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PalmOne Tungsten E Handheld

PalmOne Tungsten E Handheld

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Handheld is pretty good, Palm Support stinks like a wet dog
Review: The handheld itself is great. I upgraded from a Palm m100. The color screen is beautiful and the bundled software is a nice feature. My only complaint with the device is that it seems to transfer data to the SD slot slowly. I've tried transferring some MP3s to the card and it takes FOREVER! The sync typically fails if I try to sync more than two songs at a time. With a 128MB card, the idea of synching up 20 times to fill up the card with music doesn't appeal to me.

For adventures in customer support with Palm, read on. Bottom line, limited technical support from Palm has made me regret my purchase of the Tungsten E.

I purchased my Tungsten E from Amazon in October, 2003. No problems there. In January of 2004, the handheld kept turning itself on for no apparent reason. To my intense displeasure, I found out that Palm cuts of telephone support for the Tungsten E at 90 days. After that, you have to pay about $25 US per call.

Obviously, if you're buying an E, you're concerned about your budget. As a result, there is no way that I'm going to pay 1/8th of the cost of the handheld to call them when their product malfunctions. After three email exchanges with Palm Support, my issue still hasn't been resolved. I've had to perform a few hard resets (hold down the power button and hit the reset button in the back to perform a hard reset) to no avail.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Thanks Palm!
Review: T|E is an excellent device with minor problems. For the price its a bargain and will ensure Palm's market share stays high.

Pro's,
1. Its a Palm, with the latest version of Palm OS.
2. Looks good and feels solid in hand.
3. Superb screen and extremely clear.
4. mp3 playback is very good.
5. Uses standard mini USB jack, not propreitary Palm connector.
6. Fast performance. Don't compare raw MHz between PDA's, this one's faster than 400MHz PPC's.
7. About 28MB is available memory, which is a lot for a Palm.
8. Good software bundle and stable OS.
9. Speaker is - suprisingly - good at playing mp3's (64kpbs sounds great).
10. Flip lid and a screen protector are in the box. (I don't buy a PDA without flip)
11. Stylus is superb, thick/heavy/shinning metal.

Con's,
1. Down button is hard to press, ironically that's the most used button on T|E. The 5 way navigator is poorly designed and cheap plastic.
2. Size is bigger than some other handhelds like Clie SJ20.
3. Case is slippery and tough to keep clean.
4. Thread on included flip cover scratches T|E at the top easily.
5. Battery life is just like Pocket PC's, needs charging frequently.
6. Included charger is not a world charger and is bulky.
7. No bluetooth or Wifi but atleast it has SDIO slot (poor Clie fans have to put up with propreitary memory stink slot).
8. Weak alarm sounds (think this can be fixed?) and no vibrate only mode.
9. Packaging in plastic box is tough to open and not eco friendly.
10. Battery is not user replaceable. (dead Palm after 2 years?)

Most of the minor issues with T|E will go away if you spend double and get a T|T3. Overall this is a great Palm at affordable price. Thanks Palm!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: $198 down the drain
Review: I bought mine in November, 2003. It was okay. Anyway, in March, 2004 it died, dead, totally unrevivable. Unfortunately, it comes only with a 90-day warranty, so to repair it would cost $125 plus s/h. I might as well buy a new PDA for that money. So... consider buying an extended warranty if you really have to have one of these things.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Support stinks!
Review: This is a follow-up of my prior review. I have received a replacement product (not new as was mine) and it does work for now. I asked that they simply replace the Velcro strip on the back of the case since it can't be purchased from them on-line. After 3 calls to support, they refuse to help me with this 10 cent part. I've never been so frustrated with a product in my life. I'd think twice before you buy a Palm product.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: fatal flaw
Review: I bought this fully aware that the batteries cannot be replaced by the owner - you have to mail it to Palm, who for a mere $125 will replace it. But I figured the battery would last a long time. Wrong. It lasted four months, then died. I'd say that is a fatal flaw.

The competition lets you put in a new battery yourself, so I'd recommend looking into some other product that lets you do that.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: not the best PDA, but a good buy for the price
Review: I've had my Palm Tungsten E for 6 months now. I gave it 3 stars, because it's worked as expected and an average PDA. Unlike some other reviewers, the battery still lasts a long time, I am able to sync without any problems, and haven't had to call Palm support with any problems with my Palm unit.

here are my pro's and con's:

Pro's:
1) it's as thin as my old Palm V.
2) the screen is incredibly bright (I have it on the lowest brightness setting).
3) it feels solid.
4) it uses a standard mini USB jack, not proprietary Palm connector.
5) stylus has some weight to it.

Con's:
1) the screen will scratch fairly easily. Be sure to use a screen protector.
2) the stylus is tiny, thus difficult to hold.
3) the middle button on the 5 way navigator doesn't always work. I have to tap it a couple of times or use the stylus.
4) no silent alarm or customized alarm sounds.
5) power button is not easy to press (although this might be a pro since it's not easily turned on, wasting battery life).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Two models dead and counting
Review: I was very dissapointed to read the rest of the reviews, as I thought that maybe I had just had a bad run. The Palm was bought for me as a Christmas gift 2003 (with an extended warranty). After 2 days, before I even got a chance to successfully upload the software onto the Palm, it froze and squealed. I had to wait for the battery to drain to turn it off.
The retailer was very good and got me a brand new one pretty much straight away. All was good for a while, then the battery started to drain quickly. Now it won't turn on at all. This happened a couple of months ago BTW. After reading the rest of these reviews, I don't even think I'll even bother. April 2004

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: you pays your money and you takes your chances
Review: There are a lot of reviews accumulating for the Tungsten E, and I agree with most of them. Palm (or now PalmOne) seems to have picked the right spot in the market and hit it pretty well. The Tungsten E is not too expensive, has all the basic functions I wanted in a PDA, and not a lot of frills (except the MP3 player, which was actually what I was looking for when I decided to upgrade my old Vx).

This accounts for the favorable ratings in reviews based on its feature set. While my Tungsten E worked, it worked quite well. Even features I hadn't really been looking for (high resolution color screen, Excel and Word compatibility) were proving pretty useful. It had enough memory to easily accomodate a full collegiate dictionary (I used one from PocketLingo). IR beaming to my Win2K laptop became smoother, which is really handy for transferring individual files without HotSyncing. (It's possible with the Vx, but seems to require tricking the Palm into revealing its presence first.)

Reliability problems started appearing even before the end of the dismally short 90 day warranty.
*The unit would emit an audible whine sometimes while on. Other users have apparently had similar problems with this and other Tungsten models. It seems to be an issue with the display electronics. One side of the display would also sometimes flicker. In my case the problem wasn't severe, and I didn't do anything about it.
*The speaker quit working within about a week, and would come and go intermittently. This was a big problem since it meant alarms didn't sound. Since Amazon's 30 day return period was still in effect and I'd had previous experience with Palm's customer support, I exchanged it through Amazon (whose service was faultless). The problem returned with the exchanged unit after about another week. A little inspection reveals that the speaker is mounted on the back cover of the Palm, and has bare contacts that press against traces on the motherboard when the cover is closed. Apparently the minor stresses of carrying the Palm in my pocket were enough to result in poor electrical contact. Opening and closing the case would restore sound temporarily. Sometimes I could just press on back of the case where the speaker was located, but the problem always came back. I decided to fix this one myself, and soldered a proper electrical connection in place. This fixed the problem and the unit operated well for another 3 months. Draw your own conclusions as to the wisdom of this repair. It was made with usual attention to ESD and thermal sensitivity of the electronics.
*Yesterday the unit died in its sleep. It worked fine when I checked some information in an e-mail. A couple of hours later it wouldn't turn on, respond to any buttons, re-insertion of my SD card, or soft or hard resets. It is now a month out of warranty. PalmOne lists charges of around $125 for service and $40 for an advance replacement unit, which are out of the question given its original price.

Unfortunately Palm has an established history of poor hardware reliability and intolerable customer service. The Vx was teriffic in my experience, except for a faulty power button. Three years ago I returned my Vx under warranty because of the power button, and the new unit developed the same problem, exactly the same dismaying pattern as with the speaker on my Tungsten E.

Despite the many great features of their products, it seems they just can't get everything right at once. The problem is, from reading reviews of their competitors, the other options may not be any better. My wife has had a Tungsten E for about 3 months and hasn't had the speaker problem (though her screen does whine). An extended warranty is a good thing to consider with this PDA. As of this writing, the extended warranty link on the PalmOne support website is broken, so I give up.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What is it good for when it breaks down?
Review: Like many of you, over the years I've bought many electronic products. But not one of them broke down within 6 months of use except this palm Tungsten E. When I originally made my decision to buy this model, I liked the look, design and expected a lot from this little handheld computer. But little did I pay any attention to the warranty. IT IS THE ONLY TUNGSTEN THAT HAS 90 DAYS WARRANTY. Other models all have 1 year. Pretty smart Palm! Obviously they figured out this one can't last long.

Ok, about the problem. It won't turn on any more, no matter what you do, soft reset, hard reset, etc. I figure it's either the power switch or the screen. But would you pay more than half the price to get it fixed and patentially have the same problem happen again?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tungsten E Review
Review: I have had this handheld since Christmas (That would be about 5 months) and I must say it is the best handheld I have owned, and does everything I wanted and more. I have owned a Sony SJ-20 and a Treo 90, and the Tungsten E tops them all. For the small price tag, you get a handheld packed full of features. You can play NES, Sega Genesis, Sega Gamegear, and Gameboy/Color/Advance games, listen to Mp3, OGG Vorbis, and Wave files, create and edit Word/Powerpoint/Excel files, watch movies, and organize your life in one small packages. Although there is no WiFi, Bluetooth, camera or voice recorder, it still remains unbeatable at it's price range, and I whole heartedlly recommend this handheld to anyone interested in the above mentioned things.
J-Shep


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