The Spectre
10-17-2002, 05:46 AM
Here is a petition letter being circulated regarding the problems afflicting the Toshiba e740.
To Whom It May Concern:
This letter has been written and edited for the watchful eyes of many of your customers after having purchased the Toshiba e740 Pocket PC. In essence, the words you read are those from a body of people looking for answers, and not merely those of a single consumer. As a matter of fact, attached or included with it you will find the names of many participants in the search for answers.
First of all, we do not wish to jump into the market for another brand or model of PDA. We feel that the Toshiba e740 Pocket PC has the potential to be one of the best PDA‘s on the market, and have invested hard-earned money while purchasing what has been marketed as one of the elite high-end PDA‘s. However, this item has not been without issues—issues of which we have not been given sufficient answers to.
We understand that in new hardware and/or new software it is inevitable that there will be bugs and problems that will need fixed or improved; however, total disregard for updating consumers about fixes, patches, or ROM upgrades is unacceptable. Many of these consumers have written letters, email messages, and/or made phone calls to your company for a solution—each having been given nothing more than ineffective generic answers.
We are posting our 5 points of concern on Internet websites and message boards to protest the service (or better stated, lack thereof) for the Toshiba e740 Pocket PC. These points of concern have been found in multiple units and have been reported in public forums. These points are as follows:
1. Action buttons not responding. This happens for no apparent reason, and it's impossible to duplicate. There are long delays in multiple button usage, especially with games. The temporary solution is to press the record button for a few seconds. At the present there are no solutions to this issue.
2. ActiveSync sporadically loses connection without reason or warning. At first many thought this was a USB driver problem. However, the same problem occurs when trying to synchronize while connected via (802.11b) Wi-Fi. As of this writing this issue does not have a solution.
3. Poor multimedia performance. The Toshiba e740 Pocket PC performs worse than ARM devices while playing movies or games. PocketTV and PocketDivx have released optimized versions for Xscale, which resolve this issue. However, these software optimizations are clearly not the answer in whole, only in part; ROM updates or fixes are needed as well.
4. The battery meter does not show the real battery level. Even when the unit has only been in use for a few minutes or after a full night of charge the battery meters will rapidly (or instantly) fall from percentages in the 90‘s down to 1%. Some solutions have been to put the unit in the cradle and wait for the green light in LED. Then navigate unit to view the battery meter. Even when the LED is green signaling that the unit is fully charged, the battery meter will display a reading of 1%…then in a few seconds it will display the meter slowly improving to a reading of 100%.
5. Defective Battery. Even after an overnight charging session the battery‘s power capacity is limited to no more than 80 to 85 %. Also, the life of such a battery is significantly reduced. Up to this day this issue does not have a solution.
Obtaining knowledge of what issues the latest update will address and/or resolve, as well as an estimated date for its release is something we feel we are entitled to. If your company would simply communicate with its consumers more openly and honestly, you would not be reading this letter right now. We understand that it does take time for many fixes, patches and upgrades; what we do not understand is why no one is communicating with us in regard to progress, and/or the estimated timeframe for release.
If you were to purchase a new automobile and found that computer sensors caused the car to infrequently die while driving, you would no doubt want to find the problem and get it fixed. However, if the car manufacture continued to tell you that they are aware of the problem and are working on a solution, this information would be useless in getting you to work everyday.
All we ask for is communication, straight answers and an update or fix that will address these issues. If not, we promise you will not have us as repeat customers when we’re ready to upgrade to the next model. You will also find that future consumers will be very reluctant to purchase your products due to public awareness of your products not being serviced properly.
Remember, we are e740 owners…we could be your best sales-team simply because of word-of-mouth. However, more important, we could be the exact opposite for the very same reason.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
To sign the letter just vote in the included poll. Each Vote will be considered as a signature.
More info can be ssen at the following websites:
http://www.pc-counselor.8m.com/e740.htm
http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62314
To Whom It May Concern:
This letter has been written and edited for the watchful eyes of many of your customers after having purchased the Toshiba e740 Pocket PC. In essence, the words you read are those from a body of people looking for answers, and not merely those of a single consumer. As a matter of fact, attached or included with it you will find the names of many participants in the search for answers.
First of all, we do not wish to jump into the market for another brand or model of PDA. We feel that the Toshiba e740 Pocket PC has the potential to be one of the best PDA‘s on the market, and have invested hard-earned money while purchasing what has been marketed as one of the elite high-end PDA‘s. However, this item has not been without issues—issues of which we have not been given sufficient answers to.
We understand that in new hardware and/or new software it is inevitable that there will be bugs and problems that will need fixed or improved; however, total disregard for updating consumers about fixes, patches, or ROM upgrades is unacceptable. Many of these consumers have written letters, email messages, and/or made phone calls to your company for a solution—each having been given nothing more than ineffective generic answers.
We are posting our 5 points of concern on Internet websites and message boards to protest the service (or better stated, lack thereof) for the Toshiba e740 Pocket PC. These points of concern have been found in multiple units and have been reported in public forums. These points are as follows:
1. Action buttons not responding. This happens for no apparent reason, and it's impossible to duplicate. There are long delays in multiple button usage, especially with games. The temporary solution is to press the record button for a few seconds. At the present there are no solutions to this issue.
2. ActiveSync sporadically loses connection without reason or warning. At first many thought this was a USB driver problem. However, the same problem occurs when trying to synchronize while connected via (802.11b) Wi-Fi. As of this writing this issue does not have a solution.
3. Poor multimedia performance. The Toshiba e740 Pocket PC performs worse than ARM devices while playing movies or games. PocketTV and PocketDivx have released optimized versions for Xscale, which resolve this issue. However, these software optimizations are clearly not the answer in whole, only in part; ROM updates or fixes are needed as well.
4. The battery meter does not show the real battery level. Even when the unit has only been in use for a few minutes or after a full night of charge the battery meters will rapidly (or instantly) fall from percentages in the 90‘s down to 1%. Some solutions have been to put the unit in the cradle and wait for the green light in LED. Then navigate unit to view the battery meter. Even when the LED is green signaling that the unit is fully charged, the battery meter will display a reading of 1%…then in a few seconds it will display the meter slowly improving to a reading of 100%.
5. Defective Battery. Even after an overnight charging session the battery‘s power capacity is limited to no more than 80 to 85 %. Also, the life of such a battery is significantly reduced. Up to this day this issue does not have a solution.
Obtaining knowledge of what issues the latest update will address and/or resolve, as well as an estimated date for its release is something we feel we are entitled to. If your company would simply communicate with its consumers more openly and honestly, you would not be reading this letter right now. We understand that it does take time for many fixes, patches and upgrades; what we do not understand is why no one is communicating with us in regard to progress, and/or the estimated timeframe for release.
If you were to purchase a new automobile and found that computer sensors caused the car to infrequently die while driving, you would no doubt want to find the problem and get it fixed. However, if the car manufacture continued to tell you that they are aware of the problem and are working on a solution, this information would be useless in getting you to work everyday.
All we ask for is communication, straight answers and an update or fix that will address these issues. If not, we promise you will not have us as repeat customers when we’re ready to upgrade to the next model. You will also find that future consumers will be very reluctant to purchase your products due to public awareness of your products not being serviced properly.
Remember, we are e740 owners…we could be your best sales-team simply because of word-of-mouth. However, more important, we could be the exact opposite for the very same reason.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
To sign the letter just vote in the included poll. Each Vote will be considered as a signature.
More info can be ssen at the following websites:
http://www.pc-counselor.8m.com/e740.htm
http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62314