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49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Pocket PC with everything working right!, April 24, 2003
This review is from: Toshiba e755 Pocket PC with Win PocketPC 2002 (Office Product)
(Note: The only difference between the e750 and e755 is that the latter e755 comes with a photo viewer software title on the companion CD. In fact, the machine in the e755 packaging is labeled "e750," so I'll refer to it as e750 in this review.) Featuring a new mobile processor, the most internal memory of any PDA (64MB RAM plus 64MB non-RAM for a total of 128MB), built-in 802.11b wi-fi, the best PDA screen from Toshiba so far. and good battery life, the e750/e755 is close to being perfect. The compact (0.6 inches thin) and attractive form factor is a huge plus, as well. The new Intel processor (PXA255 running at 400Mhz) is without doubt the star of the new line-up. It's an updated version of the first-gen Xscalar processor, which wasn't getting good reviews due to lack of optimization options. The e750/e755 *is* optimized for the new processor, which results in speedy application launches and operations. Nothing gives a Pocket PC user more pleasure than seeing his/her favorite app come up instantly. The e750 also allows you to switch between two speeds, hence you can choose between higher speed or better battery life. Even at the lower speed, PPC apps feel quick and responsive. The LiIon battery is user replaceable, and an optional "extended" battery is available now from Toshiba. What's left to improve for Toshiba is their lackluster customer support. Also, because their PPCs are made by an OEM in Taiwan rather than in their own plants in Japan, the build quality is still a bit lacking, but the e750/e755 seems to be better made than the error-prone e740. Update with more details: The e750 is indeed a joyful PDA! The high price and the lack of a built-in camera aside -- but who really needs the latter, right? -- it really comes close to being a master-of-all-trades device. I haven't tested the wireless features as much as I had hoped, due to the fact there just aren't many free hot spots around these days. But I'll update this review when I get more hands-on experience in this area. In terms of everyday use this is a true workhorse. I'll talk more about the specs below, but the numbers don't really reveal how pleasant using the e750 is. The hundreds of annoyances that plagued the e740, its older cousin, have been fixed. There are far fewer crashes and syncs go more smoothly. At just 6.5 ounces, while not the lightest Pocket PC, you get something very close to a handheld computer, especially when you get the foldable keyboard! The e750 has a total of 128MB of RAM, 32 of which is ROM, 32 is flash-ROM (which means content stored on it won't go away even if the battery is completely dead... think of it as a small hard disk without moving parts), and the rest 64 is true user-accessible RAM. Having a real 64MB to play with is a bliss, especially for someone like me who started out with 16MB on the Casio EM-500 and last saw 46MB on the HP iPaq 1910. The extra 18MB makes a big difference. Now I can play Doom and Quake at the same time! Given the thin form factor of the e750, it still amazes me how it can feature both a Type I/II CompactFlash (CF) slot as well as a Secure Digital (SD) slot. Since wi-fi is already built-in, both can happily be used solely for storage expansion. The highest capacity for SD right now (as of April 2003) is 512MB, but that costs a small fortune. The best value belongs to 256MB cards, and I highly recommend the one from Lexar (see my review there). If you put in a 512MB SD and a 512MB CF, you'll get 1GB of extra storage for under one-hundred-fifty dolrs! The CF slot can probably be used for other peripherals; but the situation is not clear right now as to which CF peripherals will be supported in the e750. The 3.8-inch (measured diagonally) screen is the largest among Pocket PCs on the market today, and the best from Toshiba so far. I personally like the screens on the iPaq 1910 and Viewsonic V35 better, but this screen is more than "good." The resolution is still PPC's standard 240x320, so it would be nice to see someday PPC manufacturers would go higher than that. I'd love a PPC the size of the e750 but with a 4" screen and 320x480 resolution! There are a lot of optional accessories you can get for the e750, including the foldable keyboard and extended battery mentioned above. This is truly an exciting newcomer to the PPC family... one that looks and performs like a winner.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent PocketPC-->After three years of owning PPCs, best!, April 18, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Toshiba e755 Pocket PC with Win PocketPC 2002 (Office Product)
NOTE: e750 is the same as the e755 I've owned various Pocket PCs (over 12 models) since the original iPAQ was available, and the Toshiba e750 is the closest the perfect as they come! Having come from an iPAQ 3970 (which was also near-perfect), I had very high standards for my next Pocket PC. And I'm very glad to say the e750 has met that criterion thus far. Note, I did own the e740 but contrary to the e750, I thought that was near-garbage. The e750's screen is excellent and comparable to the 3970's (I will not settle for less). It's bright and sensitive (unlike the e750). Sound quality is excellent through headphones and good through the internal speaker (the iPAQ's is by far clearer and louder through the speaker, but quality difference is not discernible). The WiFi range is something I was quite surprised with...the e740 did not extend beyond about half my home in Ad-Hoc setup, however my e750 covers my entire home and even up to across the street (the card in the computer is a Lucent Orinoco Silver PCMCIA card). WiFi works flawlessly and was quite simple to set up...definately a step above the e740's poor manager. Video playback, which utilizes the ATI Imageon 100 chip inside the e750, is also FLAWLESS and surpasses all units I've owned (I didn't keep the e740 long enough for players to become available that took advantage of the chip). I have videos encoded at 29.97 fps that play full-frame using PocketMVP ...P>The extra 32MB of ROM is quite pragmatic, and I've utilized it to the fullest...I've never had so many eBooks and programs crammed onto my unit's internal storage. The only thing I can complain about is the unit's battery life. While it is removable, I'd really have liked it if Toshiba had included a larger battery. As it stands, battery life is good without WiFi, but only about 2 hours with WiFi enabled. Nonetheless, the unit is excellent and I would reccomend it without qualms, especially if you have a WiFi network. The CF and SD slots work well to load this device with memory (I have 1.5 GB of storage in addition to the internal...512MB SD and 1GB CF...1.5GB of storage and WiFi...what more do I really need?)
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29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Palm III to Toshiba convert, April 17, 2003
This review is from: Toshiba e755 Pocket PC with Win PocketPC 2002 (Office Product)
I've recently made the decision to purchase a 755 to replace my aging Palm unit. I'm still in the learning phase of using the 755/Pocket PC and so far I'm mostly pleased. So, instead of reiterating the specifications of the 755 I will offer a comparison to my old device and some observations: - The 755 has 48 times more memory than my 2MB Palm. Great. - The 755 has 2 memory card options. My Palm is ancient in this respect, but more modern palms address this via SD. - The 755 uses a lot of juice (color screen/fast processor). I get about 2.5 months of service on my Palm on two AAA batteries (using the backlight on rare occasions. I haven't tested how long the 755 would last on one charge, but have seen the battery indicator go to 80% after an hour of trying a load of things (browsing, music etc). One item to note: after a few days of use I'm getting an incorrect 99% charged battery on the Settings/System/Power application. I'm not sure if I'm getting this because I upgraded to ActiveSync 2.6 - doesn't budge from 99%. - The 755 has WiFi built in. Did I really need this? Not really, but I now can say - Hey check this out man! So far I haven't had any problems with JavaScript or formatting while viewing my favorite sites. The only problem is the amount of scrolling you will need to do to view the entire page. - Images look great on this unit. I used Photoshop Elements, in batch mode, to downsize a folder of images to the screen dimensions of the 755 and created a neat little slide show in PhotoBase, an application that comes with the 755 (not the 750). You can imagine how thrilled I was to see color images after using a Palm mono unit for almost 5 years. - The Windows Media player works better than I thought with MP3s (I haven't viewed any movies with it yet). The music plays back smoothly even when I am doing other things (eg File Explorer, slide show). Okay, I'm lying, I got a couple of blips while resizing a pdf document in Acrobat - no big whoop. This is one great feature - now I can wait for the 40MB iPod to come out. - Graffiti (Palm) vs Block Recognizer (Pocket PC). I started using Transcriber for entering text - I was heart-broken. I couldn't enter text correctly, fast enough. I exclaimed "Hallelujah!" when I discovered Block Recognizer. It allows Graffiti input. Great response time and nifty special character entry assistant. - Synchronization. Yikes! I'm going to have to get use to this. With Palm, 95% of all applications/data get Sync'ed via Hot Sync in a pretty standard way. With Pocket PC there are number of ways this could happen. So far I have come across: * Drag and drop to Pocket Device directory * Custom app install * For media, creating a Playlist in Windows Media Player and then requesting a sync from within the player. * Copy application to device and then execute to install. I won't enter my contacts or other "precious" info until I fully understand syncing with ActiveSync and without first coming up with a back-up plan.
One sad item...I can't sync up with my beloved ibook - Windows only! Real easy with Palm. - Software availability: Palm beats Pocket PC hands-down. There's tons of software for the Palm, a great percentage free. I'm not really complaining - I just need a really good version of Tetris and I'm happy. - The 755 has a very nice solid feel to it. I wish the sides were rubberized though. I've dropped my palm a number of times, thankfully it wasn't fatal. I'd hate to drop a ...[undisclosed dollar amount]+ device. - The sync base for the 755 is built extremely well - nice heavy metal with rubber feet. Unit slides in easily. - Reading books on the 755 is a pleasure compared to palm. Bigger screen, nicer fonts etc. Also, I found mBook Reader (freeware, downloaded it from the internet) to be good alternative to Microsoft's Reader - can read Palm format files! Things I'm not thrilled about: - During the lifetime of my Palm, I've never turned it on accidently. The Toshiba's record button is the first thing that gets pressed when I take the unit out of it's sleave. I believe this button can be remapped to some other function. - After inserting a CF card (Type I) there is a smidgeon of space left over in the slot. I'm assuming that type II cards are fatter. I'm worried about this - if I can see the contacts inside the unit, then a little drop of water can find it's way in there also (think rain - I keep the 755 in my shirt pocket). - I had to reset the unit, using the stylus hole a few times already. My palm is very stable, as long as I don't install hacks that misbehave. I'm not sure who to blame yet (Toshiba/ Microsoft).
After one week of use, I'm pretty happy with this purchase. I just hope I can get the battery indicator issue and sync'ing procedures squared away. If you just need a device to keep track of contacts and maintain your schedule this device may be overkill - go for a Sony SJ-33 instead (...[undisclosed dollar amount]). I just bought one for my wife. If you need a new toy to play with on top of the usual PDA functions this unit looks promising.
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