Dirt Cheap VGA PDA
July 8, 2004
Harry (who probably ought to have a blog, but doesn’t my mistake—looks like he’s working on it) informs me that CompUSA is selling out their Toshiba e800s (e800 and e805 are the same model, just with a bit different bundled software) for under $400. I’ve also heard that Best Buy is selling theirs in the $350 - $400 range.
This is a great price for a spectacular device, particularly with the Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition upgrade available for download.
We’re talking a Pocket PC with a 4” screen, that runs 640 x 480, portrait or landscape, for those programs that you want it to (e-book readers, web browsers, remote desktop), and standard 320 x 240 for everything you’d rather NOT see that small. It has built-in wi-fi (with a killer zero-configuration ability), an SD slot and a CF slot.
It was the most awesome Pocket PC going back in December, and frankly, IMHO, it still is today. At less than $400, it’s a steal, too. I don’t know why they’re busting these out—probably either an updated version is coming, or Toshiba’s on-again, off-again plans to leave the PDA market are on again. It doesn’t matter, it still has warranty coverage, and there are plenty of accessories available for it, even outside of Toshiba.
If you have any need for a PocketPC, you should give this one serious consideration.
hey chuck! what cheney said! you failed to mention that wmo2k3se is readily available for the e800, and here you were the one who told me to install it. it appears, I’ve driven yet another company that numbers its ppcs with exxx out of business (first casio, and now, it appears, toshiba. brighthand is repeating semi-official declarations of the departure emanating in europe. if only hp would add a thumbwheel, I’d have a vendor. I was thinking about picking up one of the $400 ones for my spare, but I think I might wait for the price to drop further. it just occurs to me the exact language of that scuttlebut was interesting it said “toshiba is no longer making the e800”. this does not mean they are not making an e830 (the rumoured 520 mhz e800 with bt AND 11b) I wonder when 11g starts getting embedded.
oh, you did mention wmo2k3se. <doh!>
I just looked at the best buy site, no toshis.
I take all of this “we’re in the PDA biz / we’re out of the PDA biz” with a grain of salt. It might just be nothing but internal reorganization and / or getting out of or amending their relationship with the distribution channels.
Like you, it wouldn’t surprise me a bit to see them come out with a 520MHz/11G model. I doubt we’ll see BT in a US product, though, mostly because for some reason all of these companies think that it’s a Euro-only thing (whereas most everything I have is bluetooth enabled—sheesh.) FWIW, the Socket CF Bluetooth card works great in the e800, and doesn’t extend past the edge of the slot (meaning cases fit and nothing to break off). I’ve heard the SDIO version works well also, if you’re using CF for memory instead of SD (which I know you are
), but it does stick out a bit.
I’d =really= like to see 11G. Every time I see the discussion come up on PocketPC groups though, it always gets the “400 MHz Arm can’t drive that much throughput so it’s a waste” comments. Which totally misses the point that some of us don’t care how fast the damn PDA can talk, but we WOULD like to go to a pure 11G network instead of a mixed mode network so everything ELSE talks faster.
What I =really= want, though, is a unit with 802.11G, Bluetooth AND GSM/GPRS, all built in, for those of us who would prefer a more seriously geeky smartphone—you could use a nice bluetooth headset and voice dialer, and never care what the phone ergonomics are.
You can do it all now on a PPC, with seperate cards, but it’s a pain in the ass going that way, and you’ve either got to leave one thing or another out or not have an expansion card.
- Chuck
the $400 deal seems to have been withdrawn. I use sdfor memory and cf for odd stuff (gps, and really big memory)
thanks for the tip on the wmo upgrade!