Buying a 2nd Hand e740

[Soulless]

I wanna know if its worth buying a 2nd hand e740 pda at about $300AUD ($200US).

Are there any major problems with the e740?

Bad screen? problems with the wifi? Bugs?

Opinions?

[pdatoad]

I've had mine since it first came out and I love it. I use it for everything. I audio record lectures in class, I type my notes in class (wireless keyboard), I used it for GPS (w/ optional GPS adapter), the WiFi has great range for me. I love having USB and VGA out (w/ optional expansion adapter), and having both SD and Compact Flash memory (I store all programs on SD, use CF slot for modem, GPS, or add'l memory)

The main drawback I see is it will only run Pocket PC 2002. Toshiba will not release PPC2003 for it. The controller pad is very touchy.. I cannot play an arcade game using the pad. Also, my latest prob is I couldn't use a 1 GB SD card, but I do use a 256 Meg SD card and a 196 Meg CF card.

I love mine.. but I've read from other posts that it's worth it to go with the e755 (don't know reasons though)

-PDAtoad

[newst]

The E-740 had a spotted past. It truly depended on which unit you had. Many people, myself included, had virtually trouble free units, while others had severe problems. It couldn't be identified to any particular production block, but that was the general experience.

The E-750/755, on the other hand, didn't seem to have the volume of 'trouble' units that were reported on the E-740.

[gt24]

I bought my e740 for $140 US. However, that was at another forum's classifides section and might not be an indicator of this device's price. Still, it seems that $200 US would be kinda high, at least in my area... at least I think so...

Well, anyways, the device has the pxa... um... ends with a 50... CPU. It runs at a 100 Mhz front side bus while the e750 runs at a 200 Mhz front side bus with the CPU ending in a 55, essentially it is a somewhat faster chip, even though the Mhz is the same for the CPU (400).

If you get the e740, you have windows mobile 2002 ONLY. If you get the e750, you have windows mobile 2003... Also, the e740 has some bugs in the firmware... an annoying one is a digitizer lag which makes writing a pain on the latest firmware (which that bug will not be fixed). The prior firmware doesn't have the lag, but the today screen text has a tendancy to go white (if it is black, it will be white sometimes, even if the background makes that impossible to read). Also, active sync drops on the prior rom version.

Some e740s also have a battery issue relating to badly soddered contacts inside the device that eventually makes the device unusable. If you are a tremendously good at soddering, it is fixable... if you are not good, then super glue works too... Also, if you get the e740, make good FREQUENT backups, since this device has a tendency to hard reset from time to time (usually upon dropping it in my case).

The e740 has a front light, not a back light like the more brilliant pocket pc screens out there. The e750 fixes this with the lighting being behind the screen. The screen is still good on the e740, providing good color, it just is too dark at times, I feel. Eitherways, it is tollerable. I recommend a good boxwave screen protector, for glare reduction is a must for a device that has a darker screen, since room lighting can help out quite a bit.

One nice thing is that the e740 is compatible with the e750, and a few other Toshiba devices, meaning that even though a lot of people are getting rid of the e740, you can still find upgrades for the e740 by finding upgrades for that whole product family. The device does have wifi, a CF slot, SD slot (both can take wider cards), and isn't a bad starter device.

I do love my e740. Don't think from my negative comments above that this device is evil, but the point of this was that, for a really expensive device (when it was released new), it wasn't exactly a gold nugget. In my opinion, $200 may be a bit too pricey for this device. You might want to aim a bit higher, for the e750 or alike.

There might be a good mugen battery comming out for the e740-750, etc, family soon. This battery provides quite a boost to runtimes and would be a nifty upgrade. However, that battery is still in planning stages. Might be something to look forward to though...

My e740 had the soddering issue somewhat, and the stylus holder has a broken retention clip (so I learned when opening the thing). One thing that the e740 taught me is how to make good backups, how to recover from a "dooms-day" scenario, and also how great pocket pc devices are. If this is your first device, don't get discouraged when you run into any snags and find solutions to the problems you have. Trust me, you will run into a snag or two with this device!! :) At the very least though, it is a positive learning experience in the end. Good luck on your search!