The “why didn’t I realize that was important?” feature that my TX had but the iPod touch didn’t turned out to be the external speaker for calendar alarms; I would probably just use my phone as a calendar alarm, but now I don’t have to.

It looks like it’ll handily replace my TX as a PDA. The calendaring is better; the contacts app is a whole lot better. The eReader app looks nicer (though I’d like more font choices), and (unlike the Palm version) is under active development; it also has access to far more storage, meaning that I can carry my entire library around without having to swap books on and off an SD card. (I stopped leaving it in the slot after I had problems with the slot flaking out, which I think were due to the pins getting less springy after they’d had a card in for too long with lots of jouncing around.) Since I haven’t been using the ToDo app, that’s not a problem for me; I’ll probably give Life Balance another try once they release the iPhone version. There’s nothing to read Secure Mobipocket books, which is annoying mostly because someone at Macmillan is an idiot and only releases their ebooks in that format (plus Kindle, which is pretty much the same thing).

Apart from the loss of “use anywhere” via Bluetooth, the networking isn’t even in the same county: the web browser is a whole lot better (Blazer is an unapologetic “mobile browser”, and does do a few things well, but not many); Maps beats the Google Maps app for Palm (since it only used the 320×320 “Treo” screen area); NetNewsWire gives me a nice RSS reader that even syncs with my desktop.

Email is better-but-different. I gave up on the built-in Palm client, and switched to SnapperMail long ago. That’s optimized for offline use, so I had to tell it to sync specific IMAP mailboxes only; OTOH, to sync a non-INBOX mailbox on the iPod I have to go into it instead of just hitting the Send/Receive button. This’ll take some getting used to but isn’t a show-stopper. The two-line preview in list view is a major win.

I never even tried doing any media on my TX since I already had an iPod, but I’m definitely going to put some movies on the iPod touch before my next trip. It won’t hold all my music, but that’s what the 160GB classic is for. (I’m glad I got it before it went away, now.)

Other apps are still a weak spot, though. I’ll have to replace a few games (as a Freecell addict who’s played it on every PDA since my HP200LX, that’s the first target) and won’t be able to play others (there’s a nice free Acquire clone for the Palm, but I don’t expect a port anytime soon). Travel apps are particularly problematic: Metro (subway navigator) is apparently finally being worked on after a great deal of resistance, but I think the various airline schedule download apps will be ignored in favor of iPhone-optimized web sites, and those don’t help if you don’t have connectivity. The MBTA app for the Palm died when Second Kiss Wireless went under, so that’s not available on the Palm either these days.

Also, I’m stuck waiting for a good swivel belt-clip detachable flip case, preferably with the Multidapt back so I can use it with some of my existing gear. Until that changes, I’ll still carry the TX.

[1] I know the iFixit teardown found a Bluetooth-capable chip inside. I’m not holding my breath for it to actually do anything beyond talking to a shoe, and not in the Maxwell Smart mode.

The lack of tethering is annoying. I agree, it should be able to to use data access over Bluetooth. Bluetooth keyboard support would be very nice as well.

The sole remaining major feature that my Palm TX has that the Touch doesn’t is the ability to get online anywhere my phone works. (I don’t want to switch from T-Mobile to AT&T, so the iPhone’s still out.) Going back to “must be in Wi-Fi range” will be annoying, but survivable.