Brighthand's First Impressions of the palmOne Tungsten E2

[Ed Hardy]

palmOne's latest offers a brighter screen, non-volatile memory, Bluetooth, and a faster processor than its very popular predecessor.

Read more at http://www.brighthand.com/article/pa...ions?site=Palm

[d-roC]

Nice to read your impressions. Hope that you have as much fun with it as I have been having.

[Timothy Rapson]

These are all worthwhile improvements. I read elsewhere that PalmOne is claiming to have doubled battery life in spite of the brighter screen. They used a bigger battery and the flash and a few other improvements to do this.

If they would do the same for the Zire 72/3 AND give it virtual grafitti it would keep them in the game.

Nice software bundle. The players in ROM (is DTG in there too? It crashes my Zire 72 every time I try it!) is a great idea since they use so much RAM.

None of this is worth the extra $50 when Dell is adding features and dropping prices. To be fair HP models are a much worse value today than they were 1 year ago too, so it may be that the manufacturers (HTC, Wiston, Compal and co.) are raising prices or the exchange rates are causing this. In any case it is not making them more attractive.

[foxfire4321]

Okay I dig the NVFS system, and I am glad to see that they solved the memory problem. It is also nice to get that extra 33% of screen pixels (though I have never been a fan of square screens or dedicated writing areas). However for a $249 handheld this really doesn't hit the sweet spot unless you are really interested in replacing your existing Palm unit. For the same price you can get a very good WM unit with both bluetooth (1.2 in many cases) and WiFi. Palm's continued denial that users want integrated WiFi is absolutlely unforgivable.

[Ed Hardy]

Originally posted by Timothy Rapson
is DTG in there too?

Yes.

[allesi]

I think palmOne realizes that wireless is currently a small niche...and I stress currently. If you have to carry around a generator and a day supply of gasoline around with you...it kind of defeats the purpose of wireless. However, for those special situations wireless can always be added. For instance, the last time I went to a Technet presentation MS checked everyone in with handhelds. And, check-in only lasted about an hour.

*Rant On*
palmOne needs to stay focused on simplicity, while also focusing on software over hardware. I think they are slowly finding out that the majority don't replace hardware that often. How exactly do they expect companies to support palmOne devices if the OS and associated apps all differ from device to device. It's time for a shift. They call them handheld computers...treat them as computers and not a throw-away PDAs.
*Rant Off*

[Ed Hardy]

Originally posted by foxfire4321
For the same price you can get a very good WM unit with both bluetooth (1.2 in many cases) and WiFi.

I guess it comes down to this. If you have to have Wi-Fi, then this model clearly isn't for you. But not everyone needs Wi-Fi.

Keeping that in mind, I think the Tungsten E2 stands up pretty darn well against the comparably-priced iPAQ rz1715 or the the Axim X30.

First off, the E2 has much better screen. Not just higher resolution, but better looking.

Also, you'd have to pay $70 for SoftMaker Office to get an Office Suite that compares with Documents to Go.

Looks are in the eye of the beholder, but I think the E2 is by far the better looking of the three.

One word: flipcover.

Keep in mind, even before these improvements, the Tungsten E was the best selling handheld in the U.S. by a good margin every single month since it debuted.

Originally posted by foxfire4321
Palm's continued denial that users want integrated WiFi is absolutlely unforgivable.

Hear, hear!! I sincerely hope that the rumors that the LifeDrive will have Wi-Fi will turn out to be correct. However, it will be a long time before palmOne makes a mid-range model with Wi-Fi.

[PEN]

That is ok for US market, but in Europe whe have Acer N30 and Fujitsu Siemens LOOX 410 for 200/250 ?.

Both with built-in Bluetooth.

for 300/350? whe have Acer N50 with CF, SD, WiFI and Bluetooth, or LOOX 420, withouy CF but with WIFI and Bluetooth...

I think that PalmOne must enpower its mid-range....

[foxfire4321]

I think it is kind of ridiculous to think of the Palm E as a midrange product, to me it is more of a high-low end product.

My HP3115 was $330 (on sale), so we are looking at about $90 price difference. For this I get the following advantages:

1. included WiFi
2. 8 hrs. of battery life (with WiFi), 10-12 without WiFi
3. The ability to play on device or wireless streamed movies or music, plus view pictures.
4. BT 1.2=wireless stereo headphones and seamless connectivity to my Motorola (always a problem with 1.1)

The screen size has never been a problem, and I think the image quality is at least comparable to the Palm.

Oh yeah, though there are very few of us, I happen to like the design of my rx3115.

[rob]

I'm glad to see the NVFS memory issues seem resolved. I was one of the lucky ones who got to deal with the 650 RAM issues. Awful!

But I did gain something like 5-6MB after the 1.08 ROM upgrade.