TX (handheld)

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Palm TX
Manufacturer Palm, Inc.
Type PDA
Retail availability since November 2005
Media 128 MB Flash memory and (1) SD/SDIO/MMC slot
Operating system Palm OS Garnet, 5.4.9
Power 1250 mA·h rechargeable lithium-ion non-removeable battery
CPU 312 MHz Intel XScale PXA 270
Memory 32MB Random Access Memory, 128MB Flash
Display 3.9 in 320x480 TFT screen capable of displaying 65,536 colors
Input Touchscreen (entire screen)
Camera None
Connectivity Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Infra-Red
Dimensions 120.9x78.22x15.5 mm (4.8x3.1x0.6 in.)

The TX is a personal digital assistant produced by Palm, Inc., released in October 2005. It features 802.11b Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. It is priced at $299 USD. It runs Palm OS Garnet, version 5.4.9. It was announced and released as part of Palm's Fall 2005 product cycle. The $299 price was considered aggressive at release. It largely replaced the earlier, costlier T5. As the company considered the LifeDrive to be a separate category, this made the TX Palm's top-of-the-line PDA. However, as Palm continues shifting to smartphones, this is a dubious distinction.

The branding and identification of the device has undergone some changes. The handheld is identified as "Palm TX," and not "PalmOne Tungsten TX." After the release of the Lifedrive, the company began to phase out the Tungsten and Zire sub-brands. After the reacquisition of the rights to the Palm name alone (versus 'PalmOne'), the company re-emphasized this identity.

Contents

[edit] Hardware

  • Most significantly, Wi-Fi is now built in, with an internal antenna. Continued miniaturization of components, as well as Wi-Fi support in the 'Bulverde' processor, allowed integration inside the previous packaging, while keeping power consumption and cost acceptable.
  • Bluetooth 1.1 is retained. The 1.2 indicated on some rear-panel stickers is erroneous. Bluetooth can be transferring data simultaneously with Wifi, although such occasions would be rare.
  • Mechanically, the TX has a shell similar to the T5. Cases are almost compatible between models, although the TX's back is missing two specific square-shaped indentations used by some T5 carrycases to clip the unit in place. The biggest change is the finish. The titanium colored, glossy paint of the T5 was replaced with a flat, almost black called "Steel Blue" by Palm. It is widely speculated that the switch was made due to the T5 casing's tendency to show fingerprints and scratches. Handheld aficionados and Palm OS loyalists have criticized the Tungsten T5, and thus the TX, for their plastic casings, as out of place on a high-end handheld.
  • Functionally, one of the T5's hardware buttons, for 'Files,' has been changed to a Web button, but the button can be re-mapped in software to any application. The stylus is interchangeable with the T5's. The reset hole on the back has been enlarged, and the unit can be reset with the stylus tip. The power button is on top, unchanged from the T5.
  • The flap/cover is mechanically identical to the T5's, with two minor changes. The finish is changed from glossy to matte. Palm refers to this as 'microfiber', although this may be a marketing term, not actual microfiber material. This may have been to prevent scratching the case. Also, the portion of the flap covering the hardware buttons is slightly indented. This helps to prevent the 5-way D-pad, particularly the down direction, from being inadvertently pressed. As with the T5, the flap/cover cannot be reversed for left-handed users. A hard case is available from Palm, though users have reported that the case is slippery and covers the stylus slot and the hotsync connector.
  • On top is a slot for SD expansion cards, similar to the T5. The slot is also SDIO and MMC compatible. 2 GB cards are usable directly. An SD card of 4 GB capacity is usable if formatted to Fat32 with an included driver. The Fat32 driver is much slower than the Fat16 driver, but the speed is sufficient for most uses. One might notice the slow speed while fast- forwarding a movie. While not originally built for compatibility with the SDHC format, a third party vendor add-on can be purchased separately to enable the functionality of such cards in the TX.
  • TX has an Athena Connector, officially referred to as the 'Multiconnector,' on the bottom for syncing and accessories. This is the same connector as the T5, E2 (but not E), Lifedrive, and Treo 650/700/750 (but not 600). Thus the TX can use cradles, data cables, chargers, and sleds designed for any of those models. As with other Multiconnector devices, the data and power cables are separate. The unit can trickle charge from a USB data cable at a very slow rate.
  • It also has a headphone jack (standard 3.5 mm), and an infrared I/O port on top, as on the T5. The infrared port is concealed behind IR-transparent plastic. A single speaker is on the back, as with the T5. The speaker is capable of full audio playback, as opposed to simply alarm tones and buzzer feedback. The small speaker yields lower sound quality than headphones. To use the device as an mp3 player, an SD card must be purchased, as internal memory cannot be used to store the associated mp3 files. It is possible to use a utility such as E2 Internal drive to use the internal memory as an SD card to store files.
  • The TX has a 320x480 transreflective screen that supports 65,000 colors. The screen can be reoriented from portrait to landscape in software. The handwriting space can be dismissed or retrieved in either orientation if the application in use supports the larger area. These specifications are identical to the T5 and Lifedrive. Palm uses multiple screen vendors, even within a model, so quality comparisons are difficult. The backlight can be dimmed in the control panel, but not turned off. As with the T5, the screen may actually be too bright for uses such as bedtime reading or astronomy. This is software-related, and there are various tools to dim the light to off.
  • The TX has 128 MB of non-volatile storage. As with the T5, E2, and Treo 650 phone, data is not lost if the battery is drained, though such storage is slower than dynamic RAM. (The slowdown is most noticed on writing data, not reading.) Of this, 100 MB is user accessible, which some consider to be a leap backward from the 256 MB seen in the Tungsten T5. However, the Tungsten T5 had only 63.8 MB available for applications (the rest being available as an Internal Drive), so the storage for applications has actually increased.
  • The processor, a 312 MHz ARM-based Intel XScale PXA 270 processor, is slower than the processors of the T5 or LifeDrive, which are clocked at 416 MHz; this may be an attempt to increase battery life after the inclusion of Wi-Fi in the handheld and to lower costs. Many users report that the actual performance of the unit seems higher than that of the T5 and LifeDrive. The most likely explanation is that the new filesystem, its accompanying OS routines, and related processes have been better optimised since their first implementation in the T5 and Treo 650, and to a lesser extent the LifeDrive. The processor speed can be set (using third party tools) to 104, 208, 312, 416 or 520 MHz. It is reported to run stably at 416 MHz and to deliver usefully long operating times at 208 MHz (this enables listening to music much longer while underclocking the device).
  • The TX is missing the following hardware features when compared to earlier Palm handhelds:
  • The TX screen and digitizer have proven comfortable but unreliable. Many units begin misbehaving within months of initial purchase. Typically, the sensors surrounding the screen will begin misreading stylus touches, rendering the units almost unusable. This flaw may occur in models released with a plastic digitizer screen. There are however, online suppliers of replacement digitizers and screens which install easily and work better than the original, reportedly. Specifically, owners of faulty plastic digitizers have generally been satisfied using glass digitizer replacements.

[edit] Software

Overall, the OS is more stable and in some cases more responsive, as described above.

The organizer applications have received slight improvements. Each entry in the Contacts application has nine "Custom" fields, up from four in the T5.

In addition to the basic organizer features, some of the built-in software for the TX includes:

  • Versamail v3 - handheld email client. Supports POP, IMAP and Microsoft exchange protocols, and service providers such as Yahoo.
  • Dataviz Documents To Go 7 Professional Edition. - A useful mini-office application compatible with Microsoft Office files. Documents To Go may be upgraded at a cost to versions that include the ability to open PDF documents. The included version however does not support Microsoft Office 2007. Only version 10 has this feature.
  • A separate Adobe Acrobat PDF client, an eReader e-book client, and the Audible audiobook client are included on the software CD.
  • Pocket Tunes v3 - An MP3 player. Additional features, such as codecs for unprotected AAC, WMA, etc, are available for purchase separately. Pocket Tunes replaces the T5's Realplayer, which had received many complaints. The included Player can now be upgraded to version 4 for free, which resolves many bugs and problems. However, features are still limited (with mp3 being the only supported file type), as this is considered to be a bundled version.
  • Blazer v4 - Palm's own web browser, optimized for hand-held browsing.
  • Connection wizards for Bluetooth and Wifi, and a phone dialer. The Wifi utility can be used as a crude sniffer.
  • Palm's own Media application handles images (acting as a slideshow viewer, with multiple transitions) and video clips. The program has speed improvements versus prior releases.
  • A client for Microsoft Exchange is included as standard. This client can also connect to Kerio MailServer using the Exchange ActiveSync protocol.
  • A client for Avvenu is included. This service allows the handheld to operate as a remote terminal for a networked computer which has also installed Avvenu.
  • A client for MobiTV is included, though the user must subscribe to the service separately.
  • The user interface is similar to the T5/Lifedrive/T3, except that a Wifi icon has been added to the status bar. The new icon has pushed off the 'Home' icon.
  • The TX loses the 'Files' file browser and the 'DriveMode' USB drive interface of the T5 and Lifedrive. However, the necessary hardware remains, so both of these applications can be added by the user if so desired.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TX_(handheld)"
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