Toshiba e400

My reason for purchasing this Toshiba E400 PDA Handheld included the ability to have some form of computing power whilst away from home/office without the bulk and weight of a Laptop.

I was amazed how small the device was, the last time I had a PDA it was a Psion 3, and this PPC is tiny and so light that you almost forget which pocket you've put it in.

With a few accessories, Leather case, Bluetooth and memory card and couple bits of extra software, DVD to PPC. I have slowly come to use the device more and more.

The cut down versions of word and excel do most of the things of thier full size siblings but they have limitations in some areas, however for on the road use are more than adequate.

Inbox makes sending and receiving emails a breeze, although getting the thing set up did take quite a few phone calls and a lot of guess work, not for the uninitiated.

Personal Internet Explorer comes in handy when you need to check out some information, especially general knowledge points of order, and whilst the pages are not best displayed, would love a screen rotation option, it is not as if you are going to spend all day looking at the screen.

Media Player has become a little gem, storing music on a memory card turns the device into a MP3 player cutting down on the things you need to carry on those long journeys but the addition of DVD to PPC makes this a bit of killer app. Whilst it's a pain in the back compressing down the DVDs, one a night for me, the ability to watch your favourite films on the go is amazing.

Other features are pretty much standard faire and work out of sight and mind in the back ground reminding you to do this and be here or there as required, its not let me down yet although my day to day life doesn't need much organising I've not forgotten a birthday since I bought it.

Having just purchased a keyboard, admittedly a slightly bulky but cheap Belkin wireless one, I can enter large amounts of text on the go and using a portable card reader, I no longer need to lug my Laptop around.

Lots of buttons around the device do certain actions, but to be honest I've put the button hold on and navigate using the stylus and don't find this to be a bind.

For the future I am hoping to introduce some form of GPS capability to the device further enhancing the involvement of this device in my day to day life.

On the downside power levels need to be checked regularly and if the music and video functions are used then a quick recharge is required after just to be safe.

Overall the device does what it says on the tin, as long as you realise that this is a cheaper variant so is missing a few bangs and whistles the Toshiba E400 will do most things you ask of it. If not a couple of soft resets will soon sort you out.