Palm's Tungsten E is a low-cost PDA with high-end features, offering great tools for business users and consumers in robustly-designed hardware. There's no Bluetooth or WiFi built-in, but the Tungsten E is a great device for those who want more power than Palm's Zire provides, but without the expense of the Tungsten T3 or Tungsten C.

Pros: SDIO support; excellent screen; plenty of useful software
Cons: No built-in wireless; no docking cradle; poor battery life


The shiny silver Tungsten E is a light, well-specified PDA that should appeal to both business users and consumers alike. It's priced to attract both of these types of users, especially those who have not used a PDA before, but Palm is primarily targeting business users who don't need to access corporate intranets or pick up e-mail on the move.

The front of the device accommodates four hardware buttons just below the screen, two of which are placed on either side of the new square five-way navigational button. The buttons can be used to launch the main built-in applications (Calendar, Contacts, Memos and Tasks), or they can be reprogrammed to open other applications. The stylus is stored in a recess on the right of the device, and the left side has a recess for the supplied flip cover. A single SD/MMC expansion slot, infrared port, headphone jack and power button, are all located on the top of the device.

The base specifications are mostly very strong for an entry-level PDA. The processor isn't the fastest available, but it's perfectly adequate for most tasks, and the 32MB of RAM (28.3MB is available) can be augmented by a single SD/MMC card slot which supports SDIO. The ability to access SDIO cards means you can add hardware-based peripherals, including Bluetooth or 802.11x - if you need to.

The Tungsten E's transflective screen is sharp and offers a resolution of 320x320 pixels (65,000 colours), which is more that enough for looking at images using the supplied Palm Photos software, or videos (AVI, DV, MPEG-1, MPEG-4 and Quicktime) using Kinoma player - once they've been converted to its proprietary format. Palm also provides RealOne Player audio software for playing MP3 and Real Media files. Business users will appreciate the copy of Documents To Go Professional Edition that comes pre-installed on the device, which can be used to view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents on the handheld. Mobile communications are catered for with VersaMail, a software utility that lets you read e-mails via a wired synchronisation or, if you use the Tungsten E in conjunction with a mobile communications device, via the Internet.

Multiple appointments can now be beamed to other Palm users with a single command, and you can schedule events that last past midnight. Contact information has been made more accommodating, allowing you to include multiple contact addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses, as well as Instant Messaging IDs, Web site addresses and birthdays. Tasks and alarms can be repeated for reoccurring assignments and memos and notes allow you to enter more information per file.

The Tungsten E runs Palm OS 5.2.1, which has been tweaked slightly and now adds a few extra features to Palm's core software. There are, for example, more fields in the Contact database allowing for better synchronisation with Microsoft's Outlook, and a new view in the calendar which summarises the day's appointments, upcoming tasks and unread e-mail messages.

The device ships without a docking cradle, but comes instead with just a cable for sharing information with your PC. A flip cover that protects the screen is also provided. You can expect a battery life of around 4 hours of average use, which is relatively poor compared to other Palm devices, but is probably fine if you are able to recharge daily and don't need to listen to a lot of MP3s during each day. A small speaker and a stereo headset jack are built-in, but no headset is provided.

Consumers looking for a more powerful device for multimedia use should look at the Tungsten T3, whereas those looking for built-in wireless capabilities and an integrated keyboard should look at the Tungsten C.

Specifications:
Size: 114x79x12mm
Weight: 131g
OS: Palm OS 5.2.1
Processor: 126MHz Texas Instruments OMAP311 ARM
Memory: 32MB (28.3MB available)
Display: 320x320-pixels TFT
Battery: Lithium-Ion
Interfaces: SD/MMC, infrared

Links:
Palm Tungsten E Web site

BIOS, Oct 14, 03 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In PDA