- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 313 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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59 out of 60 people found this review helpful
5.0 stars
"Almost Perfect when compared to the other PDAs."
Pros: Wifi, Big Screen, 128 Fash ROM, Blazer Surfing, Palm OS and more!
Cons: A few cons but not enough to change your mind.
Summary: If you are looking at this review then you are wondering the same reason why you would want this cool toy. Yes, I did say toy because it is just amazingly fun and almost addictive. I just can't seem to say enough on this so instead of typing a long paragraph hear are the highlights listed below and then a long book:
PROS:
+ Big Screen
+ Palm OS Reliablity
+ Wifi (Easy to Configure)
+ 1GB SD Card Compatible (Transcend 80X)
+ 128mb Flash ROM (Good if battery dies)
+ Watch movies on it
+ Stream LIVE radio through Pocket Tunes
+ Builtin speaker
+ Hotsync through Wifi or USB
+ Check Email with Ease
+ Converts Office Documents
CONS
- Battery (Should be removable) (3rd party?)
- Slow Syncing via USB
- No Flash Media Player Support
- No Windows Media Video Support (3rd party?)
- No Quicktime Support (3rd party?)
- No Realplayer Support (3rd party?)
- Cheap case cover included
- Lack of Bundled Software
- Tries to convert your videos when syncing
- No Voice Recorder
- May not like your old palm programs
- Low static noise in headphones when nothing is playing
Those are just a few things and even though I did list quite a few negatives it is only to nitpick. If you compare it for the value and to what everyone else is offering then this isn't so bad.
I've tried quite a few handful of PDAs and the Palm OS is the way to go. Sure Dell has something like this but it is bulkier and built with the unreliable windows sytem. Sure the battery does die rather quickly but what do you expect with a product with wifi enabled, an external speaker and video capabilities? Just would be nice if they let you easily remove the battery for replacement.
Though there is a way around this and there are devices that will charge your items via USB. For about $15 you can buy a USB battery Extender and plug in Four AA batteries and then charge your Palm TX back up. So that is an alternative to that problem. Just like the IPOD I am sure you can also replace the internal battery as well so I don't find this that big of an issue.
I've been successful in converting and watching a movie (isn't dvd quality but not bad for the size downsampled to 200KBPS to 300KBPS) on this but you definitely don't want to use the built in feature because it is extremely slow so get a Transcend 80x Secure Digital Card, USB 2.0 Card Reader (If your system supports 2.0), and visit "The Core Pocket Media Player" website and become enlightened. This is the fastest way to do it. I converted a 20 minute video in about 4 minutes and transfered it on to the SD card in about 30 seconds roughly. Only COMPLAINT is sometimes you may hear some static which disappears when playing music, videos, or games but if you just have your headphones plugged in you will hear this faint static noise which could be just electronic interference or I just have good ears. Again something that doesn't have much weight to not to like this TX.
The other thing I have noticed is that syncing is kind of slow and you might want to try the wifi connection instead of the usb. It seems that the wifi connection is faster than the USB but I haven't timed it. It easier than plugging it into usb, all you do is click sync on the TX and it does the job wirelessly which I think is pretty cool.
Now for web browsing it surfs the web pretty well, I was even able to surf CNET considering the load cnet puts on its pages. Though the key is telling the FONT TO BE SMALL which will make webpages look the way they should and the factory DEFAULT is LARGE. Just a little tip. The other bad part is that I have looked around and can't seem to find any Flash player support so any website that required macromedia flash or shockwave, well you are SOL. As for different movie formats, well when you get this with the standard software, you will be disappointed. Sure it can convert movies but takes a long time and that is why you will need to get a 3rd party program to play your videos. The free stuff out the such as TCPMP and converts are actually pretty good and you might be disappointed with the ones you pay for. So give the free guys a shot first and read your reviews before you buy any palm software because some of those guys are just copying the beta programmers.
So have I overloaded you with information? Probably I have and I have so much more to comment about which I may update in the future but I wanted you readers to see what this baby can do. It can do a lot for the money and is pretty close to having a laptop in your pocket. Still ISN'T it but VERY CLOSE. I have been looking for something like this for awhile and I have to say this is a great laptop replacement for information on the go.
Surf the net, Open office documents, pdfs, music, movies, get directions, gps capable, bluetooth can hook you up to your phone, save other file formats on to the SD card via wifi or usb and take your stuff home. It is just an all-in-one solution which is probably what most of us need and could finally ditch the laptop at home and only use it for actual work.
Oh and as for my rating of 10, I actually rate this an 8 but I don't think it is fair for people to rate this a 1 so I am just evening it out. This isn't perfect but I doubt you will be dissatisfied with this product. Especially if you try your best to learn about it and what you can do then this product becomes 10x better than what it is, it all depends on your own effort.
- 5 replies to this review
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Thanks for the great review. I am deffinetly considering on buying this device to help me through nursing school because of all the great medical applications that you can get from palm.
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I am an RN and am considering buying a PDA. I have seen some great software bundles that cover everything that I might need, such as a drug handbook, diagnostic tests, disease processes, etc. I'm not sure if this is the right choice for me or not. Is there anyone else out there who has used this model for this type of application? I want to get the most bang for my buck and I want something dependable that I can access bedside. I don't have the time or money to waste on a model that is not going to deliver on a consistent basis. Any feedback would be appreciated.
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Thanks for the info, especially the part about reducing the font size for the web. I have just been suffering in silence.
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How do you connect to GPS? Where and which GPS antenna to buy? How to connect antenna to Palm TX?
Thanks in advance for the information. -
I think that you wrote an awesome summary of the palm T|X. Thank you very much. I believe i'll be getting this one instead of the Tungsten E2. I get a teacher discount, so at Palm, I can get it for about $260. Awesome price. Again, thank you.
Palm TX:
