Palm Tungsten E2

A brilliant middle of the road choice!

Strengths: Excellent value for money, huge range of apps., intuitive interface, excellent color screen, lightweight and compact.

Weakness: Poor internal speaker (Who cares?? Get headphones.)

The palmOne Tungsten E2 is a superb PDA for those who require a wide range of functions beyond a basic calendar and contacts, but who are not looking for a ‘techie-extravaganza’ that will blow the socks off even the most jaded geeks. Having said that, the E2 is wicked cool and will raise eyebrows out of most technically adept members of the general public, while still leaving the user with an...
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The palmOne Tungsten E2 is a superb PDA for those who require a wide range of functions beyond a basic calendar and contacts, but who are not looking for a ‘techie-extravaganza’ that will blow the socks off even the most jaded geeks. Having said that, the E2 is wicked cool and will raise eyebrows out of most technically adept members of the general public, while still leaving the user with an intuitive enough interface to understand in only a few minutes.

One of the things that put me off a PDA for years was the need to learn that bizarre method of communication know as ‘graffiti’, which, for the uninitiated, is the method of writing characters on the PDA screen to enter data. Put simply, I hate graffiti…and luckily, you do not ever have to use it with new palmOne units. There is a convenient ‘keyboard’ option on screen that allows you to tap in letters using the stylus. Alternatively, you can also buy a wireless keyboard that permits simpler data entry.

The built in functions are great: the standard ‘tasks’, ‘calendar’ and ‘contacts’ are easy to use and the addition of an SD slot allows for adding a huge range of third party programs and for carrying loads of data. The standard package now includes DataViz Documents to Go which permits (almost) flawless transfer of even huge and complex Word and Excel documents. I use this routinely. There is also Adobe Acrobat Reader for PalmOS. The Real Player is also great and can be played while working on other applications, but get external headphones as the built-in speaker is hopeless.

It seems that holding a charge was an issue with the E model. Well, the gurus at palmOne seem to have cracked this one for the E2 as I go for almost two weeks without charging, and the flash memory is excellent, loosing nothing even if power runs out. Oh, and it charges in about thirty minutes!

In short, this was a tremendous purchase, and I am perhaps most pleased with the ‘value for money’ factor, as the unit has most of the functions I need from a laptop and cost about a 15% as much including accessories, and this is not even mentioning that the thing fits comfortably in my pocket, even inside the leather case I bought (also recommended).

By thelankyyankee - Jul 15, 2005

Beware... not compatible with all versions of Windows XP!

Strengths: Ease of use. Need a calendar (with reminders), address book, calculator, task manager, spread sheet, and word processor. It's here! Want to play a few games. It's covered.

Weakness: Compatability issues.

While I LOVE this PDA because it is a simple PIM with a nice look (color screen) and feel (nice small size). But be aware, even though the technical specifications state it is compatible with Windows XP. They will not support it with all versions of Windows XP. I did not find this out until I bought a new computer 33 days after I bought the E2. I could not get the device to work with the new...
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While I LOVE this PDA because it is a simple PIM with a nice look (color screen) and feel (nice small size). But be aware, even though the technical specifications state it is compatible with Windows XP. They will not support it with all versions of Windows XP. I did not find this out until I bought a new computer 33 days after I bought the E2. I could not get the device to work with the new computer which has Windows XP Media Center Edition. When I searched for help in Palm's tech support I found a statement saying they would not support the device if used with Windows XP Media Center Edition. It has taken a complaint to my states consumer protection board to get the company to refund my money.

I gave the device one star because it will not work with all versions of Windows XP and the company does not warn you of this in the technical specifications for this device.

By PR117 - Jun 21, 2006

This unit is ideal for people who...

Strengths: Low price, good display, excellent battery life, comes with Documents to Go 7.

Weakness: Uses the same cheap-looking case as the Tungsten E, no Wi-fi, slows down a bit when running processor-intensive programs.

This unit is ideal for people who want a PalmOne business-oriented handheld, but don't want to pay extra for the Tungsten T5. With this model, PalmOne has taken the Tungsten E, improved the display and processor, and extended the battery life while also adding Bluetooth. The main drawbacks are that PalmOne still uses the same cheap plastic case as the Tungsten E, which smudges easily, and the...
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This unit is ideal for people who want a PalmOne business-oriented handheld, but don't want to pay extra for the Tungsten T5. With this model, PalmOne has taken the Tungsten E, improved the display and processor, and extended the battery life while also adding Bluetooth. The main drawbacks are that PalmOne still uses the same cheap plastic case as the Tungsten E, which smudges easily, and the processor is still nowhere near as fast as on more advanced units. However, if you don't plan on running any graphics intensive programs, and you don't need the larger screen on the Tungsten T5, then this unit is your best bet.

By TBryan76 - May 13, 2005

If you want an affortable, sleek...

Strengths: High resolution screen. Sleak outlook. Affortable. Compare with old model Tungsten E, also support Bluetooth & Connector.

Weakness: Although you can expand memory using SD card, but some popular software only allow to synchronize content into memory which is 32M, sometimes, it's just not enough.

If you want an affortable, sleek PDA, Tungsten E2 is one of the best choices. It also supports PDF, Microsoft Words, Microsoft Excels and capable to synchronize with Microsoft Outlook. Just fatastic. I am also use free Plucker to syncrhonize daily news and read offline. It also supports all kinds of games, mp3,movie players. It's just like a handheld PC. Must buy.

By samjoe9999 - Jun 11, 2005

I already had a very old school...

Strengths: Sleek design, easy to navigate, fast hotsync, no cradle needed to sync. Lots of great free software on installation CD. Fast.

Weakness: Horrible cover that comes with it -- it doesn't stay shut.

I already had a very old school Palm 3xe that broke so I decided to do a major upgrade. The Palm T E2 is awesome compared to my old black and white palm. It's fast, it has a great color screen. It was easy to install and it comes with a rechargable battery. The biggest disappointment is the cover that comes with it. It's ridiculous how flimsy and useless it is to protecting the Palm's screen. I...
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I already had a very old school Palm 3xe that broke so I decided to do a major upgrade. The Palm T E2 is awesome compared to my old black and white palm. It's fast, it has a great color screen. It was easy to install and it comes with a rechargable battery. The biggest disappointment is the cover that comes with it. It's ridiculous how flimsy and useless it is to protecting the Palm's screen. I guess they want you to buy the accessories.

By ltsang - Jun 9, 2005