The Thinness and Lightness wins over all

Author's Rating:

Pros: thin and light, long battery life, power of a Pocket PC, price

Cons: button placement, Microsoft ActiveSync, small internal memory

The Bottom Line: 
If I could get *any* Pocket PC for free, I would probably pick the Toshiba e310.

Author's Review
I discovered the Toshiba e310 selling for under $250 after rebates and at that price (the cheapest I’ve ever seen for a Pocket PC), I figured it was too sweet a deal not to try it.

Pros:
1. It is soo thin and light! I can actually fit this thing in my pocket!
2. It plays music and videos. You can view .jpg, .gif, etc. by default.
3. It allows you to record voice messages
4. It has color
5. The battery life is terrific! I was able to use it for at least 5 hours and 19 hours of standby before the battery began to stutter. I imagine if you have the power off, you could go at least 48 hours or more.
6. (for me anyway) Because of the “limited” battery life (compared to my visor) it forces me to sync it with the computer everyday.
7. The scroller on the left side is nice as it allows you to page up and down menus quickly.
8. Did I mention that it was light and thin?

Cons:
1. ActiveSync, Microsoft’s syncing software, sucks. It crashes all the time. I had a lot of trouble trying to install it (hint: You might need to use the Toshiba drivers that are located on the CD-Rom instead of the default Microsoft drivers on some computers. It is not obvious from the manual.)
2. The button on the top left side is troublesome. When you try to pull the e310 from it’s protector, you almost always push that button, which defaults into a voice recorder. This is annoying. The only way around this is to a) be extremely careful when you pull it out b) pull it out by grabbing it from the top-center. Of course, if you do (b) then you might touch the screen.
3. The battery life bar is not entirely accurate at times. Once, it showed that the device had 71% battery life left, and then it dropped to 1% the next minute.
4. The internal memory is small. 32 megs just doesn’t cut it for this device, if you want to also play mp3s or have video clips, or lots of voice messages. However, it is fine if you are just using it to keep track of contact info, calendar, and tasks. Unfortunately, that kind of defeats the purpose of having a Pocket PC operating system.
5. Maybe I just haven’t found the right setting, but the scroller pages up and down. I can’t find how to make it a scroll by line. I prefer this because otherwise, it is difficult for me to pick up where I left off on the page.
6. As of yet, there is no wi-fi capability. But then again, I have no need for this capability right now.

Overall, I like it. In terms of whether the Microsoft operating system is better than palm, it definitely seems more powerful, but it also has some annoying quirks. For example, the program does not automatically close itself when you touch the “x” button (which actually just minimizes the program). Instead you have to go to a separate menu, which lists all the running programs and shut them down from there. I love the transcription program (one of the hand recognition systems offered by Pocket PC) that allows me to write directly anywhere on the screen and have it translated into text. This neat feature makes inputting text so much faster than the Palm system of entering one character at a time. It also has a note program that allows you to free draw anything you want and it will remember the drawing. All these functions are available for the Palm, but cost extra. It does come with the traditional Microsoft games such as solitaire and some great software such as adobe acrobat (you have to install this separately from the CD) allowing you to view acrobat files on your e310. And of course you get Microsoft’s Pocket Excel and Word.

I am extremely surprised that something this thin and light is selling for less than any other Pocket PC, as you figure you would pay a premium for this option. It’s true strength is in its size, weight, and battery life. I highly recommend this product for anyone considering a Pocket PC, and for palm users looking for more advanced features at an excellent price.