Palm TX Handheld by Palm
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Digital camera reviews of Palm TX Handheld
Digital camera Review: A word of advise.
Summary: 2 Stars
This is my 4th palm device and this is the first time that I have ever had trouble with a Palm. The desktop software is buggy. On two computers, the software crashes. It appears that Palm did not do their homework for a user that is upgrading.
At times the device will do a reboot when I go to check my e-mail.
A software glich causes the device to not see it's expanson card, and only a hard reset will cure it; for a while.
Palm tech support was worthless. First attempt, they told me to return my first TX because the expansion card slot was defective. Second Palm did the same thing, but I discovered the Hard Reset fix. E-mail tech support & you will receive a form response to reload all software & no e-address to respond to. They will send you a survey. :-)
This unit may have been rushed to quickly into production. My advise would be to wait till they get all the bugs out.
My gmail address is enihill if you want to compare notes.
Digital camera Review: Adequate but...
Summary: 3 Stars
I've owned other Palms and a couple of Pocket PCs. The latter are easier to navigate. This unit does a good job and I particularly enjoy the built in wireless and blue tooth features. Syncing wirelessly with my Mac is really kewl.
Ultimately I bought this because it WILL sych with a Mac where a Pocket PC will not. Yeah, I know about PocketMac but it doesn't work with the Intel Macs. It does the job but not in the best possible way from an ergonomic standpoint.
Digital camera Review: Almost perfect
Summary: 5 Stars
I am very impressed with the TX. I have been using an m515 for the last few years and was skeptical as to whether or not an upgrade was necessary. Once I began using the TX though, I knew I made a good decision. Some of the key benefits include the landscape/portrait screen option, wifi of course, and the overall application performance. The only drawback is the noncompatibility with palm's own cradle kit. Almost 90% of the time the TX is docked on the cradle, it freezes. Palm support has no answer for this....in fact they do not answer questions regarding this problem. Very frustrating. If you can sync your palm with bluetooth to your pc then you will be extremely happy with the TX.Digital camera Review: Almost perfect PDA for the average user
Summary: 4 Stars
Are you interested in having a smaller day planner? Do you want to listen to music or watch movies on the go? Do you want to do all this and more at a modest price? Do you hesitate to buy another Microsoft branded device? Then the Palm TX may be what you're looking for.
I want to talk about the general usefulness for the average user. The official Palm TX specs can be found on Palm's website.
I had read a lot of opinions about laptop replacements. It seems kind of odd that desktop replacements (laptops or notebooks) are themselves being replaced by smaller and smaller devices. The TX has decent speed but has a lot more internal memory than most of the other similarly priced PDA's, which makes it less of a necessity to have an expansion card, although you'll need one if you want to watch movies or listen to podcasts or music.
Now to get into some specifics:
PIM--The TX is shipped with Calendar, embedded in Palm Desktop (PD). For your average user, Calendar is quite adequate. I'm not a real mover/shaker when it comes to social networking so I need Calendar to just keep my appointments and have the enough options to categorize the entry. The desktop program has a few more options than the TX program, but you are able to get what you need to be entered either way--desktop or PDA entry.
Email--The TX uses Versamail out of the box. I find that Versamail has minimal but adequate features to use email on the go at wireless locations. You can set up accounts, check email, send or receive attachments, among other things. I had a little trouble at one point with the account settings. I entered my SMTP/POP settings into the TX and could receive email, but I couldn't send email. I found the user/account settings on the desktop portion of the program, and like Calendar, it seemed to have a few more options to tweak settings and such. Somehow, the entry into the Palm with the SMTP setting had garbled, even after several reentries. I was able to fix it on the desktop, Hotsync and then sending email worked like a charm. I will say I don't use Versamail all that much. I don't spend a lot of time near a hotspot unless it's at home. Then it's easier to use my regular computer email client.
Internet--This is another function that I don't use much, but just on occasion if we are eating at Panera or IHOP. The program that the Palm TX uses inherently is Blazer. I find it barely adequate, but when you think about it, browsers are large programs on regular computers. In order to have the wealth of functionality that a regular browser has, then it would likely be too large for a PDA to use effectively. Blazer has all the rudimentary features of a browser (bookmarks, direct address entry, back/forward, home, etc.). Blazer is pretty decent at rendering the simpler webpages. I browse a few forums quite a bit and Blazer does only a fair job at rendering forums. It is fairly fast and will connect easily with public wifi hotspots. There aren't many options for Palm browsers out there. Opera has one, but it requires you to install Java (which was a little fickle for me) and the Opera/Palm browser was also a bit fickle.
Screen--The screen on the TX is really good! Its resolution is 320x480 (or the other way around if you are in landscape mode...which is what I keep it at.) The colors are great and you can adjust the brightness. I don't have anything bad to say about the screen.
Contacts--Palm's address book is another item that it's probably best and easiest to enter the data on your regular computer. Again, as an average user, Contacts is quite adequate for my needs. It stores the information I need.
Hotsync--With a program like Hotsync, you basically just want it to do its job. It does it quite well....although there are a few hitches that I ran into while setting it up. First, the initial sync has to be done via the cable that is supplied. Once set up, you can store the cable in a drawer, maybe to never use again. From then on, you can sync wirelessly (which only applies if you have an access point, otherwise, keep the cable out). Hotsync over wifi is fast and quite satisfactory. The other big issue I have with the Hotsync program in particular has to do with legacy settings. Hotsync uses what is called conduits to match Palm Desktop (the repository for Calendar, Contacts, Quick Install, and other utilities). The user can control the conduit behavior by right clicking on the Windows taskbar icon for Hotsync and clicking Custom and also on the TX by tapping the menu in Hotsync and tapping Conduit Setup. Both have to be done to assure proper conduit function. The TX includes legacy conduits for older Palm programs. These might go by names such at Address Book, Date Book or Memo Pad, which all have newer versions (names). If both conduits of a type (i.e. Address Book and Contacts) are selected and then a Hotsync is performed, the device can lock up. It takes quite a bit of paring down if you've installed very many programs on the Palm, but once trimmed, Hotsync is fast and simple. There are some file functions that I won't use with Hotsync, like transferring large files. It takes too long and the signal can often be lost during sync. For this purpose, I use a card reader to transfer larger files (mp3's, pictures or movies) to my TX.
Wifi--We live in a wireless world and the TX has a good wifi setup. Once setup, it connects quickly and does its job. I haven't had any problems with it.
Bluetooth--I had wondered why Palm would include Bluetooth capability when the TX already had a very good wireless setup. Then, a few months later, I upgraded my wireless phone to a phone that was Bluetooth-enabled. This allowed me to transfer files and such. I know there are more uses for a Bluetooth PDA, but I don't use them.
Multimedia--This is, honestly, what I spend most of my time doing with my PDA. Since my car stereo isn't Ipod ready, I plug in my earbuds with my TX playing podcasts. pTunes comes with the TX and is has all the features I need...track/play/pause/stop. It has shuffle and a volume control.
Another thing that makes the TX attractive is being able to watch movies. It takes a bit of preparation, but IMO, it's worth it. First you have to rip and then encode a movie, which in itself may or may not be legal, depending on what you read and where you live, and I won't go into how to do it. I use a movie player program called TCPMP. After researching how to do all this, this program seemed to be the easiest to use. If you have good headphones, it'll give great stereo sound. For watching movies, you'll definitely need an expansion card.
You can also store pictures and videos on the internal memory or expansion card. The program called Media stores and organizes your pictures and videos.
Ebooks--I love to read. I love the feel of a hardback book in my hands. I love being able to carry a paperback around fairly inconspicuously, but sometimes you just can't take an actual book with you. At work, when we have downtime, I turn my TX on and continue where I left off reading my current ebook. There are plenty of programs out there for reading ebooks on a Palm. Mobipocket is one that I use frequently. The TX can natively read Word (and Excel) and text documents using Documents to Go. Both programs can be set to scroll a page at a time with the navigating button. Most all ebook formats can be read on the TX except the Microsoft Reader's lit format.
Buttons, connectors and such--The Palm TX comes with a weighted stylus that feels good in the hands. The power button can be difficult to push if you aren't paying attention to it, but it's not that bad. The headphone jack is conveniently placed on the top of the device. The function buttons are well-placed and can be reprogrammed to your own needs, although they do have images on the buttons to suggest what they are preset to. The power jack is on the bottom of the device and must be securely inserted. It can slide out if the power cable is laying at an angle to how the device is laying. I don't own a cradle. The simple flap cover that comes with the TX is adequate for me, although I have been considering an aftermarket case. The flap cover seems to have a weak point at the fold. Mine, after 4 months, has a crease that isn't really close to breaking, but probably will, eventually. The flap cover keeps the device relatively slim. The reset button is located on the back of the device. If you buy an aftermarket case, make sure you can get to all the buttons, jacks and plugs.
Battery--I'm quite impressed with the battery on the TX. Although you can't change it out, it is an internal rechargeable that has good life. After "training" the battery properly after I bought it, I've had it last for nearly 3 hours constant use with the wifi being on most of that time. I've watched movies on it...in fact, movie watching only uses about a third of the juice from a full battery. That's without Bluetooth or wifi being on. With pTunes running while I'm driving, I can commute 4 hours in a day, read a little on my breaks at work and have plenty of battery left at the end of the day. I'm quite satisfied with it.
Overall, the Palm TX is a robust mid-priced Palm PDA that has lots of boxed features and programs and the ability to install other programs and games that you buy or download. It is fast, has good connectivity options, plenty of internal memory and has a good battery. It will accept SD or miniSD expansion cards up to at least 4 GB...maybe more. It has a vibrant screen that makes viewing pleasurable. I would highly recommend the TX to home/home office users that want to ditch their paper day planner, or have a good option for personal multimedia.
Digital camera Review: Almost, but not quite.
Summary: 3 Stars
First, when will Palm learn that Mac users would like a compatible PDA? Instead of chasing us, Palm decides to all but shun the Mac crowd in the hopes that they can compete with Windows mobile devices. Sigh...
That said, the TX is a pretty cool machine, although the first one I got developed touch screen issues within three days. The replacement has developed similar problems but not as severe as the first (Amazon was great about replacement). The Wifi is a cool feature but I haven't been able to find a decent web browser (tried Opera Mini but the separately required Java app seemed to make the whole machine wiggy). For video, the playback is surprising. For photos, however, the color seems dark and bland.
If you do buy one and you are a Mac owner, I strongly suggest the Missing Sync by Mark/Space.