Palm T|X

Summary
Wifi, Bluetooth and 128 Meg memory. NVFS means that battery can go to zero and you lose nothing. Includes docs2go which handles native word, excel and powerpoint files very well. It's web, email and office document capabilities along with its relative stability and battery life make the TX the closest PDA yet to a laptop replacement. Feels thin and light. Gets a bit warm with extended wifi usage, but not hot. TCPMP freeware video player performs well on this unit. Overall the best Palmos PDA to date.

SPECS: Uses Graffiti 2, Includes Contacts, Calendar, Memos, Todos and Notepad. SD slot handles larger sizes. Users have reported using 2 gig cards with no problem. Includes Media, which can play a limited number of video formats. Includes pocket tunes. Mono speaker, stereo headphone jack. Same size as PalmOne T5, so many cases, chargers, cradles and other accessories are already available. Extras on cd include Wifile LT to grab files from network shared drives, and Webster's dictionary in ereader format. The built-in calculator now sports support for scientific, financial and hex functions.

PROS: Bright, high quality 320 x 480 screen. Wifi setup is simple and intuitive, yet support is present for WEP and WPA. Very good battery life. Wifi hotsync rocks. More stable than Lifedrive. Palm PIM applications are simple, reliable and best in class. Many users report rock-solid stability with the TX.

CONS: Does not come with cradle. No camera, No microphone, No vibrating alarm and no power LED. Does not have built-in drive mode support. Some users have complained about the power switch. Some users have reported stability issues related to Blazer and Versamail. Users have reported stability issues with 3rd party apps, especially those not updated recently.

Recommendations: mobile-stream.com's homewithfind.prc gets you a home icon that also has find and most recent app features. Backupman saves your data to sd card for crash-recovery in the field. Palmpdf reads native adobe pdfs. Boxwave screen protector is pricey but worth it. Avoid apps which are not known to be compatible with TX. Follow Palm's recommended upgrade procedure if you are moving to the TX from another Palm OS PDA.

I had an older generation Palm, and didn't care much for it. I currently have a Treo 600 and it works pretty well. But the T/X is simply amazing, and I have no complaints so far.

I bought this as a Christmas gift for a nursing student and the T/X was definitely the way to go. It has plenty of memory to run the applications that come installed on the internal flash drive (only the T5 and LifeDrive have more), and it has the 5.4 Garnet operating system as well which is the best Palm has to offer at this time.

The display is large, bright, and shows colors vibrantly. You can "flip" the screen to display horizontally or vertically. The T/X is Bluetooth compatible, and it has a built-in WI-FI card so you can browse the internet anywhere you can pick up a wireless signal.

The T/X comes loaded out with pre-installed software such as PowerPoint and Excel, as well as MS Word. You can also synch it with Outlook on another computer so you can get your email. An SD card expansion slot lets you add tons of extra memory for loading additional software applications. This comes in handy for nursing students because they can put all their drug guides and medical charts on their Palm, and it's all they have to carry.

If you're in the market for a nice handheld organizer that won't break the bank, check out Palm's T/X. It offers a great blend of affordability and functionality.

I have owned a Palm m5, Tungsten T, Zire 72 and now the TX. I bought it for my wife as an easy to use PDA. I love the big color screen (you can minimize the writing area that comes standard at the bottom of the other screens), the Wi-Fi connection (beats carrying my laptop around on business), and the MP3 player.

I got one of these for $300 about a year and a half ago. I have used it constantly since then. It has everything anyone could ask for in a Palm and then some. My favorite uses are the Calendar, and the MP3 player. I have also used it to take notes, set tasks for myself, and surf the internet!

The WiFi connection is great and will connect fairly well. I have found the best reception to be when I am in the same room with the wireless router. After about 20 feet the reception drops off the chart. You can use it to connect to the internet, but there are only a few sites that are Palm friendly. One great feature is you can rotate the display 90 degrees, making many more sites viewable.

The display is the biggest one available in the Palm line. It is large enough to view a standard web page without scrolling side to side (when the display is rotated). Pics are lifelike in color. It can even play video, but I have had the most trouble adding video to it. It is not compatible with Media Player, which is a minus. Don't expect to load your latest music video and watch it. Maybe someone else knows how to do it, but it is beyond me.

The bluetooth is amazing. I bought an adapter for my PC and now I sync with the bluetooth, rather than the dongle (which quit working after about a year's use). I have taken pics with my RAZR and sent them to the Palm via bluetooth, looked at 'em with the pic viewer, sent 'em to my PC and printed them; all without a hitch.

The mp3 player that comes with the Palm is not all that good. However, for 20 bucks you can get the full featured player off of the internet and the sound is spectacular. With the upgraded player you can create equalizer settings for various types of music, as well as different environments. I plug it in to an adapter that plays through my radio, and the sound is as good as a CD! I also have noise cancelling headphones that enhance the music quality. I don't keep any songs on the Palm itself. I keep my songs on SD cards. Pop in a 2G SD card and you're good to go for hours.

Make sure you get screen protectors. They are fairly expensive, but indispensible. You will be writing on the screen constantly, and screen protectors will greatly extend the usability of the unit.

On the downside, the battery is not user replaceable, and here recently it has started to weaken. I haven't tried to have it repaired yet, since it is still good for about three hours of use. However, it used to last a lot longer.

Syncing with Outlook is one great feature. After I sync to Outlook, I then sync to my Yahoo calendar, and even if I don't have my Palm with me, I have all of my appointments on my home and office computers.

This is the third Palm I have owned and by far the best. I really don't need to upgrade to the latest LifeDrive, because this one is more than adequate. I have saved a bundle on MP3 players, flash drives, bulky calendars, easily misplaced address books, etc, because this one unit does it all.