In Brief

With the TX, Palm finally admits that Wi-Fi is an essential ingredient in a handheld PDA, even for ordinary price-conscious folks. At $399, the TX matches the lowest-priced Pocket PC with Wi-Fi, finally putting the two platforms on an equal footing hardware-wise. Even better, the TX has simply the best implementation of Wi-Fi we've seen in a PDA -- a snap to set up, with subsequent automatic connection when needed, and with very good range. As with any handheld, however, battery life and Wi-Fi don't mix well, so frequent wireless users will likely need to recharge almost every night.

Palm has also seemed to learn that average users want more than just PIM and productivity functions, and the TX's colorful and bright 320-by-480 screen makes it a great platform for portable photos and video. It hasn't got the big internal storage of the LifeDrive (which costs $200 more), but we'd rather just use our own SD cards in the expansion slot anyway.

Some buyers may wonder if they should invest in a Palm OS 5 device, when Palm has already announced that it will be shipping a Windows Mobile-based Treo next spring. Yes, we expect there will be future high-end Palms based on the Pocket PC platform, but there will always be a place for the Palm OS in the low- and mid-range, where Windows is just too expensive for the mass market. Palm would be hard-pressed to put out a Pocket PC model at the same price point as the TX, and that's exactly why we like it! The TX has all the productivity and multimedia apps you could want, plus a huge array of third-party software. It's simply the best value around in a Wi-Fi PDA.

In Depth

Upon turning on our TX for the first time, we were connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi and surfing the Web inside of 10 minutes, without looking at a manual or even a help screen. Our only quibble here is that you have to charge the device for three hours before you turn it on, which kind of puts a damper on the whole out-of-box experience.

The TX supports both WEP and WPA encryption, for connection to most any Wi-Fi network. You can also use a VPN with third-party software. By default, the TX disconnects Wi-Fi after three minutes of inactivity to save the battery. We found that a little too short and changed it to five minutes, which worked better for Web surfing and reading email. Once you've connected to a network the first time, the TX saves any needed password and automatically reconnects as needed. So if you are surfing and the connection times out, it will just take a little longer to download the next page while it reconnects again, not a big inconvenience.

The Blazer Web Browser and VersaMail email programs are excellent. Blazer is just as fast as Explorer on a Pocket PC, and VersaMail can sync with your desktop Outlook program on a PC. Third-party email sync conduits are available for the Mac. VersaMail saves download time and space by only downloading part of longer emails, until you decide to get the whole thing. Preset configurations are available for many major email providers, but it's almost as easy to simply enter your POP or IMAP account information yourself.

After getting our email set up and syncing contacts and calendar with the Palm Desktop program, the next thing we did was load it up with photos and music. The Media browser is a snap to use, and lets you organize photos into albums. You can just drag pictures from your desktop or photo app (we dragged right from iPhoto on the Mac) to the "Send to Handheld" applet and they will be automatically resized, if desired, to fit the small screen. Similarly, you can drag music files into the Pocket Tunes desktop app on your PC or to the Send to Handheld applet on a Mac, and they will be placed in the right folders. For any significant music collection, however, you'll want to add an SD memory card. The built-in flash storage for all apps and documents is 100MB.

One really useful application that we first saw on the LifeDrive is even more useful on the TX. WiFile is a little program that connects your Palm to any standard SMB or Windows file server, so that you can transfer documents back and forth over a Wi-Fi network. (Mac owners can use it too, by turning on Windows File Sharing in the Sharing Preferences Pane.) Just be sure to allow read-write access to any folders you want to be able to access.

For those times when you are out of range of Wi-Fi, but have your data-capable cell phone with you, the TX can connect to the Internet via Bluetooth, using your phone as a modem. Many standard handsets are supported. You can also use Bluetooth to sync with your desktop PC or Mac.

Lots more software is included, notably DataViz' superb Documents-To-Go, which lets you view and edit Microsoft Office documents. Adobe Acrobat Reader for Palm is also in there, as is an SMS messaging utility and an expense tracker.

The only thing we really missed in the TX was a voice recorder, which we have grown used to with many other handhelds. Battery life, as we mentioned above, is somewhat problematic. Wi-Fi is a power-gobbler. If you use Wi-Fi to check email and browse the Web several times a day, you'll likely need to plug it in every night. Fortunately, it will charge through the USB port as well as through the power adapter, so if you leave it plugged into your computer while at your desk, you can keep it topped off.

The bottom line is that the Palm TX is simply the best Wi-Fi-equipped PDA in its price range, on any OS. It's also our favorite Palm to date, and an excellent value. Add a low-cost SD card for extra storage space, and you have everything you need for work and play on the go.