Only my husband really knows what an airhead I've become in recent years. I can no longer remember ANYTHING without writing it down! In a grand gesture of generosity, and possibly pity, he decided to buy me a PDA for Christmas to help me with my ever-expanding list of "to-do's". My husband has a Palm 250 and has become pretty enamored with the PDA as an organizational tool. I am a web designer and literally LIVE on my computer, so after shopping around, he decided that a Windows compatible PDA would be the best one for me.
FYI - Despite the fact that I spend so much time on my computer, I'm really not a true "techie", so this review with be from a low tech prospective. After all, I mostly wanted the thing to keep lists! Why did I write this review? I want everyone to know that you can use this Toshiba Pocket PC without being an electronics guru.
In the beginning .... For anyone reading this review who is a PDA novice, please know this --- the Toshiba Pocket PC e330 is very easy to set up and use! The following programs come preloaded in the Toshiba e330 Pocket PC:
- Calculator
- MS Word
- MS Excel
- Windows Explorer
- Windows Media Player
- Notepad
- MS Outlook
- MS Reader (for e-books)
- Games (Solataire)
This model also comes with a voice recorder (easy to use with good sound clarity), MSN Messenger, and Terminal Services Client.
These programs will be ready to use as soon as you hook up! I'll admit that I had to do a lot of exploring of this device before I felt ready to head out into the world with this Pocket PC as my only database. In addition to the above-mentioned software, the Toshiba Pocket PC also is able to accept and send email and has web-browsing capability. Unfortunately, this service is requires monthly payments to web services, so in my case, I opted to forego the web stuff. I'm not all THAT freaked out on being "connected". The Toshiba e330 has an infrared port included. I'm not even sure what this is, but apparently I don't need it :) AvantGo works with this PDA, but I don't use this service. What I CAN say about this Pocket PC is that it has a much larger viewing screen than my husband's Palm Pilot, so if you do want to surf the internet, you should be able to get a large view of the web pages.
You get the picture.... REALLY!!! The color on this Toshiba Pocket PC is very good and the screen clarity is excellent. This PDA is waaaay better than my husband's Palm 250! The images are as crisp and clear as my desktop computer. Another fun thing is you can view photos and upload any image as your desktop wallpaper. Great way to show off pics of your kids!! Aren't they just darling? He's much taller now than.....OOPS! Sorry.
Charge It! I charge my PDA every night before I go to bed, so it gets a full 8 hour charge. It's worked fine all day at work and into the evening UNLESS I spent a lot of time playing games or some other battery-draining activity. For those using a PDA for organizational purposes, you should have no problems with the battery. I keep screen backlight setting fairly low and this really helps preserve batter life. Another trick is to set the device to automatic shut off after a short period of use. This can be annoying when I'm in the middle of writing notes, but is better than no power when I really need it. I really can't complain about the battery life of this device. What is great about the Toshiba Pocket PC e330 is that it comes with a USB cradle that also allows you to charge the battery while the device is hooked up to the computer. The cradle is small and wouldn't take up a lot of room in a suitcase if traveling. For regular charging I just plug it up without the cradle apparatus. I only use the cradle for syncing with my PC.
In Sync- Syncing your Toshiba e330 is a piece of cake. The MS ActiveSync program is included in your software bundle and is a breeze to configure. When you put your device in the cradle the ActiveSync program automatically kicks in and in a split second your synced. It's so nice to have my entire Outlook contact list and my entire calendar at my fingertips whenever I need them. When you set up reminders on your calendar you can set the Pocket PC to chime - which will alert you that you have an appointment or task that needs attention.
Looks count- and this PDA is a serious babe! Slim, sleek, and lightweight! I keep mine in an outside pocket of my purse and I hardly ever have a problem with the device turning on when I don't want it to. I've never had a problem with the microphone button accidentally being hit either. I DID have to do a hard reset once (mostly because I didn't know what I was doing yet), but haven't had many crashing problems since. This model has a storage card slot for additional software or storage capability. I haven't had to upgrade storage - but nice to know that I can. Navigation buttons can be programmed to launch whatever programs you use most. The Toshiba e330 also comes with a comes with a carrying sleeve.
Write this down!- in cursive if you like! The MS Transcriber is fantastic! It really makes this device into a true "To Do" utility. My husband is jealous of my transcriber because his Palm doesn't have near the intelligence that mine does. I guess that makes me more intelligent than my husband :) Seriously, you won't be disappointed in the Transcriber - it totally gets what you want it to do and didn't require a lot of word recognition like other similar programs.
I love this thing, and I really do use it. A tad expensive, but worth it.
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