Palm tries to make a right with two wrongs

Sure, it's fun to carry around three, four, or even five devices at a time -- and now thanks to a new promotion from Palm, you can quickly up the number of gadgets hanging from your utility belt by two. Currently, if you purchase the PDA / smartphone-maker's $299 Palm TX, they'll throw in a $99 Zire Z22 for free. We're guessing those storage crates full of unsold product are probably starting to crowd Ed Colligan's basement.

[Via Palm Infocenter]

[John @ Feb 21st 2008 4:58PM]

I think the idea is that you give one away... not that you keep it to satisfy your gadget-lust.

[Anthony @ Feb 21st 2008 5:30PM]

I agree. For some the power version works & then they have a spouse, friend, etc that the Zire meets their needs perfectly- I mean, if your "need" is to carry around something that can easily be duplicated on a phone...

[Ellianth @ Feb 21st 2008 6:18PM]

I've obviously misread this post. I might have to go back and re-read it because I swear I just read an article where someone was complaining about free stuff.

[alayan @ Feb 26th 2008 6:34AM]

It's perfect for your kids who are like...8-9-10 year old.

[dmitr77 @ Feb 21st 2008 4:58PM]

haha
i really didn't know what to say

[Legodude522 @ Feb 21st 2008 7:44PM]

Ya Srly.

[Tony C @ Feb 21st 2008 5:00PM]

Yeah... That'll help em sell a 2005 PDA that had an aging OS to begin with... Keep the price firm from then til now and instead of dropping the price tag by $100, throw in a $100 PDA that's just as old. Because when someone's shopping for a PDA, they always want two, right?

[Johan S @ Feb 21st 2008 5:02PM]

Palm, your products suck. They are overpriced for what they do.

Most of your products need to be in the $49.99 and below range to make more sales.

[decypher44 @ Feb 21st 2008 5:06PM]

Holy cow...the TX is $299!? Why would anyone pay that much? And I'm not bashing on Palm. I own a Centro through Sprint and absolutely love it.

[Loonie @ Feb 21st 2008 5:12PM]

Can't remember what I paid when I picked mine up in 2005, but I've had no call to regret the purchase whatsoever. I've gotten more done on music than I would have thought possible thanks to Bhajis Loops.

[Doz @ Feb 21st 2008 5:24PM]

Ha, I paid $275 for the TX when it was brand new (thank you newegg). Very nice at the time but my Mogul stomps it now. And they're still selling it at the original msrp...bravo Palm.

[xbit @ Feb 21st 2008 5:11PM]

Wow, Palm still makes standalone PDAs?

[Barky @ Feb 21st 2008 5:37PM]

No, they just never stopped selling their old ones from 2005.

[matt @ Feb 21st 2008 5:13PM]

I really like the TX, but I can't bring myself to buy a PDA that hasn't been updated since 2005, and still costs more than 200 bucks...

[Mark @ Feb 21st 2008 5:33PM]

They should have done this for Christmas or at least Valentine's, with a pink Zire.

[lanejasper69 @ Feb 21st 2008 5:43PM]

Who's this "Palm" ? I thought they went out like 2.5 years ago, os ahould have or something like that. hmmmm, weird.

Faslane

[Ben @ Feb 21st 2008 5:48PM]

Just a note in favor of the T|X -- We (sweetheart and I) both own one, and we like them very much. Bluetooth and wifi, audio and video playback, address, all manner of games and etc, web browser, email, I even have an SSH shell on mine I use to get at things when I'm out and about. Missing features are basically camera and updated desktop software for the Mac. Other than that, no complaints at all, even at the price. You'll note I didn't mention phone -- I don't want a phone mixed with these features, I want to be able to turn the phone off, leave it home, and still have all my goodies right there.

[Abuzar @ Feb 21st 2008 6:04PM]

Hey guess what? My Windows Mobile phone has this Com center, and has a feature to turn OFF the phone part. Exciting isn't it?

Seriously, you should carry your cell phone on you. You never know what's gonna happen and you might need help/

[Zorque @ Feb 21st 2008 6:28PM]

All the Treo models (at least the recent ones, I haven't used any of the ancient Handspring ones) let you turn the phone part off and still play with the PDA, which is definitely nice when you're trying to squeeze that last hour of battery life out of it. Or when you want to get away from work for a while.

[Abuzar @ Feb 21st 2008 6:47PM]

You can't predict emergencies. This always seems to happen to me. The one day I forget to charge my phone, etc, I ALWAYS need it those days.

[Abuzar @ Feb 21st 2008 6:48PM]

Also if you leave your phone at home, you're still tied to your phone company. Leaving it at home wont void that contract or in your case your prepaid stuff.

[thethirdmoose @ Feb 21st 2008 7:21PM]

That's a pretty dumb thing to do, pretending to be Ryan Block...

[Abuzar @ Feb 21st 2008 7:29PM]

Yeah well 911 is there for a reason. I can survive in the wild for only so long if I'm bleeding. Survival skills are very nice and stuff, but sometimes you need advanced care.

[Ryan Karolak @ Feb 21st 2008 8:05PM]

@Ryan Block

I agree. I ended up buying an iPod touch because I don't want to be at the mercy of AT&T as far as when I can use my PDA/iPod. You can of course unlock them, but that requires you to often void the warranty, risk update problems, bricking, and in some cases modding hardware. This is especially true of the iphone.

I also agree that stand alone PDAs are better (or at least they were.) Not only are PDAs not tied to a network they often are a lot more powerful and less locked down. Many of Verison's phones can't even use their bluetooth for file transfer. I have a Tapwave Zodiac which was made in 2003 and palmed powered. Even today it's a sweet device despite it's lack of success. If I didn't buy a Touch I'd still probably use it as a PDA, gaming machine, and mp3 player.

Tapwave Zodiac
200mhz ARM
32 or 128mb onboard
2 SD Slots (1 SDIO)
480x320x16 screen
8mb ATi (4500?) mobility
Bluetooth
Analog stick and game layout
PalmOS 5

[jm1 @ Feb 21st 2008 6:08PM]

umm, question which technology getting cheaper and smaller, how hard is it for any of these pda companies to just put a $1 gprs/gsm phone chip to all simple dialing and receiving of cellphone calls over via your pda...maybe even in a expansion card format like a sd card.

and before you people go, well not everyone wants a cellphones on/for their pda. they have wifi sdio cards that make pda's wifi enabled im pretty sure if they wanted too they would bring the same "optional" tech to pda's

[bulls96 @ Feb 21st 2008 6:11PM]

Wow engadget you really twisted the news this time...

This whole thing was, like the first commentor said, was meant for one to be given away to a spouse or someone else.

two wrongs with one right? you really have to say something negative dont you?

from the latest sales reports, Palm still sells the most handhelds, more than any other company out there including your beloved apple.

Smartphones are not for everyone. Some people prefer handhelds, and Palm is still the foremost handheld making company out there.

[Chuck @ Feb 21st 2008 6:24PM]

Well put. The Engadget folks just aren't Palm fans.

[billav @ Feb 21st 2008 9:35PM]

Palm doesn't deserve to have any fans. They've never done anything innovative, always relying on licensees and 3rd party developers to push the envelope. Now they're all gone, so Palm is stuck in neutral while all the other companies run laps around them. The few apps that the iPod Touch has blows the equivalent Palm apps out of the water. If the SDK does 1% of what I expect it to do, the Touch will be the new king of the PDAs and Palm will be dead.

I'm still using my TX, but I doubt that I will be at the end of the year.

[trumpton @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:43AM]

I'm also at a loss as to how Palm's deal equates to "two wrongs."

I can only assume it's Engadget's usual tedious bias.

[fuzzymuffins @ Feb 21st 2008 6:21PM]

i've had the TX for a year. headed in the right direction, just didn't make it all the way... a bigger/better screen than cell phones, better games, a great organizer, great multimedia capabilities....

why did it fail? a crappy web browser with no flash pluggin. relatively slow / drop frequent wi-fi. if you didn't use outlook or palm desktop, forget about synching anything else. ..... developers pretty much left palm high and dry. a real shame.

[Chuck @ Feb 21st 2008 6:27PM]

I agree. The web browsers for Palm are terrible. However, I've never experienced problems with wifi while browsing or checking me email.

Furthermore, I wouldn't say developers have left Palm. It has more software than Windows Mobile, still.

[Kev @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:11AM]

Actually, IMHO Netfront (previously available on Clies) is pretty good, yet somehow Palm decided to strip out the Netfront core and slap on that clunky old Blazer shell on top. I won't say Netfront is the best on the market as every one has preferences, yet it sure is way better then Blazer.

In case you've never heard of Netfront, it's the browser on the PSP, Sony Mylo, and several Sony Ericsson phones.

[freakmarket @ Feb 21st 2008 6:25PM]

I think Palm is trying spur some interest i their obsolete platforms and devices ... Even the Centro at the end of the day is the same Treo device from years ago just shrank a little. Palm hasn't changed their o/s since the first Palm and it's driving them slowly out of business.

[Chuck @ Feb 21st 2008 6:29PM]

They're not going out of business. They made money in two financial quarters last year. And the 2 they suffered losses in were because of the Foleo cancellation.

A nice uninformed comment.

[Zorque @ Feb 21st 2008 6:30PM]

Uh.. the OS has been through 5 major revisions and ACCESS, who makes Garnet, is currently developing a Linux-based OS that works around PalmOS principles. Maybe the basic principles haven't changed, but that's like complaining that desktop OS's still use icons and folders.

[freakmarket @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:03AM]

They function the exact same way with the same icons with the same lack of multimedia and the same lack of wifi support with the same tiny square screens.

I could have made this "same" run on sentence go a lot longer.

Making it color capable and adjusting to a higher resolution are not MAJOR revisions.

They better not be basing the new o/s around basic Palm O/S principles ... making anything short of a iPhone or Nokia n810 experience will sink the Palm name the rest of the way.

Palm's failure in the last 3 years is a result of them not willing to innovate. The o/s is past the point where developers can develop for it because it can't support today's standards in handheld devices.

I have dealt with Palm and it's products for years so i am very well informed. I'm not sitting here PalmBashing ... i have great respect for them.

We are very close to having full o/s's running on handheld devices.

If Palm launches their "new" o/s and it's just a Garnet like GUI running on a linux base they will fail. If it has more of a linux desktop feel they have a chance.

Their capitol infusion is just keeping them going so they can innovate. I hope they do but they've made it unclear what their new o/s is really going to be.

If their new device is just their obsolete Treo design with a new o/s on it's tiny little screen it will fail.

The competition now sets the bar as Palm did 4 years ago. If Apple releases a bigger pda/umpc-like device it may be over no matter what Palm does.

[rob @ Feb 21st 2008 6:41PM]

Something happening at Palm Inc. ...



1. Foleo dropped
http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/04/palm-kills-the-foleo-dead/


2. Palm shops closed
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/26/palm-to-close-all-retail-locations-but-one-for-real/


3. 2 x 1
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/21/palm-tries-to-make-a-right-with-two-wrongs/

4. ???

[Chuck @ Feb 21st 2008 6:47PM]

4. Palm Centro booming success

5. Palm OS Nova

6. Foleo II

[webon @ Feb 21st 2008 11:17PM]

Chuck... Norris? is it you? if its you then its true. cuz Chuck Norris controls the future and never lies.

if not: may the gadget gods hear you

[fusion @ Feb 21st 2008 7:33PM]

I had 3 palms, massive let downs whens it comes to battery life
1) first of i had a zire 21 good device but battery died within 3 weeks after i got it, it had no removable battery so device was finished
2) i also had a
tungsten e2 from 2005, similar to the TX from 2005, very good device until the battery died half a year after i got it, it had no removable battery so device was finished, unless you use it via a plug socket only
3) and my final palm was the z22 in late 2005, which crashed when i played a 3d game on it, it had no reset or removable battery so device was finished 2 hours after i got it, the z22 was the worst pda or gadget i ever had, useless at everything the screen was a dissater 3ins 160x160 pixel, device only lasted 2hrs rubbish , i later returned it for a hp ipaq which was the best thing i ever did, no battery problems even to 2years 3 months after i got it
my ipaq still does 12 hours video, about 30hrs music, palm tungsten e2 good rubbish battery shame

[FRZ @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:44PM]

I had my TX now since about in the same year that it came out and still works the same way with no problem. I don't have that any battery issues. The only thing I wish it had is the slide out keyboard and like others say, a better web browser. Besides that, I am pretty happy with it.

[oasisob @ Feb 21st 2008 8:17PM]

I'm in the who needs a cellphone tied to the Palm camp.

I travel, and have both US and UK prepaid phones that suit my needs perfectly. Partly because cellphones are not allowed where I work (military facility), and partly because landlines are available everywhere else I am.

I would like a new Palm device thought (I have a 315 or 515 now) for travel. It can hold a ton of games, books, astronomy software for stargazing on the go, foreign language practice/dictionaries, contacts info (better than my ipod does), i can take notes on it fairly rapidly. the size and shape is comfortable, and by turning the backlight off most of the time i can get pretty good battery life out of it. Still, $299 is outrageous. I wouldn't pay half. And, the zire is $49 everywhere i still see it for sale.
peace.

[Baz @ Feb 21st 2008 8:45PM]

Palm TX - the last decent device Palm built - PDA or smartphone.

Pity then about the OS and that much of the OS, the 3rd Party products embedded in the OS, on its Install CD or its Desktop are Vista-capable. As for Mac-capability...well, have you seen their Desktop in Mac?

If Colligan has crates of these unsold in his basement, he's got no one to blame but himself.

[ren @ Feb 21st 2008 9:36PM]

I had a Palm Tungsten T5 and it was an excellent product. I ran a Japanese to English learning dictionary on it called PAdict. The T5 broke when an older version of PTunes music software zapped the hard-drive. I then bought a Palm TX and discovered that PAdict burned the touchscreen in a perfect little square where I can write Japanese characters. This is probably due to cheaper touch screen materials. Palm needs to revert to the T5 touch screen materials in order to survive. They also need to partner with Adobe Palm Reader, CardReader(which was a USB file accessing feature of the T5 software but not the TX), PAdict, RescoView - a picture viewer, and TCPMP - a video player. If Palm does these things, it will survive. Palm also needs to make the TX slimmer and add a mobile phone built-in feature.

[Bernhard @ Feb 21st 2008 10:09PM]

I have a palm TX and a nokia 1100. great combo.

[Fernando @ Feb 21st 2008 10:28PM]

Can't they just give me the free Z22? =P

[jeremy @ Feb 21st 2008 11:25PM]

i bought my T|X 2 years ago and still use it daily. i love it.

[webon @ Feb 21st 2008 11:28PM]

when is the godamn TX2 becoming at least a near future reality?
is there a section here where i can find which is the fastest, cheapest PDA on the market now?
or can some one enlighten me?

[Ayle @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:12AM]

dell axim x51v or hp ipaq hx4700. Discontinued sadly...

[John Wells @ Feb 22nd 2008 5:40AM]

The Palm TX is the most unstable device Palm ever made, and they've made plenty of unstable devices.