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Palm Tungsten E

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Palm Tungsten E Review

A bright screen and a bunch of software sweeten the deal on this entry-level business Palm.

PalmOne's Tungsten line is aimed at business users, and at $199, the E model is the least expensive Tungsten available, with the fewest frills. It doesn't have an expandable screen like the Tungsten T, or wireless connectivity and a thumb keyboard like the Tungsten C. But it shares with its siblings a bright, very high resolution screen. Photos we viewed on the Tungsten E showed exceptional detail and appealing color, and text was quite easy to read.

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For business users, PalmOne has bundled a full version of DataViz's Documents to Go, which lets you create and edit documents and spreadsheets that are compatible with Microsoft Word and Excel. Its calculator has presets for figuring out taxes, profit margins, markup percentages, and more. For personal use there's a basic money-management app as well as Palm's standard expense tracker; Real's MP3 player; and Kinoma Producer and Player, for converting and viewing digital media files. PalmOne has also bundled some games and a personal database application from Handmark.

A small speaker on the back of the Tungsten E produces pretty good volume and tinny but clear fidelity. Music sounds tolerable through it, though it's a meager substitute for a good pair of headphones, which are not included. The Tungsten E has no microphone, so it can't be used for recording voice memos.

In our informal tests, the Tungsten E's battery drained with just a few hours of moderate use. You can, however, lower the screen's brightness by tapping the tiny sunburst icon in the input window, which should help preserve battery life. In addition, the Power preferences let you control how quickly the E powers down when not in use, and you can turn off the infrared beaming.

PalmOne offers only a 90-day warranty for the Tungsten E, and free phone support ends when the warranty period ends. The support phone line isn't toll-free, either. For a product intended for business use, this seems pretty skimpy.

Upshot: If you don't require wireless connectivity or voice recording, this reasonably priced Palm will serve your needs.

Rebecca Freed

User Reviews for Palm Tungsten E

Reviewed by: coolvarma

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: Bright color screen, MP3, Infrared, Sleek steel look, sd card slot, in-built speaker, password protected, low $$$.

Weaknesses: No Blue tooth, Ofcourse Weeeak built-in battery, No Camera, No cradle.

Overall Evaluation: Why did I buy Palm Tungsten E? Had Sharp organizer (with key board same size as palm E), it was very good. Sharp is not manufacturing it anymore so looked out for PDA's. Palm E is my first PDA style organizer. Got for $105 including leather case, car & USB chargers at Sams club. How does it Work: Works very good. I like Word-to-go, Excel sheet colors, bright color visible in sunlight. Most often I use it for calander, memo section and 'contacts' . The format - display of contacts is not that good. Wireless transfers: No blue tooth but my cell phone has infrared also. So I can transfer images, small audio-video files, without cables easily (even though it takes a couple of minutes). MP3-Audio-Video: Sound quality of Mono-Speaker is okay. Sound quality of Stereo-headphones is GOOD :). Downloaded kinoma video player but not all files can be played. Stores upto 1 gb in SD card. Did not try 2gb SD cards yet.Internet Browsing: Downloaded Avantgo for browsing day-to-day web pages. But am not impressed with display of pages. Also since I store email passwords etc, in my E, I don't feel secure doing a hot sync (downloads) through LIVE websites. Try high end -more$$$- PDA's for browsing internet.Last but not the least: Mr.Battery is non removable. Charges quickly and looses power at the same rate..quickly. But my car charger (got as part of package) and USB charger (charge from office desktop!!) do some compensation. GPS-Navigation: Not Compatable. Rich or hi-fi people can look out for PDA that is compatable with Navigation or GPS devices like tomtom such as Palm LifeDrive etc. Also, I can dial my cell phone from a distance of about 10 feet using "phone-dialer" in E. Exciting right! But its useless.Battery is the main weakness. Others are perfect.You may also consider taking 1 yr extra-warranty (for $5-10 more at wholesale clubs, and about $20 at retailers like Bestbuy, CC). happy hunting.I definately recommend for casual, first-time users,daily users in low budget. If you get Palm Tungsten E2 for almost same price as E, then go for it since its somewhat tomtom capable, has bluetooth and has Intel processor inside.
Reviewed by: spnihongo

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: Love the color screen, the jammed pack-full software, and its ability to customize menus. Easy to use.

Weaknesses: Battery life is short! No battery to remove/recharge.

Overall Evaluation: I have used the Tungsten E for well over a year now. For years I lugged around a heavy planner. For those of you who need an affordable and convenient organizer, the TE is the PDA to use. You can hotsync your PDA with Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, use the Calendar, keep track of your daily contacts, and other features. You can read e-books, listen to music, look at your photos, and download third party applications (look at the specs carefully, though!). You can do email but I didn't use that.One annoyance is the location of the power cord. I use a PDA keyboard and I have difficulty placing my PDA vertically on the keyboard. Battery life is a definite problem--the Tungsten E is a good model for those who are near a power source a lot (I am). For those who travel I would recommend a different model.But if you are looking for a cheap PDA with a huge number of features, then the TE is for you.

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