Palm Tungsten E2 Handheld
by Palm
|
List Price: Our Price: $214.49 You Save: $62.70 (23%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $40.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Palm Tungsten E2 Handheld
Customer Review: Great Device... HORRIBLE RELIABILITY
Summary: 1 Stars
I am a very busy facility manager, and I need the Palm operating system (OS). I believe the Palm OS is superior to any other PDA OS, and I do not have the time to learn something else. This product is exactly what I need badly, but it is just too expensive to only last from 6 to 18 months. I am painfully aware of this because my fifth (5th) one of these (always purchased new) just quit.
I do not abuse these units! I keep them from moisture, shock, and vibration. All I do is use them gently, a lot. Most of the failures have been related to the beeper which I rely on as a meeting or deadline reminder. Other failures have been battery related. The latest failure is the centering procedure for the stylus operation being off ¼" too high on the display no matter what I do making the alpha-numeric touch screen function impossible to access.
If this product cost less than $50.00 knowing it will only last for months not years, I may again consider it. I guess I am saying it is cheap junk only worth $50.00 at retail.
I seriously considered some of the Sharp and Casio models, but I need a program like Documents-to-Go so I can upload my large database of Excel notes which I can search while away from my office. I wound up purchasing a "like new" Handspring Visor Prism for just over $100.00.
If anyone knows of a (reliable) color PDA that runs the latest Palm OS, and is not expensive, please post or comment to this message. This information would not only help myself, but many others...
By the way, I would not recommend wasting your good money on this unit!
Customer Review: Buyer beware, this unit is sold "as is"
Summary: 2 Stars
The short of it is that Palm has no functional customer service. If you choose to buy a Palm product, you are buying it "as is", that is you should not expect Palm to take care of any manufacturing defects in in a timely manner - if at all.
The long version: I'll admit I'm something of a troglodyte, I bought the Tungsten E2 as an upgrade from my ~6 year old Handspring Visor. And since that old relic was adequate for my needs, I figured the E2 would be everything I might need / want plus the luxury of flash memory, a color screen and expandable memory. And, for the most part, I was not disappointed.
Except - I noticed from the beginning that the headphone jack seemed a little wobbly, not that this was a huge concern since I didn't use it very often. However after about a month and a half of intermittent use, it finely broke. I called Palm and they told me that the repair would take "5 to 7 business days". If I knew then what I know now I would have just blown it off, and never bothered with trying to get it repaired.
I was stupid, I took Palm's word that it could be fixed within a couple of weeks and sent it in. Palm has had my E2 for over a month now and while the nice representatives in India have informed that "it should arrive later this week" for the past three weeks, it hasn't actually been shipped yet.
Bottom line, to me, the Tungsten E2 is a great machine, but if it breaks, you're on your own. Unless you can live without it for a month or more, don't bother with Palm repair - you're better off just buying a new unit.
Customer Review: Don't get an E2 - they self destruct
Summary: 1 Stars
I had a seven year old m500 whose battery, and replacement battery, bit the dust. I've had Palms since the Palm III days. They've worked just fine, although dropping one and breaking a screen has never been pleasant.
However, the two E2's I've had show all the signs of rotten engineering. The first one ran for 85 days - then, the digitizer went nuts. Horizontal lines drawn across the screen went up, down, sideways, and you name it. The effect was especially notable on the writing area: the "menu" button could not be touched and the "home" button was, effectively, displaced to the very bottom of the screen. Digitizer calibration did not succeed, although, if, in the calibration attempt, one touches points offset from the correct points, a calibration would "succeed" - but the distortion on the touchscreen was obvious.
I called Palm support and they sent me a new one. Here it is, three months later, and the new Palm has started doing the exact same thing.
A search of the web shows hundreds upon hundreds of complaints about digitizer malfunctions on the E2. The old palms didn't do this. I therefore conclude that Palm made a severe design mistake; they get $150 for "repairs" after warranty; the warranty has been shortened up, obviously to get that $150; freeware and costware "solutions" to the problem are cropping up; and the company hasn't publicly recognized the problem.
Don't buy this thing. It's designed bad, from the start. I hate to say this, but I'm never buying a Palm again.
Ken Becker
Customer Review: Owned for 3 years. Satisfied
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased one of these for my wife in August 2005. Until that time she had made do with untold numbers of paper calendars, address books and post it notes and was always complaining about losing track of the kids' activities. I introduced her to Outlook as a way of keeping track, and the E2 as a way of taking it with her. It was a match made in heaven.
With the high number of negative reviews concerning reliability I decided to pay for an extended warranty; didn't need it. It does seem quality is an issue with this device so it's something to consider, however if it survives the 1st year it seems reliable.
She's carried the thing for 3 years in her purse and uses it constantly. It receives pretty heavy abuse being knocked around in that bottomless pit and left overnight in cold cars and during the day in hot cars.
It gets heavy use with "e-books" (sorry amazon, but who needs "kindle"?); the plating from the scroll key is worn.
She's a nurse and has since augmented the E2 with additional memory to hold a pharmaceutical database.
She has since gotten a dell laptop and now uses bluetooth to synchronize the E2 with her PC (vista home premium). This works well, although bluetooth is a little slow for transferring the 12mb or so when the pharmacy database updates.
The thing keeps on working.
My antique Handspring Visor Edge (palm's main competitor in 2001) just croaked after 7 years, the E2 will be my replacement. (I like PCs but have no need for one in my pocket)
Customer Review: Tungsten E2 vs E. Slightly better, slightly worse
Summary: 4 Stars
Two months ago, I replaced my well-loved T|E with the E2, primarily for the Bluetooth. This has exceeded my expectations and Bluetooth become an essential tool for e-mail collection. On the T|E I never succeeded in collecting mail via my GPRS enabled phone (using infrared). With the E2 it astonishingly easy to set up. It helps having an old, ubiquitous, phone I think.
This newer model E2 still provides the right funtionality, right battery life, right weight at the right price. Just some poorly thought out "improvements" over the previous model.
1. The T|E2 is slower than my T|E. This is really distracting when writing graffiti, which I do quite quickly. The T|E never lagged behind, but the E2 does. I conclude that this arises from the use of flash memory. Go back to the other type, please.
2. The standard mini-USB port on the E2 has been replaced by a proprietory port. I liked the USB port. I could use my identical Canon camera cable for the T|E. This allowed the other one to stay at work. Now I carry the cable round with me.
3. The T|E2 charger socket. Why has this changed? My old charger does not work with the new unit.
4. The 5-way button navigation has changed in PalmOS 5.4. Perhaps to be more Windows like - a mistake. On the TE I could navigate through notepad entries with the left and right edge. Now these simply move focus between on-screen buttons, so I have to navigate to the left or right on-screen button and press the centre key to activate the button - tiresome.