device with a paper clip or a sharp point. Unfortunately, the battery is not user-replaceable.
Palm includes enough of the basics to get you going right out of the box. Aside from the aforementioned flip cover, AC adaptor and USB cable, you get a user guide and an installation CD loaded with an interactive tutorial and various software. Palm will offer a number of optional accessories, including Bluetooth-enabled goodies, such as a Bluetooth GPS navigation system and Palm's Universal Wireless Keyboard.
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Diego 5 January 2008
Good: The size, the features, the video player, the huge ammount of softwares you can download (free and paid), the screen, the whole package.
Bad: The need for specialized maintenace for battery replacement.
Comment: I have been a palmtop-addict for several years for I am a teacher and professional interpreter and was an university student. I had a Tungsten E handheld when I realized I needed to have at least Bluetooth to be somehow connected to others, once the infrared port was not communicating with anyone else but my friends who owned another handheld. I then started shopping for a new one.
My first idea was to buy a Zire 72 or even the twin brother, the Tungsten E2. During that period, Palm had launched the Life Drive, which had everything I could want, but was too expensive and slightly too big for me. When I heard aboud the TX, I automatically fell in love with it. Didn't think twice, I went there and bought it.
When I opened the box and turned it on, the first thing I could notice besides it somehow known design was how bright its 480x320 screen was. When I opened the built in Media software I couldn't believe how smooth the video playback and slideshow capabilities were! When I transferred the "soul" of my previous handheld (calendar, contacts, software, etc.) I noticed some minor glitches in some of the older programs, but not so much that would get me annoyed. The sound volume of it was also very impressive.
About the built in programs, the best was the Pocket Tunes, that replaced the Real Player from other editions. The endless customization possibilities of that program were great. The documents to go that comes in the cd is also very nice. The Calendar and Contact interfaces are also nice and all the built in programs are very intuitive and user-friendly.
Although I had read in this very website that it could only read SD cards up to 2GB I took a chance and bought a High speed 4GB SD card and worked perfectly. On that moment I thought "Great, I have the same memory capability of the Life Drive paying much less and without the size and weight!". It could hold entire movies or episodes of my favorite series. Perfect for coach-class endless flights or bus trips.
The communication capabilities where also mind-blowing. I tested the Bluetooth port with a mobile camera-phone and it was very fast and easy to transfer images between the two devices. I also tested the Hotsync via Bluetooth and it was very nice too. In the wi-fi department it also works great! With the Universal Keyboard accessory I could easily navigate the web from any wireless internet access point with high speed. One minor glitch I could notice was that the Blazer (built-in browser) was not 100% compatible with all pages I visited, with forms out of place, but nothing that would upset the user too much.
What I can say about the Palm TX is that it is incredibly useful right out of tha package, but once you customize with the huge ammount of softwares available on the internet it becomes as indispensible as your wallet or even your mobile phone.
Tony McCauley 16 October 2006
Good: It makes my travelling life easyier and more enjoyable.
Bad: Hmmm... nothing I can think of.
Comment: I am now on my 5th laptop all of which have been personal rather than company buys, so mobile computing has always been high on my agenda and something which I have full control over. I have not previously dipped into the PDA market as their functionality was always covered better by the laptops, however with the spread of WiFi and the advent of WiFi-enabled PDAs I thought it was about time to check them out.
The Palm Tx received some very good reviews and was not priced too highly so I brought one and have been bowled over by it ever since, to the point where, for shorter trips I can leave my laptop behind, and on longer trips (international) it is the perfect travelling companion for airport departure lounges. With the WiFi I can constantly check for any last minute e-mails and news web sites, listen to some music or even, during long delays, watch a movie. Recently I used it to check mail and browse the Internet during a flight which had a WiFi service. On a more mundane level I use it all the time to read an send SMS messages via Bluetooth to my phone and of course the Versa mail gives me easy access to bring with me the business e-mails that I have received.
I use it with 2GB cards (the maximum) which can now be brought sub £20, one will be in the machine and two are stored in the case brought separately. 6GB - who needs a Lifedrive? Why not a 10/10? Well, sometimes the handwriting recognition is a bit jumpy so I cannot call it perfect.
I cannot recommend this highly enough and I have still to try it as a GPS navigator with a TomTom set up!
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