e805 & e405 worth?

[XLP]

Hey all,

When I heard that Toshiba released the e800 and the e400 series to its line of Pocket PC, it makes me wonder whether or not we should trust them (no offence!). I mean, it does have the bells and whistle that is extremely tempting but when I look back, the Toshiba e740 did too in 2002. I remembered in 2002 when Toshiba released the e740, it was like the e800 of 2002, some people commented it as the 'dream' pocket pc. And what happened? After a year toshiba abandoned it! Now I see people getting the e800 without thinking about what toshiba did to its previous flagship product! Some people might say 'Well it won't need an upgrade, its already perfect!', well, isn't that what the e740 buyers thought in 2002? Anyways I'm just telling whats in my mind, I dont u stop buying the e800 just because of me...

thanx

[mplough]

Well I tested an e405 for 2 days in Atlanta last week. Pathetic battery life. With less than 30 minutes worth of use per day, backlight and sound settings on medium, I would drop to 60%(ish) after 1 day!
Returned the unit and purchased another in a different city on the way home, same problem.
I don't see how 802.11b and a power hungry VGA screen are going to survive much more than the e405 does on minimum hardware.

[jpjehu]

this one does seem to have a lot of great things to it. i would recommend it to you simply because of the transflective screen and 2003 os. the differences in both (from reflective & 2002) are great IMHO. the vga is simply a bonus. it really depends on what you use it for.

[RobMtl007]

Greetings All:

I'm thinking of purchasing an E800, and the battery issue concerns me.
I hope that on E800, there is a power saver of some sort to help reduce battery drain.
I'm choosing Toshiba, because I use one of their Laptops, and
it works marvelous, but now I'm a bit hestiate waiting to see
if anyone has first handson experience with an E800.
I should be getting an E800 by Christmas.
My other option would be the E750, anyone has anything good
to say about this unit.
regards Robert

[XLP]

well, if my only 2 options are the e750 and the e800, i'll go for the e800 (its newer, and it's currently toshiba's flagship product). but otherwise, i dunno, i've not got a e800 and aint planning to get 1 anytime soon (i need assurance that when magneto comes out, it will be available for the unit)

[jb]

I have now been using an e805 for the last two days and I can tell you firsthand that there is no short life battery issues. The machine runs for about 4 hours under the following conditions:

Continous running of an MP3 file.
Backlight on medium.
VGA Mode.

The battery life has already been benchmarked in an article on Brighthand. Whoever, posted that they got a unit that ran for 30 minutes or some such nonsense simply means that they got a bad unit or a demo or who knows what. Think about this for a minute. You think any companyis going to put out a unit that runs for 30 minutes? C'mon now!!!

You don't know what you have been missing until you see the beautiful 4" screen and VGA mode. You will never look at an IPAQ or anything else for that matter, in the same way again.

For all of those out there who are claiming that you can't use all the programs in VGA mode I hate to break it to you but the mode switch fix has already been posted on Brighthand.

The e805 is an awesome unit. Far ahead of anything else on the market right now. HP & the rest of the pack is gonna have to move fast to catch up to this baby.

It looks cool and it is cool. Go and buy one, you won't be dissapointed.

[RobMtl007]

Thanks JB:
You are the 1st user I know of an E800.
I hope you'll post other good information about the unit.
I was wondering if you have used the WIFI feature, and
how the battery life is with that.
Again, I hope we hear more goodies as you become famliar with
the unit.
regards Robert

[sdemirel]

So if you follow brighthand forums you get a firsthand info

But as a summary of postings of these initial users I can say

1- Screen is great on both qvga and vga
2- it is better even in daylight
3- It is possible to run most of the apps (even some games) in VGA mode
4- Using VGA mode beyond 4 useless viewer apps requires a patch (wich already be done)
5- Pacth is not perfect for example when applied hardware buttons quit working
6- There is small d-pad lag , much less then e755 but exist, it is unnoticable except games
7- Multiple button press bug exists in same button press configurations
8- D-Pad is too stiff and not suitable for game play
9- USB host cable (and any other cable for E7xx) is not compatible
10- There is no case in the box
11-Body is plastic
12- WLAN range %50 better then E75x
13 - Sufficient battery life
14- Faster then any existing pocketpc

PS : I dont have e800 yet these are just a summary of what others said and after reading all of the I have mixed feelings whether to buy or wait for new vga devices

[Jean Ichbiah]

Does it scale QVGA bitmaps in older applications. In other words, does it replace every bit into 4?

[sdemirel]

Does it scale QVGA bitmaps in older applications. In other words, does it replace every bit into 4?

if you run it in 240X320 its same as any other PPC

in 480X640 display fills screen (4 times more information on screen !) except media player and few other apps

[jkendrick]

I too have had an e805 for the last 2 days and I concur with the earlier comments. Reading ebooks in Palm Reader and MS Reader in VGA is more than worth the price of admission for me.

Battery is good, screen is absolutely gorgeous, and overall speed is very fast. I've loaded it up with all the apps and games that had my e755 (64 MB) chock full and still have over 100 mb free!

[KAMware]

I have had my e805 for 1 day now and I Luv it!

I installed eXPerinece interface, after installing the hack that allows you to go to 480x640 without the Toshiba software, and I can access all the apps on the device and it looks just like a small XP screen.

So far I have found that apps that have graphics associated with their interface do not port well. They do not resize because of the limitations of the image. Withe exception of eXPerience.

Championship Hearts and ISS Scientific Calculator are two that do not work.

But Word, Excel, Notes, Email all work fine. Resco File Explorer is GREAT!

[hk_traveller]

So if you follow brighthand forums you get a firsthand info

But as a summary of postings of these initial users I can say

1- Screen is great on both qvga and vga
2- it is better even in daylight
3- It is possible to run most of the apps (even some games) in VGA mode
4- Using VGA mode beyond 4 useless viewer apps requires a patch (wich already be done)
5- Pacth is not perfect for example when applied hardware buttons quit working
6- There is small d-pad lag , much less then e755 but exist, it is unnoticable except games
7- Multiple button press bug exists in same button press configurations
8- D-Pad is too stiff and not suitable for game play
9- USB host cable (and any other cable for E7xx) is not compatible
10- There is no case in the box
11-Body is plastic
12- WLAN range %50 better then E75x
13 - Sufficient battery life
14- Faster then any existing pocketpc

PS : I dont have e800 yet these are just a summary of what others said and after reading all of the I have mixed feelings whether to buy or wait for new vga devices
You mentioned that it is faster than any existing Pocket PC. Any benchmark comparison available? As the CPU is almost the same in new Pocket PC, I guess the speed difference should be minimal.

Thanks!

[tsb_hcy]

I've can't say enough about how good this unit is. I'm browsing this forum in VGA now through Wi-Fi. After using VGA you could never go back. TomeRaider and IE in VGA are the ultimate. Battery life is excellent even with Wi-Fi and VGA. I especially like the cradle as well. I do hope someone works the CAPS key into the fullscreen keyboard in VGA mode and enables the start menu in VGA mode to register taps. There's no question the e805 is the greatest PDA ever made.

[azhiker]

The format of the 805 is outstanding and with the hack to make it all VGA, I'd like to get one. But having enjoyed the thin and light format of the E310 for the past 16 months, I'd would rather see the 805 with just ehe SS card and as thin as the 405. Then I'd buy.

Hope this happens. VGA and thin and light. Great combination, but then I can wait to see HP come out with one this spring (perhaps).

[tsb_hcy]

I wouldn't hold my breath. I doubt HP will be releasing a dual slot unit with a VGA screen and Wi-Fi any time soon. I look for a 5550 with a VGA screen and nothing more. :( Thank God for Toshiba.

[Janak Parekh]

I'd would rather see the 805 with just ehe SS card and as thin as the 405. Then I'd buy.
Not sure this will happen anytime soon -- this is a cutting-edge screen, and a large one at that.

--janak

[jake080]

i am once again have a wonderful time buying the e800... actually no, that would be a dream come true, where the frap can i get one in the US!?!
or when! i had hoped to have it by thursday, ill even pay for overnight shipping, just where?!?

~Jake in distress

[tsb_hcy]

CompUSA is the best bet. Make sure to bring in the eCost page, they are matching the price in many cases.

[PocketRocker]

The best price I've found, so far, for the Toshiba E800 is $539 at Harmony. Ground shipping is $15. Other, faster shipping options are available.

Unit is in stock, as of 11/24. They're a pretty highly rated online retailer.

http://www.shopharmony.com/product.asp?file=DEALTIME&i=TOSE800

[mrmagoo]

I have to agree with tsb_hcy. This is one great PDA. I have had the e805 for the past month now and I can say that this is one ultimate PDA. With the VGA hack (from Deez at Brighthand forum) and Nyditot, I'm able to run the e805 in VGA landscape mode. Going from QVGA to VGA resolution isn't evolutionary, it feels revolutionary.

These are just some of the tasks that I can perform in landscape VGA:
- surf the internet using Pocket Internet Explorer. Don't have to use the horizontal scroll bar as typically the full page width is shown.
- read Adobe Acrobat files in pull page width mode. ie. horizontal scrolling is not required as the resolution of the screen is so high.

And just because VGA can display 4x as much info as QVGA, the amount of information that is display using the Inbox (email), Reader, Total Commander (file explorer), Pocket Informant (and related contacts, calendar, notes) is staggering. I didn't realize just how little information was being displayed by all of the other QVGA Pocket 2002/2003 devices until this PDA came along.

Before the e805, I was constantly grumbling that Pocket IE, Reader, Excel, Word, etc. etc. couldn't display enough information. And how useless the apps felt to me on the PocketPC. With this VGA screen, all of those complaints are now gone.

I had always thought that WiFi on a PDA wouldn't be useful to me. I was wrong. With built in Wifi and the ability of using IE in landscape mode, I now respond to email, posts on forums, and surf the net while lieing down on my couch or heaven forbid, in bed! Using the Inbox POP3 and Httpmail application, I can receive my email (or surf) at any WiFi access point while I'm on the road.

As for battery life, with WiFi on and screen set to minimum brightness (which is still a little bright if all lights are off in a room), I can surf for 3.5 - 4 hours before the batteries run down to ~15% capacity.

This e805 is one feature rich PDA. And with the addition of Deez's hack, it make it one great PDA.

[MultiMatt]

...Using the Inbox POP3 and Httpmail application, I can receive my email (or surf) at any WiFi access point while I'm on the road.PocketGear is no longer listing Adrian's httpMail application (I confirmed it with them). I had the trial version downloaded onto my PC already, so I installed and ran the .CAB file and now I want to get it set up on my PPC.

I am not sure of the settings for the Server information in Inbox. Could you provide some insight?
Also, I can't seem to find a website for this app. Do you have any info on that?

UPDATE: Adrian (the author of this HttpMail software) was away, and is back now. So is his software listing on PocketGear!
Still, the documentation on the app is non-existent... I'm awaiting a return email from Adrian for an answer to setting it up...

Matt

[MultiMatt]

Even though the documentation for HttpMail is non-existent, Adrain is pretty quick at responding to email questions about his software...

For those of you who might need to know:
The Server settings for both Incoming and Outgoing should be hotmail. Just that word - no URL or anything - just hotmail.

After that, it worked like a charm for me!

Matt