Tungsten E

The looks of the $200 Tungsten E makes one nostalgic for the days when the Palm V came onto the scene as the first truly stylish PDA. While that device represented the high-end of its day, the Tungsten E, which is still a relatively powerful handheld by today's standards, is aimed at those who don't want to pay a premium.

With the Tungsten E, Palm has opted to run Palm OS 5.2 on a 126MHz TI OMAP processor with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. While not the fasted processor around, applications still ran smoothly during testing. The device also has a good amount of memory (32MB of RAM of which 28.3MB are available to the user) and like the other handhelds in the Tungsten series, Palm's 5-way navigator for one-handed operation. It also has the same excellent 320x320 resolution and 65,000 color display found in the Tungsten C and Zire 71.


Tungsten E

The thin and light weight Tungsten E weighs 4.6 ounces and measures 4.5 x 3.1 x 0.5 inches. It has a SDIO enabled Secure Digital slot for memory expansion and peripherals, the ability to play MP3s in stereo via headphones (not included), and play video via Kinoma Player just like the Tungsten T3. Like with the T3, MP3s must be played off of a memory card and not in RAM. Of course, SD cards currently go up to 512MB, which holds a lot of music.

The only wireless connectivity the Tungsten E has is infrared. This may be a limitation for some users, as Bluetooth is becoming more prevalent in other handhelds and peripherals. This is not the device to get if you want to use a Bluetooth-enabled phone to surf the Web and check your email with your handheld.

Two application buttons rest on either side of the 5-way navigation pad at the bottom of the unit just bellow the Graffiti area. These buttons are programmable like with the Tungsten T3. The SD slot is at the upper top left of the device, while the headphone jack is towards the right top and the power button and stylus silo are a little further over to the right. The built-in speaker is on the upper back of the Tungsten E.

Since no cradle is bundled with unit, an included USB sync cable gets plugged in at the bottom, along with a separate power cord. This also means the device lacks the Palm Universal Connector, so the plethora of Palm peripherals designed for the Universal Connector won't work with the Tungsten E. Palm has, however, released a Wireless Keyboard that works with the all Palm branded PDAs, including those without Universal Connectors.

Applications

Significantly, Palm has improved the T3's and the Tungsten E's core applications and Personal information management software. There is now a new agenda view that shows future appointments and daily tasks, as well as color-coded calendar options, similar to what third party applications, such as Agendas, have been offering for years with icons.

As for scheduling, users can now beam multiple appointments with a single command, schedule events that last past midnight and view location details. Additional contact data includes support for more multiple contact addresses, more phone numbers and email addresses, instant-messaging IDs, Web site addresses and birthdays.

Other features include repeating tasks and alarms for easier scheduling of Tasks for recurring assignments and chores, as well as larger memos and notes, something Palm users have long waited for.

The bundled Documents to Go 6 Professional Edition from DataViz delivers native Excel and Word document support, which means you can directly view and edit those types of files on your handheld, such as those that arrive in email as attachments and are transferred from a PC.

Other preloaded applications include the latest version of Kinoma Video and Palm Photos. The handhelds also feature IBM's WebSphere Micro Environment for running J2ME applications. Kinoma Producer lets you convert AVI, DV, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, and Quicktime video for viewing with the Kinoma Player on the handhelds.

The Tungsten E offers one of the best values in the Palm OS world. The lack of wireless connectivity could be a deal breaker form some though. And not having a cradle may save money on the cost of the unit, but it sure isn't convenient.