Palm E2

I agree with at least part of almost every review so far - in other words, this unit has extreme good points and extreme bad points. It's a good device (feature-wise) but it is definitely fraught with problems, and Palm's service has gone from bad to worst possible scenario (which will eventually catch up with them, so the future of their products is in doubt). I've had several palm units over the years, mostly good, but the Tungsten E2 is perplexing. I agree with the person who wrote "Although the Windows Mobile based PDAs are more elaborate and powerful, I think their features distract from the real use of a PDA, that being a personal assistant." That statement hit the nail on the head, but I might still have to switch to a "Winette" (programmer's term for a Windows version PDA) one of these days because Palm's customer service is quickly approaching that of the airlines (willing to kick their own customers in the teeth). Anyway, the Tungsten E2 is great when it works, but the last couple months this thing has been developing many problems (it's two years old). One I've learned to live with is that the power button on top works only occasionally (I have to push it several times to get it to turn on or off), so I usually turn it on with the one of the four buttons at the bottom of the screen, and just let it turn off by itself (I keep it set to power itself off after 30 seconds, for that very reason). Another is that the alarm sound works when it wants to - sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't (make a sound), so that feature simply can not be trusted. Once in a while it will not power on, but so far I've been lucky because pushing the reset button did the trick. All in all, though, it seems as if the unit is withering away fast. I had a Tungsten E1 before this one and it was too horrid to mention (due to near PTSD). The best one was the M515 I had several years ago, but I accidentally went swimming with it and it's been toast ever since (my own fault, of course). Anyway, they've gone downhill ever since, and judging by the trend, I can not rely on this type of track record for the important issues I use it for (business apps). Five years ago I was Mr. PalmOS and vigorously discouraged people from getting a Winette but now my attitude is changing rapidly because of where Palm (the corporation) seems to be heading. They had the market as far as true effectiveness in a PDA, but due to their brazen greed and belligerence they're losing it fast. I predict it will be all over with them in a few years at most. Ultimately, the options seem to be either (A) switching to a Winette, or (B) buying used Palms frequently and keeping a few backups in stock - the latter option being a pathetic way to keep serviceable equipment in operation.