Toshiba e355 Pocket PC with Windows Mobile 2003

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Manufacturer: Toshiba
Price at amazon.com: $179.99
This item is not stocked or has been discontinued.

Product Features:

• Value-priced handheld with all the benefits of the Microsoft Pocket PC 2003 operating system
• Enhanced schedule/calendar capabilities and data backup synchronization
• Sleek and light body, weighing a mere 5.1 ounces
• A bright 3.5" transreflective display offering 64K colors and a 240 x 320 resolution
• What's in the box: Toshiba Pocket PC e355, USB Cradle, 10W AC Adapter, 1-Stylus, Soft Slip Case, Quick Start Card and Warranty Card

Product Description:

Intel PXA255 processor / 64MB Memory / 3.8" QVGA Color Touchscreen / USB Cradle


See all product description...

Average Customer Rating:

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Comment: A pda to have Rating:
I am a high school teacher. I wanted something to take notes on and to remind me when homework was due. I searched far and wide reading review after review. I got alot more than that with the e355. I have been using it for about 3.5 months now.
I'll just list the Pros and Cons becasue i could go on all day!

Pros:
1. Great speed.
2. Works right out of the box.
3. Excellent battery life (3.5 to 4hrs continuous running)
4. Crisp display. (especially for video playback)
5. Smooth buttons that feel pretty nice on your fingers.
6. Good price for the quality you get
7. The speakers on this player play audio in the best way i have heard for a small speaker unit. You would not believe that a pda could do so well with sound. It plays my mp3s, wma, anything and don't forget the videos.
8. It has a SD card slot so you can expand the memory at any time. the SD card slot has a dummy card that protects it from being damaged by dust or other particles.
9. Quick charge time. Good size storage built in, 64mb.
10. Windows Mobile 2003 is much much much more stable than its predeccessor.
11. It's much much much thinner than many other pda's i have reviewed.
12. It's much more resiliant to 'falls to the floor' than the Dell or Ipaqs for example. I'm a teacher. I can guarantee you...running around the class will lead to a fall on the ground. It has a metallic covering. (no shaking inside!)

Cons.
1. Sometimes if you use up close to 90% of the memory, it stalls.
2. The 'record audio' button is placed near the top so sometimes taking it out you may mistakedly begin recording. (this can be disabled though so it is not really a con)
3. It does not include the ability to 'go wireless' for internet. You can still access the internet though but you need to be connected to your computer. I did not need wireless internet just yet. When it does become ubiquitous...maybe then i'll go for something else.
4. The battery is not removeable. By the time this actually becomes a problem I'll be getting a new pda..about 2 to 3 years from now.

THis is an excellent PDA is you do not need wireless internet access right away.
I would recommend it with all authority people out there.

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Comment: Great Buy for the Price! Rating:
Ok, like anything it depends on your needs. But, for my needs, the E355 meets and exceeds my needs. No need to rate it significantly lower because it doesn't have a removable battery or because it only has a SD slot and no CF. Instead, I realized this before I bought it, considered these features along with the price which was ... cheaper here, and decided it was worth it.

I've had the E355 for about 3 weeks and had recently purchased a used Cassiopeia E-125 and was very happy with that purchase as well. The reason I upgraded was because a friend of mine wanted the E-125 at the price I purchased it for and I was convinced that for ... more, I could get a faster PPC with more memory, smaller size, and upgraded OS.

Now, the reason I didn't give it 5 stars is you get what you pay for. For the money, this is the best deal if you consider the reasons I mentioned previously. If I was getting a removable battery and a CF slot in addition to the SD slot, and was paying the same price, I'd rate it 5 stars. But, I'm not getting that.

On a message board, I seen someone say that it would better to purchase the Dell Axim X5 (Basic) for the same price. But, the X5 Basic only has 32MB of RAM. You would need to purchase the more expensive X5 Advanced to get the same amount of RAM. Not to mention at the time, X5 users were upset about the slow speed of their OS or processors and Dell is now sending out CDs with a fix.

...

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Comment: Good Buy Rating:
I recently purchased this PPc. It was the first one I had purchased and found it very easy to use. I used it mostly for taking notes, and keep an organized schedule after I purchased the Targus Universal Keyboard, which works very well with the e355. I was impressed with the battery life on medium settings which gave about 3-4 hours of battery life.

Hopefully this review will give a student a little insight into this "student" view of this.

Posted at November 11, 2003 07:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)