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TX (handheld)
Encyclopedia
The Palm TX was a personal digital assistant
which was produced by Palm, Inc.
It was announced and released as part of Palm's October 2005 product cycle, and was in production until March 2009.
It succeeded the Tungsten T5 PDA. The TX marked Palm's discontinuation of "Tungsten" sub-branding for its high-end handhelds. It featured 802.11b Wi-Fi
and Bluetooth
wireless connectivity. It ran Palm OS
Garnet, version 5.4.9. As Palm considered the LifeDrive
to be separate from its PDA line, designating it as a "Mobile Manager", the TX was Palm's flagship
PDA.
-based Intel XScale PXA 270 processor
; a 320x480 transreflective screen that supported 65,000 colors; 802.11b Wi-Fi with an internal antenna; 128 MB of non-volatile storage, of which 100 MB is user accessible; an SDIO
and MMC
compatible SD
expansion card
slot; standard 3.5 mm headphone jack; infrared I/O port; single speaker capable of full audio playback; and an Athena Connector, referred to as a 'Multiconnector,' with separate data and power input. Trickle charging
was possible via USB data cable.
The SD
expansion card slot used 2 GB cards directly, and 4 GB capacity was usable if formatted to FAT32 with an included driver
. The FAT32 driver was much slower than the FAT16 driver. Compatibility with the SDHC format could be achieved by a third party
vendor add-on. To use the device as an mp3
player, it was generally necessary to use an SD card, as internal memory could not be used to store the associated mp3 files. However, it was possible to use a utility such as E2 Internal drive to use the internal memory as an SD card to store files.
Bluetooth
connectivity was 1.1; the 1.2 indicated on some rear-panel stickers was erroneous.
In addition to the basic organizer features, the built-in software for the TX included an email client (Versamail v3); Dataviz Documents To Go
7 Professional Edition; clients for Adobe Acrobat
PDF, Microsoft Exchange
, E Reader
, Audible
audiobook, Avvenu and MobiTV
, and could also connect to Kerio Connect using the Exchange ActiveSync
protocol; Pocket Tunes
v3 MP3
player; Blazer (web browser)
v4 from Palm; connection wizards for Bluetooth and Wifi, and a phone dialer. The Wifi utility could be used as a crude sniffer
.
Personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
which was produced by Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc., was a smartphone manufacturer headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, that was responsible for products such as the Pre and Pixi as well as the Treo and Centro smartphones. Previous product lines include the PalmPilot, Palm III, Palm V, Palm VII, Zire and Tungsten. While their older...
It was announced and released as part of Palm's October 2005 product cycle, and was in production until March 2009.
It succeeded the Tungsten T5 PDA. The TX marked Palm's discontinuation of "Tungsten" sub-branding for its high-end handhelds. It featured 802.11b Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
and Bluetooth
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
wireless connectivity. It ran Palm OS
Palm OS
Palm OS is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management...
Garnet, version 5.4.9. As Palm considered the LifeDrive
LifeDrive
The LifeDrive was a Palm OS-based handheld personal digital assistant device that was produced by PalmOne, a former incarnation of Palm, Inc. The device was PalmOne's first and only foray into the "Mobile Manager" device category...
to be separate from its PDA line, designating it as a "Mobile Manager", the TX was Palm's flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
PDA.
Hardware
The Palm TX featured a 312 MHz ARMARM architecture
ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
-based Intel XScale PXA 270 processor
Processor
- Computing :* Central processing unit , an electronic circuit which executes computer programs, containing a processing unit and a control unit...
; a 320x480 transreflective screen that supported 65,000 colors; 802.11b Wi-Fi with an internal antenna; 128 MB of non-volatile storage, of which 100 MB is user accessible; an SDIO
SDIO
SDIO may refer to:* Secure Digital Input Output, a type of Secure Digital card interface.* Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, an organization set up to oversee the Strategic Defense Initiative; now known as the Missile Defense Agency....
and MMC
MMC
MMC may stand for:In business:*Mail.com Media Corp., a US digital media company*Marsh & McLennan Companies, a US-based global professional services firm*Material Móvil y Construcciones...
compatible SD
Secure Digital card
Secure Digital is a non-volatile memory card format developed by the SD Card Association for use in portable devices. The SD technology is used by more than 400 brands across dozens of product categories and more than 8,000 models, and is considered the de-facto industry standard.Secure Digital...
expansion card
Expansion card
The expansion card in computing is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot of a computer motherboard or backplane to add functionality to a computer system via the expansion bus.One edge of the expansion card holds the contacts that fit exactly into the slot...
slot; standard 3.5 mm headphone jack; infrared I/O port; single speaker capable of full audio playback; and an Athena Connector, referred to as a 'Multiconnector,' with separate data and power input. Trickle charging
Trickle charging
Trickle charging, or float charging, means charging a battery at a similar rate as its self-discharging rate, thus maintaining a full capacity battery. Most rechargeable batteries, particularly nickel-cadmium batteries or nickel metal hydride batteries, have a moderate rate of self-discharge,...
was possible via USB data cable.
The SD
Secure Digital card
Secure Digital is a non-volatile memory card format developed by the SD Card Association for use in portable devices. The SD technology is used by more than 400 brands across dozens of product categories and more than 8,000 models, and is considered the de-facto industry standard.Secure Digital...
expansion card slot used 2 GB cards directly, and 4 GB capacity was usable if formatted to FAT32 with an included driver
Device driver
In computing, a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device....
. The FAT32 driver was much slower than the FAT16 driver. Compatibility with the SDHC format could be achieved by a third party
Third-party software component
In computer programming, a third-party software component is a reusable software component developed to be either freely distributed or sold by an entity other than the original vendor of the development platform...
vendor add-on. To use the device as an mp3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
player, it was generally necessary to use an SD card, as internal memory could not be used to store the associated mp3 files. However, it was possible to use a utility such as E2 Internal drive to use the internal memory as an SD card to store files.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
connectivity was 1.1; the 1.2 indicated on some rear-panel stickers was erroneous.
Software
The organizer applications received slight improvements. For example, each entry in the Contacts application had nine "Custom" fields, up from four in the T5.In addition to the basic organizer features, the built-in software for the TX included an email client (Versamail v3); Dataviz Documents To Go
Documents To Go
Documents To Go is an office suite for Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Maemo, Blackberry OS, Symbian OS, Android, and iOS. Also, a larger-screen version would have been included with the Palm Foleo, but Palm, Inc. cancelled the device before its release...
7 Professional Edition; clients for Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is a family of application software developed by Adobe Systems to view, create, manipulate, print and manage files in Portable Document Format . All members of the family, except Adobe Reader , are commercial software, while the latter is available as freeware and can be downloaded...
PDF, Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft Exchange Server
Microsoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
, E Reader
E-book
An electronic book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital...
, Audible
Audible
Audible may refer to:* Sound that is capable of being heard* Audible, a tactic used by quarterbacks in American football to change a play at the line of scrimmage* Audible.com, an online audiobook store-See also:*Audio...
audiobook, Avvenu and MobiTV
MobiTV
MobiTV, Inc. claims to be a leading provider of "end-to-end mobile media solutions". The MobiTV converged media platform delivers live TV, video on-demand and the ability to download and store content for offline viewing to millions of users on all major wireless networks and major mobile...
, and could also connect to Kerio Connect using the Exchange ActiveSync
Exchange ActiveSync
Exchange ActiveSync is an XML-based protocol that communicates over HTTP designed for the synchronization of email, contacts, calendar, tasks and notes from a messaging server to a mobile device...
protocol; Pocket Tunes
Pocket Tunes
Pocket Tunes by Normsoft, Inc. is shareware software used for playing music, Internet radio, podcasts, and other audio files for Palm OS 5 and Windows Mobile 5 or 6. Pocket Tunes supports MP3, AAC, HE-AAC, WMA, and Windows Media DRM files. It also supports MTP for transferring audio files from...
v3 MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
player; Blazer (web browser)
Blazer (web browser)
Blazer is a web browser available for Palm handhelds running Palm OS 3.1 or higher with 8MB of free memory available.The original version of Blazer was developed by Bluelark Systems and was released in November 2000. Bluelark Systems was acquired by Handspring a month later, in December 2000...
v4 from Palm; connection wizards for Bluetooth and Wifi, and a phone dialer. The Wifi utility could be used as a crude sniffer
Sniffer
Sniffer may refer to:* Packet analyzer , computer software or hardware that can intercept and log traffic passing over a digital network...
.
See also
- List of Palm OS devices
- List of Palm OS software
External links
- Palm TX User Guide http://palmone.r3h.net/downloads.palm.com/documentation/tx/tx_ug.pdf
- PalmInfoCenter Review
- CNet.com Review
- Brighthand Review
- Palm TX on Porter Electronics (A website where the TX may still be available for purchase.)