Manufacturer: Toshiba Model#: e7.40 Weight: 1lbs Height: 4..9"     Width: 3..1" Length: " Average Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars	Retail Price: $599.99 Online Sale Price:
Features: Lightweight, thin Pocket PC with 64 MB RAM and 32 MB ROM and blazing fast 400 MHz XScale processor Dual expansion capabilties: built-in CompactFlash and Secure Digital (SD) slots 240 x 320 pixel TFT LCD screen displays more than 64,000 colors Integrated Wi-Fi capability What's in the box: e740, USB cradle, AC adapter, stylus, soft slipcase, quick-start card, warranty card, software

User Submitted Toshiba e740 Pocket PC Reviews (cont...)

Ever the optimist, I will begin with the good news. When it works, the WiFi is a GREAT thing to have. I am a university student, and they have a wireless network there. In my experience the WiFi has been pretty fast, but that will vary from location to location.

One of the things I love most is the dual expandability via an SD slot AND a CF slot!!! which means you can use a memory card in one while using a peripheral! Or you can share cards with various digital cameras and other such devices.

I used to have a Jornada 568, good device but the screen was unevenly lit. However, the screen on the e740 is much more evenly lit, any lighting gradient is almost imperceptible.

Of course it is always great to have 64Mb of memory a nice metallic casing and relatively sleek styling.

Here are a few little pet peeves before I get to the meat. It is slightly heavy. Compared to my jornada, which I could use for days, the battery life is a little short although longer than t he ipaq. I was also a little disappointed that not all 64Mb was available as storage as it is on the Jornada.

The e740 does not have a backup button battery, as does the Jornada, so that means if you remove the battery, you lose all your info. I did however take it to the repair center and they somehow fixed that for me under warranty. I don't know how they did it, but now I can remove the battery without losing my info. But we need a backup battery!!

Of course this would not be much of an issue if the battery-securing system was better designed. It was so bad that Toshiba had a recall on it, and so I went to get that face but after a couple days, the battery was ALMOST as loose as before. It is just a horrible design in general, I strongly suggest Toshiba rethink that because it is crucial!

The battery indication software has the annoying habit of instantaneously "discharging" to and holding at 60% or 1%. This is aggravated when the WiFi is engaged; it's almost guaranteed to happen. It is a very annoying problem because the device automatically turns off the device, believing there is n o more power and it becomes useless unless you have your AC adapter with you. I sent it in once again for repair and Toshiba replaced my motherboard AND my battery under warrantee, and the problem has not reoccurred since, but it's only been a few days, we will see.

My most recent project has been to discover why sometimes my device cannot detect an ip on a DHCP network. I talked to a supervisor today (the only helpful person in the place) and he told me to download an update on their website that apparently deals with that problem. We will see how that goes.

My biggest pet peeve has to be that 75% of the staff at their tech support center a) don't speak great English, which complicates communication, and b) they know very little about the pocket pc. One guy kept me on hold for 20 minutes using up my precious cell phone minutes, when he returned he told me he had been doing research, that led him nowhere. All I wanted to know was what the man's supervisor was able to tell me in 5 minutes without putting me on hold. Time is money and I am sure Toshiba's customers have better things to do than wait while the tech support guy fumbles around doing things we ourselves could be doing.

Sorry for the length of this review but I thought fellow e740 owners might appreciate my "wisdom" and learn from my problems. It was all worth it though because all in all, the e740 is a great device. I'm sure no device is perfect and that they all have their problems.

Date: 2004-01-26
Batteries not worth diddly
I used to own one of these things, and I used mine to read books most of the time. However, I found the battery life to be almost useless, because it required recharging every 3 days or so. If I forgot to recharge, I would always have to restore my backup, and that was dicey at best.

Finally, I just stopped using it altogether, and my kind hubby got me a sony clie' to replace it with. I couldn't be happier...nice color screen, batteries that last over a week w/o recharging, no lost data, no record button to accidentally record with. Oh, and half the price too. With all the rebates on that, it came out to $85. Although the e740 did mp3's just fine, I never used mine for that purpose, so the clie' was a good replacement for me.

If you need an expensive mp3 player that might do other stuff for you, the e740 would be a "good" choice. Otherwise, look into sony's line of pda's...much more reliable. :)

Date: 2004-01-19
Unreliable - Just look at all of these 1 star reviews...
I have used the e740 for about a week. Since then I have lost my saved data three times. The record button is sticking out the side of the damn unit so that every other time I put the e740 in its case, it turns on the unit and drains the battery. (This problem has been mentioned several times by Amazon reviewers.
Additionally, I have never seen so many bad reviews for an electronics product on Amazon.That should serve as a warning flag to any potential buyers.
All in all, the e740 should be avoided unless your getting it used for less than thirty bucks. That's about the most I'd pay for it.