It benefited from the sleek design and low weight of its predecessor, the Palm V, while increasing the available storage to 8 MB.

The device has a built in rechargeable battery (not replaceable unless the unit is disassembled), and a button on the top of the screen that permitted access to a contrast menu.

However, the default backlight behaviour was inverted so that the text glowed while the background remained dark.

This had the unfortunate side effect of making backlit pictures appear as negative images and made the display hard to read if the ambient lighting was at the same level as the backlight.

[1] The Palm Vx CSE featured a blue brushed-metal finish instead of the usual silver color, and came pre-loaded with a HealtheTec diet, exercise, and weight management software package, and Abroad!, a travel organization program.