Palm E

Palm Tungsten E2 review (four month later)

I am a third generation Palm user. I received a Tungsten E2 for Christmas last December 2005. I was very impressed with the added functions, the slick design and the long lasting rechargeable battery. I wrote a glowing review of the product on Amazon. The only complaint I had was the 90 days warranty period. I thought it was too short. Four month later, I encountered a problem trying to power up the palm. It just won’t power up. I tried various “reset” modes and none worked. I finally contacted Palm support and they informed me that the warranty period had expired and that it would cost me $149 to repair it. The original cost of the Palm Tungsten E2 was only $199. Obviously I declined. I started searching on the web and I found out there are many others with the same problem. It turns out to be a defect of this particular device. I am positive Palm knew about this and yet they choose to deny any problem and cover it up. What a sad position for a Corporation to take. I later discovered that the battery is defective in my case and I was able to buy a replacement part from ebay for $20 and a special tool (TORX T5) screw driver. I replaced the battery my self and it is working now.
I am writing this follow up review to warn other customers of Palm. They are not playing fair. They will make you pay for their mistakes. This new culture is very disturbing. They have made the financial calculation that it is cheaper to ignore and deny a problem than to offer a recall and an apology. This is clearly a defect of one of their products which they knew from the start. Why else would they only offer a short warranty period? As opposed to 1 year on the other model T2. I will not buy another product from Palm and I would not recommend this to others. Buyers beware!!! It is a shame that an otherwise excellent product should suffer because of bad judgments on the part of their Corp. Executives. I have written a formal complaint to the head office and have not received any reply. I guess it was too much to expect.

-Jack Lee
Yorktown Hts. NY
May 12, 2006