PDAJunkie's iPAQ 5555 vs. Toshiba e755 Shootout

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pdajunkie.net/index.html?pdajunkie_net_e755vsh5555.htm&2' target='_blank'>http://www.pdajunkie.net/index.html...55vsh5555.htm&2</a><br /><br /></div>Steve Yee over on PDAJunkie.net has done a detailed 2 page article comparing these two high-end Windows Mobile 2003 devices, including a ton of Spb benchmarks. Interesting results!<br /><br />"In looking at the raw data, two things become very evident - One, the E755 definitely has better overall benchmarks against the 5555. The other was the surprise: We were shocked to see how poorly the 5555 did against its far cheaper cousin, the iPAQ h2215."

[jage]

I wonder if 5555 is faring a bit less well because it's running some extra processes that aren't visible in the normal process list (for bluetooth & Wlan).

Regardless, iPaq 5555 would be my pick if money didn't matter, iPaq 2215 otherwise.

[Fabulas]

I'd go with the 5555 as well, too bad it did'nt make the same impact on most readers as the 3970 did :?

[brianh4321]

Just want to say great article. Love to see a similar review of xdas.

[gorkon280]

Reviews like this make people quibble. Nyean Nyeah my cheapr 2215 is faster. Um, ah, yeah by 2 hundredths! Would I buy a 2215 over my 5555? No way! Integrated WiFi and Bluetooth PLUS the extra ram make it well worth it. The difference between all of these is miniscule. Just choose the one that suits you. Right now, that would be the 5555. With Toshiba's rep, I ain't buying!

[Macguy59]

Makes my decision to purchase the 2215 look even better : )

[Macguy59]

Reviews like this make people quibble. Nyean Nyeah my cheapr 2215 is faster. Um, ah, yeah by 2 hundredths! Would I buy a 2215 over my 5555? No way! Integrated WiFi and Bluetooth PLUS the extra ram make it well worth it. The difference between all of these is miniscule. Just choose the one that suits you. Right now, that would be the 5555. With Toshiba's rep, I ain't buying!

Well for the additional $300 you SHOULD get a little something else :roll:

[Anthony Caruana]

This is a great review. Nice to see a review that isn't just about comparing the feature lists from the side of the packaging as some other sites do. The real world look at what's in the box and the customer service experience of the two OEMs was excellent.

Given the Toshiba WM2003 upgrade policy and this review of their customer service it's hard to see how they will increase their market share and be a long term player in the PDA space.

[Skitals]

You could always buy 2 2215's for about the price of a 5555... combined you have 7 inches of screen, 800mhz of power, 4 expansion slots, etc :D

[mmeytin]

I run into several factual errors in the review, which unfortunately made me discount its findings somewhat. A few things. e755 suggested retail is now $499, not $599 as reported in the review. It can also be found online cheaper at some retailers, but same is true for 5555 of course. The bottom line, the price difference is $150, not $50 as reported.

e755 does have the ability to turn wireless on and off via a standard WM2003 wireless toolbar applet. The applet does need to be enabled by going to Settings -> System -> Wireless LAN Manager -> Manager and selecting "Enable Wireless Indicator" checkbox.

Also, while I agree that a slip case included with e755 is less than stellar, reviewer's comment that it cannnot accomodate the extended battery is not entirely fair. The thing is that Toshiba's external battery comes standard with a slightly larger slip case that will accomodate both the PDA and the new battery.

Finally, on the issue of support I had a somewhat different experience with Toshiba. Apparently the AC charger that I got with the unit was defective. I called Toshiba support, got through fairly quickly, and pretty easily convinced a customer service representative that I indeed verified that the AC adapter was bad, and there is no need to send the entire set back. Bottom line, three days later I had a new AC adapter delivered to me via FedEx Next Day service (they were backordered, thus the delay of three days). They didn't ask me to send the broken AC adapter back. Bottom line, your mileage may vary as is the case with any technical support.

In any case, I don't mean to say that e755 is a much better PDA than iPaq 5555. It has its share of problems and deficiencies, including a weak speaker, poor software bundle, no vibrating battery, etc. My point is that review, while overall helpful, is not entirely accurate and should be taken with a grain of salt.

-M-

P.S.: I am a e755/WM2003 owner, but if I were buying now I may have gone for the 5555 - not sure and the point is moot anyway ;^)

[Pocket PC Dubai]

This is an excellent review thought I consider comparing battery performance is compulsory to many users. I am very interested to compare the 5550 with 5450 both with WM2003.

[sgyee]

I run into several factual errors in the review, which unfortunately made me discount its findings somewhat. A few things. e755 suggested retail is now $499, not $599 as reported in the review. It can also be found online cheaper at some retailers, but same is true for 5555 of course. The bottom line, the price difference is $150, not $50 as reported.

e755 does have the ability to turn wireless on and off via a standard WM2003 wireless toolbar applet. The applet does need to be enabled by going to Settings -> System -> Wireless LAN Manager -> Manager and selecting "Enable Wireless Indicator" checkbox.

Also, while I agree that a slip case included with e755 is less than stellar, reviewer's comment that it cannnot accomodate the extended battery is not entirely fair. The thing is that Toshiba's external battery comes standard with a slightly larger slip case that will accomodate both the PDA and the new battery.

Finally, on the issue of support I had a somewhat different experience with Toshiba. Apparently the AC charger that I got with the unit was defective. I called Toshiba support, got through fairly quickly, and pretty easily convinced a customer service representative that I indeed verified that the AC adapter was bad, and there is no need to send the entire set back. Bottom line, three days later I had a new AC adapter delivered to me via FedEx Next Day service (they were backordered, thus the delay of three days). They didn't ask me to send the broken AC adapter back. Bottom line, your mileage may vary as is the case with any technical support.

In any case, I don't mean to say that e755 is a much better PDA than iPaq 5555. It has its share of problems and deficiencies, including a weak speaker, poor software bundle, no vibrating battery, etc. My point is that review, while overall helpful, is not entirely accurate and should be taken with a grain of salt.

-M-

P.S.: I am a e755/WM2003 owner, but if I were buying now I may have gone for the 5555 - not sure and the point is moot anyway ;^)

At the time that I physically purchased the unit, I paid $599. Agreed, the pricing has dropped, but when I bought and wrote the review, $599 was the price that I paid for it. Remember that I purchased my unit just as WM2003 came out, and the retail cost was still the higher price.

The "Enable Wireless Indicator" applet has had many problems, including the irritating bleeping every time the signal strength changes. In addition, if I'm able to turn it off, I can't turn it on using the same pop up balloon. Mabye it's a bad E755 (#4 going into #5 for me?), but in the case of my specific unit, I am not able to turn it off and on (both ways) with the pop up balloon.

In regards to the slip case - what came with the unit is unable to accomodate anything but the standard battery. The slip case that comes with the extended battery does fit, but you end up with two cases rather than one case that is able to accomodate everything. The h5555's standard case is able to handle both batteries (standard and extended) without me needing to swap out cases.

I'm glad that you had a successful run with Toshiba's tech support. I got my E740 back from the local third party retailer shop's insurance policy and it's back to normal. My experience with Toshiba's CS has been less than stellar, and my subsequent hour long, face to face conversation with a Toshiba Systems Engineer last week did nothing to help their position at all in my eyes.

So - is $150 difference still worth it? I personally don't think so. Despite the promises of Toshiba that the E750 will be upgradeable to the new WM2004 (or whatever it will be called), I'll believe it when I see it. HP's at least come through to the end users on the majority of their upgrades....h1910 notwithstanding.

[Reza]

Agreed, the pricing has dropped, but when I bought and wrote the review, $599 was the price that I paid for it.
Fair enough, but perhaps you could now amend your review with the new price? Amazon sells the e755 for $449.99 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009K7ES/) and I think there is an additional (??) $50 mail-in rebate…

The "Enable Wireless Indicator" applet has had many problems, including the irritating bleeping every time the signal strength changes. In addition, if I'm able to turn it off, I can't turn it on using the same pop up balloon. Mabye it's a bad E755 (#4 going into #5 for me?), but in the case of my specific unit, I am not able to turn it off and on (both ways) with the pop up balloon.
The Wireless Indicator works fine on my e755. I can turn wireless on and off indefinitely without any noticeable glitch.

In regards to the slip case - what came with the unit is unable to accomodate anything but the standard battery.
Actually you can fit the unit with its extended battery in the original slip case. It takes some pushing and shoving initially but it eventually fits easily…

I admit I like the e75x case: it’s pretty practical and does not look too shoddy (unlike that piece of sh*t case that hp bundles with the 221x!). It reminds me of my old hp11c case. :D

My experience with Toshiba's CS has been less than stellar, and my subsequent hour long, face to face conversation with a Toshiba Systems Engineer last week did nothing to help their position at all in my eyes.
So didn’t this rather poor experience with Toshiba CS somehow bias your comparison of the two machines? ;)

[Bob Anderson]

Of all the posts here... I'm amazed that no one has brought up the fact that Toshiba's upgrade policy towards PPC's is unacceptable.

Whether the price is $599 or $449, I wouldn't buy anything from Toshiba, given the flap over upgrading devices to PPC 2003.

[mmidgley]

Extended Battery

Nice photos and physical comparison. No info on how much each battery really extends play time though. No price comparison.

Customer Service

Reza wrote:
> So didn’t this rather poor experience with Toshiba CS somehow bias your comparison of the two machines?

I think that was the whole point of including a section on CS--to show how that might bias the average users's decision. Perhaps more samples of each company's CS are in order though. Also, even though the new units are still on return policy with the local store, it would still be useful to hear about how well their CS deal with NEW products. When I had to contact Compaq about a H3650 problem in June 2000, they didn't have a clue how to address the problem.

sgyee wrote:
> Mabye it's a bad E755 (#4 going into #5 for me?)

That's not a good track record right off the line... My iPAQ 3650 purchased in June 2000 came with a dead speaker. This time around I am bent on testing every feature to make sure its all good. So far I have tested everything but bluetooth (need to borrow a friend's bt gps).

Carry Case

> Actually you can fit the unit with its extended battery in the original slip case. It takes some pushing and shoving initially but it eventually fits easily…

Were you just joking here? I hope. After mangling it in with ext. battery, isn't it stretched out and ruined for use without ext. battery?

mmeytin wrote:
> Toshiba's external battery comes standard with a slightly larger slip case

That solves that. Although, I do like having one nice looking/functioning case that adapts to whether I have an ext. battery or exp. sleeves or none of the above in use.

My wife bought me a carry case prior to my 5555 arriving--neither of us knew it came with one. I am pleased enough with it that I probably should have returned the one my wife bought.

Upgradability

Bob Anderson wrote:
> Toshiba's upgrade policy towards PPC's is unacceptable.

That would be a deal killer for me for sure. My experience owning several Apple Newtons taught me its worth it for everyone to put flash in there and USE it for upgradability.

Pricing

Current pricing should be used. I bought my 5555 with a 10% off discount from HP and paid $585 delievered. Discussion of $1 delta is approaching silly.

Wireless on/off

I think this is a PPC2003 inconsistency. I'll have to play with it more, but it seems that when I first power on the device, the Turn On link is missing. If I use the HP wireless applet to activate wireless, then I can use the pop-up to turn it off--and then back on again! I don't understand why that pop-up doesn't always provide either Turn On or Turn Off. (?)

Memory

There is no mention in the review of each unit's RAM and flash memory size.

Expansion

I didn't follow his logic on why the Toshiba won on expansion capability. It is nice that the Toshiba's ext. battery can be used with expansion, but several iPAQ sleeves provide ext. battery power too. Comes down to consumer choice/preference (I guess that's true for the entire device comparison, eh?)

ActiveSync, SD/CF memory speeds, and battery life

At least you could compare how well each unit does in a particular setup. ie, if both units are connected to the same computer, same usb bus, etc, it would still prove useful for comparison. Of course if I had tons of devices on a usb bus, I would understand why performance was lower on MY computer.

Sound/Screen

There was no sound system or screen comparison. A co-worker with a Toshiba couldn't stop commenting on how nice my 5555 screen looked, particularly with the backlight on (clear image, even lighting, etc).

Benchmarks

We all assume that SPB has a reliable utility there.

Overall nice job, Steve Yee.

m.

[Reza]

> Actually you can fit the unit with its extended battery in the original slip case. It takes some pushing and shoving initially but it eventually fits easily…

Were you just joking here? I hope. After mangling it in with ext. battery, isn't it stretched out and ruined for use without ext. battery?

Actually I wasn't joking: it's a last resort solution but it fits and the case isn't too stretched out. Of course I don’t have this problem anymore having just bought a couple of extra $24 (!!) high cap batteries (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15435) plus additional wider cases. :D

[seanturner]

Well, it seems our server has taken a nosedive :evil: , but, I've mirrored the review and the rest of the site on a backup server. You can view the review here (http://pdajunkie.****sa.net/pdajunkie_net_e755vsh5555.htm)