7 month report: 2003 Toshiba e330 is a very good mid-level PDA.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Slim, intuitive for PC users, useful features for most every traveling user.

Cons: Powers on/off erratically. Autosync is inconsistent. No hard ESC button.

The Bottom Line: 
Excellent value for the money if you are an MS Office user with regular PDA needs!

Author's Review
Nov 2003: author's comments

Back in January of 2003, the Toshiba e330 with Pocket PC 2002 OS, was cutting edge. With the optional WiFi hardware added, one could do most any kind of mCommerce PDA functionality with this product.

Today, with 2004 right around the corner, and the Microsoft Pocket PC 2003 OS now standard, this e330 has now been surpassed by a new generation of Toshiba, Dell Axim and iPaq technology. However, at one-generation old, the Toshiba e330 is an excellent dollar-for-dollar choice for regular PDA purposes. If you can find the e330 for under $175USD, then you will get excellent value for your money.

BACKGROUND OF MY PPC CHOICE

I am a project manager and an I.T. professional. I bought my Toshiba e330 in June of 2003, about 8 months after the product was considered cutting edge PDA technology. I was looking for an intuitive, reliable, and graffiti-friendly data organizer. I am in client meetings, or commuting between client meetings, about 20 hours per week. I use a regular desktop PC for my email and production needs, so I did not want to replicate my desktop functionality in a handheld. Instead, I wanted a PDA specifically for a) calendaring and reminders, b) contact management, and c) reading spreadsheets and occassional emails while away from my desktop PC. Wireless networking would be nice, but not a need for me.

I researched many PDAs and Pocket PCs before I chose a refurbished Toshiba 330. Regularly $450CAD ($350USD), I acquired my refurb for half that price.

I chose the Toshiba over the Palm OS choices like the Clie and the Tungsten, the new Dell Axims, the expensive iPaqs, and a host of other products in between. Here are the reasons why I went with Toshiba:

a) Microsoft OS, which is intuitive for us business PC users.
b) Extremely slim design... Toshibas are the slimmest pocket pc you can buy today.
c) Value for the money. I paid $200CAD ($155USD) for this product, and it is likely to serve me well for two years.

OVERALL

7 months after living the with Toshiba, I am very pleased with this product. I would quantify that with an 8.5 out of 10 stars for my PDA needs. Although some glitches do annoy me, I believe that I have gotten excellent value for my $155USD investment.

A. Toshiba upsides

A.1. Slim design
This is a very slim PDA! Its slimline shell fits perfectly into a jacket breast pocket, and in the front hip pocket of my jeans and slacks. I decided to invest in a Krussel leather case with Smart Clip belt attachment, and that seems to work well for me. I highly recommend Krussell cases to all PDA owners.

A.2. OS functionality
The Pocket PC 2002 Operating System is good, and I would even say great at times, for simple office software use: reading and creating .xls and .doc files. The graffiti feature is good quality, and compared to the $799USD alternatives out there, the graffiti quality on this Toshiba is a better value for the dollar.

A.3. 300MHz speed
The 300MHz processor is fast enough for opening any office files under 250kb., and the Autosync, when it works, does a medium-fast job of synchronizing the PDA with my desktop PC. I particularly like the infrared "beam" feature, which lets me trade contacts and files with another Pocket PC.

A.3. Nice features to note
Beyond the elegant slim profile, the Toshiba also offers a bright screen for the money. Although it is eclipsed by the magnificent 2004 Dell and iPaq screens, the Toshiba screen is visible in bright sunlight. When you factor the price difference, the Toshiba screen is excellent for the money.

A.4. Fast Learning Curve
For anyone who uses Windows NT/98/2000/XP, the Pocket PC is a snap to learn and very straightforward. I personally prefer Pocket PC O.S. over Palm O.S.; the color display burns battery charge faster than black-white Palm Pilots, but the PPC interface is so much cleaner and consistent with business computers. The color screen looks and feels like Windows for desktops, and the pocket Word and Excel and Acrobat apps work very similarly to their desktop counterparts. The biggest learning challenge is the graffiti-scribe and soft keyboard input...anyone new to stylus input will find it about as difficult as using chopsticks. With a few hours of practice, however, most users should be able to sustain the equivalent of 20wpm data entry with the stylus. If you are new to Pocket PC operating systems, plan to spend half a day learning the quirks of scribing and tapping.

A.5. Plentiful PPC software available
It is boggling how many applications one can download from the web for PPC operating systems! I have already tried Quake for PPC, Flash, various arcade games, landscape monitor apps, currency converters, GPS and map locators... all of these tools really set the PPC apart from Palm Pilots. Granted, not all of these applications are good software, but it is comforting to know that plenty of developers are working hard to bring new functionality to Pocket PCs!


A.6. Classy and elegant styling.
The Toshiba has got to be the best looking and most elegant PDA design today. It is the slimmest, simplest, and most elegant of the big players, and even has a kind of Star Trek feel to it. If you want something that bespeaks class and business professionalism, the Toshiba does exactly that.


B. Toshiba downsides

The glitches with the Toshiba e330 can be annoying, but liveable if you get used to them.

B.1. Autosync feature is inconsistent
Linking PPC to desktop PC is unreliable at times. The Autosync is erratic, and sometimes fails to recognize the PDA unless you force the File Explorer to open the Mobile Device folder. I run Win 2000, Win 98, and XP Pro on my three desktops. Autosync seems to work most reliably on XP Pro.

User workaround: experiment with leaving the Autosync to "auto recognize" versus "manual synch only". They seem to work better one way or the other, depending on your desktop system. I tried both on my three different IBM brand Pentiums, and sure enough, each system prefers a different synch setting.

B.2. Screen light turns on and off erratically
Perhaps it is because my Toshiba is a refurb, but the screen light powers on too easily when the product is in my pocket (I toggled off the screen-tap-power-on feature to remedy this). Similarly, there are rare occassions where the screen light just shuts off for no reason. A simple off/on restart fixes the problem, but it can be annoying.

B.3. 64MB memory is lacking for hard-core PDA users
64MB of regular memory does fill quickly if you install lots of software (a Secure Digital card memory addition will fix that).

I myself added Acrobat Reader for Pocket PC, Flash player, and a couple of shareware games. I suppose I could also use my PPC as an MP3 player for my car, but then I would want memory add-ons.

**Note: The 2002 PPC operating system is burned into the system, and cannot be changed or upgraded. This will limit the Toshiba useable life span to perhaps late 2005 when Pocket PC 2004 O.S. will be standard.

B.4. battery life is 2.5 days
If you run bright settings on the screen, and regularly open and close large .xls files, then the PPC e330 will run dry within 1.5 days of regular use. At occassional use of simple calendar entry and retrieval and graffiti notes, then the battery charge will last perhaps 3 days. I plan for 2 to 2.5 days away from my charger.

B.5. No hard or soft ESC button!
My biggest complaint all: there is no hard or soft button to escape from a screen or from edit mode... you need to tap "OK" on the interface, even when you wish to cancel your input. Alas, this is a feature that is missing on any Pocket PC 2002 today.

I cannot comment on the wireless functionality of this product, because I did not purchase the Wi-Fi add-on.

Overall
In application, these glitches are sufferable for a mid-level PDA user like myself, especially considering how cheaply I acquired this product.

I expect to keep this product until late 2004, at which time I may upgrade to another Toshiba. During these next months, I do not expect expect to add memory, but I will likely experiment with plenty of shareware software.

Four stars out of five for mid-level PDA use. When you consider the current field of $400USD+ PDAs, then the Toshiba e330 earns a five out five for value.