iPaq 3950 vs. Toshiba e740

[GQ19]

the only thing that's keeping me from eBaying my 3950 to get The toshiba e740 is the fact that the e740 doesn't have the transreflective TFT screen.. is there anything more than that that i should be looking at? the only reason i wanna make this move is because the e740 has built in wifi and can have bluetooth via a CF card very easily.. any ideas would be greatly appreciated! thanks in advance

[NLS]

???

all PocketPC 2002 systems have transeflective TFT screens

it's just that 39XX series has the best

[RX93]

removable battery may be another one. my battery on ipaq3650 is dying atm :(

[David McNamee]

Built-in WiFi; built-in CF; built-in SD; user-replacable battery; a small, light expansion unit that gives you VGA-out and a USB port; no more needing a laptop bag to carry around your PDA and all those stinking sleeves.

Is the screen brighter and a little prettier on other Pocket PC's? Yes. But are you shopping for a PDA or a home theater system?

I love my e740. My only two gripes are the lack of a Stowaway keyboard, and the slowness of Toshiba to release a ROM update. I can live with the PocketTop instead of my beloved Stowaway, and the ROM update will happen eventually. Having been an early adopter of the iPaq, I would not use any other Pocket PC for my day-to-day device.

[Paul P]

The real tradeoff for me was superior performance. Some benchmarks may say otherwise, but my 3970 is seemingly more faster in comparison with the e740. I am able to run more applications on it without seeing any slowdown. Also, the screen is not just a little prettier, but bigger. Sound is also superior. I found the device more stable as well.

[NLS]

I have to disagree with some of your points.

Most benchmarks are NOT in favour of 39XX and remember the early e740 BIOS did not support the ATI gfx chip (I am not sure it REALLY supports it yet).

Bigger screen does NOT mean better. It just means bigger pixels. I am not sure this is good.

In any case 39XX screens ARE better indeed (not because of the size) but we have to remember did not just "happen"; it happened on the backs of disatisfied 36xx, 37xx and 38xx users (iPAQ were the first heros of screen dust after all - people tend to forget).

Also since 39xx is a biffed up 3xxx I EXPECTED it to be more stable (for now) than FRESH (and with more hardware in them) models of other brands.

As for sound... come on! I don't think you can really distinguish a PocketPC when using mediocre stereo headphones. If you want sound you are in the wrong market after all. Get an iPOD or a Clie.

[Sheynk]

Sorry if I'm being redundant, but not all PPC 2k2 screens are transflective. Some are reflective. Remember, Transflective is a mix between reflective (Ipaq 36xx,37xx,38xx) and a transmissive (Old casios)

[Janak Parekh]

As for sound... come on! I don't think you can really distinguish a PocketPC when using mediocre stereo headphones. If you want sound you are in the wrong market after all. Get an iPOD or a Clie.
Oh, you absolutely can. I use my 3870 for music all the time, and its audio is superb, a notch above e740's. The iPaqs have a DSP that provides very good quality Treble and Bass Boost. As to an iPod or CLIE, I don't want either. I have a Ogg player for my iPaq. I can't get it for anything else. Convergence is a beautiful thing, too.

Admittedly, the integrated WiFi of the e740 is a nifty feature. OTOH, keep in mind that the 39xx units' battery absolutely trounces the e740's. So it isn't quite as clear as you'd imply :)

Having been an early adopter of the iPaq, I would not use any other Pocket PC for my day-to-day device.
While the e740 is, without question, a superior unit compared to the iPaq 36xx's, extending that comparison to the 39xx series doesn't work. Make sure you do a side-by-side comparison of the two current models... the 39xx's display must be seen to be believed.

--bdj