Reviews for Palm Tungsten E2

A brilliant middle of the road choice!

Strengths: Excellent value for money, huge range of apps., intuitive interface, excellent color screen, lightweight and compact.

Weakness: Poor internal speaker (Who cares?? Get headphones.)

The palmOne Tungsten E2 is a superb PDA for those who require a wide range of functions beyond a basic calendar and contacts, but who are not looking for a ‘techie-extravaganza’ that will blow the socks off even the most jaded geeks. Having said that, the E2 is wicked cool and will raise eyebrows out of most technically adept members of the general public, while still leaving the user with an intuitive enough interface to understand in only a few minutes.

One of the things that put me off a PDA for years was the need to learn that bizarre method of communication know as ‘graffiti’, which, for the uninitiated, is the method of writing characters on the PDA screen to enter data. Put simply, I hate graffiti…and luckily, you do not ever have to use it with new palmOne units. There is a convenient ‘keyboard’ option on screen that allows you to tap in letters using the stylus. Alternatively, you can also buy a wireless keyboard that permits simpler data entry.

The built in functions are great: the standard ‘tasks’, ‘calendar’ and ‘contacts’ are easy to use and the addition of an SD slot allows for adding a huge range of third party programs and for carrying loads of data. The standard package now includes DataViz Documents to Go which permits (almost) flawless transfer of even huge and complex Word and Excel documents. I use this routinely. There is also Adobe Acrobat Reader for PalmOS. The Real Player is also great and can be played while working on other applications, but get external headphones as the built-in speaker is hopeless.

It seems that holding a charge was an issue with the E model. Well, the gurus at palmOne seem to have cracked this one for the E2 as I go for almost two weeks without charging, and the flash memory is excellent, loosing nothing even if power runs out. Oh, and it charges in about thirty minutes!

In short, this was a tremendous purchase, and I am perhaps most pleased with the ‘value for money’ factor, as the unit has most of the functions I need from a laptop and cost about a 15% as much including accessories, and this is not even mentioning that the thing fits comfortably in my pocket, even inside the leather case I bought (also recommended).

97% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Beware... not compatible with all versions of...

Strengths: Ease of use. Need a calendar (with reminders), address book, calculator, task manager, spread sheet, and word processor. It's here! Want to play a few games. It's covered.

Weakness: Compatability issues.

While I LOVE this PDA because it is a simple PIM with a nice look (color screen) and feel (nice small size). But be aware, even though the technical specifications state it is compatible with Windows XP. They will not support it with all versions of Windows XP. I did not find this out until I bought a new computer 33 days after I bought the E2. I could not get the device to work with the new computer which has Windows XP Media Center Edition. When I searched for help in Palm's tech support I found a statement saying they would not support the device if used with Windows XP Media Center Edition. It has taken a complaint to my states consumer protection board to get the company to refund my money.

I gave the device one star because it will not work with all versions of Windows XP and the company does not warn you of this in the technical specifications for this device.

96% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Palm Tungsten E2

Strengths: Low price, good display, excellent battery life, comes with Documents to Go 7.

Weakness: Uses the same cheap-looking case as the Tungsten E, no Wi-fi, slows down a bit when running processor-intensive programs.

This unit is ideal for people who want a PalmOne business-oriented handheld, but don't want to pay extra for the Tungsten T5. With this model, PalmOne has taken the Tungsten E, improved the display and processor, and extended the battery life while also adding Bluetooth. The main drawbacks are that PalmOne still uses the same cheap plastic case as the Tungsten E, which smudges easily, and the processor is still nowhere near as fast as on more advanced units. However, if you don't plan on running any graphics intensive programs, and you don't need the larger screen on the Tungsten T5, then this unit is your best bet.

94% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Palm Tungsten E2

Strengths: High resolution screen. Sleak outlook. Affortable. Compare with old model Tungsten E, also support Bluetooth & Connector.

Weakness: Although you can expand memory using SD card, but some popular software only allow to synchronize content into memory which is 32M, sometimes, it's just not enough.

If you want an affortable, sleek PDA, Tungsten E2 is one of the best choices. It also supports PDF, Microsoft Words, Microsoft Excels and capable to synchronize with Microsoft Outlook. Just fatastic. I am also use free Plucker to syncrhonize daily news and read offline. It also supports all kinds of games, mp3,movie players. It's just like a handheld PC. Must buy.

93% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Palm Tungsten E2

Strengths: Sleek design, easy to navigate, fast hotsync, no cradle needed to sync. Lots of great free software on installation CD. Fast.

Weakness: Horrible cover that comes with it -- it doesn't stay shut.

I already had a very old school Palm 3xe that broke so I decided to do a major upgrade. The Palm T E2 is awesome compared to my old black and white palm. It's fast, it has a great color screen. It was easy to install and it comes with a rechargable battery. The biggest disappointment is the cover that comes with it. It's ridiculous how flimsy and useless it is to protecting the Palm's screen. I guess they want you to buy the accessories.

89% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Palm Tungsten E2

Strengths: Speed, weight and memory.

Weakness: So far, absolutely none!

This product is so much faster that my other PDA. The speed of turning over the screens between applications is unbelieveable. When you turn on the power it brings up your date book a week at a glance which is better than having to check the specific days for appointments. I also like the slimness of the unit not to mention the weight. It is very user friendly.

88% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Excellent PDA

Strengths: Speed, design, size

Weakness: None

For the money, this is undoubtedly the best value on the market today. It is very quick, simple to operate and you do not need a degree in advanced geekism to understand how to use it. It is commendably light and small, but does need a separate memory card to use it to its best advantage.

87% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Palm Tungsten E2

Strengths: Color screen, flexiblity, Hot sync

Weakness: speaker

Glad I bought this and saved money that I would have spent on a Treo or Blackberry. Sometimes it is not good to have a "console" PDA because if one thing goes wrong, you will have to do without until it gets fixed

86% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Palm Tungsten E2 PDA

Strengths: Compact, light weight, features, color screen, value for money.

Weakness: none

Palm Tungsten E2 is a great pda. It has an excellent color screen. It's compact and light weight. It supports PDF, Microsoft Words, Microsoft Excels, games, mp3, movie and capable to synchronize with Microsoft Outlook. It has bluetooth which is helpful to sync with your phone or you can even dial a phone using your PDA. Value for money.

82% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Excellent PDA for this price!

Strengths: Very slim and have a pretty good LCD screen.It is very useful for schedule tasks or try to jot down some quick notes.

Weakness: But it somehow very tricky to use the Grafiti characters.

I advise people that are new to PDAs should choose this one because it is not very complicated to use it.In fact, it can hold a lot of picture in it or musis if you use a SD card.With rebate and discount from staples, the price is just 175...great to go!!

80% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Palm Tungsten E2

Strengths: Sleek form factor, bright color screen, long battery life.

Weakness: Though it has a faster processor, there's a noticeable slow down when running database programs.

Though it has a bluetooth functionality, it would've been nice to have a wi-fi functionality. One great thing about the E2 is the price. You really get your money's worth with its affordable price point since the unit is loaded with features most PDA users would want.

67% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Palm Tungsten E2

Strengths: Available software, battery life!!!, ease of use, included screen protector

Weakness: Basics, no backup software included

The battery life of palms won me over. I had a few Toshiba PocketPCs and those guys run on 2-4 hours of battery life before needing to recharge. Though this model would not allow me to do all the fancy multimedia applications I was used to running on the PocketPCs but I needed a reliable model just for the PIM features. This model does it. With the 200MHz processor, this falls within the not too fast but not sluggish palms out there. It will do its job.

67% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

not worth it...

Strengths: large display, easy to navigate, display layout.

Weakness: software is unstable, can't use 2 gig SD card, music player functions are too basic, expense software is limited.

I've had my unit for 3 months it has been nothing but trouble. The device keeps getting a fatal error requiring me to do hard resets.

Be aware that the system only works with a 1 gig or less SD cards.

I would not recommend this product due to the unstable software and limited functionality.

67% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Palm Tungsten E2

Strengths: Great color display, software, and expandability with SD flash-memory cards.

Weakness: Would like to be able to sync it with Eudora email.

I have been considering buying a PDA for more than a year. I had planned to wait until my current supply of Day-Timers ran out at the end of 2005, but Buydig.com's excellent price and the service I've received from them so far have made me glad I din't wait. The Tungsten E2 has all the features I wanted and, so far, has behaved great for me. I have just one quibble with Buydig's ordering process: I wanted to order an SD card at the same time but couldn't get the ordering page to add the SD card to the order. Happily, Buydig has let me know that they will not charge shipping for accessories, so this turned out to be only a minor inconvenience.

65% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Palm Tungsten E2

Strengths: Battery MAY last longer than original Tungsten E.

Weakness: Charger, Sync Cable CHANGED so as not to be compatible with original Tungsten E. Op Manual PDF on CD Does NOT tell how to reset & CLEAR & CLEAN Flash Memory. Too much 'feature BLOAT'.

This is equivalent to a reskinned/cased ZIRE 72 with
a slower Processor; not enough memory; & no junk toy camera.

It should have had Processor & built in RAM nearer
to T5 especially considering the comparative costs.

This release HAS to be the PALM equivalent of MS WINDOWS ME. Done strictly as a marketing 'money pump' effort.

52% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Touch Screen Problems

Strengths: Nice organizer. Great features. Compact and easy to use.

Weakness: Touch screen fails often. Can't handle more than 1GB memory card.

The touch screen broke after 8 months. Replaced whole unit and 2nd E2 touch screen went bad after 4 months!! I babied it but the touch screen still failed!! It starts by activating the line below/above where you touch. It gets twitchy and will jump around where you touch. When you try to re-calibrate the touchscreen, it will keep asking you to endlessly touch the points on the screen over and over. Finally, you try to activate ABC or 123 and all it gives you is "." or "-" symbols. Best Buy no longer carries PDAs, so I received a store credit.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

OK for now

Strengths: Palm OS

Weakness: Units built to fail with heavy use

I'm stuck on palm OS, this is my 15th palm PDA. I now expect units to fail within 1 year, usually last about 8 months (I'm a heavy user.) Until I migrate to smartphone or Windows OS I'll just keep buying these.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Palm Tungsten E2

Strengths: Makes an OK paperweight

Weakness: Not reliable

After 4 months mine went dead. Palm wanted $75 to look at it. I found a website that instructed me to take it apart and unplug the battery. It wasn't easy but it worked. I have to repeat the process about once a month.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Palm is garbage

Strengths: when it works it is ok ... but it wont last

Weakness: 90 day warrenty on a product that WILL break

I have had an e2 and a palm lifedrive in the last 2 years... both had loving carre and both are BROKEN... Palm will gladly repair it for $150 plus shipping ... they dont Last ... look elsewhere!!!

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

What a Bummer

Strengths: When first bought this was my answer to all of my desires. It had a crisp display and most of the features that I needed. Touch pad was extremely sensitive and accurate.

Weakness: Eight months later, the touch screen malfunctioned. Could not enter data in the lower portion of the screen. No data could be entered except via computer interface. Tech support was NO help.

This really started out to be a great tool. I needed something like this to enter data for work. It really worked flawlessly for about eight months and then the trouble started. Tech support said to do a hard refresh and re center the touch pad. No joy Went back to them and got no response at all. WOULD NOT BUY ANOTHER PALM TOOL.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Screen Buzz

Strengths: Great functionality for a reasonable price

Weakness: The screen makes a loud noise and Palm says its normal

When I first got my Tungsten E2 I loved it. It did everything I wanted and was easy to use. After about a year it all of a sudden developed a very loud buzz/hum from the screen. It is loud enough that everyone around me can hear it and it drives me nuts. I thought surely it must be malfunctioning and Palm should send me a new one. After a mandatory $25 customer service charge Palm told me that the screen noise is normal operating procedure for the E2 and refused to warranty it. However, they did say they could fix it for $125. Luckily I bought an extended warranty and have been trying to get it repaired through that. After two repair attempts I was finally told that I will be receiving a check for the cost of the unit. I definetly will not get another E2 and don't know if I should get another Palm. Be forewarned don't get the E2, it will develop a buzz.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Thank God for the warranty

Strengths: Easy to use, easy to view, good color

Weakness: No battery backup, Power cord doesn't make a solid connection.

This unit was provided with a Banks Tuner for a diesel pickup as a remote tuner. It kept shutting off causing me to giggle the power cord and reboot the system constantly. It finally shut down and I was unable to get it restarted. It was covered under the warranty and I am currently waiting for a replacement unit, but this all happened in less than a years time from date of purchase. I'm hoping the replacement unit holds up better.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Tungsten E2

Strengths: Has easy to use features/touch screen

Weakness: It should have better apps. The case should be sturdier and should hold the entire Palm rather than just a flap

I think this would be better if it had the official full featured microsoft office programs. Overall its simple and easy to use. Basic office features are included, just the essentials for an organizer.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Best Performance Palm PDA

Interface is Good according to 17 PDA experts. -- "The E2s bright 320-by-320-pixel color screen looked good both indoors and out in my informal tests."-pcworld.com -- "The d-pad is quite usable for productivity functions"-brighthand.com -- "The stylus is heavy and well-balanced, quite nice actually."-brighthand.com Read more to find expert opinions on more features like Connectivity, Audio,...

Read Full Review

Best PDA Overall

A powerful device that's also a great value, with Microsoft Office file editing, Bluetooth, and expandable memory.

Read Full Review

Palm Tungsten E2

Testseek.com has collected 17 expert reviews for Palm Tungsten E2 and the average expert rating is 76 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

Read Full Review

Tungsten E2

Last year’s Tungsten E was a big hit among handheld buyers. For less than $200, the E delivered all of the PalmOne basics (such as the latest operating system, a fast processor, a generous amount of memory, and a rich color screen) all wrapped in a diminutive frame that slipped easily into a pocket. PalmOne has updated that model, raised the price, and christened it the E2 to make a PDA...

Read Full Review

Palm Tungsten E Review

A good PDA just got better. It's always a pleasure when we can say that, and the Tungsten E2 gives the Tungsten E just what the doctor ordered for improvements. In fact, as a mid-range PDA selling at a near budget price, the Tungsten E2 is one of the best deals on the market. It has a bright high resolution color display, an expansion slot that's compatible with memory and networking cards, it...

Read Full Review