Palm T|X and Z22 Reviewed

robf writes "The eagerly awaited Palm T|X and Z22 have been officially announced. Palminfocenter has reviews posted for both the Palm T|X and the Palm Z22." From the article: "The T|X and Z22 are the first new models to return to the Palm name, after the company reacquired the rights to the Palm name. Palm has decided to drop the Tungsten sub brand, in order to highlight the strong Palm name brand."

Re:Someone help... need question answered.

[Short Circuit]

I know you can use Bluetooth to transfer photos between Zire 72s...I don't know about mainstreem wifi, though. I'd imagine that working with MP3s would depend on the application you used to manage them.

Re:yawn...

[TimmyDee]

Palm actually has an agreement with PalmSource to use the Palm OS in their devices until 2008 (or something close to then). For whatever reason, they didn't see fit to use Cobalt initially, and now that PalmSource has been focusing on Palm-on-Linux middleware, they're probably waiting for that to come out. Apps that run on Cobalt will run on POL, but they'll need a recompile. No sense in making your customers undergo two major OS changes in two years. They're probably also playing it safe since the sale of PalmSource to Access.

In any case, Palm appears to finally be positioning themselves as a device manufacturer that does some value-added stuff to whichever OS they are using. There are rumors floating around that there is Symbian version of the Treo. They're OS strategy seems to be one that will get them the most marketshare in various markets (smartphones and PDAs in the US, smartphones in EU, smartphones in Asia). My hope is that the Palm OS or POL doesn't get lost in the shuffle. I've used Windows Mobile a lot and still find Garnett a more attractive solution for what I need done.

Re:At last...

[Mignon]

Too bad it doesn't have a camera, though.

You might like the Sony TJ-37: PalmOS, WiFi, and Camera. Here's [mobiletechreview.com] a review.

I'm still leaning towards the Tungsten C for the built-in keyboard but a half-vga screen is kind of tempting too.

Coralized

[Milican]

Coralized Link #1 [nyud.net]
Coralized Link #2 [nyud.net]\

JOhn

Re:Why not Palm Pilot

[Ensign Regis]

They got into legal trouble. According to Brighthand [brighthand.com] the Pilot Pen Corporation sued them in 1998 for trademark dilution.

sorry palm, I already jumped ship

[arkhan_jg]

I've been using palms for years, but I've finally jumped ship. I've just replaced my tungsten E with a dell axim X51V. I wanted to stay with palm, but I needed a top-end unit with wifi and a high-res screen for effectively replacing my old department laptop when I'm out of the office.

the 51v is nearly 50% more expensive than this new T|X, but since work is paying, price wasn't really an object. The screen is 480x640; it has 802.11b and bluetooth 1.2 (though the bluetooth seems broken on windows mobile 5 for prety much anything except file transfer and activesync at the moment); a damn sight more software runs on windows mobile rather than palm os (stock PIM software is about the same; pocketplus and pocket breeze rock bigtime); double the storage (256MB vs 128); and a user-replacable battery, so I can buy up to 3300mAh if I'm going to be away from mains for a long time (stock is 1100mAh). The CF + sd slot looks to be really useful too, as I'll get myself a 4GB microdrive as well as several useful addin cards that go in the CF slot; and the processor runs up to 624Mhz. Average lifetime is about 4 hours solid use, and since it's non-volatile storage, it doesn't matter if the battery goes flat. Spanks the best palms available, including this new one easily.

If palm sold a top-end PDA with similar specs, I would have stayed. As it is, I think palm are going to struggle to hold onto anything other than the entry-level PDA and smartphone market. Even in the midrange, existing pocket pc's compare well with this brand new palm.

Re:At last...

[CreatureComfort]

No camera, but it does have an SD slot. So check out this [pretec.com].

My palm isn't meant to replace a laptop.

[fyngyrz]

A laptop is pretty bulky, even a light one, so inevitably, I don't have one with me all the time. I have both a Mac Powerbook and a Windows XP laptop, the Mac is a lot more pleasant to use but isn't any more convenient.

But... my Palm (the M505, soon to be the T|X) is always with me. On my Palm, I have, and use:

• An app named "Silver" that lets you customize the look and feel of the 505
• An address book (this is stock software, but very useful)
• Note taking software, both handwritten and text -- again, stock and mega-useful
• Chinese character flashcard software (both the traditional and the icky modern characters)
• A comprehensive guitar chord reference
• Photo display software (and lots of photos)
• An "ear trainer" which teaches one to precisely recognize musical notes
• An RPN calculator (I'm so into RPN I can hardly use an algebraic calculator these days)
• A decent chess game and some other "arcade" type games
• A very nice list management program "ListPro" upon which I keep:
  • An encrypted list of passwords and ids
  • A list of music I hear that interests me (and probably will buy eventually)
  • A couple of outlines for books I am writing
  • Notes for a house I am designing
  • A complete list of 31 martial arts forms move by move

There are tons of other apps for the Palm, these are just the ones that I've found (so far) that are particularly useful to me. YMWDV.

What this all boils down to is that I am never without something interesting to do, a place to make, keep and use notes and lists, and share photos and ideas.

The T|X will add web browsing and email, a lot more memory, the ability to play back music and audiobooks, and basically the form factor won't change at all. The T|X is just about the size of my current M505.

I can turn on my Palm anywhere without aggravating anyone or looking for some desk space — in a meeting or a movie theatre, at my desk, in a car, on a train, bus or plane, in a restaurant, store or at a customer's job site (we do some consulting and fast note taking capability is always useful in that venue.)

Palm just about as fast as I can write "normal" text on paper. It's really a very good system, and I'm eager to see what the T|X's Graffiti II will be like.

Palms really aren't laptops, and vice-versa. I'd truly hate to be without a Palm or Palm-like device. I use it every day. I use a laptop very seldom by comparison. Mostly on trips when I'm going to be out of town for more than a day or two — at that point, things I need to do require a full blown computer. But I still take the Palm everywhere, and usually leave the laptop in the hotel room or the car. :-)

Re:Why not Palm Pilot

[srussell]

I've never understood why they lost the Pilot name.

Because Pilot, the pen maker, had a trademark on the name and brought a trademark infringement suit against Palm.

Details are in wikipedia [wikipedia.org]

--- SER