great entry-level palm
Written: Nov 25 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheap price, lots of good software, OS 5.2.1, expansion slot.
Cons: No universal connector, bad included cover.
The Bottom Line: It's a great value, with tons of awesome multimedia functions like MP3 support and movies.
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| sweetums202's Full Review: Palm Tungsten™ E Handheld |
I recently recieved this model as an early christmas gift from relatives and have been toying around with it for a
while. So far I have been very happy with this Palm, it's my current favorite other than the Tungsten T3.
Hardware
Although this Palm is available for about $200 everywhere (it is fairly new), my relatives got it for around $150 with special rebates, they're all over now. The Tungsten E was meant to be Palm's new economy model for businesses, similar to how the Zire is more suited for personal use.
For $200 you get a mid-sized model compared to the other palms on the market today, measuring at about 4.5 x 3.1 x 0.5 inches, weighing only 4.6 ounces. There are two side channels; the stylus slips in the right side, and the protective cover slips up through the left. I do not recommend the protective cover that is included with the Tungsten E, because it actually scratches up the front rather than protect.
This model has a fairly average battery life and will last you about five or six hours before dying on you. Palm claims it will last a week on one charge with regular use, but "regular use" to them is about twenty minutes a day. Using some hardware, like the new infrared keyboard, and applications, like the included Kinoma Player and RealOne Player, will drain the battery a lot faster though, sometimes maybe an hour or two.
On the top of the Tungsten E there is the infrared port, the SD/MMC expansion slot, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and the power button. The back includes the weak speaker (use headphones instead) and the reset button. The awesome, high resolution 320x320 screen is located on the front (duh) with the 5-way navigator. Since the 5-way navigator is new, many programs don't utilize the left and right keystrokes or the center push button...yet. New versions of many popular programs utilize these keys now (Breakout-type games just got a lot easier). For some odd reason, the down on the navigator is harder to push than the other sides, which is weird because it will probably be the most used one. The bottom includes ports for the mini-usb and power cords. Unfortunately, there is no universal connector, greatly limiting the accessories available.
The screen is one of the most beautiful screens I've ever seen on a Palm. There are no "wavy effects" with light (if you own a Sony Clie UX-50, look toward the bottom and you'll see a wavy set of lines). If you don't know what these "wavy effects" are, just look at an old Nokia at the sides, you'll see. The 16-bit screen is a 320x320 high res capable of displaying 65,000 colors. This is a very big step up from those old greenish screens from past palm pilots, the white backlight (which you can NOT turn off) makes the display very clear and paper-like.
At the bottom of the screen there is the usual graffiti area, which now utilizes Graffiti2. In case you have never used a Palm before, the Graffiti are is where you can use your stylus and "write" a letter, and it will digitally insert itself into a program. While genius in theory, some keystrokes are hard to learn and odd. Experienced Palm users will probably have a hard time learning the new system.
To keep the cost down, palmOne has neglected to include a cradle and bluetooth or wi-fi. These are add-ons that provide a short, wireless range that allows you to connect two objects together. What exactly would bluetooth do? With a bluetooth phone you'd be able to connect to the phone and surf the web (with HTML support!) or use programs wirelessly, like games or something. I see why some people would need bluetooth, but they can just buy the special bluetooth SD card.
The Tungsten E also lacks a digital camera. Although I do find it conveniant to have the camera, like the Zire 71, I, personally, don't really need it. And, just like the bluetooth and wi-fi, I can always buy the special digital camera SD card add-on.
More technical, the Tungsten E comes with 32 mb of RAM (28.3 available to the user). While this may not seem like much to first time users, Palm programs are usually very small, thousands of contacts can be stored at only a mb or two. The processor is a Texas Instruments OMAP311 ARM processor that runs at 126 mhz. This is a big step up from my old Palm, the Handspring Visor Deluxe, where there were problems with "ghosting" effecte because the processor was so slow. Thankfully, there's no "ghosting" on the Tungsten E, as programs load up fairly quickly.
Software
However, the Tungsten E does come with the latest version of the Palm OS, ver. 5.2.1. Although some programs were not compatible with the new OS, most of the popular ones have been edited and fixed to support it.
The Tungsten E also has some updated PIM functions. It is now more MS Outlook-like and some parts have been renamed. You can now store more contact info (multiple addresses), there's a new agenda screen that displays some current appointments and activites similar to Pocket PC's today screen, and the Memo limit has been removed.
The Palm comes with some very useful programs. These programs include:
Kinoma Player/Producer - This basic movie player/producer works pretty well with the Tungsten E. I regularly watch movies on the Palm, so i was concerned about quality. Converting movies onto the Palm with Kinoma Producer is very simple, just choose the movie you want to convert, how you want to convert it (normal, large, full), choose whether to convert it to RAM or a memory card, and hit convert. The producer supports a wide variety of formats, including AVI, DV, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, and Quicktime, and the sound quality was excellent. If you want more options with the movies, I recommend spending the $30 and upgrading to the full version, where you have control over frame rate and other options.
Documents to Go ver. 6.0 Pro Edition - This program is a must for businesses. It includes support for Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint), and unlike other word processors for PDAs this includes native support! That means that you won't have to convert word/excel/powerpoint files to special formats; you can send them directly to the device. An option to convert to the special Documents to Go format is still available though, and by doing this you usually reduce the file size.
RealOne Mobile Player - This is the included MP3 player for the Tungsten. It is very basic, and it's OK for the casual listener, but for those serious about using an MP3 player I suggest AeroPlayer.
VersaMail ver. 2.6 - This is a nice e-mail program. It supports many popular e-mail services (Hotmail, Yahoo!, etc) and allows you to manage eight accounts. It also supports many desktop e-mail programs (Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, Eudora and Microsoft Outlook Express). The nice thing about this program is that it supports, although limited, attachments (Word, Excel, vCard, vCal/iCal, text, and WAV files). E-mails also display some basic HTML support (works fine with colors and links, but i doubt it would be able to handle an HTML supported newspaper).
Palm Reader - I haven't had that much experience with reading eBooks, but I think Palm Reader is an excellent eBook Reader. It has many options like the ability to read eBooks in regular or widescreen modes, changeable text sizes, auto scroll, etc. I may not be an expert on the subject, but I believe Palm Reader is excellent for the casual eBook reader.
Other programs included are the usual Palm Desktop Software, Adobe Acrobat Reader for Palm, PowerOne personal calculator, Handmark Magic Dogs, Handmark Mobile DB, Handmark PDA Money, Telephony/SMS, Phone Link, and Phone Dialer.
Conclusion
Overall, I think this is a very good Palm. It has an excellent screen, moderate battery life, an awesome software suite, and, best of all, is priced at $200. While there is no bluetooth or digital camera, you can always buy an SD add-on version.
The only thing I can find wrong with the Palm is the lack of the universal connector. This greatly limits the accessories; no more Palm Modem, travel charger, cradle, etc.
Palm Pays Back
I strongly recommend you sign up for this excellent program. By getting referrals you can use the points you recieve to redeem for frequent flyer miles, Amazon.com gift cards, Red Envelope gift cards, etc. I would be very thankful if you referred me. All you need to do is enter your name, your e-mail address, the UPC code (the numbers on the bottom of the UPC barcode), the Palm code (the numbers at the corner of the included CD case), and my e-mail; you don't need to sign up or anything.
http://palmpaysback.palmOne.com/us/refer
e-mail: sweetums202@hotmail.com
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 150
Recommended for: Students - Stylish and a Best Value
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Epinions.com ID:
sweetums202
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Reviews written: 4
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