Pocket PC e310: The Toshiba Strike Force! — THG.RU

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The Toshiba strike force

A year after the release of the e570 and shortly before that of the much-awaited e740, a PDA running at 400 MHz and equipped with an ATI video chip, Toshiba has enlarged its family of handheld computers and found a new look. The e310, all dressed up in silver, has something of the Handspring Vizor Edge. Like it, it has a metal casing and its best points are its extreme slimness of 12mm and light weight of just 140 grams.

Not only does the e310 seem to be the most aesthetically pleasing Pocket PC currently available, it is also one of the cheapest. At $399 (599 euros), it doesn’t just compete with the low-priced HP and Packard Bell Pocket PCs, but with the Palm and Sony color Palm OS 4-based organizers, too.

e310 vs. everyone else

Compared with other Pocket PC 2002 devices, the e310 has average features with no surprises, apart from its tiny size. The processor is an ordinary 206 MHz with 32MB RAM and the same for the ROM, but can take SD cards to increase its storage capacity.

Now, when we compare it with other Palm OS-based devices, it can only bring out some of the advantages of Pocket PCs. The MP3 player is integrated instead of optional; the device is for multitasking, so you can listen to music while you work, zap from one application to another without having to quit them first, etc. Screen resolution is 240 x 320 pixels on a longer diagonal than Palm OS organizers.

Its resolution is:

1. comparable to a Sony Cliй;
2. much higher than the over-pixelated Palm color screens.

And what’s more, the e310 is no bigger, heavier or pricier than a top-range color Palm.

Little niggles and small joys with the e310

The device has an average battery life. Toshiba claims it is about ten hours. In non-stop MP3 play, with «Medium» brightness and the sound set at 2, we found we could play music for 4 hours 24 minutes. Beyond this, the battery was still charged at 14%, but an error message warned that the charge level was too low to read the file in progress. In general, reckon on four to five hours of run time. A vital point to remember is never to play with fire: the e310 has no spare battery, so if you let the battery run down, you will lose all your data. This actually happened to us several times during the tests, because the holder does not protect the highly sensitive on/ off button, so the device regularly switched off inadvertently and we found ourselves having to reinstall all our applications, contacts, calendar, etc. — the sort of thing that always happens at the worst possible time.

Secondly, the e570 was the first Pocket PC 2002 with an interface fully customized by a system of tabs and icons, not unlike Palm. The e310 has this ingenious system too. This makes it much easier to handle, though it does mean you have to download extra applications for finding out the battery level, the background applications and how to shut them down easily at a glance — WISbar, GigaBar, TodaysInfo, etc. And by the way, while you are surfing sites for downloads, you might just as well add some work applications like ACDSee Mobile or games like Quake, Metalion, Doom 1 & 2, Turjah II, etc.

Ergonomics

Compared to the e570, the e310 has lost weight and the Compact Flash slot. There is now only the SD version. Likewise, the amount of RAM has been halved to 32MB.

At the bottom of the e310 is the synchronization base connector and direct mains power supply input.

On the left there is a jog-dial similar to the one you get on a mouse, and a record button for voice memos.

Above is a headphone input, the SD card reader, an IRDa port and the on/ off button.

On the right is the stylus holder, and at the back, a reset button.

There is no problem with screen legibility, whether indoors or out. The mirror effect is fairly low and the brightness strong with good color rendering.

The buttons below the screen are the conventional ones: Calendar, Task, D-pad, Home and Contacts. The only special trait is that Home actually accesses the tab system which lists by category all the applications installed: work, games, etc.

In games, the directional button works perfectly in all directions — up, right, diagonal, etc. You can also press several buttons at once. In short, the e310 is a great device for games.

Conclusion

Toshiba had already pleased us with the e570. And now we are completely won over. The e310 is the device you need if you are looking for a good-quality Pocket PC without ruining your budget. If you want to use it as an MP3 player as well, we advise you to be prepared to buy an SD card too, with at least 64MB.

It must be said that this foretaste has given us an appetite. Now we can’t wait to get a look at the future e740. This PDA, out of the wraps in mid-June for release at the end of June, has the same look as the e310. It will be the first Pocket PC with the new Intel Xscale technology processor and running at 400 MHz with icing on the cake in the form of an ATI video chip. A real technological exploit, the e740 will come in three versions: the basic one at $600 (799 euros), one with Bluetooth software and finally, a WiFi-compatible version, with the latter two versions being more expensive.

This will not prevent us from finishing on a note of some resentment. How is it that Toshiba can sell the e310 for less than $400 in the States, yet for 600 euros in Europe? Whatever you add in tax and conversion rates, the difference, in spite of all the product’s qualities, is hard to understand.