Palm TX Modified for Voice Recording

this is 2nd on my mod list

- charge/alert LED

this is first on my mod list

- speaker pointing to front where it makes sense and is actually useful

this is not on my mod list at all

- SD slot dust flap

this is #4 on my mod list

what's #4?
camera.
why?
because its same proc as zire 72. no chip for cam. processor has camera support built in so its just a matter or wiring it to it and copying camLib :-)

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Software engineer at PalmPowerups.com
TH55/U + T|X2 + T|E2 + Zire 72 + Zire 31 + Visor Prism + WristPDA

Surur

They said I only argued for the sake of arguing, but after an hour I convinced them they were wrong...

I wonder how many $304 Tx sales were lost so that you could save $5 on a Tx without your "kitchen sink" voice recording?

$5 is all it costs me to buy those components at retail in the UK, I'm sure that even Palm could have negotiated a greater volume discount on these components.

"What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog" - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Yes, but add the incidental costs the manufacturer would suffer - transport and storage, additional working capital costs, etc. Then add the manufacturer's mark-up on top of that (contract manufacturers often use a 'cost plus' pricing methodology). Then add the wholesaler's mark-up to that and then the retailer's mark-up on top of that. Then add sales tax to the retail purchase price.

If the manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer mark-ups are 30%, 50% and 50% respectively, a $5 component would add $14.63 to the retail price (before sales taxes).

They redesigned the back panel of the TX to accomodate the larger reset button. In a horrible pinch they could've mounted the mic opening somewhere on the back panel. A muffled VR is better than NO VR!

Secondly, this is going to be Palm's main meat'n potatoes non-Treo model for the fall of '05 and through most of '06. A FEW $ could have been scraped out of the coffers to redesign the top panel ONLY of the unit.

They could have added, with very little rearranging/modding:

1. Charge LED and/or a better sized/bulbous power button
2. Mic opening for a voice recorder
3. (Debatable) A small remappable hard button for screen rotation/wireles on/off ala the Treo, Then they could have had a LD-style DIA bar with the home button & wireless icons on it but relegate screen rotation to a hard button somewhere. The TX could then still use the same bottom panel and front/rear bezels it has now.
I'm not an injection molding or tooling expert but this doesn't seem like a huge challenge. With the costs reduced from the T5 by both feature-cutting & economies of scale, a charge LED & a VR would NOT be big deals to include!

Or here's something I suggested here earlier this year...they could've adapted the Zire 72 case design by making it black, dropping the camera, adding an Athena connector & 320*480 screen and ended up with an arguably better TX design.

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5

Perhaps the modification violates someone's patent.

Maybe there are unusual feedback problems that show up when inside a car that couldn't be overcome.

Perhaps...well, ya get the idea - maybe upfront simple cost was not the reason.

As for the vibrate alarm that is the one thing I desperately miss. The Lifedrive did not have one of those (I cannot fathom why) so they could not put one in this unit either. why does no current palm model have a vib alarm!!!! dimitry is going to have his work cutout to put in a vib alarm since the current required will likely necessitate additional driver circuitry (I will scream if its already in there) and mounting etc will be difficult.

nb: I recently traded my lifedrive for a TX and could not be happier!

Let me give you a 'for instance'. I went to a meeting with 4 investment bankers yesterday - 3 of them had blackberries. At one stage, I took out my TE2 to check my availability for a proposed meeting, and they asked me what kind of 'blackberry' it is. I told them that it is a 'palmpilot' - they looked at me like I was a martian - so then I said that it is a just an 'organiser' which does not have email - and they made some derisory remarks about it. (It was only when I showed them a spreadsheet with Docs to Go they they were even mildly interested.)

Having played with a blackberry for about 5 minutes, my impression is that it is pretty primitive, both as to software and hardware. However, it does have 'push' email and you can use it to make calls. Which is what a lot of people are happy to pay for.

The sooner that Palm can get 'push' email for the Treo line the better. In addition, they need to cut the price of the Treo line, to make a viable option for more people and to force out competitors.

I have started to think a little more laterally regarding the vib alarm though. The main reason for it (for me) is when I switch device to silent in a meeting. Not to be notified during the meeting but for when I forget to switch the sound back on after.

How about a utility to switch to silent for a specified time period (length of meeting + some) then automatically switch it back on. Hey it could even sound an alarm at the end of the time if any alarms triped while in silent mode.

Is there something that can already do this (ive not checked yet)? or maybe it would be a good first project to learn about palmOS software development ;-)

Dean

Your thoughts on the possible (partial) shutdown of BB service? Will RIM suddenly start making serious overtures to Palm (if they haven't already) as the rumormill suggested in the past.

Your thoughts/predictions would be appreciated. Might the Treo 700w & 700p be the FINAL "Palms by Palm" releases? Inquiring minds want to know!

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5

In all seriousness, and going slightly OT here, I have been putting a 2nd TX through its paces. I still think it's ENORMOUSLY underwhelming-again, regardless of the asking price or web prices in the ~$250 neighborhood.

FrankenGarnet is just CRIPPLED in its current execution, especially when asked (tasked?) to handle dual wireless & 320*480. How bad is it when you have two TXs or two LifeDrives side by side, BOTH totally "clean" from a hard reset and one crashes more often than the other or has strange quirks. I can see getting bad hardware batches but how do you get "bad" OS loads? Corrupt ROMs?

Remember, I consider a Palm's core functionality as its completely VIRGINAL out-of-the-box-state. If it's unstable/crash-prone with VersaMail/Blazer/Bluetooth then I write it off as a lost cause immediately since most Joe six-pack types don't even bother loading anything onto their Palms other than PIM data and a game or two.

Palm really needs to step up to the plate and ensure that their future handhelds/Treos (assuming there are any) are absolutely bulletproof in every way imaginable in their default, factory fresh states.

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5

Its probably too depressing because its true.

Surur

They said I only argued for the sake of arguing, but after an hour I convinced them they were wrong...

What are these "virgin devices"? ;-O

Something I noticed about Garnet when I reviewed teh Qool QDA-700 was that Garnet is a really bare OS. All of the major functionality and dang near everything that we appreciate about the PalmOS is a faction of Palm/Sony's massaging, and not PalmSource development. So much to the point that the PalmSOurce Mail and Webbrowser 2.0 clients absoutley sucked on the QDA. And aside from the included Launcher II (yes it included), the OS is very raw and cannot do much of anything. If anything, the QDA makes TVOR's point of PalmSource needing Palm and vice versa painfully clear.

PalmSource lacked the resources to create a polished, fully-debugged OS. They couldn't even fix PalmOS 5. It shuld be painfully obvious by now to everyone here why PalmOS 6 (cobalt) failed and why PalmOS 7 (PalmLinux) was destined to arrive far too late to matter.

For one reason or another, some programs, not all, but some programs tap a bit hard at the core OS a bit more than others. The added in networking abilities cause anything network based to be unstable by design. Yes, the Treo 600 is a heck of a marvel, and after 3 attempts, Handspring really did get it right. But at its core the PalmOS really did suck wind.

I don't think it's fair to bash PalmOS 5. It was asked to do so much more than it rightfully should have been expected to accomplish that it's amazing the OS didn't blow up. Telephony and Wi-Fi implementations are not something PalmSource is particularly adept at dealing with. As usual, the problem was Palm/PalmSource chose to avoid evolving the OS until it was almost too late and then had to rush things in an emergency situation. Designing an OS under severe time constraints is not a good idea - especially whe the OS is pushing into territory that the company is unfamiliar with.

We get mad at Palm, and rightfully so, for taking features out of "new" devices. But for the most part, I dont see an OS that can handle even those features without some level of OS hacking. And while NO OS should be this unstable when programs are added, the lack of some type of approval system by PalmSource for its licensees for the hacks and bundled programs has made for just as bad an experience for us, as it is finding out things are in the OS that were left out. PalmSource didnt give a heavy enough hand to its licensees and therefore we have Garnet, which could have lasted until PalmLinux, dying an embarassing death.

Palm/PalmSource was in no position to limit licensee's ability to customize PalmOS since Palm/PalmSource was too lazy/incompetent to provide licensees with the features being customized in the first place.

Cobalt, the bogus Palm "split" and Palm's refusal to evolve the OS when Palms were selling like hotcakes are the three main reasons PalmOS collapsed. I still am shocked by how poorly-managed Palm was. When people find out the details of Palm's failure I guarantee they'll be amazed that the company lasted as long as it did.

TVoR

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Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.
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The Palm eCONomy = Communism™

The Great Palm Swindle: http://www.palminfocenter.com/comment_view.asp?ID=7864#108038

NetFrontLinux - the next major cellphone OS?: http://www.palminfocenter.com/comment_view.asp?ID=8060#111823

Given that Palm must have known that they could have voice recording ability for around $5.00, they must think that it is a little wanted/needed feature. I disagree. Given two identical Palms except one with voice-record, I wouldn't hesitate to pay $20 or $30 extra bucks for the recordable one. Seems like a big misstep for Palm.

Again, absolutely awesome dmitrygr!!!