Palm TX Handheld Reviews

• Some quirks, but really good in the end

  
  By AMUGHTU3QTQ14 on 2005-10-20
  Without being aware of its recent unveiling, I just bought a Palm T/X at Fry's, October 15th, 2005. I was looking for a PDA with WiFi to replace my nice and useful but somehow limited Tungsten E. I've been using it for just a few days, so I'm not ready to give it a full 5 stars rating just yet...
  
  First of all, WiFi works really fine and the Blazer browser is perfect. So I'm happy with that. Bluetooth I haven't try yet, and probably won't for a while since I have nothing with it at home or at the office.
  
  Second, the form-factor is great. Having a "retractable" Graffiti area is really good, since it leaves room for photos or graphs that need better room that the one offered by the previous Palms.
  
  Other things to comment: good applications, including a nicer Media Player (Pocket Tunes for music). Sound with headphones is good too, although it cannot be compared with my iPod Nano! Even the included Solitaire is nice. Battery is quite good, long lasting and charges fast through the USB cable, even from my old ThinkPad A21 at home.
  
  And now, for the problems: many apps don't work, thanks to the great improvement, Flash Memory. The new memory model is not necessarily compatible with many shareware and freeware around, and looks like the SD cards have to be reformatted to work correctly (at least, my old SD from the Tungsten E doesn't work right). Many apps do install, but give problems like hanging the PDA, requiring a soft reset; annoying but not actually harmful. A few old apps, like Cesium (great clock/timer/stopwatch) and the classic masterpiece SF Cave work allright.
  
  As for now, I will use for a couple of weeks before having a definite opinion. But the price is great (299, just like my first Pilot 500 a zillion years ago!). One day or the other someone will produce a software add-on to turn it into a USB drive, something more or less obvious with just 100 megs of internal memory.
  
  My only complaint so far: it came with a fancy clock app, that shown the world and the areas at night and with daylight, but it simply disappeared after I sync it with my old data, going back to the useful but not as nice World Clock. Natively, it comes in many languages, so I can use it in Spanish (translation fine although it has some typos). I do recommend it over the more "home-oriented" Palms like the new Zire. Maybe I'll come in a while to change the rating. And if someone at Palm does read this, please tell me how to bring the nice Clock back!
  
  Final update, after almost a year of use: My final opinion is that four stars are just right. Why? Well, the old two complaints, not big but anyway relevant: slow turn ons and bad media playing. And the fact that it doesn't really work with a Mac.
  
  It does takes its time to turn on. I don't know why. When using the nifty center button just to see what time it is, the time it takes to show the clock is long enough to almost make impossible to see the hour!
  
  And regarding media playing: I agree with some of the reviewers, the included software is not good enough. I disliked the realone player that came with my Tungsten E, and the Kinoma encoder took ages to compress and re-encode content, but at least they didn't force you to use Microsoft Media Player. This one does. Now I'm using TCPMP although it can be cumbersome to convert video; music playing is fine but better to get a real music player, cause playback quality is second-rate.
  
  And the fact that syncing with a Mac is a complicated and uncomplete affair, unless you're willing to buy a $30 software like Missing Link, and add other stuff for AvantGo. Palm software for Mac is just adequate if you're using a Palm Pilot! I'm a recent switcher and I miss the ease and transparent syncing with Windows (actually, the only thing I miss about Windows).
  
  

• Great features for price, not sure about stability

  
  By AGJP7N8ZXPTJ6 on 2005-10-23
  I was pleased overall with the T|X - WiFi and Bluetooth both worked wonderfully, speed was good, form-factor was thin and unit is light, display is beautiful, all the traditional Palm OS apps work as they always have - the only area of concern for me is stability.
  
  I put an MMC card in the slot and since it had some PC data on it, I tried to format it in the Palm. The format failed part-way through and the unit hung. Rebooting the Palm, it would return to the main app screen, the hang again. I had to remove the MMC card which was now fried - meaning it was unusable in the Palm, the PC, and my camera - and I had to send the card back to the manufacturer for replacement. I then used a 1gb SD card I had and it worked just fine (though I didn't format it in the Palm). It rebooted one other time when I didn't "tell" it to If it wasn't for this question of stability, I could give it 5 stars, so 4 will have to do.
  
  

• Very pleased with this unit

  
  By A3NEAETOSXDBOM on 2005-12-28
  I have been using a Palm m515 for the past several years and was waiting for the right moment to upgrade. I purchased the TX with some reservations because Palm has had quality issues, and I wanted to avoid the aggravation I initially had with my m515. I have owned my TX for about a month and have no complaints so far.
  
  In reading my review and other reviews, keep in mind that each person buys this unit with different expectations and uses, and what matters to one person may be irrelevant to another. With that perspective in mind, let me go over the features that I like.
  
  The TX has a nice feel and appearance;the stylus is nicely weighted and fits snugly in the slot. The color screen is vivid and beautiful to look at. I read literally dozens of e-books each year, so screen resolution and brightness are important to me. The TX excels. Even when the brightness is dimmed to the lowest setting, which I sometimes do when reading in bed at night, reading is very easy.
  
  Wi-Fi access is effortless. I took it on vacation and had no trouble using the wireless network at the resort where I was staying. The same is true when I use it at home. I purchased the Handmark Pocket Express software, which comes as a trial version, which I find a very convenient way to keep up with the news, sports, stocks, weather etc. when traveling. Even in my own house I use it since it is often easier to reach for my Palm TX rather than my laptop or go to my desktop. I have also ordered a cable from SupplyNet to connect my TX to my cell phone(I don't have a bluetooth phone) when wireless is not available.
  
  I own an ipod mini, and found that trying to use the TX as an mp3 player was not worth the bother compared to the ease of use with my ipod. There is a reason that Apple dominates the mp3 player field.
  
  Downloading photos is easy, but they don't look as bright and sharp as I would have liked, though the quality is still acceptable.
  
  As other users have pointed out, the power button is too recessed and can be a bit of a nuisance to use. I seldom bother with it anyhow and use a free program called Off-It to turn the TX off, and one of the buttons at the bottom to turn it on.
  
  When I upgraded from my m515, I did run into some compatibility problems, but this is no different than buying a new computer(and the TX is indeed a computer) and trying to download programs that are several years old. For programs that did not wind up on the TX after I synced, I simply beamed them from my m515 to the TX; some worked and some did not. I also had to beam my contact database and datebook database because for some reason they did not hotsync. I strongly recommend a free program called FileZ that enables you to manage your files, and beam databases. If you are upgrading from an older handheld, make sure that you have it installed in case you run into a problem, as I did, during the hotsync process.
  
  Graffiti 2 is a bit different than the original Graffiti, but not a big deal to learn. If this is your first Palm, Graffiti 2 is so much easier to learn.
  
  The TX comes with VersaMail, which unfortunately does not retrieve Hotmail. But it does retrieve email from most major internet providers, so when I travel I just use one of my other accounts. You do need a bit of technical knowledge to configure your mail settings, but once that is done, sending and retrieving messages is effortless so long as you don't need to send or view attachments, which always has certain problems.
  
  I strongly recommend purchasing an SD card and a well known program called BackupBuddy, which will enable you to schedule daily automatic backups to the SD card(the TX does not need to be left on to do this--my backups are at 4am each day). When I had my m515, more than once when I was on vacation and not able to hotsync, I had the unit crash and lose all the data, which I then restored from the backup on my SD card.
  
  I use Datebook 5 instead of the built in calendar, and find that the version for the operating system on the TX has some nice extra features that I did not have when I used my m515.
  
  For my purposes the TX is perfect, and so far has worked without any problems. You really have to decide what you are looking for in a handheld before making your purchase decision. That way you won't be disappointed.
  
  
  
  
  

• Almost perfect PDA for the average user

  
  By A2PWVYFH2BXQRK on 2006-08-14
  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.
  
  

• FABULOUS!!

  
  By AR7HOO02LJAAI on 2006-10-06
  This is, quite simply, the best gadget I have ever owned, and a miracle of technology. Who needs a laptop, an ipod, and a PSP when you can do it all with one device??
  NOW WAIT - Before you think I'm just advertising for Palm or something, let me tell you this: After I bought the thing, I got so frustrated I almost returned it. Strange things would happen: programs would be corrupted, icons would disappear, and it would constantly go into an infinite reset loop, which is a common complaint around here. After checking with Palm, and searching around, the consensus seemed to be that it was a software conflict (Unlike most older Palms, the TX uses non-volatile memory, so info is not lost if the unit loses all power. But the creates conflicts with some older software). But I didn't think it could be a software conflict, because the problems happened even when I wasn't using any software.
  
  Finally, I found a website that saved my sanity. It has a list of software which conflicts with the TX (something Palm should have put out). Previously, I put the link in my review, but Amazon erased it. I guess I'm not allowed to put hyperlinks here. Anyway, do a web search, it is worth it. In my case, it turned out the problem was my AOL palm software. Incredibly, AOL worked fine but was causing conflicts with everything else, even when I wasn't using it! I deleted the AOL and everything has been just fine ever since!
  
  Some comparisons:
  I am currently in Iraq and wanted a portable device to keep me entertained. I almost bought a PSP, but I'm glad I didn't. Yes, the TX costs $100 more, but it is still cheaper in the long run because many great games for the Palm are free, and even the ones you pay for don't cost as much as PSP games. Some of my friends who got PSPs are jealous of my TX, since it is far more versatile, smaller, batteries last just as long, I can wirelessly surf the web, and it also has a bright beautiful screen. But unlike a gaming unit, I can also do office work on it.
  I also considered the Lifedrive, but it is more bulky than the TX. Plus, with 4gb and higher SD cards now becoming available, the extra memory on the Lifedrive is not quite so much of an advantage anymore. The only real thing the Lifedrive has over the TX is the voice recorder, something I had no use for myself.
  
  Some essential software that's free:
  TCPMP (The core pocket media player) will play movies much better than the Media player included with the bundled software. To use it, you will need software to convert your DVDs. If you google, you will find dozens out there, but VEMode is the best of the free ones. If you pay a little, you will find ones that are better at copying encrypted DVDs, and some other tasks.
  
  Blackborder by Canuck - This simply puts a 2 pixel black border around the screen (as opposed to the default white border). Suprisingly, this small change greatly improves the look of the screen and makes the colors stand out better.
  
  FileZ - A file management program, that works like windows explorer. It is much better at managing files than the file manager built into the Palm. Its absolutely necessary for seeing everything on your memory card.
  
  
• Flaky, unusable, unreliable.
  By A2VV0TJNJT9D3O on 2006-01-16
  I ordered one of these from Amazon, assuming that the quality of this unit would be on par with that of my last Palm, the Tungsten T (which after years of abuse finally gave out). After going through one replacement and several weeks of trying to get this thing to cooperate, I'm returning it for a refund.
  
  The problem this unit has is that it will reboot at random. I'll click on the "Mail" application (or any of several other applications, at random), the screen goes black, and then it goes into this loop where it reboots over and over and over indefinitely. The only way I've found to fix it is to do a hard reset, the kind of reset where the Palm erases ALL of your data and resets everything back to factory defaults. This is obviously a nuisance, especially when you're not near your computer and can't resync. This happened with both units I got from Amazon, the original and the replacement (not their fault obviously). It does this to me even before I install any aftermarket software on it.
  
  I'm really shocked as my last Palm was great. It never had problems like this. I guess for now I'm going to have to look at someone other than Palm.
  
  
• Tx over Treo and Ipod
  By A383T2CT6WK5RG on 2006-05-30
  My wife finally gave up on her paper/pen PDA system (a wire bound notebook), and at my prodding, agreed to look into buying a PDA. We decided on the Palm TX over the older Palm PDA models due to the screen size, processor speed, memory, and price. From reviewing internet forums, the Palm TX seemed the most reliable mechanically/electronically. As she is a non-techie, she wasn't interested in the embedded folder system of Windows CE/PDA system. It worked so well for her, I decided to get one for myself, an upgrade from my now ancient, but very reliable, Sony Clie SJ22.
  
  The Treo 650 was a consideration, but she has a very small cellphone, which is easy for her to carry. The Treo would have forced her to carry a bulky cellphone with her at all times.
  
  The TX has been very nice. The screen is bright, it is well built, has a nice "feel", and it's light. It uses most of it's front surface for the screen, an important consideration in a small device that you will be using mainly for reading documents and PDF's.
  
  Adobe Reader for Palm is great, and renders PDF's that are nearly indistinguishable from the original. Documents to Go has also worked flawlessly.
  
  The TX is also replacing my 3G Ipod. The first time you download via Wifi a podcast directly onto your PDA, you'll be thinking "why doesn't Apple do this?". Yes , you're limited by the size of you SD card, but 2GB is plenty for me.
  
  OS has been stable, battery life is very good (I get about 4 hours of battery life with continuous web surfing, several days of battery life if I mainly use the PDA functions), and no problems with cable synchronization (though I never could get WiFi sync to work).
  
  Examples of recent use:
  I traveled to Japan, and was able to pull out my TX and connect to the Wifi at Narita Airport. Yahoo email works great on the Palm Tx.
  
  I subscribe to New England Journal of Medicine, and can directly download videos via Wifi from that site onto my Palm TX.
  
  The bad:
  I agree with others that the power cord, sync cable, and supplied cover are very flimsy.
  No voice recorder
  
  
  Smartphones still make too many compromises in terms of screen size, device size, and data entry to make them good PDA's (though the Treo 650 is very close). For those of us who use PDA's for mobile information recording/accessibility, the classic PDA is still the way to go.
  
  
  
  Follow up (2/4/07):
  After 6 months, I'm still positive about the Palm TX.
  
  It's more practical as an audio player than my old Ipod 3G. I download podcasts from WiFi network's frequently. Pocket tunes, the Palm supplied audio player, allows you to bookmark your audio files, great for podcasts or audiobooks.
  
  As an internet tablet it performs well. I access Gmail, Yahoo mail daily without difficulty. I don't buy the Sunday paper anymore-I just read the news indoors or outdoors off my Palm TX.
  
  For medical professionals, there are numerous helpful applications-Epocrates, Skyscape, Johns Hopkins ID program.
  
  Negatives-the lower part of the touch screen has calibration issues that will not correct. Others have complained about this. Don't expect fast and accurate handwriting recognition-you'll have to be a little patient with the "graffiti" system.
  
  No Flash player, no Skype/VOIP, no Java on the web
  
  At 9 months, I have no regrets about my purchase.
  
  
• More gadget than serious business tool
  By A3TBMAWIIHKHFN on 2006-04-06
  I bought the Palm TX to upgrade from a Palm m515 that I had for three or four years. I upgraded because I'm opening a solo law firm, and I wanted the capability to send/receive email, and occasionally access the web. The larger screen of the TX also looked like a plus, but as I'll describe later, the screen isn't larger when in actual use.
  
  I rely heavily on internet reviews now before making purchases. In that spirit, I wanted to pass along my experiences to other people who may be considering the Palm TX. You're going to see that I repeatedly compare the m515 to the TX because I found the m515 to be a very stable and reliable PDA. I've now been working with the TX for the past few days and I've really tried to be fair in understanding that it will take a while to get used to the TX.
  
  Pro: The screen is backlit and beautiful. Although my m515 was also backlit, there are more colors available on the TX, and the screen can also be flipped to let you look at things with a landscape portrait. Pictures look better than ever.
  
  Con: The screen is so crowded with buttons and menus, you actually have less viewing area than on previous Palm PDAs. Palm has also put a virtual writing area on the TX screen (as opposed to the permanent grey writing area on previous models). The people at Palm thought this was clever, but it's very annoying. You find yourself having to constantly open and close the virtual writing surface: Opening it to write, closing it to view things, then opening it again and clicking on a different button to access the little keyboard, etc. It's tedious. The keyboard also has buttons in odd places (every time I try to press the "shift" button, I accidentally hit the button to access the international keyboard). Palm has also made their graffiti language much more difficult to write. On older PDA's, you wrote in the number column or the alphabet column. Now, you still have to use the separate columns, but you have to write capital letters in an area overlapping the two. If you miss the totally unmarked area, who knows what character will come up. Palm also thought it was cute to get rid of the idea of a "Caps Lock" button on the keyboard. So if you want to quickly type something in all caps, you have to use a whole different keyboard. It gets very old, very fast, and it makes you wonder if tech companies are still using focus groups to test products. The new interface was designed by a sadist-- a slow and unproductive sadist with carpel tunnel syndrome.
  
  Pro: As with previous models, Palm gives you some decent software on an install disk.
  
  Con: It took me longer to setup and install the Palm software than it took to completely setup my new Dell laptop received the same day. The Palm software has become a little clunky and sketchy. It used to be the most reliable software on my PC, but now I question it. As of today, Palm doesn't even technically offer software for the TX that is compatible with WinXP. I had to go to the Palm website and "pretend" I was using Win98 in order to download a version of Palm Desktop. Why would a company sell a product incompatible with the software running on most personal and business PCs!?
  
  Pro: The TX allows you to check email and access the internet. The email and internet access really does work as advertised and are pretty amazing. It's like something out of future. Unlike the main Palm Desktop software, the setup of email and Wi-Fi was painless and very quick. I was surprised.
  
  Con: Internet access is much, much slower than using Wi-Fi on a PC/laptop, and the tiny screen of the TX makes navigating most webpages an effort in futility. That being said, there are some websites with dedicated PDA/smartphone versions, and they work well. I have already used my TX to look for directions, the Yellow Pages, and the latest news. However, in all seriousness, it would be faster for you to call the "movie line" to get showtimes for a movie, or to call a specific business and get directions, than to try and look them up on the TX using the internet.
  
  Pro: The TX has a compact and streamlined USB HotSync cable, and a separate power cable.
  
  Con: Syncing the TX is much, much slower than Syncing my m515. Although I am really only using my TX for the most basic functioning at this point (tasks, contacts, and calendaring), it still takes three times as long to Sync my TX as it did to Sync my m515. This should not be the case.
  
  Pro: The TX came with a free screen protector.
  
  Con: Palm needs to figure out a better system for installing screen protectors, or design replaceable screens. If you don't get the screen protector on just perfectly, you'll have fingerprints and/or bubbles under the plastic layer, and you'll be unable to view or access parts of the screen. It's a miserable experience that mimics putting a condom over your cell phone, and then trying to dial using buttons you can't see.
  
  Pro: The TX has a central "navigation" button.
  
  Con: The navigation button is almost totally useless. In almost every Palm application, you need the stylus at some point. Having the navigation button doesn't speed anything up. I would prefer that they have used the space for an additional button to allow quick access to the tasks/to do lists.
  
  Pro: The TX allows you to listen to music and view videos.
  
  Con: There is no voice recorder so there is no way to record a short memo while driving, or record a meeting. Palm deliberately left this out as a marketing tool to force people into the more expensive LifeDrive. Also, with respect to the MP3/video player, I bought this as a business device and I'm not going to sit like some idiot and listen to/watch rap or techno all day. Even if I did so choose, I would buy the Apple iPod Shuffle because I would want the simplicity of the Apple user interface. What are you going to do: Put the TX in the sweaty pocket of your running shorts and then stop every block to pull it out and wade through endless menus and toolbars with the stylus to select new songs? Good luck.
  
  In a nutshell, I would recommend the TX only because it's a decent PDA with email and internet access for under $300. The internet and email functions really do work as advertised, but the classic Palm PDA is nearly dead. The interface is cluttered and confusing and I'm not just throwing that out there as if I'm some 80-year-old technophobe curmudgeon. I like useful technology to the extent it makes me more productive. But I sincerely miss the absolute simplicity, reliability and sheer effectiveness of previous Palm PDAs. I remember having the m100 and even today it would do 90% of what I need a PDA to do. If you are on a budget, or can live without Wi-Fi and email, I would highly recommend you select an older Palm PDA.
  
  
  
• Rush to Market
  By A3QVZUKB3B5DH on 2005-10-24
  First things first. I am an avid supporter of Palm technology and the Palm OS ever since I purchased my first Palm Pilot Professional the week it was released. For years the prodcut kept getting better and better and I faithfully upgraded almost every time. However the last few iterations of their products have been less than exciting and as a result I've kept my Tungsten T for the past two years. I was excited to get a new Palm and replace my ailing T so, when I heard the rumors of a new model I waited.
  
  The day it was release I ordered my TX and even had it overnighted. When I got it it was great (eventhough it didn't include a voice recorder). The BLuetooth worked, the wifi was easy, the screen was awesome and the expandable writing area was an added bonus. I didn't like Grafitti 2 app but I could get used to it. On small problem however, the power button didn't work and I had to turn it on using the application buttons on the bottom. So I sent it all back.
  
  The next week I got my second TX this power button did work (although it doesn't light up like my Tungsten's does which is a bummer). I loaded it up with my stuff and everything worked, except Bluetooth. I spent hours on Tech Support and finally realized that it just didn't work. So this one goes back too. I really like the Palm OS and want to buy another but I'm afraid Palm has lost me as a customer forever. Sure it's cheap but it's generic and does have the little touches that made Palm my PDA of choice.
  
  
  
• Overall, a good upgrade and money well spent
  By A30O8K9VDP15JC on 2005-12-27
  I recently upgraded to a TX from an original Tungsten T because I needed more memory (128MB vs. 16MB), and because I wanted Wi-Fi. I originally was going to get a T5 because of its faster processor, larger memory, and ability to do voice memos. Unfortunately, the T5 external wi-fi card only supported WEP encryption, and I had a network on WPA. I was a little hesitant to "move down" to a TX. After a week, here are my impressions.
  
  1. The TX is basically the same size, shape and weight as the T5, so all the accessories are readily available for this new model. This is a big plus in terms of outfitting the TX. The body is plastic (like the T5). While the TX is lighter, my Tungsten T case was metal, and feels much more solid than the TX. Time will tell how well this plastic case holds up, but I prefer metal as a better build quality.
  
  2. The TX set up easily with the Palm desktop, and I was able to sync all my old files without problem. Unfortunately, I've noticed a number of times when the TX would spontaneously reset during use. I don't know if it's because of older data/applications that aren't up to date, or because of the operating system. I've been downloading some new (updated) applications and cleaning out old files, and hope this problem isn't too frequent. So far the TX has reset more in a week than my T reset in 3 years.
  
  3. The screen is bright, clear, and colorful. It's sharp and easy to read. I like the retractable graffiti area, and the handwriting recognition, Graffiti2, is an improvement over the original I'd been using (you can download the software for the old Graffiti if you miss it). I think the screen rotation from portrait to landscape view is great, and it makes reading spreadsheets a snap.
  
  4. The Documents to Go software included does a wonderful job rendering Word, Excel and (I'm told) PowerPoint documents. I have a Mac, and use Keynote, which unfortunately, is not supported. I upgraded from v7 to v8, and can now natively read pdf documents also. The extra space allows me to fit carry and work on Office documents without my laptop.
  
  5. The Wi-Fi is fast and easy to connect. It reads both WEP and WPA encryption without a hitch, and gives me the flexibility I wanted in a pda. The biggest problems are: a) wi-fi burns through the battery much more quickly, and b) finding mobile versions of websites I access (sometimes there isn't one). Regular versions take much longer to load, but you can select a fast mode that bypasses graphics to just load text.
  
  6. The controls and menu bars are a definite upgrade, and work smoothly. The home menu button on the far left is missing, but a small program called SharkTX can restore that function for you. Turning on Bluetooth or Wi-Fi is as easy as just touching a button. The screen seems very responsive, and while I've not compared it to a T5, the TX applications seem to run quickly and smoothly. The on/off button is not as easy to turn on as my old unit, and sometimes I'll have to push it a second or even a third time. Hopefully, this gets better with use.
  
  7. I didn't use my pda for mp3s or videos, but can with the TX. Definitely a plus. On the other hand, not having a voice memo feature is a major con for me. I already miss the ease of recording notes on the fly. Makes me wish the T5 Wi-Fi worked as well as the TX.
  
  8. Charging seems quick, but it's annoying that there is no LED to indicate the unit is charging. You have to turn on the unit to look at the screen. Minor, but the little touches add up to overall class.
  
  9. The Palm Desktop hasn't changed much over the years and looks long in the tooth. But I am unable to sync the Address and Calendar Mac programs with them. You can sync to the Mac with iSync, but I upgraded to The Missing Sync and voila, have full compatibility (replaces Palm Desktop with a clean Mac interface and uses Address and Calendar for all info- a huge plus for me). Am able to sync via cable and Bluetooth. Now that's great flexibility. While the TX doesn't come with a cradle, I don't expect I'll miss it much.
  
  10. I'd heard of some problems with the mail application, but since I use web based email and have inernet access, it's just as simple and quick for me to check my email without the mail program, so I have no evaluation of that feature at this time.
  
  Conclusion: While I miss some of the features of my T like voice memo and program stability, the TX has significant upgrade features I am happy with. The Palm devices are simple to use (as a Mac user I'd never bother with Windows based pdas anyway). In the Palm world this device rocks. Turning off the Bluetooth when not needed, and quick checks of emails helps conserve my battery, which is adequate but not great. I wish the case were metal instead of plastic, but for $299, this is a great value for the dollar pda. The screen, wi-fi, ease of use, large memory, etc. are the upgrade I wanted, and I am very pleased with this unit. Not perfect, but a very good product.
  
  
• Brilliant Piece of Mid-Priced PDA Engineering
  By AI4H1QU8H214H on 2006-04-18
  First of all, I had been, as of late, only sporadically using a Zaurus ZR-5000, itself, a neat piece of useful and easy to use electonics. With a huge, b/w screen you can write on, it had amazing capability for its time, including wi-fi capable -- and this was for an item from the early '90s!
  
  However, with its built-in mini-keyboard and large LCD screen, it is relatively large and cumbersome. I used it primarily for contacts and sometimes for tasks and appointments, but it was really too large and heavy for me to carry around all the time (I don't carry a briefcase and rarely use a shoulder bag.). Using it for appointments just really didn't make sense if I wasn't going to carry it around. It had synching capabilities with a desktop, but it was slow and the built-in software was only marginally compatible with Microsoft's products. My wife has a Psion and, while more up-to-date than the Zaurus, was still in that league.
  
  I had been eyeing Microsoft CE products and Palms, but I thought they were expensive for what they did, and I wasn't too thrilled with the Graffiti writing.
  
  But finally seeing how streamlined, fast and capable the new ones are, I wanted to investigate. There are the Microsoft versions such as those put out by HP and Dell, but those are still pretty expensive. Then there were the Palms that were either high-priced as well, or the less expensive ones which were pretty much good for appointments and contacts. Not bad, and the new Z22 is a great value for something like that, but the Palm TX seemed, from other online reviews, seemed to be more reliable in terms of build quality than some in the recent past. Moreover, I have read that the Microsoft-based products tended to crash alot (the computer software has an internal conflict and inadvertently shuts down.).
  
  I saw this unit on Amazon for $270 with a short-term offer of a free Palm wireless keyboard. That sold me, and I knew Amazon offered a 30-day trial anyway.
  
  Having used it for about 6 weeks, I can tell you that it's brilliant for the money. The built-in office programs seemlessly integrate with the real things (and I understand that the software used by Palm is better than Microsoft's own stripped down PDA versions.). The internet browsing software works very, very well. It's not as robust as the one on your computer, but you'll be surprised as to how good it is. Blazer, the browsing software, is selective as to the sophistication of content it will download. While it's as fast as broadband, for sure, it's faster than my dialup used to be. There is also an option for text only downloads which is extremely fast.
  
  The screen is extremely bright and resolution is quite good. I use a Sony CRT at home, so I'm used to great color and resolution, but this is quite good. In sunlight, it's not great.
  
  This is not a substitute for a laptop, but for checking email on the go, or doing a quick Google, it's pretty amazing. We were in a theater a few days ago, and we were trying to figure out the background of an actress. There happened to be a wireless connection in the house, so I was able to quickly get on the internet and Google the actress and got our answer.
  
  As for the memory and processor, it's plenty for most lay-users, unless you're going to download LOTS and LOTS of games. On the other hand, with the SD card slot, you could load LOTS and LOTS of games on a card or two or three. The processing speed? Palm has chosen well for this price range. The TX cannot multi-task. When you leave one thing, it will close down when you open up another. This means the processor does less work. Because of the uncanny methodology of the browser, the speed of going around the internet is usually good, and has been tested to be faster than the basic Dell model which has a faster processor. The reason why the Dell seems slower is because the Microsoft operating system is more cumbersome. It is capable of multi-tasking, but it's greater sophistication results in slower everyday tasks performed on the PDA. The top of the line Dell is supposed to be terrific and potentially worth it for someone who is doing a lot of sophisticated stuff on their PDA, but it's almost twice the cost of the TX.
  
  For those who must have an even faster processer, the Palm Mobile Manager, retailing for $100 more than the TX, has a 33% faster processor and 4gigs of built-in memory (as opposed to the 128megs built-into the TX).
  
  For me, the TX is extremely impressive and I don't need the Mobile and I didn't want to spend more money. Considering the deal I got (w/free keyboard), it was a no-brainer. I have also bought two games for it, Village Sim and Bejeweled 2, and the bright, rich screen is just the ticket for them.
  
  And by the way, the Palm wireless keyboard works flawlessly.
  
  
• Slower and less features than other Tungsten's
  By A2VR3SNZMCUTZ6 on 2006-02-10
  First, I had to give the T|X 3 stars because it does run the best OS in the business, the Palm OS, no owned by Access.
  
  The problem with the T|X is Palm Inc.
  
  For those you who might have owned a Palm system, BUT NOT the Tungsten T5 or the Tungsten T3, will love the T|X. Any Windoz users will be thrilled with it as well and probably have saved at least $200 over getting a Windoz PDA. You can't really compare the raw Specs of a Windoz PDA to a Palm PDA. The reason is the Palm OS is a much more efficient operating system, so the Palm PDA, will run slicker, be simpler, faster, have better graphics and be WAY more reliable and about $200 cheaper than the heavy overhead Windoz PDA OS. It is kind of like looking at the size, performance and speed of Intrernet Explorer to Firefox.
  
  Okay, for those T3 and T5 users like myself, here is what the story is:
  1. The CPU is Slower than both the T3 and T5's CPU. The T|X has 312 mhz, while the T3 runs off of a 400 MHz and the T5 runs off of a 416 MHz processor.
  
  2. The T|X has 128 MGs of total RAM (100 active), while the T5 has 256 megs of RAM with 215 megs available.
  
  
  3. While the screen is excellent abnd spec wise the same as the T5 and T3, I couold swear that the T3 has a brighter and clearer screen. It does seem to be the same as the T5.
  
  4. The T|X has wi-fi built in. It is an extra $90 or $99 for Wi-fi for the T3 and T5. A definate plus for those who need Wifi.
  
  5. The T|X supports Bluetooth, unfortunately, it still have Bluetooth version 1.1, as both the T5 and the T3 do. Version 2.0 is taking over as the standard for Bluetooth, but it should have AT LEAST version 1.2. This limits the speed and distance that Bluetooth uses, when comparing it to 2.0 or 1.2.
  
  6. The uniut is rather cute.
  
  7. The USB to T|X cablesare different than any of the other Palm's. So if you have some existing USB connect cables, they will not work.
  
  8. The battery is still non-replacable and has slightly less power than the T5 and is a lot better than the underpowered battery that Palm threw into the T3. Because of the lower CPU speed and memory, the strain on the recharable battery is less and stays charged for longer than the T5 and a lot longer than the T3.
  
  9. Unlike the T3, but like the T5, there is a lack of a microphone to record voice notes, there are no visual OR vibration on the alarm like on the T3.
  
  10. I would summarize it as a less powerful PDA than the T5, but has wi-fi built in and the rest of it is like a twin to the T5. I am disappointed that it is LESS powerful than prior units.
  
  11. It is at a far superior price point to any Windoz PDA, not even close. I have now seen the price of the T|X dropping to even as low as $175.00. At least $200-300 less than a Windoz PDA that is a decent PDA.
  
  What I am truly hoping for is that the new owners of Palm PDA, gets some creative licensees for Palm OS. I know I was thrilled to hear that LG, makers of one of the best cell phones, CD/DVD roms, appliances, monitors, etc is a Palm OS licensee.
  
  Since Palm Os is not owned by the destructive management team that took over Palm Inc after split, I think we should see some great stuff and an expansion of functionality of the Palm OS, which should kick the heck out of whatever Microsoft can do or would do. Control of market place rather than creativity and innovation is what I think Microsoft's motto should be.
  I am delighted that England seems to be the only nation (certainly not the U.S.), who is not allowing Microsoft to buy off the politicians or buy out its ocmpetition. They are hold Microsoft to its agreed anti-trust rules. That means, more IT jobs, better hardware and much better software, choices , innovation, competitive pricing for the entire IT market place.
  
  Monopolies are the destroyers of a free enterprise system.
  
  Jon
  
  
  For those who have used those two superior products, it is a REAL disappontment, I wish I looked at the specs first.
  
  The T|X has virtually no new technology that Palm has not released before. It is like they took some parts that were hanging around, put in WiFi, which one had to pay extra for, as well as put in a slower CPU and put in 1/2 the Memory of its prior T5. Plus they did something to the grafetti language where there is a delay now when I
  
  
• Balderdash!
  By A3MCIAFO37VH14 on 2006-12-10
  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.
  
  
• Major improvement over the Tungsten T3
  By ABTG9FTKFBJP8 on 2005-11-11
  Yes, you read that right, the TX is a nice improvement over the T3. It's a pleasure to use the built in Wifi. The built-in apps are more stable and actually work. I was not impressed with the T3 and all it's stupid software glitches, some of which wiped out memory and forced me to re-install every 3rd party application too many times. I don't need or want a voice recorder and the vibrating alarms were somewhat less than helpful to me. The slower processor speed has minimal impact on the applications I use and the battery life is a 1000% improvement over the T3 (which may have lasted 3 hours with constant use). For $300, the manufacture quality is about as good as my old IIIc, which lasted a number of years. If the power button seems weak for constant use, use a program like Off-it which gives you an icon to tap and turn off the unit. I like being able to finally use a large screen without the stupid slider (a very bad idea).
  
  One caution: because of the changes with the Palm OS 5, many old applications may not work and you will need to upgrade to those applications which state OS5 compatibility. Palm made a lot of changes to the underlying architecture, so do not expect some app you bought years ago to work. For the complaints about "FrankenGarnet", the OS does a pretty good job considering the difficulties of moving to a new processor family. I like and recommend the TX.
  
  
• Palm gets it just about right
  By A680RUE1FDO8B on 2006-03-01
  As a compulsive gadgeteer I've been using handheld devices for years, including the Apple Newton, the Sharp handhelds, Casio, Dell, Handspring and others. All of them have ultimately been disappointing and far too limited or quirky for daily use.
  
  The Palm Treo 650 is a good unit, but I found myself constrained by it because of the the screen size and lack of WiFi.
  
  I looked at the LifeDrive and the TX and chose the TX.
  
  And I am absolutely delighted with the TX. It is not perfect, but it comes within spitting distance of being so.
  
  Since my list of the TX's deficiencies is short, I'll list it first.
  
  Battery life and non-removable batteries. That's my personal list of shortcomings, though I am sure others will have different opinions.
  
  The internal battery is not removable. I think that's a dumb move on the part of Palm or any other handheld device manufacturer. Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity quickly run down the battery, seemingly within a couple of hours or so. Third party battery extenders provide some relief, but being able to pack a spare battery or two for extended use would be a joy.
  
  The rest of the story is all good, all praise.
  
  The 320 x 480 screen is gorgeous. Not quite bright enough to easily use in bright daylight, it is more than usable under all other conditions. Rendition is very crisp and small type is surprisingly easy to read. Photographs are well displayed and video has no trace of ghosting.
  
  The built-in speaker is weak and, except for alarms, useless. Music and other audio listened to with headphones, however, is robust and rich.
  
  Video playback is very good. I've observed no skips so far using TCPMP.
  
  Graffiti2 is a delight. Much easier to use than earlier implementations adn far more tolerant of scrawls like mine. The touch screen is very responsive and I am able to write almost as fast on the Palm as I can using pen and paper. Very, very impressive.
  
  Palm's 5-wey toggle is, for the most part, a delight to use. Neither too squishy nor too firm, the only drawback for my large fingers is the center button. Ultimately I'll remember to use only a fingernail to access it. Until then I will accidentally hit one of the other toggles from time to time.
  
  Palm's normal applications are, as always, Palm's typical applications and I suspect most users will supplement or replace them with more powerful third party applications. The standout Palm app is the Blazer browser. So far it has handled every page I've thrown at it with grace, reformatting them nicely to fit.
  
  The four function keys can be easily programmed and are responsive to a fairly firm touch, which is nice because they will turn on the unit.
  
  The power switch is slightly recessed and requires a firm touch. A nice way to prevent accidental power-ups, but sometimes a bit of a pain when you want to quickly turn the unit off.
  
  The WiFi implementation is flawless. Set-up takes seconds and WEP is provided for. I have used my home WiFi outside at distances of more 100 feet. I've connected to three other WiFi nets without problem.
  
  Bluetooth is easy to set up.
  
  I've used the TX with a wireless keyboard and, frankly, the combination could replace my laptop in many instances.
  
  I'm glad to have chosen the TX over the LifeDrive. With 2GB SD cards selling for less than $100, I can get all the storage I need without the delay and possible fragility of the 4GB microdrive in the LifeDrive.
  
  Many have complained of the lack of a microphone on the TX. Since I've never used the voice recording capabilities of any of my handhelds, I don't see it is a lack. Others with different needs may justifiably disagree.
  
  Overall the TX is a pleasing purchase. It isn't perfect but it is the best handheld device I've owned to date. Now if they would add a camera and a phone in the same form factor . . .
  
  Jerry
  
  
  
  
• Wi-Fi and Multimedia Wonder
  By A3686O5QPBBSII on 2005-11-28
  The last PDA i owned was a Palm m100 and it served it's purpose for two years until it finally failed and wouldn't start anymore. I went about two years without a PDA and I really missed having information at my finger tips.
  
  When I heard about the new Palm T|X I was intrigued by its features and its price point. I bought one online after doing some reasearch on this PDA.
  
  When I received it I also bought a 1GB SD card to put in my music and movies to take with me on a cruise ship for my 10th wedding anniversary. I used Pocket Tunes to play my MP3s while working out and while relaxing. I also downloaded the full FOTR movie encoded in divx and watched it during the ship's "entertainment" shows that my wife wanted to watch but I didn't care for (google TCPMP for the freeware movie player, don't get MMPlayer--it sucks). It perfomed remarkably well all throughout my vacation.
  
  When I returned from the cruise, I uploaded photos from my anniversary to the SD card and used the T|X to show pictures to our friends and relatives. I've also configured Versamail to access my Gmail account so I can access my email anywhere there's a wifi connection. The only thing I find lacking is the drive mode that the T5 and Life Drive both have. Compared to my old m100, the T|X is many times better and faster. I would recommend this PDA to anyone who needs wifi and multimedia capabilities at a reasonalble price.
  
  
  
  
• Unfortunately Palm does not listen to consumers.
  By A3GLY07V5RHX2 on 2005-10-29
  In theory this is a great unit. I LOVE the stable palm OS. Unfortunately palm DOES not pay the least bit of attention to their consumers. The battery life is meager.
  
  Palm:
  
  USER REPLACABLE BATTERIES on a high end unit. I would pay $1000 bucks for such a unit. Medical users can't stop to charge their palm units between patients. The need for user changeable batteries is paramount. Many of my collegues are still using OLD units because the batteries can be changed.
  
  
• T/X beats LifeDrive any day!
  By ABOR3UCTK198F on 2006-08-16
  My husband and I bought Palms in December, and I went with the T/X while he chose the LifeDrive. I have to say that I absolutely love my T/X, whereas my husband has regretted his purchase decision since the first week it arrived.
  
  We are both Realtors, so we based our purchase decision on the need for a device that would be compatible with our SUPRA lockbox system for accessing listed properties. Bottom line, my T/X automatically syncs with our SUPRA system at the same time that I sync it with my Outlook and Agent Office programs, and I have not experienced a single glitch with using the infrared to open lockboxes. On the other hand, my husband has had to repeatedly borrow my T/X because his will work one time and then become sporadic; in short, unreliable. He spent countless hours on the phone with Palm, but ultimately, they insisted that because it is a 3rd party software, they were not responsible for any errors. This may be the case, but supposedly the LifeDrive was compatible with the software, and even more hours were spent troubleshooting with our MLS office regarding their SUPRA softward only to find that the software seems to be operating fine... IOW, they say it's a defect in the Palm.
  
  Other than this specific issue, the T/X is also superior to the LifeDrive in the following ways:
  1. the T/X is much lighter (the LifeDrive is very bulky)
  2. the LifeDrive is slow to open applications and the T/X never leaves me waiting
  3. on the T/X it was very easy to assign the function buttons at the bottom of the device to go to specific pages when pressed, whereas the LifeDrive seems more limited and complex in doing this. The buttons are labeled, anyway, but at least they are easily customizable on the T/X
  4. and finally, the general usability of the T/X just seems simpler and more straightforward. The few times I have operated my husband's LifeDrive, it seemed more complicated to do the same things on his Palm that I would do on my own in only a couple taps of the stylus or the push of a button.
  
  All in all, I wish I could give better specifics, but I am far from being a techie, which is why I absolutely love the simplicity of use of my T/X. Even my husband is talking of switching to the T/X as he finds it much easier to operate. Plus, if storage is what you're looking for, the LifeDrive may have more internal space (which is probably why it's so heavy and bulky), but the T/X does have an expansion card slot.
  
  On a final note, we opted for these handhelds instead of the Treo models, because we have heard many negative reviews from other Realtors regarding all the glitches and bugs (not to mention the reviews we read on Amazon and other sites). So although it would be nice to have a phone and Palm in one, I think we made a good choice to keep them separate... at least then we would not be completely crippled by the loss of phone, palm, etc. should the device break or become inoperable.
  
  
• Good for what I need it for
  By A22DPFW7VGIBOG on 2005-10-20
  First, note that although I have tried out a Palm TX at a local retailer, I don't own one yet, mostly because Amazon doesn't actually seem to have any yet and doesn't seem to know when they'll have them ...
  
  As a Palm m505 user, I've been wanting to upgrade for some time, but the devices that did what I wanted were both rare and expensive, usually because they had features that I didn't need (like the Tungsten C's thumb keyboard or the LifeDrive's 4GB HD). SanDisk promised a WiFi SDIO card for the m5xx series for a long time, then finally reneged. And the m505's 160x160 screen with its washed-out color left something to be desired. Once I finally get one a TX, it'll be a huge step up.
  
  The Palm TX's screen is great; 320x480 makes a big difference. The backlight has several levels of brightness rather than just on/off. Over 100MB of usable memory is huge compared to the less than 8MB on my old Palm. It has an SDIO slot, so I can use the SD cards I already have. Built-in Wi-Fi means I won't be tying up the SDIO slot with an adapter and don't have to swap cards if I want to be online. Stereo audio means I can load up a card with MP3s and have a solid-state MP3 player. And one of the first things I'm going to try is using WiFile and PocketTunes to effectively stream MP3s wirelessly from my computer's hard drive.
  
  I'm glad the Palm TX doesn't have a camera; the last thing I need is a PDA that I'll have to leave at the front desk when visiting certain companies for work. With more and more places banning gadgets with cameras, I just don't want the hassle. I'm also glad that it doesn't have a phone -- I don't have a cell phone and don't want one, and besides, I don't want to drain my PDA's battery by talking on the phone, and vice-versa. I'd rather have my camera, phone and PDA be separate devices.
  
  This is not to say that I think it's perfect -- the biggest adjustment will be the lack of a cradle. Attaching plugs isn't going to be my favorite thing to do. Cradles are sold separately; I may eventually end up getting one. I'm going to miss the blinking-light and vibrating alarm features that the m505 has but the TX lacks. Voice recording is conspicuously absent on the TX, but as I didn't have it before, I'm not going to miss it. As for Bluetooth, this will be the only Bluetooth device I own, so it's like having a fancy piece of string with one tin can attached.
  
  Overall, I like this device. I'm going to be able to access the Internet from anywhere in the house, and make use of the ever-growing number of Wi-Fi hot spots. The features may not be the absolute latest and greatest, but they're light-years beyond what I have now, and the price is quite right.
  
  
• Documented functionality is unavailable
  By A3K807XF9GT3V6 on 2006-02-01
  I just received my Palm TX a couple of days ago. One key feature for me is the ability to use the included VersaMail application with a WiFi wireless connection to exchange email with my corporate email system. My corporate system uses IMAP with SSL security for receiving email and SMTP with SSL for sending mail; a pretty standard setup.
  
  I am able to receive email from my corporate server just fine, but am unable to send mail. Working through Palm email tech support has provided timely (within a few hours) response, but those responses have been useless.
  
  In my experimentation, I downloaded a trial version of third-party email application that costs $60 to buy. Using that application I had no problem sending/receiving email using my corporate server.
  
  In contacting Palm via phone support, the phone was answered relatively quickly in less than 15 minutes. The best I could get from Palm was a committment to prioritize investigating the problem.
  
  But, after further investigation on my own, I found an item in the Palm Solution Library (#22520), originally posted in March, 2003 and last updated in April 2005 that states that SSL is NOT supported for sending email with VersaMail. The direct quote is "Sending mail via SSL is not supported in VersaMail."
  
  The Palm TX documentation, on page 393 states "The VersaMail application uses SSL to help guarantee the secure transmission of email messages that you send or receive."
  
  So, the manual released approx. 1 and 1/2 years later tells you that a feature works when it probably has never worked.
  
  Is that ethical? I leave it for you to judge. A customer should not be required to spend $60 to get the functionality that is documented to be included with the Palm TX. I have made my judgement and am returning my Palm TX.
  
  
• Backwards incompatibility
  By A2TPK1OX4LCXJX on 2005-11-15
  I have had the Palm TX for several months now. My earlier instability issue is really an incompatability issue. I had attempted to transfer programs from an older Palm device. Crashes abouded. After purging most third party software, the device works very well. The device deserves five stars for actual performance, but loses points for lack of backwards compatibility. Four stars.
  
  I have had the Palm TX for two weeks and am not satisfied with its stability. I have had to do numerous soft resets and at least four heard resets. The device is excellent when operational. Spontaneously, the screen will either freeze up or go out of alignment. Realignment is sometimes possible, but other times resetting is the only option.
  
  This instabilty is a major flaw in the operating system. My other Palm devices never exhibited this sort of instability. I chose a TX over a Dell Axim specifically because of stability concerns and my prior positive experience with Palm operating system.
  
  Such instability is unacceptable especially in an operating system that is now several years old.
  
  
• Perfect PDA with few flaws
  By ALJGDBYD5J6GH on 2006-09-16
  I'm not a big PDA user, I still believe in pen and notepad but as my life and job becomes hectic, I upgraded my Palm Zire to Palm T|X.
  
  I read nearly all reviews about the T|X and despite the common trend of crashing and sudden resets; I decided to see it for myself. I was amazed when I got my T|X, everything looks professional and it got pretty much everything I need. Now, I'm not going to talk about the specs cause you can find that anywhere. What I'm going to talk about are the common complaints about the T|X.
  
  First let me talk about the resets. I've gotten one sudden reset, and that's from trying to do 2-3 things at the same time. This is a PDA not a PC, so multiple simultaneous applications will give its toll. Also, I've realized that cramming to many applications can result to crashing or resets (no matter how much memory you've got left). Since I travel a lot, I downloaded VeriChat, very easy to use application to combine your Yahoo, MSN, AIM, and ICQ accounts into one. I'm not a computer wiz or anything so please correct me if I'm wrong but I'm just basing my facts on my personal experience.
  
  I'm a Rhetorical Studies student and a military aircrew member; I'm often on the plane traveling overseas. Getting my homework and assignments done on the plane using the T|X and wireless keyboard is a breeze. Word and Notepad works like its PC counterpart. Of course I deal with Wi-Fi hotspots (there are free hotspots and some requires subscription, I recommend T-Mobile hotspot) so getting connected online for a quick web surfing/Chat or email is very easy. The MP3 Player and Video player, although not perfect (lack of menus), I don't have any problem. With 2 gig of memory, I transferred 2 movies on my SD card and watch movies with no problem at all. Battery life lasted longer than expected; a frequent use of the T|X gave me 5+ hours a day while looping a song gave me 10 hours worth of battery life.
  
  Bottom line, although it's not as powerful as a laptop, T|X can certainly be a replacement. Please don't be intimidated by bad reviews, go ahead and find out for yourself if T|X is good for you or not and if it's really as bad as others reviewed it. As for me, I'm a satisfied owner. It has few flaws but it's not that serious to change your mind. Enjoy and I hope I've been helpful.
  
  
• Screen Whine from new Palm TX
  By AXRSRF94MFQBS on 2005-10-26
  I am so disappointed. Just bought a new Palm TX after during more than a year of bad service and screaming noise from Palm TE. I thought that the Palm would have resolved the screen whine problem by now. But in less than 10 hours, my brand new Palm TX is screaming at me again. And I am so ashamed to write this, being aware of this problem of previous Palms but still falling into the trap of trusting the company too much. I hope that Palm would try to solve this once and for all, and reward its fans with a decently built PDA. Currently, at least I could get my full refund when I returned it to the shop the next day (in Singapore). Am now using my good 'ol Palm M515.
  
  
• unreliable junk from a company that doesn't care
  By A28WPZY6YS56GP on 2006-04-29
  I was surprised by the nearly all positive reviews posted, but I would have been fairly positive before mine broke after about 40 days. I used an m515 for years with no problems and liked the TX for its improved screen, color, memory, and mp3 capabilities. In short, it was time to upgrade to a modern product.
  But after 40 days in which the on/off switch seemed to work intermittently, it failed altogether and I had to send it back to Palm for repair. LET THE BUYER BEWARE that if your TX fails, you will send it at your own expense to Palm for repair. So if a 10% increase in your overall cost is ok, as well as doing without your device for a week or two, then this thing might be ok. But for me, a product that fails at all has already earned a bad review, and the manufacturer should own up to the responsibility of having sold defective merchandise and, for the sake of their reputation, should bear all costs for the repair. So this alone warrants a poor rating from me and in fact I will never buy another Palm product.
  From comments posted elsewhere, both on this site and on the Palm support site, I gather that there have been a lot of devices sold with this defective on/off switch. I have also read about broken screens and frequent device resets, though I haven't experienced that (yet). The TX is incompatible with a couple of applications I have with the older m515.
  One of my major interests in the device was as an mp3 player, reasoning that with an add-on 4GB memory card it would be comparable to an ipod nano but also have the Palm OS. I asked Palm support if a 4 GB card would work and they responded that they had not tested any. I believe this answer to be baloney, but if not it's a poor report on Palm anyway. I found out elsewhere that the TX is one of two Palm devices supporting FAT32 drives and would therefore work with large memory cards, so I bought one and it does in fact work just fine. I suspect Palm won't tell anybody this because it would undercut sales of their more expensive and ill-considered LifeDrive.
  
  
• Palm TX is TERRIBLE and Palm service is worse
  By A3U2SK9OG71BSW on 2006-05-05
  I purchased a Palm TX in November 2005. It was flaky from the start - rebooting itself randomly. The last week in April 2006, it became even more erratic; it did not recognize the memory card. It started rebooting itself over and over and over till it ran out of power and stopped altogether. When I tried to charge it, it started to reboot again.
  
  I called Palm service, who put me on hold for 17 minutes and then disconnected me. It took almost a week for them to say they would honor the extended warranty I had purchased and send the 'advance exchange' refurbished replacement. They have refused to honr the advertised promise to have it delivered to my home within 3 business days - even though it has been over a week since I first reported the problem.
  
  I have had to call more than 10 times. I have been disconnected at least 3 times. I have been mis-informed on some aspect of their 'solution' every time I got through. They know they are wrong - they offered me a $25 gift certificate to buy more stuff that won't work from their Palm store - and I have to pay shipping!
  
  Do not buy this product - or any Palm product - if you actually need to use the product to get work done.
  
  
• Best PDA I laid hands on so far. BUY ME! BUY ME!
  By A1GUM6OGR2LBBL on 2006-03-25
  Tons and tons of features, I can't get my hands off of it for days. I spend extra $100 on software, but it's worth it! I can now VPN to my office, VNC to my home computer, watch high quality widescreen mpeg videos I converted from TiVoDesktop, FTP to my work, transfer files back-and-forth in my network with WiFile/Samba, listen to my mp3 music, browse online, and even listen to online radio! Wow! Wow! and WOW! I'm drooling on my new PDA. Next stop, video streaming, but not for a while since I'm broke with all the add-in purchase. This is the best investement I made since my Dell notebook. So while working, I can put a photo slideshow while the online radio is playing in the background.
  
  I removed the AddIt bundle that ate a lot of device memory, including Quick Tour, T-Mobile Hotspots, and all tutorials. Tip! Use FileProg. It's free.
  
  USB sync is amazingly fast, but now I sync thru WiFi. Hot!
  
  I'm pushing the device to the limit, so the only time it freezes is when I jam MMPlayer with a 2 hour show of American Idol in 320x240 300kbps 29.97fps 44KHz video format.
  
  Really, but it!
  
  Palm T|X ... that's hot!
  
  
• Palm Shows It Can Still Make the Best PDA
  By A35O4BUCEYZ6WH on 2006-05-27
  I have a couple Pocket PCs but have been a Palm user since the first Palm Pilot came out.
  
  I am very pleased with my Palm TX, which I purchased after trying to defect to the MS Pocket PC for 6 months. This product just works, and it works well. It's battery lasts all day. It has a lot of third party applications. But most importantly it is easy to find the information I need when I need it.
  
  For those considering a PDA don't even bother buying the microsoft product unless you are wanting to show off the pretty display. Other than the media function, the pocket pcs are much like windows. Compared to the Palm TX, Pocket PCs are slow, prone to hang, hard to navigate (same Window type start menu). You even get the chance to restart your PPC frequently just like windows.
  
  Due to Palm quality control problems (noisy hissing screens), I tried to switch to PPC. With the introduction of the TX, they have fixed the problem and seem that they are back on track with the most functional PDA on the market. After 6 months of use, I am glad to be back on the Palm OS.
  
  The only complaint I have about the Palm TX is the processor seems to be a bit slow at times with a split second delay from click to execution. Still hands down, the best PDA product on the market.
  
  
• Best Palm so far...
  By A2ULPJ9UDZCGQ2 on 2006-02-26
  During the past 10 years, I have owned a series of Palms beginning with the Palm III, and the TX has almost all the functions that I have been dreaming about for years.
  
  This is what I like:
  
  Well constructed. Color screen is bright and works well. It shows videos and photos without any problems. It has a strong metal-like hard plastic body and is solid. The body and screen are much nicer than my previous Palm, a Zire 71.
  
  A multimedia machine. The ability to use an SD card with up to 2 gigabytes of storage has turned the TX into a portable multimedia device that rivals the ipod. When I purchased the TX, I picked up a 512 meg SD flash card. As SD card prices have declined, I bought a 1 gig and most recently a 2 gig card. I have filled them up with mp3, jpeg and mpeg4 video files. By using the Pocket DVD Wizard, (a shareware application) I am able to convert DVDs and play them on the TX.
  
  Built-in WiFi finally! I have been waiting for Palm to offer built-in WiFi for several years and my wish has finally been granted. Although download speeds can be slow and browsing websites on such a small screen isn't fun. The browser does work and it is nice to be able to get online. I have gotten used to checking my Yahoo and Gmail web-based email accounts. (More on using the VersaMail later.)
  
  Edit Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint files. The DataViz Documents To Go Professional suite comes standard on the TX. This allows you to create and edit Word, Excel and Powerpoint files on the TX. I haven't run into any compatibility issues transferring Office files between the TX and my desktop. This is great value. (Alas, no spell check. If you want spell check, you need to upgrade to the Premium edition.)
  
  Leave your laptop at home. When I purchased my TX, Palm included a mail-in coupon for a free wireless keyboard. This is a great addition. I know Palm's Graffiti language, but when it comes to typing, a keyboard beats a stylus. The keyboard folds up into a small package and it fits into my coat along with the TX. Now when I visit an office, the library or a bookstore caf, I can just take it out and start typing. Unfortunately, I noticed that Palm discontinued the keyboard give-away shortly after I got mine, but I still recommend picking up a wireless keyboard because it makes the Palm so much more useable.
  
  Now for the features that I wish Palm had included and/or improved:
  
  The biggest omission is there is no built-in microphone. This is strange because microphones have been included in most high-end Palms and Handsprings for several years. It would have been great if Palm had included one because combined with the WiFi, this device would be perfect as a WiFi phone using Skype. I have friends using Skype with their Windows Pocket PC phones. It would also be nice to be able to dictate memos.
  
  A better email client. Now that the Palm TX has WiFi, an email client is a necessity. I have found that the current version of VersaMail that comes with most Palms, works OK with certain email services like Gmail and AOL, but I cannot get it to work with my hosting company's email. There is no way to set up email authentication that most hosting companies require. I understand that Snapper email, a shareware program, does a better job, but I haven't had a chance to try it out.
  
  Incomplete multimedia software bundle. The Pocket-Tunes program that comes with the TX is an improvement over the Real Player included with previous Palms, but it still lacks the ability to play many formats, including Windows Media. I am sure this is a licensing issue and fortunately, all my music files are MP3, which it handles well. The TX also does not come with a video player; fortunately, I was able to download the free, TCPMP (The Core Pocket Media Player).
  
  Overall, I think the TX is the best Palm yet. I have been using it for nearly four months without any problems. I know eventually, I will replace it with a Treo. But for now, with its larger screen and ability to edit Microsoft Office documents, I like the TX.
  
  
• Great values with some minor issues
  By A2WCFDOCS73PNB on 2005-11-16
  For $300, I believe it is a great buy for all the features that come with Palm TX. I was quite impressed with the bright and vivid display with video and pictures viewing. I was able to set up Wifi with my home wireless network with a snap. The horizontal display mode also helped wireless surfing on a hand-held a pleasure.
  
  There were a few minor issues. The multi-media software (video and audio) features are somewhat basic and limited. The Rhapsody music software that came with the Palm CD actually does NOT have the Palm TX device driver included. I contacted technical support and found that many users had the same issue. I would recommend not to use/install Rhapsody. It would be much easier to simply copy your mp3 files to the SD card by using a SD card reader. It worked very nicely with this alternative.
  
  Customer support was lousy to say the least. The first technical support person I communicated with did not seem to understand the issues and simply hang up on me when she figured out that she was not able to help.
  
  Overall, I am quite satisfied with the unit.
  
  
• Nice concept, poor execution
  By A1K4US2RVLY2TU on 2005-12-15
  Having upgraded from a VX, and with my wife happily using a Tungsten E, I feel let down by this device.
  
  The basic PIM services remain, albeit with their new names. The display is good, displaying photos well and making reading documents a real possibility on the device (especially with the full screen and portrait/landscape options).
  
  WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity are intuitive, easy to set up and fast. The Web browser is fast and usable.
  
  However, this device really fails on it "Email management". Despite the claims for Versamail 3.1c, it does not appear to deliver usable email management. After extensive dialogue with Palm, they have confirmed that there are several known issues with the way mail is handled:
  
  -Email synchronisation between desktop and device is not possible, where the email account is set up to connect directly to a POP/IMAP server (e.g. WiFi, GPRS via Phone). The mail is downloaded to each location, and only when changes are made to the server are they then cascaded to each location.
  
  -Email that requires SSL (e.g. Gmail) cannot synchronise with the desktop at all (SSL not supported via desktop connection)
  
  -Gmail downloads only once, to your device or PC. The mail will not then download to a 2nd device (mailbox ends up split)
  
  This is a real shame. I consider Email to be a core part of PIM, and to have some flaws of this nature a large oversight. Visiting the Palm forums, this is a common problem to many users. However, Palm do not have any plans to address the issue.
  
  The device is also inherently less stable than older Palms - I've had several crashes requiring soft resets and in one case a hard reset. Its slower to turn on, and switching between apps is not the instantaneous thing it used to be.
  
  Nearly there with this device, but let down by some annoying flaws in the design. If, as I suspect may happen, a "TX2" or similar comes out in 2006 it may well be better. Or, this might be the last generation of non Smartphone Palms.
  
  

• IOGEAR USB to Serial/PDA Converter Cable (GUC232A)
• SanDisk SDSDB-128-A10 Secure Digital 128MB (Retail Package)
• Lexar Media 128 MB Secure Digital Card
• Lexar Media 256 MB Secure Digital Card (Retail Package)
• SanDisk SDSDB-256-A10 256 MB Secure Digital Card (Retail Package)

• Palm 3176WW Slim Leather Case for Tungsten T5
• Palm 3199WW Cradle Kit for Tungsten E2/T5/TX and LifeDrive
• Saunders 00497 RhinoSkin Aluminum Hardcase for Palm Tungsten TX/T5
• Palm Slim Leather Case (P10985U)
• Palm TX Armor Case - The Metal Case (Black)