Now that the new is wearing off...

[pixelator]

I'm a bit stuck on the following problems with the otherwise-excellent Genio-e that I wish Toshiba/Audiovox would address:

* Poor battery life - Seems most people get no better than 2-4 hours with casual to moderate use. Not good.

* Poor expansion battery - Apparently the expensive $119 battery pack adds an underwhelming 1-1.5 hours to the already disappointing battery runtime.

* Screen dust - Both my e550G devices have had moderate dust under the screen. From what I can tell, it accumulates rather quickly.

* Buttons - The gaming experience is definitely impacted by the recessed buttons. I've even considered supergluing some small silver pads to the buttons. The small d-pad is also far from optimal. Diagonals are hard to produce in some games like 1942 and Siberian Strike X. I've decided the flat disc is the best d-pad for this kind of gaming, yet the rounded nub is better for straight directions like Pac Man.

* Screen Brightness - The auto dimming is infuriating and I suspect masks a battery runtime that would, if not for this 'feature' be about the same as the infamous Maestro. The quality of the display is pretty decent, but I still wish it was transflective. The size makes up for some of that.

* Keyboard - Where is it? I don't want the ugly Audiovox one with the massive gap in the middle, either.

* XScale - I have yet to find any function that doesn't run SLOWER on my Toshiba than on my Maestro. That's pretty bad.

...Other observations?

b

[PDA_Guy]

That seems to cover it pretty nicely!

[toshtosh]

That's a pretty rough review Pix. You would be equally frustrated with the e740's bad gaming. Maybe you should sell/return and wait for the Dell?

[Ainvar-X]

Yeah the battery life does suck, even when I run it in 200mhz mode.

I read an ebook and it wants to flip through pages randomly when I want to just go to the next page.

The d-pad and buttons are a little cumbersome, even when coming from an iPAQ 3835. Why can't these companies get it through there head and listen to the public who pads there pockets with money.

Audiovox CS is also very rude, they try to talk to you like they actually know what they are talking about and then switch to user mode when you blow them out of the water with actual computer terms and quips.

I think this is one awesome PDA, but the new is wearing off and I am starting to think that this PDA is going to the girlfriend and I take my trusty iPAQ 3835 back.

My $0.02 on this

[PDA_Guy]

Anymore, I am starting to think that an abacus might be a better solution than some of the stuff the manufacturers have been putting out!

At least it gets great battery life.