Palm TX

[easyreader]

Hello everyone, great forum you have here with lots of information. I'm sure you've broached the subject before as well with other noobies asking the same old question, what device? I've read numerous posts here as well as surfing the net. It seems that finally a dedicated reader might be on the way soon, one that could handle all the ebook configs., txt, doc, html.....etc

This is great news but I have a feeling these little items will be spendy but we can't hope for too much too soon. I've looked at the Pepper Pad some, neat idea and a nice landscape view, (what I'm looking for), but again spendy. Currently I'm using my lappy and the ereader software which I think is very nice. I'm thinking of getting something a little smaller so that brings me to why I'm here. Any thoughts on the Palm TX? I'm new to the pda but as far as computing goes Its not my first rodeo. Your thoughts....

Thanks for your time.

[Laurens]

Good choice. Certainly for the price.

[Alexander Turcic]

I've seen the Palm TX as an e-book reader, and I think it's an excellent choice. If you want to use your device for something more than just reading e-books, I wouldn't hesitate buying the TX.

Alternatively, if you don't feel bad towards Windows Mobile, the Axim X51v makes an excellent choice for its 640x480 display and relatively low (Dell typical) price.

[easyreader]

Yes, display is where its at for me seeing I'm looking at a 24" widescreen right now. I wil also look at the Dell, 640 x 480 sounds good. I recently discovered the Nokia 770, 800 x 480 display but from what I've read it is not compatible to ereader. Thanks for the input.

[Bob Russell]

There just happens to be a post about TX vs Dell on the Palm Addicts site now....
http://palmaddict.typepad.com/palmad...ichard_a_.html. But remember it is a Palm site, and there are a lot of people that are very happy with the Dell VGA pdas. On the other hand, a lot of people have expressed concerns that Win Mobile 5 is not yet very stable, and even Alex may have stayed with the previous OS version on his despite the availability of an upgrade for it.

The VGA display is probably pretty spectacular, but I think the hires+ display on the T|X is pretty impressive also. T|X is supposed to be relatively solid and useful, and has non-volatile memory in case your battery dies. The Dell x51v is a really powerful pda, but probably a little more expensive.

Both of them, btw, are well suited for viewing DVDs if you are interested in that also! (You just have to first do a conversion to a compressed format like DivX or XVid first.)

[Dick Tracy]

I love using my TX as an ebook reader.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by easyreader

Any thoughts on the Palm TX?

I've used one form of Palm or another for 10+ years now (since the first week they were released as the "Pilot")

I'm currently using a Tungsten T3, after giving up on the LifeDrive (due to its slowness and disgusting battery life -- I ask you, why should it take 1.5 hours to drain and 3 to charge?). I have used three different Palm models a great deal for e-book reading, they work just fine if the screen size is acceptable to you.

I like the looks of the T|X a lot, and as far as I can see the only downside to it is that the screen isn't as bright as those of the previous device generation. I'm not sure why this is and Palm isn't commenting, perhaps they're hoping no one will notice.

If I were going to buy one today (work provides mine, so I take what I get), I'd probably go for the E2 rather than the T|X, mainly because the brighter screen and lower price are more important to me, personally, than the larger screen and bigger, flash-drive-emulating memory are.

As for the Palm vs. Pocket PC debate, the right answer for each person is the answer to what you want the device to do. Palms are primarily organizers, that's what they do and they do it extremely well (witness that a 200 MHz palm runs faster than a 450 MHz Pocket PC). They do a number of other things quite well too, e-reading is one of those.

In my opinion, Pocket PC's are hamstrung by their operating system. They're not PC's and they're not organizers, but they're trying to be both, and I think that hurts their ability to be either.

So, until the Enterprise beams me down one of those PADD's, I'll stick with Palm ... and maybe one e-ink reader or another if anyone every releases one.

[Chaos]

Originally Posted by NatCh

If I were going to buy one today (work provides mine, so I take what I get), I'd probably go for the E2 rather than the T|X, mainly because the brighter screen and lower price are more important to me, personally, than the larger screen and bigger, flash-drive-emulating memory are.

The TX actually doesn't have a flash-drive-emulating memory section. The T5 is the one that has that. But if you want that you can give both the E2 and the TX one. Link! I don't need the internal drive method, so I just use the Drive Mode app from someone else's T5 (Filez on a SD card did the trick to get the files and copy them to my TX ), which exports the SD card as a USB mass storage device.

Personally I find the large screen on the TX appealing, as the hard Graffiti area doesn't appeal to me, since I do more reading with my TX than writing. And I like an onscreen keyboard better than Graffiti sometimes. Also the lack of wifi would be a deal-breaker for me, as I love network and internet access. As far as battery life goes, I get around a weeks worth of battery (or more), depending on what I do, including wifi usage, some games (SNES games with an overclocked processor), and a fair bit of reading (sometimes online - very nice use of the wifi is to load a long page of text, and disconnect from the internet to read it). I keep the system underclocked (from the default 312 down to 208) for most usage, except media playback (312-416), web browser (312), and emulation (up to a whopping 520!). I also used a minor hack to allow the TX's screen to go dimmer than it can by default, and I always use it at the lowest easily readable level, depending on ambient light.

Overall, it's a very nice machine for reading, light wifi surfing, and some media/games! I do suggest grabbing a copy of Warpspeed, though. Along with a couple of the other free hacks from PalmPowerups, like the brightness fix I mentioned.

On an interesting note, I've managed to get it to sync automatically with my desktop every morning at 06:20 over wifi, and to grab my new mail every morning around 06:45, since I'm always far too rushed in the morning to do anything other than have a shower and get going (maybe grab a bite to eat on the way out). I really should set my alarm clock earlier sometime...

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Chaos

The TX actually doesn't have a flash-drive-emulating memory section.

Oops, my mistake, I guess I just read it into the description since an earlier version had it. Interesting that Palm's made 2 downgrades....

Anyway, I also forgot about the WiFi thing, that's how low it is on my radar -- I just don't see that much need for it. Though with your trick of auto-HotSyncing ... well, that makes it a good deal more apealing.

[Laurens]

Internet radio over Wifi is very appealing.

[TadW]

Just don't hold the PDA too close to your face when you listen to radio with WiFi on (perhaps while reading an e-book)... I just don't trust exposure to WiFi from a too close distance.

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by TadW

Just don't hold the PDA too close to your face when you listen to radio with WiFi on (perhaps while reading an e-book)... I just don't trust exposure to WiFi from a too close distance.

Yeah, that kind of scares me sometimes when I think about the smartphone all the time in my pocket. I guess I'm banking on the studies that say it doesn't matter. But that puts it too close for comfort if you know what I mean!

[Chaos]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Though with your trick of auto-HotSyncing ... well, that makes it a good deal more apealing.

It'd be possible without the wifi (Bluetooth, perhaps?), but it'd obviously need to be pretty close to the computer. As it stands now, my computer is across the house and down a floor from my bedroom, where my TX is overnight.

I'm also not sure how Windows would handle this (does it auto-accept certain hotsync requests over network?), but I've got it working with Linux/Jpilot using a couple simple cronjobs (jpilot-sync starts at 06:15, Palm tries to sync five minutes later at 06:20). Like I said, however, I'm not certain how Windows handles that.

I definitely agree that if the wifi doesn't appeal to you at all then you probably shouldn't look at the TX too heavily, maybe look at the T5 or, as you suggested, the E2 instead - depending on your price range.

[Dick Tracy]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Oops, my mistake, I guess I just read it into the description since an earlier version had it. Interesting that Palm's made 2 downgrades....

Anyway, I also forgot about the WiFi thing, that's how low it is on my radar -- I just don't see that much need for it. Though with your trick of auto-HotSyncing ... well, that makes it a good deal more apealing.

Palm is free to pick and choose what functionality will be included at a given pricepoint, thus Wifi is included in the TX in lieu of RAM, DriveMode and microphone of T5/LifeDrive for a few bucks less. I'd rather have Wifi onboard than futz with the SDIO version.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Dick Tracy

Palm is free to pick and choose what functionality will be included at a given pricepoint.

Oh, I agree whole-heartedly with that, and didn't mean to suggest otherwise. I just think it's a bit of an odd move for the newer, higher-priced model to drop some functions that were on older, lower-priced ones (i.e. dimmer screen, no built-in flash-drive functionality, whatever).

At the same time, however, they do need to pay some attention to what their users expect, or risk that their users will cease to be theirs. But the choice rightfully remains theirs to make. Mostly I prefer they make choices that keep their company strong and delivering great products, whatever those choices prove to be. Capitalism is great that way.

Actually, the lack of a flash drive function doesn't perturb me, personally, in the slightest, as it makes more sense to me to use a standard USB flash drive (with its own connector) than carry around a cable to pretend my Pilot is a flash drive. I thought it was kind of brag-ware in the first place (look what this can do -- don't need it, won't use it, but ain't it cool?!) Besides, the way the prices are crazy dropping on the flash drives ....