PalmOne Tungsten E Handheld

For a long time i had a M105 which I bought when they first came out. It had 8MB internal memory and a slot for an external memory card. It had a monochrome screen, was a bit thick, and used AAA batteries, but it served its purpose well for a long time.Well now i was ready to update and I wanted something reasonably priced. I always like to get my products in the middle ground. The cheap ones don't have enough for me and i end up throwing them away later, and the expensive ones have too many bells and whistles that I never use. The Zire 21 falls into the former as a budget-minded option with a monochrome screen, 8MB RAM, and no expansion slot. The Zire 71 has a color screen, 16MB of RAM, and an expansion slot. this was better, but then you pay a premium for the built-in digital camera which I would use as much as the camera on my phone... which is to say never. The PocketPCs were very pricey and since i don't run many windows apps on my Palm, I saw no reason to go the extra mile for them or the higher level Palms with bluetooth or Wi-Fi cababilities.This Tungsten E was a great balance of features at a good price point. I am always in favor of "bang for buck".First the positives:*It has 32MB RAM which if all you use this for is contacts and appointments, then it is overkil, you can get away with one of the others that have 8MB or 16MB. But I have that neat diet program, and the bible, several e-books and a few Word and Excel (read more about that below) documents and i still have plenty of room to spare. That is what i want... because I hate having to worry about removing stuff to make room and making decisions about what i really need, and what can go. I just want to throw it all on there without worrying about it.*The color screen is really nice... it has a nice resolution and contrast. all of the icons look sharp and vivid. very easy to read in either bright or dark situations. not like my old M105 which would need the backlight switched on in poor light conditions.*Size. It is very slim, especially when you use the flip cover that came with it (i now use the aluminum hard case which makes it significantly thicker).*Style. very elegant, fashionable, techy aluminum look. people will notice when you pull it out to use it, especially once the display turns on.*Fast. The processor (Texas Instruments OMAP311 126 MHz) is really fast... the screen changes instantly when i push a button (as oppsed to a slight pause on my M105). i don't know how this compares to the other Palms or PocketPCs, but for me, its pretty blazing.*rechargeable batteries aren't all that "new", but it beats having to buy batteries all the time. the recharge is fairly quick with the included power adapter, and the USB cable also gives it a trickle charge*Synching is really quick with the USB interface. I don't know if it is USB2.0, but it is significant;y faster than my old M105Applications*the new agenda view on the calendar is GREAT. it shows you all of your appointments and tasks that are due today. now that the screen is in color, you can color-code your appointments by the category which is very helpful*in addition to the standard calendar, contacts, tasks, notepad, memos, you also get mobileDB (kinda like a poor man's MS Access), a photo viewer, movie viewer, money and expense (which i don't use, so i'm not sure if it syncs up with your MS money or Quicken on your desktop), it also has an email program which would sync with your desktop email software (outlook and such), but you would need a Wi-Fi adapter, or plug it into your phone (neither is included with this product). I don't use that either.*Documents-to-Go... this is fabulous. you can synchronize Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents from your desktop to the Palm pilot. A slight word of caution, however... if the files are uploaded into the internal RAM then the program will "convert" it into Documents-to-Go format, which as far as I can see, isn't any different, but I am editing very simple documents. If you upload them onto an external card, then it will preserve the "native" Word, Excel, Powerpoint fomat.Negatives*The only drawback that I have encountered is the lack of a cradle. As cool as it looks in your hand, it doesn't carry over when its just laying flat on your desk with cables trailing away from it. this was a major slip on Palm's part, in my opinion.

FYI for those needing the following interface feature: I have Win 7 64 bit on all my current PC's - this BTW is pretty standard these days. The Amazon description implies this will sync to MS Office, without saying what it will not sync to, including to apps running on Win 7 64 bit. Palm says on its website it does not support a Win 7 64 bit sync interface, which it is responsible for providing - no driver written, with no expected availability date. The Amazon description that this Palm interfaces with Windows Office (for example) apps is quite incorrect/misleading. I bought this to get Windows apps connection, thus out of luck for the purchase. If you have Win 7 32 bit, Palm says its driver supports that.

You cannot buy a brand new Palm today that has a working battery. The batteries have a shelf life of only ten years and this unit was manufactured in 2005, so, I also ordered a battery for it. The battery was rated right, but, it was too thick for this unit. I will order another brand. BUT, the unit works perfectly with the back not fully tightened after I installed the battery (soldering it into place -- as is required). the battery on this unit is not a plug-in battery like the Tungsten E2, so, beware. If you do buy one of these, if you find one, it is a great Palm, one of the best ever made, but, you will need to replace the battery that is wired to the motherboard. With a new battery, you can get a week of use from this Palm before recharging. It should last at least five or six years in dily use before it will not hold a charge.

When I was looking for a PDA, it came down to choosing between the Tungsten E and the Sony TJ35. They're practically identical. I went to test them out in the store and chose the Tungsten E. The main reason I chose the Tungsten E is that it doesn't need additional software to edit word documents and excel spreadsheets.I am very satisfied that I chose the Tungsten E. I was a bit worried when people said it gets scratched up by the included cover, so I put tape on the nylon stitching. Another solution is to cut a small piece of protective screen covering to cover the part that is most prone to getting scratched (the face of the palm where the logo and words are). There aren't many slim cases out there right now, but I'm probably going to get one when I find one at a reasonable price.It'd be cool if it had built in WiFi, but I think that would be of a distraction than anything else(I'm a college student).This palm is both powerful and affordable. Did I mention that Graffiti 2 is just like normal writing? Very good for new users and much easier to learn than the original Graffiti.

The Palm Pilot was advertised as new in box sealed, it had been refurbished and resealed, no serial number to register product. the stylus was missing, and when we got one, it will not stay in the holder, After 4 seperate tries to get the pilot to sink with our computer, we gave up... So we have to double enter all contacts, and meetings. When we went to the web site to update some programs, we kept getting the 404 error, meaning it is no longer supported.. Over all Very Disappointed...

I am on my third Tungsten E. It's a dinosaur, I know, but I'm used to it and it works for me. I like that my personal information is not splashed all over the Internet. When my computer died and I had to buy a new one, I got stuck with Windows 7. I couldn't get my Palm to sync. I went everywhere for help, but couldn't make it work. (Of course, PALM is no longer in business.) After a year, I gave up and went looking for a new (or used) PDA that would sync. I contacted RENEW Electronics about another model. They told me that I didn't want the new model and sent me instructions and a link to a driver that would cause my Tungsten E to sync with Windows 7. It worked! I'm back in action and the vendor refused any payment. I will buy from these people every chance I get. They are knowledgeable, honest and generous. Where do I go to rate the store?