My best (and cheapest) PDA yet

Author's Rating:

Pros: Very thin, very light, beautiful screen, long battery life

Cons: Doesn't come with a flip case, 32MB, no CF expandability

The Bottom Line: 
If you're looking for a thin, light, and inexpensive Pocket PC, and SD expandability is sufficient, the Toshiba e310 is the one for you.

Author's Review
Because of my job and my personal interest, I've had my share of PDAs. I'm not kidding, but I've owned (or currently own) the following PDAs since 1994: HP 100LX, HP 200LX, HP 320LX, Palm Pilot 1000, 5000, Palm Professional, Palm III, Palm V, Palm IIIc, 2xPalm VII, Palm m100, iPAQ 3630, and now the Toshiba e310.

I started out with a DOS based handheld, then switched over to Palm-OS based PDA for about 5 years. For the past 2 years, I've been using the Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC. It has been working well for me, but I've always disliked the iPAQ 3600- and 3800-series for several reasons:

1. It's rather large and heavy, when compared to most Palm-based PDAs.
2. (3600-only) It has no expansion capability except for adding the sleeve, which makes the unit even larger. (3800 has SD built-in).
3. The notorious problem of dust getting under the screen, which is lit by the side-light
4. The screen is bright, but has always been somewhat "milky", or cloudy.
5. The infamous stylus latch is always broken

So it's blessing in diguise that my wife broke the screen of my iPAQ a few weeks ago. It gave me an opportunity to re-evaluate the current Pocket PC market. After researching, I purchased the Toshiba e310 and have been using it for about two weeks.

To put it simply, I love the Toshiba e310. I would venture to say that it's the best PDA I've ever owned. It's not perfect, but it's the best PDA for me at least.

Before I purchased the e310, I looked for a iPAQ/e310 comparison review, but couldn't find it anywhere. Since there are many great general Pro/Con comparisons here at epinions as well as other sites, I'll focus on how this unit compares with the Compaq 3600/3800 series for those who is thinking about switching.

1. Size, weight, and form-factor: The Toshiba e310 is very thin. It's currently the thinest and lightest Pocket PC on the market. At 4.9 oz, it weights the same as a Palm m515 and the Clie 615 (both color). After carrying the iPAQ 3600 for 2 years, this is a very welcomed change.

2. Screen: While it's not as large, the color LCD on the e310 is visibly brighter and clearer than the iPAQ (I can still do a A/B comparison). It also doesn't have the nasty problem of dust getting trapped under the screen that iPAQ is notorious for.

3. Expandability: The e310 does come with a SD slot and there is no way to add a CF slot. After owning the iPAQ for 2 years and having all kinds of CF/PCMCIA accessories (wifi, wireless modem, memory card, GPS, etc), I can say with 100% certainty that I will not need anything other than memory expansion capability in a PDA. This may not be the case with you, so if you need to use CF accessories, look elsewhere. Currently there is only limited SDIO accessories available (memory and BlueTooth), but there will be more available in the future.

The iPAQ 3800-series also has a SD slot built into the PDA itself (not the 3600-series), and it has the capability to take CF and PCMCIA accessories with optional sleeves.

4. Battery Life: Somehow the little unit out lasts my iPAQ by quite a bit. I read a lot of ebooks on my PDA, so I usually have to recharge my iPAQ several times a day (say, 100% to 65% after a 1 hour, especially with a CF memory card installed). With the e310, I find it lasts a lot longer (say 100% to 85% after 1 hour, even with a SD memory card installed).

5. Price: I remember paying about $500 for the iPAQ a few years ago. For the Toshiba e310, I paid $200 plus tax after rebates and discounts. It's unbelievable how much the price has dropped in 2 years.

Overall, I love e310's form-factor, screen, battery life, and price. I would highly recommend it to anybody who is looking for a Pocket PC.

(We'll save the Palm OS vs. Pocket PC debate for another day).