Palm TX Handheld

Palm T/X Handheld PDA is anything but business as usual. Connect a portable, folding keyboard to make working on your business documents even easier. Need driving directions? Get turn-by-turn voice-guided directions with the Palm GPS Navigator (GPS requires optional accessories). Whatever you're into, you'll find an application you can use among the thousands made for the Palm OS. Affordable Wi-Fi is here. Introducing the Palm TIX handheld. With built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology, this is the wireless device you've been waiting for. Browse the web and check email from your office, campus, or a home Wi-Fi network-and places like airports, cafes, and hotels (with ISP service applicability). Carry your Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files and get more done anywhere. Web pages, presentations, spreadsheets, photos, and videos come to life on a large color screen that rotates from landscape to portrait mode. Have time to unwind? The Palm TX handheld even lets you listen to MP3 and read eBooks. Up to 128MB (100MB actual) Flash Memory - There's more than enough room to hold your calendar, contacts, applications, and even your spreadsheets and presentations. Not to mention fun stuff like photos, tunes, and video clips. And because it's flash memory, the information on your handheld is protected-even if you forget to recharge and the power runs down SD card slot for optional SD memory cards Thanks to the included Pocket Tunes, you can listen to MP3s and podcasts View digital pictures and video clips stored on SD cards Lightweight and compact-fits easily into a pocket or purse Steel Blue Finish Includes USB Connect Cable, Battery and Charger

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Created for today's fast-paced mobile landscape, the sleekly lightweight Palm TX handheld keeps you connected to your most important data--from email to files stored on your office PC--while you're away from your desktop with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. It also features a high-resolution 320 x 480-pixel screen (with portrait and landscape orientation modes), a fast Intel 312 MHz ARM-based processor, expansion slot for Secure Digital (SD), MultiMedia (MMC), and Secure Digital I/O (SDIO) cards. The 128 MB of non-volatile flash memory (of which approximately 100 MB is available for files and software) protects your documents and information, even if the device is not charged and the power runs down. And, of course, the Palm TX features Palm's suite of information management applications, the ability to edit Word- and Excel-compatible files, and synchronization with Microsoft Outlook (Windows only).

Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Wireless Connectivity
Stay connected easily when you're on the go with the built-in Wi-Fi wireless connectivity (802.11b), which enables you to access email and browse the Web at hotspots such as at coffee shops and in airports, or in your office if you have a wireless LAN network. You can even retrieve documents from your main computer with the included WiFile LT software. The Palm TX also comes the following enhancements:

Added ability for the device to scan for available networks
Improved connection logic to automatically connect to available compatible networks
Three steps to easily set up a new network connection
A free 30-day subscription to all T-Mobile Wi-Fi hotspots

With built-in wireless Bluetooth connectivity (version 1.1), you can synchronize the Palm TX with a Bluetooth-enabled computer from across the room (within a range of 10 meters, or approximately 30 feet). But that's just the start. Using a compatible Bluetooth-enabled phone, you can send and receive e-mail and connect to the Web, send multimedia (MMS) or text (SMS) messages, and even automatically dial any number in your handheld's Contact's application. (You can also synchronize data the "old-fashioned" way via the USB connection at the base of the handheld.)

For mobile professionals, the Palm TX provides all the conveniences of managing email on the road. With Wi-Fi access or Bluetooth technology, you can check corporate or campus email as well as personal accounts; download, read and edit a Word or Excel report on the fly; synchronize Outlook contacts, calendar, tasks and memos; and work with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, using VersaMail software, to synchronize email and calendar

Expansion Capabilities
The expansion card slot for MMC, SD and SDIO formats lets you insert a memory card from a digital camera and view photos on the large, color display; you can even can add transitions between photos and present them as a slideshow. The Palm TX handheld's compatibility with SD Cards up to 2GB lets road warriors carry a few favorite home videos and be entertained on long trips.

Support for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files
With the included DataViz Documents To Go software, you rehearse your PowerPoint presentation discreetly in an airport, make last-minute changes to a Word document, and check the numbers in an Excel spreadsheet and update them on the spot. The Palm TX comes with support for native Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. And with the included Adobe Reader for Palm OS, you can download and view converted Acrobat files.

Multimedia
The Palm TX comes bundled with Pocket Tunes MP3 player for playing music files or Podcasts, which allows you to create and edit play lists, shuffle songs and navigate by album, artist or genre. The Palm TX also includes built-in software for viewing digital photos and video clips. And with MobiTV software (sold separately), you can view a wide range of television programs, including news, sports and entertainment, directly on the Palm TX handheld.

Operating System and Software
Veteran Palm OS handheld users will immediately notice the new Favorites view, which provides easy access to applications, files, and folders. The installed Palm OS 5.4 also introduces the Files application, which enables easy navigation among folders and files. It uses the intuitive and easy-to-learn Graffiti 2 writing software to input data into the handheld (as well as an on-screen keyboard). Windows users can synchronize their calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes with Microsoft Outlook. The Palm OS features the following organizer applications:

Contacts: Lets you store several addresses for each contact, and with new fields for more phone numbers, multiple e-mail addresses, instant messenger IDs, and Web sites.
Calendar: Use the new Agenda view to see upcoming calendar events, tasks due, and important e-mail, and color-code your events to provide an easy way to reference your calendar in the Agenda, Day, Week, and Month views. Take more notes, or synchronize more details from your desktop, in the larger Memos and Notes fields.
Tasks: Use tasks with alarms and repeating tasks to set reminders for important commients.

Compatibility
The Palm TX is compatible with PCs running Windows Windows 2000 (SP4) and XP (Outlook synchronization requires MS Outlook 2000, 2002, or 2003; sold separately), and with Macs running Mac OS 10.2.8 to 10.4.

What's in the Box
Palm TX handheld, flip cover, USB sync cable, power adapter, 3-step setup poster, Graffiti 2 sticker, Software Install CD-ROM with Palm Desktop, Tutorial, Getting Started Guide, User Guide, and bonus software.

Customer Reviews:

Using Palm since the beginning; this may be the end
DO NOT BUY THE PALM TX!!!

I have used Palms obsessively since the very original Palm Pilot. I have owned, or as part of my work used, Palms of virtually all varieties. I love and am still addicted to the capabilities. More accurately, the capabilities on paper. No longer the same as the capabilities in reality.

Over the years, I have seen a decline in Palm's hardware and software quality, slow at first and now going off the cliff. The TX reboots constantly. Its USB sync cable is a flimsy and pathetic descendant of the old Palm sync cradle. What's more, the sync cradle worked. The USB cable does not. Well, it worked every now and then once upon a time, but now not at all. And that after soft and hard resets, reloads of drivers and other software and more of the electronic dance of death we have come to know all too well.

The Palm TX itself is equally flimsy. The final straw was the death of the on/off button. Yes, the on/off button. Something whose technology has been pretty well understood for what? A hundred years or so? But not on a Palm.

Unfortunately, Pocket PCs are equally crippled, though on different dimensions. (Nothing like having to kill a process to get a PDA working again: just try to get your mom to buy into that concept.)

I think the PDA is now a dead technology and most of the blame must go with Palm. Pity.
--2006-12-20

My Palm TX won't hold a charge properly
I bought mine in October 2005, now it will not hold a charge for more than a couple of days, one charge used to last for about a week, now when my reminder goes off, the battery dies soon after. Other than that, it is a great PDA, but I don't recommend this model for long term use.
--2006-12-18

sign of the end for Palm
Moving over to this from a recently lost NX80 is step-down in usability and ergonomics (loosing the jog-dial, audio-recorder, built-in camera, metallic case, real flip cover) in trade for working Bluetooth and wireless.

Plan to set aside the usual full day (hours and hours) to migrate data from Sony's flow to Palm's even though it's supposed to be the same OS and support programs.

TX is pretty much the same PDA I've been using since the Palm III except with color screen, gimmicks, and a vastly shorter battery life, and more complicated issues.

The biggest recurring one is Hotsync will eventually stop working. Hit sync button on cable, and a hotsync window with flash briefly on the computer screen. It flashes long enough to let you know it sensed the hotsync keypress, but not long enough to actually wait for the TX to sync up with it over USB.

The only real fix I've found is to manually back up the entire C:\Program Files\Palm after a few successful Hotsyncs and copy back when stuff stops working, or reinstall the entire Palm Desktop suite. Yes, I have fresh installed into a different directory to not pickup legacy stuff from my previous Clie installation.

Of course Palm's online help is fairly useless because the knowledge base is mostly dated between 2004-2005, and none of the troubleshooting, nor the actual hotsync log, actually deals with the Hotsync app just refusing to connect to the PDA with no log entries nor crashes.

WiFi doesn't work, but the DS Lite has the same issues (although not the laptop), so resolution pending.

Then I look over and I see nice UTMS smartphones coming out for prices comparable to this and the Treo's.

Pudding.

[later]
Exchanged it at Circuit City for another one. The connector on the new one is less "wiggly", but even worse hotsync results where it almost never works instead of sometimes it works. Googling finds it might be an interaction between the TX and my Asus A7N8X motherboard's USB 2.0 ports/drivers. Trying a USB hub doesn't help. Of course, this guy reported it to Palm about a year ago, but it's not in their Knowledge Base.

So, I'm syncing by the slower Bluetooth now until I can get USB card to aid in bypassing, or I find a driver upgrade.
--2006-12-16

Buyer Beware
I've owned two Palm organizers, most recently the Palm TX. After purchasing the TX, I discovered it does not support the media version of the Windows XP operating system. I contacted Palm who said they have no plans to support it.

As a result, I cannot use many of the device's features because the Palm desktop software won't run on my 1 year old computer. Not supporting a popular version of the Windows operating system is absurd. Therefore, for my next PDA purchase, I'm moving to the PC platform. Beware folks...
--2006-12-15

Some quality issues
I have had several Palm or 3Com PDAs through the years and this one has the most finicky screen. I have to press much harder and write more slowly for it to recognize the writing reliably. This isn't too bad for the Datebook and Phone list, however, for writing memos longer than a line or two, I recommend either A) using your computer and then syncing it or B) investing in a PDA keyboard.

Also, I find I have to reset it about once a month (I rarely had to do that with previous Palm OS PDAs).
--2006-12-13

- PalmOne