PalmOne Tungsten E Handheld

Pro's,
1. Its a Palm, with the latest version of Palm OS.
2. Looks good and feels solid in hand.
3. Superb screen and extremely clear.
4. mp3 playback is very good.
5. Uses standard mini USB jack, not propreitary Palm connector.
6. Fast performance. Don't compare raw MHz between PDA's, this one's faster than 400MHz PPC's.
7. About 28MB is available memory, which is a lot for a Palm.
8. Good software bundle and stable OS.
9. Speaker is - suprisingly - good at playing mp3's (64kpbs sounds great).
10. Flip lid and a screen protector are in the box. (I don't buy a PDA without flip)
11. Stylus is superb, thick/heavy/shinning metal.

Con's,
1. Down button is hard to press, ironically that's the most used button on T|E. The 5 way navigator is poorly designed and cheap plastic.
2. Size is bigger than some other handhelds like Clie SJ20.
3. Case is slippery and tough to keep clean.
4. Thread on included flip cover scratches T|E at the top easily.
5. Battery life is just like Pocket PC's, needs charging frequently.
6. Included charger is not a world charger and is bulky.
7. No bluetooth or Wifi but atleast it has SDIO slot (poor Clie fans have to put up with propreitary memory stink slot).
8. Weak alarm sounds (think this can be fixed?) and no vibrate only mode.
9. Packaging in plastic box is tough to open and not eco friendly.
10. Battery is not user replaceable. (dead Palm after 2 years?)

Most of the minor issues with T|E will go away if you spend double and get a T|T3. Overall this is a great Palm at affordable price. Thanks Palm!


This is the one you want...   November 14, 2003
Steven Dennis (Reston, VA USA)
63 out of 64 found this review helpful

At last, Palm gets it right -- A high quality, low price PDA with all the features you need, and none you don't. This is quite simply, a beautiful piece of engineering, and whether you are new to PDAs or upgrading, you will not be disappointed...
For a bargain price of 200 smackers, Palm provides the following key features:
1) A top-notch, large, hi-res screen (check it out in a store first). Many previous Palms have skimped on the screen -- a big no-no in my book. I'd much rather have a slower processor than an unreadable (m505) or too-small screen (Zire, m100). Pointing and clicking on a Palm is hard enough without having a small, dark screen to boot.
2) Generous 32 MB Ram. Finally, Palm stops skimping on this important area! It's not enough to make you ditch your iPod, but you can play a few tunes, look at a few pictures, transfer some files. This is a big improvement from the bad-old 8 MB days, which is Okay for contacts but worthless for anything else.
3) Rechargeable lithium polymer. Top notch. No skimping, no muss, no fuss.
4) Great design. Clean, simple, portable, shirt-pocketable. No keyboard, but I've never been a thumbpad fan.
5) MS Office functions included -- Word, Outlook, Powerpoint. Why you would use them, however, is a bit bizarre to me. Who wants to spend the time coding in a Powerpoint presentation with a stylus? Yet, if this is important to you, it's here. And having your email with you can be a plus...

As for what you won't get: There is no phone, no camera, no thumbpad, no Bluetooth, no WiFi. This is close to a pure PDA, though it can display pictures and double as a poor-man's MP3 player. That's what I was looking for.

Here's a basic product guide:
New Palm Zire -- Bargain basement model with 7.2 MB of Ram, upgraded from hobbled 2 MB original model. About 100 smackers. Often offered free as bundle deals with new computers. Good starter model for the price. Includes rechargeable battery. Memory can not be upgraded. Horribly skimpy black-on-grey screen.
Tungsten T2, etc.: Deluxe models that feature, in some cases, larger screens/Bluetooth wireless connectivity/thumbpads with dropdown graffiti screens. All unnecessary features in my book, especially given their much higher prices.
Clie models (SJ30, etc.) recently have owned the mid-range of the Palm product line, providing color screens, style and multimedia features for less than Palm. But no longer. The Clie models simply can not compete with this new Palm -- they feel and look clunky in comparison and generally feature smaller, dimmer screens. And the upper-echelon Clie models get very expensive.
Sony models also have a reputation for less-stellar customer service. (I've had excellent service from Palm.)
The Treo models from Handspring/Palm should be considered if you are a thumbpad fan, or if you want your PDA to also be your phone. But let's face it, how many people can afford spending four hundred smackers on a PDA?
BTW, when comparing, I've found you can generally ignore the speed of the processor. For most Palm functions, the reaction time is near instantaneous, or at most a second or two lag.
As for PocketPCs, some of them are now very attractively priced and are worth checking out. I've yet to use one extensively, so I'll stick to what I know -- Palms are simple, easy to use and almost guaranteed to improve your productivity. It's like having a backup for your brain. And who doesn't need that?
Enjoy!


Good price for a lot of power   November 6, 2003
J. Edmiston (Eugene, OR USA)
68 out of 71 found this review helpful

I applaud Palm's decision to give us a low cost way into the Tungsten family. It's missing the universal connector but all of the Tungsten power is there, along with a really nice display.

I would highly recommend getting an SD card to make full use of this device. In fact the MP3 player requires it. Spend the extra $70. You can fit a fair amount of music, a ton of ebooks, and a bunch of apps on a 256MB card.

If you are concerned with a lack of Bluetooth or WiFi, keep in mind that Bluetooth SD adapters are on the market and 802.11B cards are coming soon.


just a note   November 9, 2003
74 out of 78 found this review helpful

(note: I've had mine for about a month now.)

Everyone is reading the below review (incl. my friends) and thinks this is in a plastic shell- so they are not buying it because of that. However, it is actually thin, buffed steel (hence the amazingly durable plastic comment.) Look at the edges, where the speakers open up, and where it folds over. Even take a knife and cut into it!

What I like:
-Traveling (and charging) with the standard miniusb cable.
-Great as an mp3 player (use aeroplayer)
-I downloaded updated high-res, color versions of my old software and it's wonderfully easy on my eyes.
-The photo album is great, I put 500+ pictures on their to show off :)
-Came with tons of useful software
-Fold-over flap is elegant and protects it well (esp. since I keep it in my back pocket, sit on it even- without problems.) That's the main reason I bought this instead of the other choices actually :p
-Has enough memory that I stored ALL of my apps, dictionaries, and databases on the internal memory.. even avantgo (which I adore.)


PALM SUPPORT AND REPLACEMENT PARTS   January 7, 2004
S. Gerber (Philadelphia, PA USA)
39 out of 39 found this review helpful

Negative reviews are not real popular, so I'm going to try to make this as helpful as I can.

My 5-star rating above is really a rating of the Tungsten E handheld itself. If I were to rate Palm product support, that would be a horse of another color.

I saw several reviews which complain about the lack of replacement parts for the Palm in general and the Tungsten E in specific since it's so new. One reviewer blasted the E because the charger was misplaced and they could not get a replacement from Palm; hence had an unusable Palm.

Concerned about this, as we all should be, I called Palm Sources today at 800-881-7256 and spoke with a fellow who seemed both honest and (I hope) helpful.

The bottom line is that Palm has done a very bad job on their web site and on their so-called Customer Care phone line in explaining to us what to do to replace these essential accessories. Let me tell you what I just learned regarding the Tungsten E's 4 supplied accessories.

1. Recharger - Radio Shack was recommended (frankly I would not know where else to go to buy such a part). I was told to buy a 12V 1 AMP charger and to look at any other specifications on the back of the charger. He was confident Radio Shack had it or could order it if not in stock. I asked "what if the user lost the charger and couldn't 'read the back'". He said he could find that out for me but didn't have the information available during my call. Since I didn't lose mine yet, I can tell you it says "INPUT:120VAC 60Hz 100mA OUTPUT:5.5VDC 500mA". Also, oddly enough, it supplies a Palm P/N 163-5877A-US. Go figure that one out since Palm doesn't seem to supply it as a part.

2. USB Hot-Synch Cable - Like the Recharger, he said this was industry standard (same one used on digital cameras) and sent me again to Radio Shack. Told me to buy a "USB to mini-USB non-conductive cable". Honestly, the Tungsten E has such a bizarre looking connection, and in the absence of a cradle, I didn't think anything "non-Palm" would fit. He assured me this would work. I asked why they have replacement parts for other Tungstens and his answer was "They use cradles and that's a Palm exclusive".

3. Leatherette hinged flip cover - Only available on new Tungsten Es. Not that too many people would want to replace this, he suggested online auctions, which makes sense since so few people would want to keep this and why not get a few dollars for it?

4. Palm Essentials CD - Better make a backup copy of this. 'Nuff said on this subject.

I placed myself at risk writing this information here without visiting Radio Shack first but if the Palm representative was totally misleading, then you'll "shoot the messenger" and heap "unhelpful" votes upon me. I feel it's worth the risk.

BTW, on a subject I did not bring up, he told me that Palm would be introducing a travel adapter for the Tungsten so you could charge it from your car's cigarette adapter. Between using your Palm in the car, in addition to your cell, you might want to check your auto insurance rates first.

Anyway, hope this is helpful to someone.

-- Sam