Downsides of Toshiba handhelds..

[jizmo]

First of all I'd like to say that I love my e310, and wouldn't change it for any other device out there. It's slim, great battery life, pretty ok screen, SD slot etc. But, alas, there are also some downsides too ..

- Overall performance. My brother's old iPAQ 3630 seems to beat the pants down from e310. In CastCE, the Atari ST emulator, I get it barely running without frameskipping and without sound by overclocking the device to 236mhz. He gets full framerate with sound.

- The device turns itself on randomly. While the battery life outperforms most iPAQs out there, it's greatly decreased by this. If I leave the device turned off on a table it sometimes blinks on without anything even touching it.

- I've heard that some Toshibas have decided to shut themselves down all of a sudden while fully charged. And some have even refused to turn back on

- In sound quality e310 loses 5 to 1 when compared to iPAQ. The sound is thin and lacks bass. When recording, the sound easily gets odd crackling sounds if the volume is too loud (not the usual distorsion effect that happens when oversampling)

- Bad response times in hardware keys that make them unusable in gaming

A few plus sides, too, so that I don't sound like I'm merely bashing the device:

+ Thin and sexy .. I like it a lot
+ Screen looks better than the lower-end iPAQ models
+ Price .. It's amazingly cheap
+ SD(io) slot
+ Performs quite nicely in most situations
+ Did I mention that it's really, really thin ;) ?

Anyone got anything to add?

/jizmo

[dean_shan]

I like my Toshiba as well. It is a very nice machine and preforms well for me. There are some quirks and bugs to my e740 but not enough cons to make me give up my device.

[Fishie]

I like it, plenty fast for games(beats the XScales of my friends with its old strongarm) and decent battery life.
Screen is not as nice or big as my old ipaq tough.

[jizmo]

Yeah .. Strongarm rules. I changed back from the XScale powered iPAQ and the tiny e310 is outperforming its bigger brother hands down.

One more downside to add .. e310 is so small that tonight I almost left it to my friend's toilet when we left to bar. If they get any smaller than this, I will lose them in the turns of my pocket, for sure..

/jizmo

[Delta737]

Another downside: The bad support of Toshiba. They left us, e310 owners, in the cold, when it was only 6 months old :? :?

[jizmo]

Another downside: The bad support of Toshiba. They left us, e310 owners, in the cold, when it was only 6 months old :? :?

Yeah, it's really a shame. I contacted the support about the hardware button -issue and they insisted that the problem was with third party software, that they cannot possibly support.

Well, it is a third party -issue, that is, if you consider the Microsoft PPC2002 to be a third party software. :roll:

I like the Toshiba's design philosophy, but the way e310 was left out in cold must be one one the worst support cases in the history of mankind.

/jizmo

[Vincent M Ferrari]

Yeah, it's really a shame. I contacted the support about the hardware button -issue and they insisted that the problem was with third party software, that they cannot possibly support.


I don't suppose that hardware button issue is the hardware buttons repeating when you press them to launch an app? :?:

I've had that problem since I got my 330 and it annoys me no end :twisted:

[meyerman]

I just recently entered the handheld world and after much research and price shopping settled on the Toshiba e335. I'm pleased to find that there is so much information out there about this technology (eg. this forum). So far so good on getting the installed programs up, running and configured. I especially like the AvantGo program. It's the next best thing to actually being online. Each morning I resync my web channels, then I have valuable reading material for the rest of the day. The only third party programs I have loaded are Sierra's Hoyle Casino Blackjack and Video Poker, and they came with the desktop version I bought. Personally, I try to avoid loading third party programs I'm not sure are specifically designed for my OS, fearing that internal settings might be reconfigured that I won't be able to find and reset later should my system become unstable. NOW TO THE QUESTIONS THAT BROUGHT ME HERE. When the cradle is plugged in and connected to the desktop computer, is it OK to move the handheld in and out the cradle while the unit is on? How about removing the unit from the cradle before exiting ActiveSync on the desktop? Finally, is it a good habit to soft reset the unit after settings have been reconfigured? Thanks. I appreciate your patience and help.

[Fishie]

I just recently entered the handheld world and after much research and price shopping settled on the Toshiba e335. I'm pleased to find that there is so much information out there about this technology (eg. this forum). So far so good on getting the installed programs up, running and configured. I especially like the AvantGo program. It's the next best thing to actually being online. Each morning I resync my web channels, then I have valuable reading material for the rest of the day. The only third party programs I have loaded are Sierra's Hoyle Casino Blackjack and Video Poker, and they came with the desktop version I bought. Personally, I try to avoid loading third party programs I'm not sure are specifically designed for my OS, fearing that internal settings might be reconfigured that I won't be able to find and reset later should my system become unstable. NOW TO THE QUESTIONS THAT BROUGHT ME HERE. When the cradle is plugged in and connected to the desktop computer, is it OK to move the handheld in and out the cradle while the unit is on? How about removing the unit from the cradle before exiting ActiveSync on the desktop? Finally, is it a good habit to soft reset the unit after settings have been reconfigured? Thanks. I appreciate your patience and help.

I do that all the time, never had a problem with it or with my old Ipaq.

[JackTheTripper]

my e310 turns on when it the cradle. Won't turn off. Am kind of afraid that it will cause the screen to konk out early on.:(

but ya, the no support after 6 months thing left a bad taste in my mouth. and it doesn't have 802.11 support. (Yet) But that was my bad. I didn't know I wanted it until now.

Will most likely go Dell next as long as the SD Wifi card I plan to buy soon (Hurry up guys!!!) works with the Axim.

[Janak Parekh]

my e310 turns on when it the cradle. Won't turn off. Am kind of afraid that it will cause the screen to konk out early on.:(
Just set the backlight to turn off even when powered. I set it for 1 minute on all my Pocket PCs. Gives me a little peace of mind. :)

--janak

[JackTheTripper]

Thanks, but I was talking about the actual unit itself. The back light turns off after a minute or so but the today page is always on. never turns off and can't turn it off. When you pull it out of the cradle it turns off after the programmed time.

[brntcrsp]

Will most likely go Dell next as long as the SD Wifi card I plan to buy soon (Hurry up guys!!!) works with the Axim.

The Dell Axim doesn't have SDIO, which precludes you from using the SD WiFi card. Sorry, Jack.

[JackTheTripper]

Will most likely go Dell next as long as the SD Wifi card I plan to buy soon (Hurry up guys!!!) works with the Axim.

The Dell Axim doesn't have SDIO, which precludes you from using the SD WiFi card. Sorry, Jack.

Well scheit! Guess I'll havt to go with some sort of iPaq. :( Or it has CF, right? I could get an adapter. :D Or just sell the SD Wifi and get a CF Wifi.

Well, that's a ways down the line. I'll get my wife the Axim and use her as a guinee pig. :D

[bugeyedkitty]

I love this ppc but i have cray power on/off reset issues too! it has been turning itself on and performing hard resets when i press the power button..tech support was very helpful and is sending it for repair..hopefully it will work