18 out of 18 people found this review helpful.
Ah ha! Take that Procrastination! Tungsten Style
Date of Review: Jul 10, 2006
The Bottom Line: Excellent for beginning PDA users and features the all the programs needed to be organized. Simple and Minimalistic sums up the overall impression of the Tungsten E2
I have always been amazed by PDAs and numerous usages of them. I watched in awe as a friend whipped out his PDA and entered in schedules for important exam dates and other notes to remind him later on, while I was scribbling down illegible scratch in my agenda. For my birthday, I got the PalmOne Tungsten E2 as a gift to stay on top of things and hopefully cure my ailment of procrastination. So far, it did not really help with my lack of initiative to get things done from the onset (note the large gap between my last few reviews and my current ones), however, it's usability and calendar were a lot more cooler than writing in an ancient agenda.
Looks like a regular PDA...
Since I have not owned a PDA before, the looks of the Tungsten E2 were alright. Nothing fancy looking like the iPod. The biggest factor that I was happy with was the screen which has a resolution of 320x320 so it's pretty clear in terms of font and picture clarity. The brightness of the screen is very bright which it is a very good thing. The colors were rich and clear and fitting for such a resolution, which is excellent for saving photos and viewing them later.
The Button layout is minimalist since most of the actions are done with the stylus. There is a navigation pad at the bottom middle with two hotkeys on each side (Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Drawing) that automatically opens up the associated program. It's a great timesaver for those hectic moments where you have to jot down some important notes. A small quirk with the layout is with the navigation pad which is kind of hard to use being it is so far at the bottom of the PDA. It makes you kind of wonder how to hold the thing while you are using the stylus at the same time. Anyways, I never bother using the navigation pad since using the stylus is faster and more natural.
The Overall dimension of the Tungsten E2 is 4.5" x 3.1" x 0.6" and weighs in at miniscule 4.7 oz. It is small enough to fit in your pocket without any cases.
I rest my case...
My first concern with the Palm is the protection of the screen. The Tungsten comes with a needed screen protector that must be applied to the screen to prevent potential scratching and damage from the Stylus. The PDA also comes with a flap that can be inserted at the side of the PDA to fold and cover the screen. It is basic but effective at protecting the screen. Other things that are included with the Palm is the Stylus and Sync Cable for Synchronizing with your computer.
A minor quibble with the protection with the screen is that it will eventually degrade and scratch up and must be replaced if used on a constant basis. The screen protector will deform making it harder to write via Graffiti. Screen protectors are quite costly for a small amount.
I also bought a case for it to replace the flap so the back is protected but I found it to be very bulky when trying to carry around and input stuff into the Palm.
Time to do some major Graffiti
Since I am such a novice when it comes to PDAs, I have always wondered how anyone can input large amounts of texts without a keyboard. The answer is simply Graffiti which is the gray area below the screen. There in the ABC area you can write letters with the stylus and the system will read your input and display the letter on screen. Numbers follow suit in the 123 area of the gray section. However, no matter how cool I thought this was at first, it got tiring on my hand to write somewhat legibly each letter into the Graffiti area. I have very neat writing in real life and I really feel sorry for those who can't print, even if their lives depended on it, if they had to use the graffiti feature. Also, around the section on each side are 2 hotkeys. These are also configurable to what you use the most.
All I need is a calendar, an area to scribble, a contact list, a to-do list, and most important of all... games
Personally, I love the idea of a calendar that fits right into your pocket. Not only does the calendar that comes with the Tungsten easy to use, it totally blows my old paper Agenda out of the water.
The calendar has 4 views. First view shows the Day's appointments that have been entered in and also it displays any tasks that needs to be fulfilled. This is my default view as it shows what is coming up later on and what task I must perform. I can even check off that task right there on the screen with the stylus revealing any other need-to-do tasks. There is a Day view which shows all the times of the day and any appointments entered in. In this view, this is where you input all your appointments to show up in the other views. After the Day view is the Week view, which gives a graphical representation of how busy you are that week in terms of whether you follow your schedule and appointments. There is really no other function other than that for the Week view. The Month view serves the same purpose as the Week but gives an entire graphical representation of the entire month.
Another must need for me is an interactive To Do List where I can input my tasks, prioritize them and check them off. I use this program a lot during my school year as it helped me prioritize and keep me surfaced with my overwhelming amount of homework. Checking off tasks has never felt so sweet.
As included in all other PDAs, the Tungsten E2 features an area to scribble on and handwrite notes. Perfect for writing information quickly and processing them later or doodling stuff when bored. There are multiple sizes of the pen to choose from including an eraser, however, there is only one color to write with. Writing down multiple things would have been easier to read when color-coded.
Ah yes, the power the color-coding. For the calendar, when you input items you can specify which category and what color to associate it with. The Week and Month views really; I mean really, improved because of this.
No PDA would be complete without Solitaire! Haha! Too bad the game did not come with other games besides Solitaire. In order to get other games you must download them for a price or have a friend beam them to your PDA.
Beam me up Scotty... What? Okay… I'll shut up now
I found the process of beaming applications and documents to other PDAs to be quite cool. It reminded me of my older days of trading Pokemon between two Gameboys but without the link cable. Trading Word Documents has never been so much fun! ;)
Beaming is done between two PDAs in close proximity and one transfers documents and data by sending out signals while the other receives the signals and retrieves the data.
Other notable software that is included
The inclusion of Adobe Acrobat Reader is a great thing since PDF files are very abundant nowadays. The 320x320 resolution of the screen is good enough to display the PDF files. The only major problem with the Acrobat Reader is to make sure it is formatted to be viewed in a Palm Handheld; large magazine-type PDFs will not be very viewable on the small screen. Adobe Reader for Palm can format large PDFs to fit in the Tungsten E2's display area. The process can take awhile depending on the amount of images and the resolution of the PDF file.
There is a cool Expense program where you can make virtual receipts of your purchases by inputting how much money you spent and what type of good you purchased. I haven't really used it much since I keep forgetting to input it in and sight of someone whipping out their PDA to type in their expenses right after purchasing an item is odd.
Also include is a World Clock which can show times around the world of major cities including a graphical view of the world. It's pretty cool but useless unless your a business exec who travels around the world.
A program that I never use and believe to be utterly useless is the Memo program. It's basically the Calendar's Day view with no times. Plus, inputting large amount of text via Graffiti is painstaking, I found myself using the Drawing program instead.
Microsoft Office in your Pocket
The Tungsten E2 carries a pocket format of Microsoft Office. It has the ability to read Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Not only can it read them, you can also create them! The Dataviz Microsoft Office programs are basically stripped down handheld versions of the PC format. They are very simplistic in features but they definitely serve a purpose. I enjoy having a handheld Excel since it is nearly identical to the PC counterpart; with charts and all. Creating PowerPoint files in the Palm is cool but it's basically creating slides with just text and bullets.
Palm Desktop
The Tungsten E2 also comes with a mandatory CD-Rom needed to install valuable software on your computer in order to get the most out of your PDA. The Palm Desktop is a PC version of your Palm and includes a calendar, tasks list, and a contact list which can be edited way easier than using the Stylus and Graffiti. Syncing your Palm Desktop and your Palm makes things easier and ensures your data is up to date and backed up.
Keeping things In-Sync
It would be a very bad thing if your Palm has suddenly died on you and it carried valuable contact information and other documents. Good thing you can synchronize with your computer. Synchronizing is basically attaching a USB cord with a special Synchronization button to your Palm and pressing the button to start the syncing process. This is called "Hot-Syncing". Fancy, eh? It saves all your data and documents on your computer and updates your files. It's fast and done in a flash.
Syncing can also be done Wireless (Wi-Fi), only if you have a Wi-Fi Card to insert into the card slot.
The Flash Memory and SD cards
The Tungsten comes with a 32mb flash memory which is built right into the Palm. It is an ample amount of space to store document files and thousands of contacts but it is way too small to carry around hundreds of photos, songs or video clips. At the top of the Palm is a slot for you to insert a memory card with space up to 1GB MAX. The problem with that is that it will cost you to buy the expansion card but the space is great if you want to listen to music while you organize.
Realplayer is included in the PDA and is used for Video and Mp3 purposes obviously. I haven't used this feature yet because I didn't get a expansion card and I personally hate Realplayer. Photos are viewed in the Media program where you can organize your photos and create albums.
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SMS and Email
Unfortunately, I am not familiar with Bluetooth and SMS other than the fact you need a Bluetooth enabled device or a cell-phone to use those two features. And I don't have a blue-tooth device. I'm too poor afford such luxuries :(
Wi-Fi on the other hand, I have. The Wi-Fi card is inserted into the expansion slot and it will automatically activate with a small green light that blinks. The Wi-Fi card will automatically pick up any Wi-Fi Access points (for example, a Wireless router) and you have to choose whether to connect to it or not. Wi-Fi access with encryption keys must be configured to be allowed to connect.
For Windows Users, this Palm can synchronize with your Outlook contacts and pick up any email for you to read. A program that reads the email in your Palm is called Versamail, much like the other programs included, it is simplistic in appearance and function. If Versamail is installed, an Email Notifier is displayed at the bottom of the Appointments screen in the Calendar.
The World Wide Web in the grasp of your hand
With Wi-Fi or Bluetooth enabled, you can surf the web using the palm. It's not exactly fast but it does help when you do not have access to a computer or laptop. You may notice when surfing the web with your Palm that there are sites that are specifically built to be viewed from a Palm. These types of sites load up fast and do not take up much space on your palm's small memory cache; which is used to store images for quick viewing. Not only that, everything is laid out to be viewed from the small resolution that is the Tungsten's. The Web on the Palm is mainly used to check stocks and sport scores but if you want to check out other mainstream sites, go ahead, but it will take longer to load.
Battery Life
The battery is a rechargeable Lithium Ion, the same used in many other handheld products including the iPod. The battery life it pretty long and will not die on you when you need it the most. Unlike Mp3 players where you use it constantly for many minutes or even hours, Palms are designed to be used for a quick minute and turned off right after. The average battery life for normal usage is a few days. However, if you listen to music and surf the web, expect the battery life to be cut short dramatically.
Problem with the Tungsten
There were times where my Palm would freeze like a computer and pushing buttons and even trying to turn it off, using the power button, would not work. There is a power reset button on the back which can only be pushed using the stylus. I found it quite ridiculous that it froze the number it times it did, but the reset button was quick and data was still intact in the flash memory. Freezing mostly occurred when surfing on the internet and trying to return home menu.
Conclusion
Again, I will mention that this is the first PDA I have ever used so I am not jaded by other PDAs on the market. I know that there are many other PDAs that are way better in terms of functionality and appearance, such as the ones by Sony but for a beginner, the Tungsten E2 is an affordable, yet powerful, deal that comes with all the necessities to keep organize and be on top of things. Note: It will not cure Procrastination.
