CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 12/09/2002
- Updated on: 12/11/2002
- Released on: 10/15/2002
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 In the cards: The Toshiba is slightly larger than this Bicycle deck. |
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Without the sticker on the back of the unit labeling it an e330-series unit, you might mistake this handheld for its older cousin, the e310. Below its 3.5-inch, reflective TFT display are the typical program buttons, the five-way directional pad, and the small, internal speaker. While the speaker's sound is rather weak and tinny, it will alert you about upcoming appointments. The LED on the upper-left corner blinks amber when the alarm sounds and glows green when the battery is fully charged.
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| On the side: Seen in profile, the unit is quite thin. | Heavy duty: The cradle is plenty sturdy but too heavy for travel. |
To protect the e330, Toshiba furnishes users with a slipcover. The jacket looks just like the e310's except that it lacks the gray trim. To protect the screen, Toshiba also supplies a single screen overlay, conveniently adhered to an order form, so you can purchase more if you lose the supplied one.Internally is where the e330 differs from its sibling. Under the hood, you'll find a 300MHz Intel XScale processor (up from 206MHz) and 64MB of RAM rather than the e310's 32MB. Both the e310 and the e330 contain a MediaQ Graphics Controller, which provides 256K of internal graphics memory. That's nothing like the 128MB behemoths of desktop graphics, but it's a start.
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| Unforgettable: You can back up important data to an SD card. | Home gnome: Toshiba's Home application lets you add your own background wallpaper. |
The e330 has all the standard software you'd expect in a Pocket PC. Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 runs the show and includes the Pocket versions of Word Excel, Outlook, Internet Explorer, and Windows Media Player. Toshiba also tosses in a Pocket version of Adobe Acrobat and its Home software, which lets you organize your frequently used applications and quickly deactivate programs running in the background.
Toshiba sells a variant of the e330, the e335, which includes ArcSoft PhotoBase for the Pocket PC. This software lets you view, manipulate, and edit images right on your handheld. However, Toshiba tacks on a rather steep $50 to the price of the unit for the included software.As with many devices, certain aspects of the Toshiba's performance were impressive while others were a bit disappointing. Due to its 300MHz Intel XScale processor, the Toshiba offered satisfactory overall performance on a number of different tasks. Battery life has been improved over the e310's, but the screen, while decent, isn't as good as some of the screens we've scene on competing Pocket PCs. More on that in a minute; first, a few observations about processing power.
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 The Toshiba's image quality is decent, but its screen isn't as rich or crisp as that of its competitors. |
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Battery life was one of the Toshiba's best traits. If you like music, you'll appreciate that even with the backlight on halfway, the e330 can hold a tune for 4 hours and 16 minutes before needing a recharge (it stops playing MP3s when about 16 percent of the charge is left). Without playing MP3s, we got nearly 8 hours of regular use out of the device before the battery drained completely.
On to the screen: granted, the e330's 240x320-pixel reflective display is readable in brightly lit situations and offers a 16-bit (65,000-color) image. But there's something about combination of the backlight and the screen's reflective surface that makes it look a little dim with a slight bluish tint. For example, blacks are never completely black, and all colors glitter somewhat, giving the screen a speckled appearance. In addition, the backlight, which is positioned at the bottom of the screen, doesn't quite reach the top, so the display appears a bit darker at the very top.
It's worth pointing out that this is probably the same screen as the e310's, and while we didn't nitpick its performance in that model, times and technology have changed, and comparably priced competitors such as the Dell Axim X5 and the HP iPaq H1910 serve up brighter, richer screen images.
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