The Palm LifeDrive has earned a lot of press, which is not surprising given its radical new architecture that incorporates a hard disk instead of solid-state memory.
But there's been less coverage of Palm's other recent product release, the TX model.
In this article, we'll take a look at the TX as a Palm device, and conduct an overview of the state of Palm/Mac compatibility. Is Palm still a good choice of handheld OS for Mac users?
OK, I wasn't a teenager, but I like to think that I was something of an early adopter. I purchased my first Palm in 1997, a Palm Pilot Professional. I still have it somewhere, lurking in a drawer getting dusty.
I also purchased a cell phone with a built-in modem and IR port (the Ericsson SH888, a great phone for its time--I gave it to my dad and he still uses it) and later upgraded the Palm to a IIIx model, and bought myself a GoType fold-up keyboard.
Without wishing to blow my own trumpet too loudly, I set myself up with everything I needed to be a wireless roving reporter, in a time when very few people were doing this kind of thing. At the time, I was an internet correspondent for the U.K.'s Press Association, and with my little bag of gadgets I could attend any press event or conference, sit with the Palm on my lap typing notes, then wirelessly email them directly to my editors.
No one else at the company was doing this. Few others on Fleet Street were doing it, except a few other technology specialists.
The point of this self-indulgent trip down memory lane is to demonstrate how far ahead Palm's devices and software were. Now, with modern cell phones and BlackBerries in every other pocket, wireless pocket-sized email is nothing to brag about. Back in those days, it was only possible for an ignoramus like me to accomplish it because the simplicity of the Palm-based setup.
The Palm OS has always been a perfect example of simplicity. Some apps might have only one button to tap, such as the single New button in the built-in Memo application. The Palm OS makes no demands on users to understand any aspect of the OS itself; you don't need to save files, or use a hierarchy of folders. You just use single-purpose apps to do a job, and in almost every case, your work is saved automatically. You don't save a file, you just move to a different task, or switch off. Next time you return, your work will still be there, just as you left it. If only desktop computers had developed this way.
Over the years, Palm has been through plenty of changes, including the change from Palm to PalmOne and back to Palm again.
The products have, of course, advanced a long way from my antique IIIx. I happily confess to being completely out of the loop as far as Palm products are concerned, but my memories of easy simplicity are strong. I have high expectations. So what's the new TX like?
The Palm TX actually reminds me of the older models that I used to use in the mid-to-late 1990s. The shape, size, and even the color are much more like the IIIx that I used to use than the silvery LifeDrive or the curvy m- series from a few years back.
It feels sturdy enough in the hand, solid and with no sign of flimsiness. The supplied stylus is metal and is a good weight. The large TFT screen (16-bit color, 320 by 480 pixels) is very nice to use, and does a pretty good job of handling photos and short video clips. It's no iPod video, but it performs adequately.
On the downside, the USB connector cable that came with the Palm TX is difficult to plug into the Palm--it almost feels like you've got the wrong cable. It's more a case of jamming it into place, rather than it plugging in neatly with a satisfying click.
You get the computer, a USB cable, a power cable with a selection of power plug adapters, a CD with outdated software (more on that in a moment), and a plastic cover you can optionally put over the front of the device. Inside, there's an Intel XScale ARM 312MHz processor, 128MB of memory (only 100MB of which is usable), WiFi and Bluetooth networking, and Palm OS 5.4.9.
Having unpacked and given the device an initial charge, the first nice thing about using it is the instant and hassle-free connection to my home wireless network. I'm on the Web in a few seconds. The supplied browser, Blazer, seems to work well enough. It can get me pretty much everywhere I need to go online, including Gmail and Flickr, so I'm a happy surfer.
I can't say the same for the supplied email client, VersaMail. Setting up accounts causes it to crash the Palm, every time. Getting it to sync with Mail is equally frustrating and fruitless.
I can already see that things are a little more complex than they were in 1999.
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Mac-owning newcomers to Palm devices have some justification for feeling confused these days.
A year or so ago there were reports that Palm would no longer support the Mac for synchronization. Well, things aren't as simple as that.
With the Palm TX, you get a copy of the Palm Desktop application--almost exactly the same application I used to use in 1997. It's hardly changed at all.
And for the basics, it works. If you don't mind keeping all of your data in Palm Desktop--all of your addresses, calendar dates, memos, and so on, it works just fine. And some people might prefer that to the far more complicated alternatives that we'll look at in a moment.
Palm Desktop might be old, but it has the same kind of appeal that Eudora has--the UI might look like something from OS 9 days (well, uh, it is something from OS 9 days), but compared to many modern applications it is small, fast, light, and easy to use.
So you can simply install Palm Desktop and use it for everything and you might well be happy with that, but there are plenty of disadvantages.
The most important being that you're stuck inside Palm Desktop. If you want to make use of the widespread integration of Apple's own Address Book and Mac OS X, you can't. If all of your calendar stuff is in iCal to start with, you're going to have to move it all over to Palm Desktop, which is no easy task and might well be a manual, typing-every-entry sort of thing. Euw.
But wait--there's an alternative to this. You can carry on using iCal and Address Book and still sync your data to your Palm--all you need is iSync (which is included on every Mac with Tiger) and something called the iSync Conduit.
(For the uninitiated, conduits are little translators that help move data between a Palm device and its host computer. They're supposed to make sure that synchronization problems are kept to a minimum, and that data is copied in the correct formats, so it can be effectively used by the Palm. At least, that's the theory.)
You might assume--as I did--that the iSync Conduit will live with all the other conduit files, in /Library/Application Support/Palm Hotsync/Conduits. But by default, it's not there. How do you sync without it? I tried, over and over again, but the iSync program steadfastly refused to recognize my Palm TX over Bluetooth, WiFi, or direct USB connection. For over two hours, I fumed and fussed because I simply couldn't understand what the problem was. According to Apple, I didn't need to install iSync Palm Conduit because I already had a version of iSync newer than 2.0.
As always in situations like this, it's user error that's the problem.
Stupid me! I hadn't opened iSync, clicked on Devices, and then on Enable Palm OS Syncing. Doh!
Then I hadn't realized the next obvious step--I had to go to the Hotsync Manager application, open the Conduit Settings window, double-click the new iSync Conduit, and tick a box saying "Enable Palm iSync for this device."
Forgive my sarcasm, but this series of obscure, hard-to-find steps demonstrates something pretty clearly: for Mac users, the Palm platform is no longer as simple as it used to be. Complexity and confusion have crept in. Sure, I'm new to the modern Palm platform, but I'm reasonably computer-savvy and I was astonished that it took me this long to work out how to get things working, even at this basic level.
So now I had iCal, Address Book, and the Palm all talking to one another. But the consequence of using Apple's iSync software and conduit is that they prevent you using Palm Desktop's features anymore. Several of your existing Palm conduits are moved to make way for iSync's dominant settings (you are, at least, told that this is happening).
There are problems with Apple's implementation of the sync process, outlined in detail on Giant Mike's Palm Resources site, namely:
An event created in iCal will show up as unfiled in the Palm (and events created on the Palm can only go into one of your iCal calendars). If you create a bunch of events, it's very time-consuming to re-categorize them all in the Palm. Also, multi-day events sync as a single day on the Palm. The only way around this is to create multiple events in iCal, one for each day.
And even worse:
When you install the iSync conduit, the default MemoPad conduit gets replaced with an out of date model, which does not work with Palm OS 5 devices. To fix this, you must navigate to /Library/Application Support/Palm Hotsync/ and replace the Memos Conduit in the Conduits folder with the one that has been moved to the Disabled Conduits.
The weirdest bit is that the web page that finally showed me exactly what I had to do to make these dumb machines talk to one another was one owned and published by Mark/Space, creators of several Palm applications, the most pertinent of which is Missing Sync, a third alternative to the synchronization dilemma.
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Missing Sync's feature list is enough to make anyone who's tried the previous two options start salivating. Photos straight from iPhoto? Songs from iTunes? Pick a folder on your Mac, and have it always synched to the Palm? Wow, sounds much nicer.
Despite an installer rather than drag-and-drop install (I always distrust the former, although I can't really say why) and an annoying reboot, I was ready to go with Missing Sync.
Thankfully there's plenty of help provided, including a lengthy user guide in PDF format. The Setup Assistant is a biggest help, especially if you've just been through a series of sync troubles. It helps you switch all of your Palm-related stuff to Missing Sync, and makes it easy to set up the transfer of iPhoto albums, iTunes playlists, and any folder(s) you specify on your Mac, which will subsequently be kept in sync with the Palm.
If you're running Tiger, that is. Under Tiger, Missing Sync is able to make use of the new Sync Services feature; with previous versions of OS X, it is still dependent on the iSync Palm Conduit.
And it simply does a better job of syncing data. More fields, in more apps, are supported by Missing Sync. It's faster, too.
Ultimately, Missing Sync provides a far more useful and user-friendly experience than any of the other available options. Because it takes the time to guide you through the setup process, there's none of the confusion involved with getting iSync Palm Conduit working, nor do you find yourself stuck in the old-school, workable but restricted environment of Palm Desktop.
Missing Sync, therefore, represents the best chance you've got of really getting your Mac and Palm to work together. Sure, it's going to cost you $40, but given the radical difference it makes to the experience I think that's good value for money.
The Palm TX is great because it offers an excellent screen and dual wireless connectivity, at a fantastic price ($299 at the time of writing). The drawbacks are lack of a cradle, no voice recorder, but worst of all, the pitiful state of Palm synchronization.
Right now, it's a mess and has the potential to leave many people completely confused; let's hope both Palm and Apple are able to put some effort into improving the situation before too long. In the meantime, Missing Sync from Mark/Space offers a well-thought-out and incredibly useful alternative. If you don't mind paying extra on top of the price of your TX (or any other Palm, for that matter), buying Missing Sync will be money well spent for most people.
With that caveat in mind, I'd say a Palm remains a good choice for Mac users. All they need do is remember that unless they're prepared to pay that extra $40, their experience with data synchronization will be a troublesome one.
Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer and editor. He has been writing on and about the Internet since 1997. He has a web site at http://gilest.org.
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