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Grab this handheld; it's quite possibly the best Palm ever. The Palm TX handheld is already a good deal at $300 considering it comes with Bluetooth, 128MB of internal memory, an MMC/SD expansion slot and sports the same colorful, 320x480-pixel screen as the top-of-the-line Tungsten T5. The topper is that Palm finally delivered what we've been craving: built-in Wi-Fi. The 802.11b connection means no more fumbling with SD expansion cards, and because the Palm TX manages your connection so smoothly, battery life is still better than we imagined. In tests, the Palm TX lasted about four hours, which is about half as long as the non-wireless Palm E2.
Before we get into the Palm TX features, let's quickly cover some of the other handhelds available. This is important not just because there are so many handheld options, but because Palm recently adjusted its pricing across the board. The faster Tungsten T5 now costs $50 more than the TX, and the E2 costs only $200. The LifeDrive (4 out of 5 apples; August 2005) is available for the still-cringe-inducing $500. Competing Pocket PC models tend to cost much more. No smartphones provide such a gorgeous screen as the Palm TX and built-in Wi-Fi. This leaves the Palm TX squarely in the "go out and buy one" category, which is a party of one.
The wireless connection is the main attraction. We tested the Palm TX at coffee shops and pizza parlors where there were as many as 20 competing wireless networks nearby—no problemo. The Palm TX managed the wireless connections smoothly, attaching and un-attaching quickly. A Pocket PC tends to get stuck connecting and disconnecting, and the reconnect process is slower. The Palm TX also had no problems connecting to a secure wireless network, prompting us correctly for a WEP 64-bit password on a home wireless network.
The only minor complaint when it comes to the built-in Wi-Fi—and we had this same gripe with the Palm Life Drive—is that there are no wireless-specific features. Apple always releases the razors and the razor blades with new gadgets; you can buy videos easily on iTunes for the iPod Video, for example. Palm should learn that same lesson. Including a streaming music client such as Rhapsody for Palm or just a way to buy videos would have made the built-in wireless even more valuable. Instead, the Palm 5 programs on the Palm TX are the exact same as those included with every other new Palm device.
Otherwise, the Palm TX provides a crisp and bright screen that works great for mobile movie viewing. The Palm T5 is predictably faster for video and games with its 416MHz processor. Still, on the TX, we tested the graphically rich Zap! 2016 ($15; www.astraware.com), which uses 16-bit color mode, and didn't notice any slowdowns, even though the Intel ARM processor runs at only 312MHz. The Palm TX doesn't run in Flash drive mode for storing and transferring files between Macs like the T5 does. Other than that, the gaggle of Palm tools for viewing Office documents, syncing with the Mac, listening to MP3 audio (but not protected WMA audio) and watching video, mirrors what you get on the T5 and other Palm handhelds.
The ultimate verdict is very good: the TX may not provide some of the higher-end features of the Life Drive or T5, but its price is more reasonable. The built-in wireless on the Palm TX allows staying connected via email almost as easily as on a Blackberry. Overall, the Palm TX is one of the best handhelds around and one that we recommend.
–JOHN BRANDON
Palm TX: 
Palm | www.palm.com | 408-503-7000 | $300
Pros:Built-in wireless and Bluetooth, great price.
Cons: No wireless-specific programs, lacks Flash drive mode.
Requires: OS 9.1 (OS 9.2.2 recommended) or OS 10.1.5 and higher
macHOME recommends: OS 10.1.5 or higher
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