56 out of 56 people found this review helpful.
Palm Tungsten E2: "Momma's Little Helper"
Date of Review: Nov 21, 2005
The Bottom Line: still uses a note pad and pencil.
During the big Flood of 2005 which struck the isolated area of Central Virginia also know as My Basement , my wife lost a PDA (more specifically a Sony Clie (epinons keeps displaying the wrong charatcer for the accent mark) to the flood water. It had been in its box under her desk and was completely covered in water. So the insurance company replaced it with a Palm Tungsten E2 which was in essence, an upgrade for her. I borrowed it from her for the last few weeks to use for my business so I could decide if I wanted one for myself. I found that I like the little gadget and it is quite sufficient for my needs.
The Palm Tungsten E2
The device is a descendant of the Palm Pilot (one of the first original PDA devices) and functions very much like the original with many modifications and added functionality. The first thing I noticed was the nice large, color, LCD display. This device is much easier to read than the old Palm Pilot was and rivals my Compaq Pocket PC on many levels. My Pocket PC has decided it will no longer hold a charge and has been retired to the back of my desk drawer for some time now. The Palm Tungsten E2 is encased in a very nice looking compact stainless steel casing.
The Palm Tungsten E2 can play music from a memory card and videos downloaded from the web or your desktop PC. It has a touch screen interface that uses a stylus to input information and for navigation which is really easy to use. It also has Bluetooth connectivity for wireless connection to your computer and the Internet.
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Specifications and Features
Specifications
* Intel 200MHz processor (ARM-based)
* 32MB system memory (26MB available)
* Memory card slot for MultiMediaCard, SD and SDIO cards
* 320 x 320 Transflective TFT color display
* Built-in speaker
* 3.5mm Stereo headphone jack
* Rechargeable Lithium ion battery
* Size: 4.5 x 3.1 x .6
* Weight: 4.7oz.
Features
* Bluetooth manager
* Palm Desktop software for Windows and Mac
* VersaMail
* Web browser
* Outlook compatibility (Windows only)
* Calendar
* Contacts folder
* Task scheduler
* Adobe Acrobat reader for Palm OS
* DataVis Documents To Go Professional (compatible with Word, Excel and Powerpoint)
* Vinyl flip cover
* Real Player for Palm OS
* Software keyboard and number pad
In the box
* Palm Tungsten E2 handheld PDA
* 1 weighted stylus
* USB Sync cable with palmOne Multi-connector
* AC Power adapter
* Software installation CD
* Users manual
* Written limited warranty
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The meat and potatoes
This is a great little gadget for keeping track of your personal and business contacts. You can enter information with the stylus, beam the information in or out with infrared or download from your desktop or laptop using the HotSync cable. The Palm Tungsten E2 is compatible with Microsoft Outlook so you can Sync your schedule and tasks as well as your contacts.
You can also listen to music on an SD memory card in MP3 or RealPlayer format using the RealPlayer media player for Palm OS. You must however have a memory card in order to play music, you can not save music files on the system memory. You can save pictures on the system memory and even set them as the background for your display.
You can use the device to browse the Internet but you must have a GSM mobile phone with Bluetooth technology in order to do so. I do not have such an animal so I have not been able to browse the web with it yet.
It does allow you to HotSync your email folders in Outlook so you can read your email on the go. This is nice if you don t have time to read your email, you can download it to the device in seconds and read it later when you do have time.
The display is very nice and very easy to read documents on. It is full color and good enough resolution to display photographs with much detail. Once the device is trained to the way you use the stylus, you simply touch the application or item on the screen that you wish to open and it does. You can also adjust the brightness of the backlight for easier reading or to save battery life.
There is a main desktop where all your settings, utilities and programs are accessible from. This can be altered to show select types of icons like Utilities or Multimedia or Games or you can set it to All and it will display all icons. There are also four virtual desktops you can customize for your applications and things you use the most. Right now I only have a few things on the first desktop since I do not use it for much other than contacts and photos. There are eight slots on each virtual desktop for applications giving you a total of 32 application shortcuts.
It is also easy to create documents in Word format using the DataVis Documents To Go Professional software. You can use either the built in software keyboard and number pad or you can learn Palm s Graffiti 2 which is a kind of shorthand for the Palm devices. Graffiti 2 can be adjusted for your own style and is not too hard to learn but I prefer the stylus and software keyboard.
Personal Use
I have used the device for almost three weeks now, keeping my business contact information on it and for reading my email on the road. I transferred my entire contact folder to the device (about 220 contacts - names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers) and still have over half the memory left to work with. I also transferred several family photographs to the device as well.
I have also used the device for reading PDF files from my computer while out of my office. This is a nice feature because many of my customer prefer PDF format as opposed to Word or Word Perfect. I can copy the PDF files from my PC to my handheld and read them later when I have time. This would also be handy feature for Internet use if I was using it online.
When I am on the road and I meet a new contact it takes only a few seconds to enter their information into the device and then a few more to HotSync when I get home. This is much easier then writing it down or getting a business card that I may lose. If my contact has a PDA, it is much easier to just beam the information in a few seconds from their device to mine.
Speaking of losing things, this is my only concern with this device. It is so small and compact that I have occasionally left it at a customer s home or in a restaurant and had to run back and get it before my wife killed me. It is easy to misplace the Palm Tungsten E2 and hard to find it when you do.
I have used the device for more than 15 minutes at a time over serveral hours and not had the battery die on me. I keep it charged when I am home so I am not sure exactly how long it lasts but it last a long time.
Conclusion
The Palm Tungsten E2 is a great little helper when it comes to organizing your contact information and reading email on the go. It is also a nice gadget for internet on the run if you have a GSM phone. The insurance company paid $199 for the device but I have seen it online as low as $165 and that is a good deal for this device. I suppose now I will have to go buy my own because my wife keeps nagging me to give hers back. She calls it, Momma s Little Helper . I would be lying if I said I couldn t live without the device but it has made some things easier for me just as long as I don t lose the darn thing!
Thanks for reading,
Gr8ful :-)
