Palm TX PDA (312MHz, 128MB, SD/MMC/SDIO, Palm OS Garnet 5.4)

Reviewed by: Skshrews

Duration of ownership: 48 Months

Strengths: Excellent WiFi device, beautiful screen, simple functionality, touch screen, many 3rd party apps which allow mp3/internet video, very good battery life

Weaknesses: No GPS, no voice recorder

Overall: I bought a second Palm TX after my first, heavily used for 3 years, started to lose touch screen sensitivity. It is an excellent WiFi device, picks up signals without problem. I've used it all over the world, and if there's WiFi around, it will find and connect to it. It never drops a signal. Palm's PIM apps are great. I use the free-hand note taking app to write quick reminders. 3rd part apps allow you to use it as an mp3 /internet video player (pockettunes/kinoma). Other devices are finally starting to eclipse it, but if you only want a WiFi device, already have a cellphone, and don't want to pay the exorbitant ATT/iPhone cellphone plan fees, this is the device for you.

Reviewed by: ebok

Strengths: memoryeasy to usecostwi-fi capabilitiesflash memory so don't lose data put in since previous synclong battery life

Weaknesses: after 5 years the touchscreen won't calibrate wellhave not had much problem with needing soft reset as others have recorded but do have occasionally (every 1-2 months)cannot download ePocrates now

Overall: For the price 5 years ago this has been a great device for use at work. Occasionally for play, too. I bought this for the memory and it hasn't let me down. I use Mac and can't use the music software that is on it but can use music with SD cards which I do. Then it works fine. Have also put photos and videos on it and display is good. All in all, would recommend to others.

Reviewed by: scareduck

Strengths: A Palm in size and function, good color display, WiFi an intriguing addition

Weaknesses: Battery life, WiFi nearly useless, new Graffiti irritating, awful software on Mac is inescapable

Overall: This is my fourth or fifth Palm handheld organizer and will likely be my last. As the Palm feature sets have increased in size, they have become increasingly hungry for battery power. That doesn't intrinsically affect me, though; the real problems I have with this unit are 1) Poor integration with the Mac and bad software that comes with the package. Navigation on the Mac software is simply horrendous, and there appears to be no escape from it (i.e. I can't sync to the Mac's native organizer software). 2) Nonexistent integration under Linux. This is a beef that 0.0001% of the population is going to have by definition, but I've been able to sync my prior Palm units to my Linux desktops. The USB-based interface changed all that. This is almost certainly the fault of the open source companies (Red Hat, I'm lookin' at YOU); supposedly this has been fixed, but I have yet to get it to work. 3) The WiFi feature is really cool, but the screen is too small and the browser is too limited to do much with what it can reach (no Flash, among other things). Also, as noted above, it really kills the battery. 4) New Graffiti makes me forget everything I learned with the old Graffiti. Yes, I know this was the result of a patent troll and not Palm's fault, but it's just one more annoyance to add on top of a product I find myself relying on less and less. The Blackberry Storm will hit stores on Friday, and I expect to give that an extensive review as a possible replacement for this.

Reviewed by: TJ from South Texas

Strengths: Small, lightweight, excellent display, good battery life, does what I need it to do.

Weaknesses: Does not function as a voice recorder. Battery is not user replaceable.

Overall: After years of lugging a planner, I converted to the Palm TX Handheld. I've never looked back. The convenience of having all of my contacts and my calender with me at all times has made the conversion worthwhile. The ability to synchronize with Outlook has made both applications more useful. I'm a stickler for back-ups. Having my contacts and my calander on both devices and the ability to synchornize gives me a sense of security.

Reviewed by:

Strengths: nice big screen, wifi nice, liked the applications that came with it

Weaknesses: customer support from Palm and freezing up

Overall: multiple hard resets, constantly freezing up, poor support from Palm, solution for everything was "hard reset, remove all added programs" - even if they came from Palm, 23 hard resets within the first

Reviewed by: msandover

Strengths: Overall competencies

Weaknesses: Fragile plastic body, digitizer drift

Overall: Waited for price to come near $200 to where I felt comfortable scrapping my T3. Fine screen - need to shade it of course when out in sunlight. Very much agree with the reviewer who noted that having it all on a phone is dangerous. The phone is for calls. I use the TX for MP3s, calendar, tasking, address book, alarms, etc. Don't want it all to "go away" should the phone with everything fail.Cons: the digitizer is a pain. Drifts constantly throughout the day. Noted that the digitizer on the TX I bought for my girlfriend at Christmas is much better. I think this is a quality control issue. Who knows. Perhaps what I got for a low price was actually a refurb. It didn't appear that way but you never know.Pros:Seems to have good battery life. Just for grins I run both bluetooth and WiFi at the same time to grab streaming WiFi in my home and pair it via bluetooth to a stereo bluetooth headset. The MP3s are encoded at 320K and the fidelity's great. Battery lasts about 2 hours. Under regular usage it's much much longer - even with just WiFi running.This PDA was not worth buying at $300. It is a very good buy, though, at near $200. It remains to be seen if it holds up over time. I use it with some care (stay away from the power button; just let it go off itself...)