Joe Gregorio
One of my other new toys for Christmas was a Palm Tungsten E. This is the lowest end of the Tungsten family and had the best price/feature mix of all the Palms I looked at. The rest of the models were a little too pricey for me, and the Zire line just felt to flimsy in my hands.
I had never owned a Palm before and was a little concerned
about "learning Grafitti", which is the way you write into a Palm.
Turns out that wasn't a problem as Grafitti is exactly the
way I write in print text, so there wasn't much to learn. Now the
special escaping you have to do for symbols like $, and [
is a bit odd, but I caught on quickly and the palm has help for that
built in. Just drag the stylus across the length of the whole screen from
top to bottom and the writing help pops up.
The only minor complaint I have about the E was in playing music. I apparently skimmed the site too quickly when reading about the features and saw that the E could be used as an MP3 player, which is true, but you need to buy an additional memory card to store the tracks as you can't use the onboard memory. It wasn't expensive, $30 for a 32MB memory card, since I don't really intend on carrying around an extensive music collection, but more an annoyance that I had to order it seperately because the on-line Palm site didn't make that terribly clear.
The Palm has also come in handy in two respects with the adopotion. The first is that I can store photos on the E making it easy to update as new photos come in. The second is having a easily searchable place to store all the stuff we will need as we travel in China including itinerary, flights, currency conversion, phone numbers, and of course games to play while we wait. My current addition being a nice little Yahtzee game, which is the only piece of software I have added to the Palm so far. There is a ton of software available, from free software like the Yahtzee game to many commercial packages. One of the more intersting ones to me are the city transportation maps and train/bus schedules that are available for major cities. All in all a handy little device that has quickly become indespensible to me.
Posted by Joe on 2004-01-20
Posted by Dave Harvey on 2004-01-28
Posted by Rabi on 2004-01-29
Posted by Tony Bruno on 2004-02-06
Posted by FranK Carroll, Liverpool UK on 2004-02-07
Posted by Davide on 2004-02-07
Posted by James on 2004-02-09
Posted by Anh Linh Ho Ngoc on 2004-02-11
Posted by anonymous on 2004-02-12
Posted by Joe on 2004-02-13
Posted by Joe on 2004-02-13
Posted by Will on 2004-02-17
Posted by Atul on 2004-02-19
Posted by Linda on 2004-02-25
Posted by Ashley Fletcher on 2004-02-25
Posted by Joe on 2004-02-25
Posted by Andy on 2004-02-28
Posted by Pablo on 2004-03-01
Posted by Hector on 2004-03-02
Posted by Bernadette on 2004-03-05
Posted by Waingro on 2004-03-09
BUT after 6 (six) calls to the Help Line PDA and a letter to the CEO NOONE HAS BEEN ABLE TO TELL ME HOW TO HOT SYNC IT VIA THE USB CABLE. Under their instruction I have unistalled and then reloaded the software over and over again and made all sorts of other adjustments. I have Windows XP Home. I keep getting the same error message "the connection between your handheld computer and the desktop could not be established" over and over again.. One thing, when I click the 'hotsync' icon at the bottom right hand corner of my desktop it does NOT have "usb". It just has "network", "modem" and "local serial" on the drop down list. Do you think they packaged the wrong software? And if so why won't Palm send me the correct software despite my asking them to?
All advice most welcome. I'm getting desperate.
Posted by GeraldZ on 2004-03-14
Posted by David on 2004-03-16
Posted by Murphy on 2004-03-18
Posted by Scott on 2004-03-19
Posted by Fiifi Markin on 2004-03-28
Posted by Fiifi Markin on 2004-03-28
Thanks
Posted by Ray G. on 2004-04-04
My gripe is the battery life which is totally pathetic.
I got over a week on 2 AAA batteries with the old Palm and with the E I'm lucky to get 3 hours. This means that I'm limited to how much I can use the device when I'm away from either a PC or a powerpoint. I've had to go back to the old Palm on more than a few occasions already.
Apart from the battery issue, I really like it. It's got a nice "feel" to it and the screen (which probably drains the battery...) is superb.
Posted by Sue B on 2004-04-05
1. Keep the screen brightness at its lowest level. This is adequate in most situations. 2. Try setting the keylock to automatic (Preferences, General, Keylock) in case you T/E is accidently getting powered up in your pocket.
3. Set the Beam Receive to OFF (Preferences, Power). You may also want to reduce the number of minutes for Auto-off after.
Posted by Mark T on 2004-04-07
GeraldZ,
I have a T.E with windows XP and I hotsyncs okay. However everytime I have gotten a Palm (or helped a friend with the setup) the Hotsync never worked first time.
1. Ensure that the Local Hotsync option on the Tungsten is setup to Cradle/cable.
2. Try each USB port on your computer.
3. Try changing the COM port of the desktop software (right-click on the desktop hotsync icon, then Setup, Local, then change the COMn to a different port, try all ports listed).
Keep a log of all combinations you have tried, so that you don't miss anything.
Posted by Mark T on 2004-04-07
Can I attach the Tungsten E to my mobile via a cable? or does my mobile require IR to communicate with the 'E'.
Help please
Posted by Harry Graham on 2004-04-12
Posted by Mario on 2004-04-14
I would like to do a hard reset, however it is not clear how to do this. I can get the screen up that asks me to press the UP button to perform the hard reset. There is no UP button on an E??? What IS the up button??? Every button I've tried merely stops the hard reset. I have spent 4 hours trying to resolve this so far tonight. grr grr
Posted by Susan on 2004-04-15
Posted by Susan on 2004-04-15
Posted by jim a on 2004-04-20
Posted by carol on 2004-04-21
Posted by Tom on 2004-04-21
Posted by Bill on 2004-04-21
Posted by walter on 2004-04-29
I have the sqme error and investigating.
So far I have found
Windows Installer Error 1714
The older version of [2] cannot be removed. Contact your technical support group. System Error [3].
Posted by tremis11 on 2004-05-21
Posted by WALT on 2004-05-25
I got my tungsten E about 15 days ago, while running an application it crashed and went to white... I tried to reset it, it did not reset. Its stuck on the "Palm Powered" screen and cant make it turn off or nothing, not even the hard reset works!
I am afraid of the screen burning, cause I am waiting for the battery to die... how much time does it take!
I need help, NOW, not tomorrow, thks.
JRD
Posted by Jorge Ramos on 2004-06-02
Posted by Lia on 2004-06-04
My wife recently got a Tungsten E. I was very glad at this as she is normaly a technophobe. I set it up for her and let her loose.
She would comaplin to me alot that it would crash all the time. At first I thought that it was her. I have now tried to resolve the matter for her and have come to the conclusion that it is the device at fault.
The device would lock up for no reason and not powerdown or up, even when fully charged.
I have performed a hard reset (after 3 hours of trying) and even before a hotsync the device will crash even when charging.
I have been in contact with Palm and all they will offer is a reconditioned unit . This is after huge hassles to get any reply at all. The unit is 40 days old! I europe there is by law a 2 year warranty on all electronic items sold. I feel deeply insulted by the resposne from Palm. Looking across many forums this is a common problem yet they think that they can avoid their responsibilty to customers.
I think that it is disgraceful that they attempt to dump defective goods on the general public.
I will keep you posted on how it goes.
Posted by Sev on 2004-06-05
Posted by joe on 2004-06-29
Info for Walter and tremis11. Had the same issue on WINNT. User already had admin rights. I installed using my domain admin account and then logged back in as user. Ran "c:\program files\palm\hotsync -r" as per info at http://205.141.210.158/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=960,E=0000000000003401569,K=7293,Sxi=1,useTemplate=Case.tem,CASE=10213.
All works great now.
Posted by huh?? on 2004-07-01
Looking forward to response fron anyone before I throw it out the window.
Posted by M. Howlett on 2004-07-11
Posted by Mark Williams on 2004-07-13
Posted by Joanne Leifheit on 2004-08-13
Posted by ra on 2004-08-14
Posted by Bob on 2004-08-17
My Tungsten E went completely blank the other day. It was supposed to be recharging at the time. I couldn't get any of the buttons to respond. No hard reset; soft reset etc. Anyway I plugged it into to my USB port on my computer as a last resort and voila, it was charged up and was OK. It appears that the port for recharging thru the wall-charger is dead or defective. I'll try another cable if I can get one and see what happens. All my installed apps were gone and the PDA was back to the base settings but I prefer that to a dead PDA. I can easily re-install the apps, pictures etc. from backup.
BTW. a hard reset is done by holding the power button and inserting a paper clip or similar into the "reset" hole at the back of the PDA. A soft reset is done by inserting abovementioned clip into the "reset" hole at the back of the PDA.
Posted by AL on 2004-09-03
Posted by Libby McMillan on 2004-10-10
I have problem connecting my Tungten E with GPRS Sony-Ericsson Z600.
The log file at PDA brings out:
Connect Log
S: AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","internet";
S: ^M
LCP->CfgReq
LCP<-CfgReq
LCP->CfgAck
LCP<-CfgAck
LCP Up
LCP->TrmReq
LCP<-TrmAck
Service name:
Local IP address: 127.0.0.1
Gateway address: 0.0.0.0
DNS addresses:
On service connectionProgress window I get:
Error:Incomplete setup. Please check your network settings
Can anyone help me?
Posted by Thermike on 2004-10-13
Posted by Matthew on 2004-10-21
Posted by ruefolks on 2004-11-07
waingro's 3/9 comments.
Does anyone know the answer to this? I am having the same problem and am equally frustrated?????
Posted by kelby on 2004-11-17
waingro's 3/9 comments.
Does anyone know the answer to this? I am having the same problem and am equally frustrated?????
Posted by anonymous on 2004-11-17
waingro's 3/9 comments.
Does anyone know the answer to this? I am having the same problem and am equally frustrated?????
Posted by anonymous on 2004-11-17
Regards MP3 do not send them using hot synch, for some reason it takes forever (which makes me think the USB is 1.1 not 2). Instead use the real player. Download it from www.realplayer.com. Install it on your laptop or desktop, turn on your palm and be sure the usb cable is attached to your computer and palm, select the songs you want to transfer and voila. It FLIES!
Now if you are a geek (like me) go to the option's panel and select conever mp3 to rma. That will conver the mp3 file that is gonna be send to your palm which will save a lot of space (more songs will fit your expansion card) but it WON'T alter the original file on your computer.
About the max size of the expansion card, i have tried 16MB, 128MB, 256MB; 512 MB and finally 1GB and all of them are recognized and works fine.
Posted by Marco on 2004-12-03
Regards MP3 do not send them using hot synch, for some reason it takes forever (which makes me think the USB is 1.1 not 2). Instead use the real player. Download it from www.realplayer.com. Install it on your laptop or desktop, turn on your palm and be sure the usb cable is attached to your computer and palm, select the songs you want to transfer and voila. It FLIES!
Now if you are a geek (like me) go to the option's panel and select convert mp3 to rma. That will convert the mp3 file that is gonna be send to your palm which will save a lot of space (more songs will fit your expansion card) but it WON'T alter the original file in your computer.
About the max size of the expansion card, i have tried 16MB, 128MB, 256MB; 512 MB and finally 1GB and all of them are recognized and works fine.
Posted by Marco on 2004-12-03
Posted by Jo Banks on 2004-12-15
Posted by DESIREA on 2005-04-10
How come when I do the hard reset, all my programs are still there?
I did press the power button while placing a pin at the back to the reset button but once it boots back up, it's as if nothing happened. All my programs are still there.
Posted by Primo on 2005-04-17
How come when I do the hard reset, all my programs are still there?
I did press the power button while placing a pin at the back to the reset button but once it boots back up, it's as if nothing happened. All my programs are still there.
Posted by Primo on 2005-04-17
Posted by anonymous on 2005-05-24
My PLAM TUNGSTEN E does not turn on with any button. But however when I soft/hard reset it, it turn on then again turns off after about 5 secs. I tried connecting it to the wall charger but still it does not turn on. Any Ideas?
PALM gives only 3 months warranty on these what a shame for paying 200$ you just get 3 months? I would have not bought this if I knew about the low warranty period
Posted by bnbraj on 2005-06-23
Exactly same symptoms as bnbraj (2005-06-23). Yesterday my Tungsten E began turning itself off "automatically" following hard (pinhole) resets. The power button doesn't turn the machine on, but the reset button causes it to begin resetting. It stays on for a total of about five seconds, as bnbraj mentioned. This is enough time to show the "Palm Powered" and "Tungsten" startup screens and proceed to the stylus calibrating target screen before turning off. It turns off after approximately one second in the stylus targeting program. If I begin the stylus calibration procedure immediately, or if I exit this program, or if I push a button (Home, HotSynch, etc.), the machine behaves perfectly normally for about one second, then powers off. It is as if the "go to sleep" power off function were set to one second.
Here are more interesting wrinkles:
If I power off using the power button during the one second of normal operation, the machine turns off normally. I can then power on as usual with the power button; the machine starts where it left off in the stylus calibration program and operates normally for whatever is left of the one second, then shuts down. The power button becomes non-responsive again, and I am back to square one!
If I hold the power button in and hard reset, the machine stays at the "Palm Powered" screen until I release the power button, then prompts "Erase all data? / Yes='up button / No=any other button" Whichever option I choose, I still get about one second of normal operation before shutdown.
I would greatly appreciate any help or insight from anybody. I am freaked out not to have my trusty and heretofor durable E.
David
Posted by David Barbour on 2005-06-27
Possible solution to problem with Tungsten E:
Following up my previous post, I did some more research online, tried a few suggestions, and came up with something that makes me hopeful that the problem is fixed (time will tell if it is permanent.)
The problem, again, was that my Tungsten E would not turn on with the power button, and would stay on for only about five seconds after a hard reset. Nothing I tried altered this fundamental behavior until I tried the following:
1. Power adapter plugged in.
2. Hold in power button and perform hard (pinhole) reset. Release power button.
Message appears telling you that your battery is dead and that you need to charge it for several hours. With the power adapter connected, the on/off switch now works normally, and you can begin to restore your system or whatever.
It seems likely that if I had followed this procedure in the first place, I would not have lost any data. As things are, in the process of trying to get the thing to work, I erased all my data. Glad it's backed up.
The best explanation I have read for all of this (also posted here, by Joe, on 2004-02-13), is that, with age, the performance of the battery and/or charger changes enough that the circuits that sense battery status get discombobulated and need to be recalibrated, which is accomplished by reset with power connected. I don't recall reading this in any Palm documentation, but if they get $125 to make this 'repair' they may not have a motivation to do so.
Hope this helps somebody.
Posted by David Barbour on 2005-06-27
Posted by Doug on 2005-07-01
Posted by Reggie on 2005-07-03
Hi All,
I have just purchased a Tungaten E and am having trouble with word documents.
when I copy word documents with pictures in them from my main computer the pictures seem to disappear and are replaced with a bi questionmark.
Any help greatly appreicated.
Regards
Mark
Posted by Mark on 2005-07-04
Posted by anonymous on 2005-07-21
Hi,
For some reason I now get error messages related to a line number every time I try to close any document. It says that the memory is set to null or something like that. When I press done, then it resets the entire unit.
Has anyone had this problem before? Doesn't matter if it is Word,Exel or any other document.
Thanks
Posted by Frank on 2005-07-27
Posted by M C L on 2005-07-27
Posted by Mark on 2005-09-10
Thanks
Shelley
Posted by Shelley on 2005-09-24
Posted by heartRN on 2005-09-28
Posted by Abe on 2005-10-04
Posted by Abe on 2005-10-04
Posted by gram on 2005-10-26
Posted by Ernie Smith on 2004-01-19