1 Good Buy
I recently purchased this PPc. It was the first one I had purchased and found it very easy to use. I used it mostly for taking notes, and keep an organized schedule after I purchased the Targus Universal Keyboard, which works very well with the e355. I was impressed with the battery life on medium settings which gave about 3-4 hours of battery life.
Hopefully this review will give a student a little insight into this "student" view of this.
2 A pda to have
I am a high school teacher. I wanted something to take notes on and to remind me when homework was due. I searched far and wide reading review after review. I got alot more than that with the e355. I have been using it for about 3.5 months now.
I'll just list the Pros and Cons becasue i could go on all day!
Pros:
1. Great speed.
2. Works right out of the box.
3. Excellent battery life (3.5 to 4hrs continuous running)
4. Crisp display. (especially for video playback)
5. Smooth buttons that feel pretty nice on your fingers.
6. Good price for the quality you get
7. The speakers on this player play audio in the best way i have heard for a small speaker unit. You would not believe that a pda could do so well with sound. It plays my mp3s, wma, anything and don't forget the videos.
8. It has a SD card slot so you can expand the memory at any time. the SD card slot has a dummy card that protects it from being damaged by dust or other particles.
9. Quick charge time. Good size storage built in, 64mb.
10. Windows Mobile 2003 is much much much more stable than its predeccessor.
11. It's much much much thinner than many other pda's i have reviewed.
12. It's much more resiliant to 'falls to the floor' than the Dell or Ipaqs for example. I'm a teacher. I can guarantee you...running around the class will lead to a fall on the ground. It has a metallic covering. (no shaking inside!)
Cons.
1. Sometimes if you use up close to 90% of the memory, it stalls.
2. The 'record audio' button is placed near the top so sometimes taking it out you may mistakedly begin recording. (this can be disabled though so it is not really a con)
3. It does not include the ability to 'go wireless' for internet. You can still access the internet though but you need to be connected to your computer. I did not need wireless internet just yet. When it does become ubiquitous...maybe then i'll go for something else.
4. The battery is not removeable. By the time this actually becomes a problem I'll be getting a new pda..about 2 to 3 years from now.
THis is an excellent PDA is you do not need wireless internet access right away.
I would recommend it with all authority people out there.
3 good pocket pc
I dont know whats going on with amazon.com because I bought this pocket pc a month ago here for 165 dollars and now it costs more than two hundred. Anyways its a great pocket pc with 32 mb storage capacity, runs all the latest games fine (www.handango.com or www.pocketgear.com). My only complaint is that I have no clue whats going on with the battery on this thing. If i charge it and leave it alone for one week the battery drops to zero.
4 Faulty At Best
(1) It stops working if you live in a cold climate such as Vermont or Minnesoda.
(2) Sometimes it stops working for no reason.
(3) I've owned mine for less than a year and used it very gently; the screen no longer responds to teh stylus
(4) I bought it at an anon. major electronics/computer store in Manhatten. I've tried to take it back under warentee four times without any sucess, and the clerks tell me it's just "acting finicky" and to "wait it out"
5 Toshiba has Terrible Customer Service
I was torn between getting the HP 1935 and the Toshiba e355. I finaly went for the Toshiba because of the faster processor speed and the one year warranty. But after one month I started to have problems with the system always coming up with errors. I called the tech support and they said that if I sent it to them they would work on it but it would cost about $100.00 so I figured I could live with the error messages. Then a tragedy happened and the screen got cracked. So I called to see if they would cover that and they don't cover the screen damage in their warrenty. That would have cost $190.00 to replace, so at that price I could just buy a hole new Pocket PC. One Year Warranty, I ask "WHAT WARRANTY?" I should have gone with the HP 1935 in the first place. I spent two hundred on a little paper weight because withthe cracked screen it doesn't do anything anymore.
6 Best deal for the price
The Toshiba e355 Pocket PC with Windows Mobile 2003 has everything that an average user needs in day to day life. I would recommend this anyone who has used Palm m105, 130 and other such inferior products. Definitely this is a wonderful product for the price quoted.
7 Replaced this with a new Palm Tungsten
I got this Pocket PC PDA recently, but in the process I ditched Windows and moved to Linux (LindowsOS 4.0). I quickly found that PocketPCs tie you to Microsoft applications on the PC side. I also found the PocketPC software harder to move around than in the PalmOS of the Palm IIIc that I had before this.
Conclusion: I sold this Toshiba PDA and got myself a Palm Tungsten, and now I feel back at home. The color screen is crisp, there are thousands of third party applications, and the OS is simpler to move around.
The Palm Tungsten, on the other hand, comes with windows software for the PC side but there is plenty of Linux software available to sync the PDA to the desktop PC. With Windows CE, there are no such choices.
8 No regrets!
This was my first PDA purchase and after much soul searching I settled for the Windows Mobile PC platform. I am certain that I made the right choice despite the comments by those who believe that Windows Mobile has a long way to go aginst Palm OS.
The choice fell between Toshiba e355 and iPaq 1935 both selling for $ 199.00. I opted for Toshiba e355 since iPaq was offering a measly 90 day warranty! Granted iPaq 1935 is perhaps more compact and smaller than Toshiba e355 but the performance of Toshiba rocks and I have no regrets. Both my PDA and Windows Mobile 2003 have worked flawlessly and has been very stable till now!
I do not know why everyone is complaining of absence of CF card slot when price differential between CF card and SD card has narrowed considerably. I got a SanDisk 256 Mb SD card for 59.00 after rebates only slightly more expensive compared to comparable CF Cards!
What can I say about Toshiba e355? Performance is impeccable. Very stable and so far reliable. I have added a few software, FlexWallet and ACDSee Mobile and both work flawlessly! I have transferred my address book from Outlook and few other data including several photo images from my desktop using Active Sync and everything is working well.
The only complaint I have is about the non removable battery. However I am fairly certain that in about three years time, I will be upgrading this PDA and I am not overly concerned about the battery replacement issue!
I have no hesitation in recommending Toshiba e355 to those who are looking for a base level PDA but do not intend to carry it in their shirt pockets (iPaq 1935 is more appropriate!)
Have fun using Toshiba e355!
9 Good value if you have to get a pocket pc
The new version of pocket pc is still hard to use and unstable, but at least it's optimized for Xscale processor. Don't listen to that Chinese guy; the e355 is a much better pocket pc than the ipaq 19xx's, even when you disregard the huge price difference. The battery is replaceable, the screen as good as ipaq's, and it's much more reliable than ipaq. The buttons are quite comfortable and have the right level of feedback feels, of course you can say Toshiba should improve the overall styling of their picket pc offerings. But this one is feather weight, so it doesn't break your pocket or wallet.
10 Worth it!
The E355 was just what I needed. It does get a bit lower mark from me because it doesn't have a removable battery. It also has a SD slot, not a CF. Like someone else said the price was right though. Mine has worked great, much better than expected.
11 Go for ipaq 1935 instead of this one!
i bought this one two weeks ago and returned it after 3
days. i noticed that its battery life is not very good.
further you need to send it to toshiba for a replacement
battery after 1-2 year of use (i called toshiba service).
it still does not fit in a pocket well....
fortunately, during that period, ipaq 1935 came out
at the same price after rebate.
1935 has everything e355 has except that
it uses a slower processor, but i dont use it for
intensive computing. it is a lot smaller. it is battery life
is quite good....very happy to swtich to 1935
12 Great Buy for the Price!
Ok, like anything it depends on your needs. But, for my needs, the E355 meets and exceeds my needs. No need to rate it significantly lower because it doesn't have a removable battery or because it only has a SD slot and no CF. Instead, I realized this before I bought it, considered these features along with the price which was ... cheaper here, and decided it was worth it.
I've had the E355 for about 3 weeks and had recently purchased a used Cassiopeia E-125 and was very happy with that purchase as well. The reason I upgraded was because a friend of mine wanted the E-125 at the price I purchased it for and I was convinced that for ... more, I could get a faster PPC with more memory, smaller size, and upgraded OS.
Now, the reason I didn't give it 5 stars is you get what you pay for. For the money, this is the best deal if you consider the reasons I mentioned previously. If I was getting a removable battery and a CF slot in addition to the SD slot, and was paying the same price, I'd rate it 5 stars. But, I'm not getting that.
On a message board, I seen someone say that it would better to purchase the Dell Axim X5 (Basic) for the same price. But, the X5 Basic only has 32MB of RAM. You would need to purchase the more expensive X5 Advanced to get the same amount of RAM. Not to mention at the time, X5 users were upset about the slow speed of their OS or processors and Dell is now sending out CDs with a fix.
...
13 Great!
Great deal for such a low price! The video and mp3 features are a HUGE plus for me, and the extra features that I didn't really count on are fantastic!
I had enough money to buy a more expensive PDA, but didn't because I thought this one looked pretty awesome, I guess I was right.
I can't WAIT to get the GPS expansion to this "baby".
14 What a Good PPC!!!
There is no doubt that the Toshiba e355 will deliver all that is required of it. I had it for about a week now and I am really impressed with the quality of it. It has all I ever wanted from a pda. No more crashes!!! But remember no CF Slot. If you want a CF capability, I will suggest you go a little bit higher. As for me, I just need a cable to hit the Internet and enjoy all the funs that goes with it. With a USB host cable, I do not need a portable keyboard. Thanks to the Tosh.
15 Toshiba Pocket PC e355
For the price, excellent. The e355 has everything I need and then some.
16 Pocket PC with Style and Simply Affordable
I had been using this device for 2 days, and started feeling better everytime I open it..It has excellent screen, Power Management functionality and built in Bluetooth compatible SD card and more...
Pros :
1. Great features at cheaper price
2. Excellent Screen
3. Excellent multimedia operation
4. Easy to use, even IR-ports
5. Almost weightless
Cons:
1. Does not have removable battery.
2. Does not have CF card slot.
3. Not a good cover case.
Overall I may like to recommend this Pocket PC
17 Ok, but not all that.
The Windows OS for handhelds is still fairly useless for most PDA users. Most power PDA users want ready access to large information databases. The Palm OS provides just that. If I wanted an MP3 player I would buy a smaller, more functional player for much less. If I want to surf the net, handheld will never do. If I want portable multimedia capability, I would go with a laptop. While PDA Windows is colorful and cute, it is generally an underutilizable platform. You want games, get a gameboy! Go with the Palm OS, on whatever manufacturer is on sale on a given week.
18 Stay away from Toshiba's!
This PDA is one of the worst Windoze PDA's out there and has not user replaceable battery. It will be a paper weight in 1.5 yrs.
Battery life is very low per charge, it will stay more on the power adaptor than in use. Useless on long trips.
The Windoze OS is a bad idea for handhelds. Comparing raw MHz/MB or advertized feature set is not a good idea with PDA's. (8MB on Palm OS does more than 64MB on bloated Windoze.) All the cool features look great for first few weeks and then the gadget might stay in your drawer!
Easy of use, reliability, battery life and intuitive software (like a Nokia) are more important than voice recording, mp3 playback and video. Check out the "Zen of Palm" if you aren't convinced that Palm OS is much better.
Toshiba support for their PDA's is horrible and build quality is poor. I think I have given enough warning to stay away from this. If you desperately want a PC in your Pocket buy an iPaq.
19 slim function
I was very skeptical to make the switch from Sony Clie OS based operating system to the pocket pc. I have no regrets!! The Toshiba E335 is a slim line dynamo. I have a 256mb SD card that allows me to save lots of information. I have found one of the nicest features to be the ability to play MP3 music. I am using the E335 as an auto GPS system with the use of the Pharos Pocket GPS. You will not regret this purchase if you are in the market for a PDA. A great value, ...
20 The absolute most useful pda
This pda is the absolute best i have ever owned
it has plenty of memory to store many programs and thousands of memos. you can do almost anything with this pda... you can store and play your favorite mp3s on it. You can even use it as a remote control to your television if you have the right software installed. it has many uniqe features. you can even record voice notes... over all i give this pda a five-star rating. Thanks toshiba...
