Palm Tungsten™ E Handheld

Pros: Color screen, plenty of features. Best selection between bottom and top of the line handheld.
Cons: Still a tad bit pricey for middle of the line.

The palmOne Tungsten E handheld is a great handheld for the value. If you want more than the bottom line, but do not need or want the top of the line then this one is for you. I have used a bottom of the line Palm handheld M100 for years. It served me well, but the Tungsten E was something to get excited about in terms of the functionality you get for the price. I ended up getting one for my wife who really wanted one but wanted it to be simple to use, have a color screen, and let here have the features she needed. It had all that and more. Anything better costs at least another $100 for not that great of an advantage.

Pros: size, screen resolution, price, battery life
Cons: new graffiti system, no wireless capability

I loved the m515 for it's size, style, and function but I wanted to get a newer model with a better screen and better capabilities. The Tungsten E was PERFECT! Buy an "open box" unit from the palmOne store online for $160 and get a free hard case included. A deal!

Pros: Price, Screen, Style
Cons: Battery, Software, No Dock

I bought this unit to replace my Dell Axim PDA. When I switched to a MAC I could not sync. After further research I could have gotten software to allow for that, oh well.

Anyway, I decided on this unit because of the price and the screen. The price is great for what you get and the screen looks fantastic. It is clear and smooth for writing.

What I do not like is the lack of a docking station option, which I did not realize to after the purchase. I also did not like the battery life of the unit. The unit seemed to burn down very quickly. So in light of that, that led to another issue.

I had to reset the unit to often. If the battery got to low the unit would do nothing unless I held in the reset button.

For MAC users, I did not like the way this PDA synced with the system. There were errors and multiple entries all the time.

Needless to say I got rid of it and have not purchased anything since. I will switch back to a Pocket PC system when they are better supported on a MAC.

Pros: Lovely display, nice color, looks sleek if that is what counts.
Cons: Has "eaten" my calendar four times in seven months. Customer support is insufferable and unknowledgeable.

After using old Palm III with great success and reading such raves about the Tungsten E, I foolishly plunked down $200. What a mistake! I wish I had bought an old-fashioned calendar and address book. Within 6 weeks, the T-E crashed my calendar. It has "eaten" my calendar four times in seven months. The customer support in the Phillipines is insufferable, unknowledgable and didn't fix the problem. The on-line troubleshooting is almost worthless. The directories this machine is writing are looping. I will never, never buy another Palm product.

Pros: On-board memory capacity, memory card slot, ease of use, reliability
Cons: MP3 sound quality could be a bit better, but this is a PDA

My Tungsten E was an upgrade to my Palm V and what a world of difference! This unit has been very reliable and is trusted every day. I bought a memory card and loaded a ton of music on to it - the sound isn't i-Pod quality, but works fine. I toss it into my cycling pack and ride miles and miles listening to my favorite tunes. A stop at Starbucks and I play a game or two, then use the phone book to make a few calls. I keep everything on on my PDA, and there's plenty of room for more. I've had mine over a year and zero problems so far. I keep it in a hard aluminum case because I can be hard on my equipment (crashing my mountain bike with the PDA in my pack has not hurt the PDA any - my bones are a different story).

Pros: color
Cons: battery, on/off button, life expectancy

The Tungsten E worked great for me for 12 months. As others mentioned, the battery isn't great, but I don't travel much so I could live with it.

Then the on/off button stopped working. Then it just DIED.

$150 for a year isn't bad, but it isn't great!

Pros: similar to Palm Vx, color screen is great
Cons: No sync cradle

I upgraded to a Tungsten E from a Palm Vx based on reviews that the E is most like a evolutionary Vx. I'm very impressed with the color screen. I like the idea of a card slot. I'm not impressed with the lack of a sync cradle. I'm know faced with jury-rigging a cardboard & duct tape prop (or maybe something out of wood). I'm left handed, so I really liked the Vx ambidextrous stylus ands cover option. On the Vx, I put the stylus on the left side and the cover on the right. Graffiti 2 seems to be biased towards right-handers also.

Pros: Long battery life, big color screen for photos, same great palm platform
Cons: none.

The new Palm Tunsten E2 will not disappoint you. Unlike the previous model, the E2 version has a LONG battery life (I had not charged it for 2 weeks and it was still half charged). The design and ease of use are great, and the big color screen is great for photos etc. The Palm platform is the same, but with all the additional features (photo, video, music, bluetooth, web etc.).

For the price, I highly recommend it.

Pros: Low priced, ARM processor, MP3 and video capabilities, SD expansion slot
Cons: You can´t use other type of expansion cards like bluetooth or WiFi cards

It has great looking, a 64 bit 320 X 320 screen, a powerful ARM processor of 126 Mhz, MP3 and video capabilities, an SD card slot for memory expansion, you probably wouldn´t be able to use other type of expansion cards like bluetooth card or WiFi card, no modem available.

Pros: An excellent balance of lots of things
Cons: None at all

We have about a dozen different models of Palm PDA's in our labs which we use for compatability testing. So, I have seen lots of different models, each with their own strong points and weaknesses.

The Tungsten E is by far my most favorite Palm PDA. It's a good price, the unit is extremely solid and reliable. The double density screen is nice and bright. I really love the case - I think it's plastic, but it has the feel and look of stainless steel.

With PDA's you really have lots of tradeoffs. It's a pretty small unit and can easily fit in my pocket. there are some things that are missing from this unit, but I think most people don't even notice. No Bluetooth, no camera, no sliding larger screen like the T3. But each of these features has a disadvantage to it and I am glad to not have them. And, of course the price is lower thanks to that.

The amount of memory is ample for normal productivity use and the processor is quite speedy.

This is a unit we recommend to all our customers looking for a straightforward, no-nonsense PDA.

Pros: Cheap, small, compatible
Cons: I have troubles writing in writing area. Broke really quickly

Mine broke (System Sound) within a month. Palm warranty is not very good (They charge 39.99 for an exchange under warranty).

Pros: Nice looking display.
Cons: Poor quality. Defective units returned for repair are not fixed!

Out of the box the Task Key was intermittent. Called tech support (NOT toll free) and talked with someone in India. Explained problem (several times) and then received an email two days later with instructions to return it for repair. Received it back with not only the same problem but now two buttons are intermittent. Very disappointed with the product quality and poor customer service. Look elsewhere.

Pros: Everything works wonderfully. The color is awesome and I love how things go.
Cons: No travel charger! No tech support when you live in another country because of military

The unit is great. I have no problem with it for the most part. My problem is with Palm itself. I have tried for almost 2 months to correct a problem. I live overseas with the military and they refuse to fix the problem or even to call me back. Both European Palm AND the USA Palm say it the others fault. I would NEVER buy a Palm product again and am considering the next step to make sure no other service members get treated this way!