Project PDA

With the world contained in your palm and at your fingertips, it's never difficult to stay connected away from office. The TX personal digital assistant produced by Palm Inc. has packed in almost every feature that a tech-savvy corporate user could crave in a PDA.

With built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology, this wireless device enables you to browse the web and check emails from your office, campus or a
home Wi-Fi network including places like airport, cafes and hotels (if they have Wi-Fi). With the new TX, it is no longer a hassle to carry your Word, Excel and PowerPoint files around with you and also be able to create and edit them.

TX crams a long list of features and robust performance, with a sleek and stunning exterior. It has emerged as a tough contender among its Pocket PC counterparts, namely the Dell Axim X51 and the HP iPaq rx 1950.

TX sports a chic midnight blue hue for its solid and compact body. Measuring 4.7 x 3.0 x 0.6 inches, the device weighs a meager 5.2 ounces and fits well in your bag or pocket. This palm has a flip cover attached to the left spine to guard the screen and outer fascia from ugly scratches. Offering 320 x 480 pixel resolutions, the TFT touch-screen display is a gorgeous affair that supports over 65,000 colors. The text images are sharp and crisp displaying web pages, presentations, spreadsheets, photos and videos in authentic details as the screen rotates from landscape to portrait mode. The Palm logo stands at the top.


The sides and corners are smooth and round. One can find a 5-way navigator in the center surrounded by black application buttons. The navigator is chiseled smoothly with facility to be pressed in each direction. However, many users have complained about the design of the power button which is a carryover from the earlier high-end models like Tungsten T5. The button's inset design requires the user to apply a large amount of pressure to the power buttons, hinting at potential damage in the long run.

The TX comes packed with a 312MHz Bulverde Intel processor. It teams up with 128MB of nonvolatile flash memory out of which, 100MB is user accessible. The list comprises of Wi-Fi ( 802.11b) wireless technology and Bluetooth (v1.1). Though not the fastest chip, its performance is steady and consistent. The lower clock speed helps the device in increasing its battery life.

The TX is also the most affordable PDA on display that comes with integrated dual wireless, using both radios concurrently. It has a SD expansion slot for different memory cards like SD, MMC and SDIO. This expansion card slot facilitates insertion of a memory card from a compatible digital device like digital camera and view photos on its large color display. TX can take memory cards up to 2 GB. This way one can view videos while mobile. Indeed an entertaining feature!

The software is an excellent and enhanced version of PIM applications that closely resembles Microsoft Outlook for better compatibility. Calendar features an agenda view that lists your upcoming schedule, tasks that are due and shows the status of your VersaMail inbox. It simultaneously gives the provision of selecting a background image for the agenda view and set a background image in the launcher and the favorite application. Different categories can be assigned with colors; appointment location details can also be added. Palm also made it possible to have events spanning midnight, separate calendar support and the ability to beam multiple appointments and categories.

To add to the basic organizing features, TX has a built-in software which includes Dataviz Documents To Go 7 Professional Edition. This is quite a handy application and can be called mini Microsoft Office. It can open PDF documents too.
Pocket Tunes v3 is an MP3 player attached to the TX, which is a replacement for the Realplayer in the earlier versions like T5. Additional features such as 'codecs' for unprotected AAC, WMA etc are available for purchase, separately.

The TX has a mono speaker at the rear which is quite sufficient for alarms and games. One can play MP3 files through this speaker though the headphones are expected to provide a much better sound quality. Unfortunately, the TX does not have vibration support or a LED for silent alarms. Additionally, the device runs old fashioned alarm sounds for the calendar.

TX’s Wi-Fi deployment is commendable. For starters, the device quickly and automatically toggles WiFi on and off as needed. On loading the browser, email applications or other network software, the Wi-Fi moves off. This encourages the user to keep the Wi-Fi on at a stretch without excessively draining the battery. The Wi-Fi also stores network parameters on a case by case basis.

Although it doesn't offer a replaceable battery, the TX stores a respectable amount of power inside. For a normal usage, the battery can extend up to 40 minutes a day. In case you want to play MP3 audio continuously, the Palm TX has an enduring battery life of more than six hours. Its 1250 mAh Lithium Ion battery provides more life than any other Palm unit with the exception of the Lifedrive and the Treo.

Pros:

• The device's dynamic Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• Ample memory enabling immense storage
• A price that isn't exorbitant

Cons:

• Slower processor
• No Voice Recorder, Vibrator, LED
• No included cradle

With the features the TX offers coupled with a price tag of $299, the TX surely is here to steal the show.