Toshiba e755 Pocket PC with Windows Mobile 2003

The e755 is my fifth WinCE/PocketPC/Windows Mobile PDA over the years, with my first being an Everex Freestyle waaayyy back when. My previous machine to the e755 was a Toshiba e570, which was a relatively uncommon model here in the U.S. (Only sold through Toshiba direct). So you know where I'm coming from in this review, the e570 had a 206MHz StrongARM processor and 64Mb of RAM. There was no FlashRAM area like the e755, although it did have both SD and Compact Flash Type II slots. On the e755, I've purchased the extended-life battery (direct from Toshiba) and the Expansion Pack that clips to the bottom of the main unit.

I can't comment on Toshiba's customer service, because I've never had to use it for any Toshiba PDA I've owned. They've all been rock-solid and reliable. One thing that may contribute to that is that I FOLLOWED THE DIRECTIONS and let the thing fully charge before I went playing with it. Resist the temptation and you'll likely be happy for it.

I've had the e755 for just over a week now and my overall impression is a good one. Nice solid machine. Lots of neat little improvements to the OS that enhance the experience. Love the screen both in it's larger size and transflective technology.

Enough rambling, here's the pros and cons. You'll find some features showing up in both columns, since some of them are a mixed bag.

PROS:

LOVE THAT SCREEN! It's bigger and the even lighting and transflective LCD often gives the impression of ink-on-paper, rather than the look of a 'screen.' I don't know how better to describe it, but I like it. Very easy on the eyes, even when reading books via MS Reader at small type sizes.

CASE: It's got a metal case. Big improvement over the previous silver-coated plastic case on the e570, in that the latter eventually wore through the silvery coating on the corners that rubbed against the storage case.

PROCESSOR: The 400MHz processor makes a difference in many apps, not so much in others. However, the overall 'feel' is that the machine is smoother and more fluid, which results from fewer 'little pauses' as programs open, close and move data.

FLASH RAM: The 32Mb FlashRAM memory section is a great place to install third-party programs and your e-mail attachments, in that it completely frees you from worrying about your SD and CF cards. You can remove and replace them at will, since they only hold data and not programs. Nice. NOTE: A previous reviewer indicated that the FlashRAM would preserve your programs if you removed the battery. WRONG. They'll still be there, true, but the registry entries in the OS will be gone. You'll have to reinstall them to regain the menu icons and such. (Found this out the hard way: Dropped the PDA and dislodged the battery.)

OS: Lots of neat little improvements to the OS. Nicer look and feel. If you put a year in a contact's birthday, the note in Calendar calculates how old they are and includes it in the entry title each year. Lots of little things like that. Media Player 9 is a big improvement. IE improved some, but no big deal. You can have signatures on you e-mail now, just like desktop Outlook. And on and on. A nice incremental upgrade.

CONS:

OS: Despite all the improvements, WinMobile 2003 is an OS that's going to need a service patch soon. Still a little unstable, with relatively frequent (once every day or two) soft reboots required. Some programs that claim to be compatible really aren't, but that's normal with an early release such as this.

WIRELESS: While it's a plus having it integrated into the machine, this isn't a good implementation. The OS support is just weird two separate control panels for what is essentially one function. Compared to the Socket brand wireless card I bought for my e570, the whole wireless process (finding a network, connecting, etc.) is fairly slow. I don't know if this is a hardware problem (and therefore Toshiba-specific) or an OS problem, but I suspect the truth lies somewhere in-between, with the hardware and software 'fighting' each other a bit. Even browsing via PocketIE is slower than on the half-as-fast e570. Not at ALL unusable, mind you, just a little frustrating considering the chops the e755 SHOULD have, given its processor. If I hadn't see the faster browsing on the other machine, I probably wouldn't have listed this as a 'con.'

BUTTONS and IR PORT: I've never cared for the fact that Toshiba puts their IR ports on the left side of the machine. It means you have to hold it sideways to connect with anyone but another Toshiba. And this time they put the port on the BOTTOM of the left side, where you'd normally hold the machine. Dumb. Worse by far is the button that activates the voice recorder. It's EXACTLY where you'd put your fingers pulling the PDA out of it's case. You have to consciously avoid it every single time. If they'd just put it below the thumbwheel, this problem never would have happened. REALLY dumb. You can disable this button in the control panels, but that kinda defeats the purpose, now doesn't it?

So, overall: Two 'real' problems (see last 'con' above), a couple of minor gripes which may be solved by a service patch in the near future and several "That's really neat" features.

Couple all the 'plusses' with the current (Oct 2003) practically-theft-for-this-feature-set pricing and this machine is actually one heck of a deal. If you listen to a LOT of music or want to do a LOT of wireless, I'd strongly recommend the 'endless' expanded battery. I've used the thing for 6+ hours and not gotten below 75% charge. Definitely worth it if you're a serious user.

I am a Linux user and I was going to buy a Zaurus SL5600 as my first PDA. The reason I didnt do this is because my buddy bought it (wanting to impress me) and the media player was extremely skimpy, and while the community was large, no user-made software was very high-end. As a gamer too, I found no games in these communities that were very high end or even interesting to me. I also have to admit it was a bit big. Lastly, I didn't get the Zaurus because it cost JUST as much as this PDA did for me, however this has built in WiFi. It has the same specs, but i have completely wireless internet with NO additional cards. This means I can carry my CF 1gb MicroDrive and STILL browse the internet. I can listen to my MP3 collection and surf the net at the same time! I also use this to take notes during meetings. This PDA has so many usefull functions.

The Toshiba e755 is my first PDA. I have had NOTHING but fun with it from day one. After setting the software up on my one and only windows machine at home (which was very easy almost too easy) I imediately used some 3rd party software to put a trailer of Spiderman on the PDA. I was AMAZED by the vibrant colors displayed by the back-lit screen and also by how smoothely the frames ran. Next I recorded a simpsons episode and transfrered it to my PDA. The results were astounding. You would never believe that I could fit a TV show in 8mb, a little less than 1/16 of the entire storage space available on this PDA!

Gaming has been reasonably fun on this unit as well. I got the Tomb Raider game and it looks incredible. On such a little device, I was able to play the original Tomb Raider at FULL SPEED (great game by the way). This is perfect for on-the-road kind of things.

Last, but not least, is the audio playback. It is pretty incredible. My brother's iPod sounds JUST as good as my PDA, but his unit gets louder. My one real complaint about the PDA is that the speaker doesn't get loud enough. This is only minor, however, because when headphones are plugged in, even for my deaf ears, they are, on a scale between 1 as the quitest and 10 as the loudest about a 7. This is fine, it is RIGHT where I like my sound levels. I dont know how everyone else likes it, but this PDA, coincidentally, hits the spot.

I forgot to mention the Wireless 802.11b internet access. While it isn't the FASTEST way to connect to the internet, as I said before, it saves you money because you then have a CF slot available. Since CF is cheaper than Secure Digital, you can get higher storage cards for cheaper than you could with a SD card. The biggest advantage to having the wireless WiFi is the convenience of it. It doesn't make the PDA much bigger, there are no cards sticking out of the top, and you dont need to search around for the card when you want to use it. All you have to do is flip the switch at the bottom of the PDA. Warning you, however, this wastes battery life minutely faster. If you wish to use the WiFi, make sure you have atleast 80 percent battery left. On a full charge I clocked my batteries with full backlight and wifi on for about 1 and a half hours. With WiFi off, however, I clocked 3 hours and above. This is definitly great power management wise.

So there you guys have it. This was my first PDA and I was very happy with it. I recommend this to all users. If people ever ask why Compaqs are so much more money, don't ask me. My PDA is just as good, and theirs dont come with WiFi built in. You see my verdict, 5 stars. Please, if you are in the market for a high end PDA, this is the one to get. It is small, sleek, convenient, pretty affordable, and powerful. Nothing in the world can beat it.

Buy Toshiba e755 Pocket PC with Windows Mobile 2003 Now

I bought the e755 a few weeks ago despite all the reviews here that mentioned lack of tech support and numerous bugs. In the time that I've used it, I've only noticed 1 "bug" which involves the 'Home' button, which sometimes fails to bring up the proper menu until a warm-reset is performed. Other than that, the unit was nearly flawless.

The Wi-Fi works great, I didn't have to set anything up besides just switching a button to enable it. It detects the signal, and you're instantly online. Windows media player works wonderful with music and video (you can rotate the screen to get a wider picture!) and the built in speaker is fairly loud, though headphones are much more efficient

This is my first PPC, so I don't know how battery life compares, but I am able to use it for 2-6 hours NONSTOP before I have to charge it. You can darken the screen backlight or set the processor to 200Mhz to get even more batterly life.

Basically, this unit has everything you'll need in a PPC. Built in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SD and CF Type I & II card slots, 96MB of memory, very large and clear 3.8" transreflective display, and increased 200Mhz BUS speed(processor runs at 400Mhz) and Windows Mobile 2003. I have had almost no problems with this model, and I highly recommend it, especially for only $... after a $... rebate if you buy it here.

At 400Mhz, this thing is as fast as my home PC! yeah.. it's a little outdated but...

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba e755 Pocket PC with Windows Mobile 2003 Here

Oh, where to start! I purchased my e755 brand new from Amazon. Everything was going great. Big screen, fast processor, very cool! I purchased a toshiba cable to connect to a serial port. The cable would sometimes get stuck and on one occassion, taking it out actually broke the connector prongs at the bottom. It was still under warranty so I sent it off to Toshiba to get repaired. I get a call a few days later saying it's gonna cost $100 to fix? I'm thinking, WHAT? I told them I was using a Toshiba cable but it didn't matter. So, i forked out $100 for them to repair something that a Toshiba cable broke. (Just so you know, i have other cables that I use to sync up and they connect just fine ... no problems whatsoever!). So, i get it back and everything is great again. I use the Toshiba cable again (I was using it to hook up the PDA to my GPS for navigation) and noticed it was getting stuck again. So, to prove my point, i called Toshiba and they sent me an RMA to send it in. This time I include the pda AND cable. Of course, once it gets there, they connect the cable without problem (the problem didn't happen all the time, it was intermittent). So, i get another call saying, the cable connects just fine. The tech support person asks (like i'm an idiot), "Do you know how to remove the cable?" I say, "Of course, just push in the side buttons and pull it off!" And in a huff she responds, "NO! You push in the buttons and have to wiggle it gently side-to-side!" I'm thinking, my other cables you don't have to do that and trust me when it got stuck, i did that too (wiggle side to side). Needless to say, i had them ship it back to me.

About a month ago, I got the infamous white screen of death (my warranty has expired). After reading lots online about it, I realize i am hosed. Somebody sent it in (still under warranty) and Toshiba hit them with a $150 charge to fix it. Toshiba tech support does NOT care about its customers. They are arrogant and rude; hopefully, you will never have to deal with them. This item works well when it works, but the minute something goes wrong (and it will), you will not be pleased with Toshiba's tech support. It's a shame that a company like Toshiba has to resort to such lowness. I'm buying a new PDA and you can bet it will not be a Toshiba.

Want Toshiba e755 Pocket PC with Windows Mobile 2003 Discount?

I liked the "old" e755 with 2002, and now it's even better with PPC 2003. Never had a problem with my unit, and the new OS does seem a bit faster, having been optimized for the XScale. Battery life is also a bit better, especially when using wi-fi, which is a very good thing.

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