Palm Tungsten E

Palm Tungsten E has a Texas Instruments 126 MHzOMAP311 CPU; Palm OS 5.2.1; nice color display 320 x320, 16-bit (64k color), 32MB, slot for addtional SD memory, protective flip cover.Included software/CD: Memos , Prefs , Tasks , Expense , HotSync , Adresses , Calendar , Contacts , Note Pad , Calculator , Graffiti 2 , Palm Photos , Palm Reader , World clock , Kinoma Player , Telephony/SMS , Kinoma Producer , Handmark MobileDB , Phone Link Update , PowerOne Personal , Handmark PDA Money , Palm VersaMail 2.6 , Handmark Magic Dogs , PowerOne Calculator , RealOne Mobile Player , DataViz Documents To Go , Palm Desktop Software 4.1 , Adobe Acrobat Reader for Palm OS

The Palm Tungsten E has a nice crisp screen in a compact package. However, I'm now on my second replacement. The first died completely and the refurbished replacement only lasted a few months before the screen reversed itself.

I rely on my PDA too much to be tolerating an unreliable unit. And the replacement process for Palm is disgraceful. If they really backed their product, then I should be able to exchange it with a retailer. But I'm afraid after 4 weeks, the retailer doesn't want to know you. Palm Personal, Palm III and now Tungstend E. But I'm afraid I'm officially now an EX Palmer.

Save yourself the hassle, but a good quality Windows CE device.

Trash. The Palm Tungsten E is now trash. Totally unreliable. I'm on my 3rd one in 12 months and I'm literally throwing it in the bin. I will NEVER purchase another product from Palm -- and I was a loyal customer with a Palm IIIc I used for years. Two TEs were replaced after fighting with the company (after they deigned to finally talk with me). One replacement I paid nearly the cost of the original machine for -- (should have bought a better device to start with), the second was within the 90 day warantee of the repaird machine(90 days!! there's confidence in your products, eh?). I bought the machine for business use on the road. Problem is machine battery dies in a short time, used or not used, little/no warning re it's demise, and unless you get the machine recharged in a very short time (hours) the whole thing goes... and will NOT recharge, reset, or anything. To recharge on the road you have tobuy more equipment and since this machine does not have a universal connector, you have to buy the special stuff for TE. ChaChing! Then if, you are lucky enough to catch it it time and not have the whole product die completely, you have to reset, reformat, and reinstall all programs and data. If you don't catch it in time, it does not charge, does not reset and sits on your desk collecting dust. Total trash. Save your money. Avoid headaches and buy from another company.

A long time user of a Palm Vx, but lack of backlight was becoming a problem. I've been using it for two weeks now. I actually bought my Palm Tungsten E in Florida and when I got back found it had alreay been announced here in UK at about £145, I paid slightly less in USA but had to buy a voltage convertor so about the same price overall.

I use the Palm for all diary work and notes. Previous lack of decent Office sogtware meant I had to convert files to Notes. Now I can transfer files directly. It's certainly most efficient to use the To Go file format as it makes opening large files much quicker - it makes no difference to the displayed format. Although the screen is superb, navigating a 1.5MB Excel file (multiple worksheets, etc) can be slow but it does mean I can actually look up info. Small files no problem. Word files are fine, likewise PowerPoint. Best of all I can create or amend and send back to my PC and retain formatting.

The MP3 player works fine though you need an MMC/SD card. 128MB cards will give you two hours of MP3 or vast file storage, but with about 28MB free on the PDA that's lilkely to cover all your basic data needs.

All in all this is a natural upgrade from Vx at half the price but with lots of extras. For business use this is a bargain.