Palm TX Handheld with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
Summary:
The first thing we noticed was its fast wi-fi connection. Perhaps Palm TX's main appealing features are its power savings and the built-in wireless connectivity via Wi-Fi (802.11b) and Bluetooth. It comes with the latest Palm software for Windows and Macs, Stylus, CD and installation manual, AC charger, USB sync cable which charges the battery as long as you leave it plugged in, and a handy flip cover. A lithium-ion rechargeable battery which is quite full of "patience", and some little extras such as a screen protector are thrown in for good measure as well.
Pros:
1- Wi-Fi, 802.11b to be precise is brilliant, in fact, the moment you power the PDA, you can scan for networks nearby and connect (providing those networks are open for access).
2- Bluetooth connections are as fast and as good as the wi-fi connection, connecting and pairing was a breeze. sending and receiving files was also a painless process.
3- Desktop Synchronising, i.e. updating software and files using your desktop / laptop to load / update files residing in the PDA has no glitches. Synchronising email messages from Outlook or Outlook Express with the choice of message headers is ideal for the 128 MB basic default RAM / Storage space. The Palm TX has an optional 2 Gig add-on card for the Storage hungry user which can be bought separately.
4- Battery life and power saving features, for us are its best features, it took almost a whole 48 hours from fully charged to completely flat when used 5-10 minutes at a time (3-4 times a day), shocked, let me explain: The default In-Built power saving features may be annoying sometimes but that's the catch, if not used for 3 minutes, the TX goes into hibernation, hence power saving...
5- A good range of software and Support for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files, the Microsoft Office compatible software "Documents toGo" is a good choice which is remarkable as you can sync your Excel files for example from MS Office and send them to the PDA which uses Document ToGo, and you won't notice the difference between the two packages. Other software such as the notepad which is my favourite (uses Graffiti 2 writing software to input data into the handheld), writing down using the stylus is fast and accurate for hand writing recognition. Music and multimedia are by no means its best attractions, but do the job and adequately. The Palm TX comes bundled with Pocket Tunes MP3 player for music files or Podcasts, MobiTV software compatible (sold separately), . An email software also comes with it in case you don't want to use your own, SMS and text messaging software from the Palm TX to your mobile phone once you have paired your phone is very useful and a whole range of useful software.
6- In most cases, the Palm TX is quite easy to configure and set up. The ability to change from vertical view to horizontal (portrait) view is always a good idea, comes in handy when web surfing and you want non-handheld friendly pages to reasonably fit, although most don't, including most of our own sites (guilty as charged for the moment!).
7- It has an expansion slot which supports MMC, SD, and SDIO memory cards, a 2GB optional card already available on the market is a good thing to know!
8- A slide-in / slide-out on-screen virtual keyboard including all European Latin characters. I guess if you need other characters such as Arabic, you have to either download Arabic support or buy the PDA with an Arabic Palm OS (we did not check that out yet).
9- The Intel ARM Based Processor running at 312MHz is fast enough, although its competitors in the same class have a higher clock speed
10- I like the idea of having to connect to the internet using one of the four buttons as a shortcut. Navigating and scrolling up, down, left and right and the "Enter" function are achieved using a mouse like central button with ease.
Cons:
1- Annoying to have to view cached pages by default and can get confusing when browsing and surfing the Internet. Although you can change the configuration, somehow it seems to revert to the default, maybe that happens after synchronising again and again.
2- The 320 x 480 Transflective TFT Screen is very good for general use as it has 65K Colors, however, some people may find it a little off-putting considering it is a cutting-edge product at the high end of the market.
3- Some may also find the "Blazer" mobile Internet navigator a little too confusing at first and many default settings are uncalled for.
Recommendation:
As a business class PDA, it is without a doubt in a class of its own, particularly with a 2GB expansion card in addition to the default 128mb that comes with it . For gadget lovers, everything is right except its multi-media facilities which are fairly basic. Suitable more for business than leisure with VPN, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth abilities, it has to be!
Added: Friday, December 23, 2005
Reviewer: Administrator | webmaster@wi-fitechnology.com
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