NEW YEAR RESOLUTION - GET URSELF A PALM TUNGSTEN E. Review on Palm Tungsten E

With the major strides Sony has made with its low end PDA’s, Palm needed a good product and boy have they hit the spot. My decision was for a low end PDA with good features and an expansion card slot. So the best unit with a Palm OS was the Sony Clie 33 ,the Tungsten and Palm Zire71. Didn’t need the camera in the 71 so it was struck off my list ($100 more for the 71). Ended with the Tungsten cause I thought the model is serviceable out here.

Been using the Palm III for ions now so needed something to blow me away. This the tungsten did. Compare 2MB memory to 32 mb memory. Besides bought an 256 MB SD card which when inserted in my PDA gives it some mind blowing storage space (only 28MB + 241MB usable though ). Considering palm software are incredibly small leave a lot of space for video clips and MP3's. Even my 2mb palm III memory is not full as yet. $64 for the SD card. So the expansion cards much cheaper than the memory sticks offered by Sony.

The tungsten uses the Palm 5.0 OS which is the latest. Have to learn to write again for graffiti as with the OS 5 now has to be written in the normal way unlike the older OS. (called graffiti 2 - can be written anywhere on the screen too). Has a processor (no clue how fast; doesn’t make a difference to me ,unless I play high end games ,not done that so far) and most importantly an MP3 player. Was gonna buy a separate MP3 player ( cost minimum $100) but now with the tungsten E, I have that integrated. However the Tungsten MP3 player requires an expansion card without which the MP3 player wont work (my SD 256 mb). So budget for that. Got a kinoma movie player. So can play clips of movies. Besides short films can easily be converted to be stored in the PDA (I used Kinoma producer). So I’ve got a couple of short documentaries to amaze my friends away - couple of playboy clips for the guys ;-). Some people think its a dvd player cum tv. It has a small mono speaker to play the clips but the headphone output is stereo. The colour display is the best. Compared that with the higher end models and the clarity was the same. So no compromises on that. One can download all their digital photos taken on to the PDA. So its an portable album too.

Palm has got amazing number of software. Each can be downloaded based on requirement so I ain’t gonna tell u about that. What has helped me though is the ability to download my unfinished MS Word and Excel spreadsheets on the PDA (comes with the E). Can be edited to. Besides now I can use the PDA for slide shows. The Tungsten can be synchronized with Outlook express (no longer need to back up your e-mail addresses). Also have a Universal remote control (noviremote). Just use it like a normally learning remote. Can now control my Sony tv, audio, dvd player etc with my PDA. Besides u can fun at a someone's place by switching on/off their tv etc (has preset codes).The Tungsten comes free with certain software which are very usable. The remaining have to be bought. (shareware).

The Unit is one beautiful piece in chrome. However has got braised when I entered in the compartment of one of bombay’s super crowded local trains. So budget for a aluminium case (still have to get one). Besides it get dirty pretty fast with scratches and prints from hands. It doesn’t have the universal connector that palm devices usually have, but uses a USB cable. I’ve found this more useful (since all offices and computers have USB cables and interface). It has a rechargeable battery. So no expenditure for the kinda pricy AAA batteries now. Although the demerit being that I ‘ve no idea how to replace the in built battery. Will have to unscrew the PDA. No Bluetooth, not that it makes a difference to me. (Bluetooth hasn’t lived to its expectation) .Another thing with Palm’s service center , I just know one in Bangalore. Nothing has ever happened to my Palm III (made in USA), but now with the Tungsten E made in china, would expect certain problems. So would I need to send it to Bangalore??Another big problem with this being, if not backedup in time before your battery runs out, you'll lose all information since the last backup (hotsync). had this problem when I had to get a voltage converter and my battery ran out before I could get one. So lost all info. This is a very big problem cause I don't want to be stranded in another country without any contact information previously stored in my PDA. The only option being is to do the backing up on ur laptop itself and carry it abroad with you.

So all in all with its great price and useful features, this is a must buy for any individual and once you get it you’ll wonder how you lived without it. Buy it and u'll enjoy 2004 even more.