Click to View

palmOne today followed up the most popular PDA of recent years, the over 2.5 million strong Tungsten E, with the aptly named Tungsten E2. Although the new mid-range handheld looks very similar to the earlier model, it adds several important improvements.

The Tungsten E2 has a 200 MHz XScale processor compared to the 126 MHz Texas Instruments CPU of the Tungsten E. It is built on Palm OS Garnet 5.4, as with most other Palm devices today.

At 4.5 x 3.1 x 0.6 inches and 4.7 ounces the new PDA is a little bit heavier and wider than the 4.5 x 3.1 x 0.5-inch and 4.6-ounce earlier model. Even though there is no cradle, you can buy one as an add-on, which you couldn't do with the previous model.

The Tungsten E2 also uses the same Multi-Connector (palmOne's most recent "universal" connector) as the handheld company’s other newer devices—the Treo 650 and Tungsten T5. Consequently, you should be able to use many of the same peripherals across all three models.


Multi-Connector

The Tungsten E2 implements non-volatile RAM (also known as NVFS memory) like the Treo 650 and Tungsten T5 as well. This means you won't lose all your data in the event of a complete power drain, as the memory acts just like a flash card.

It only has 32 MB of RAM (26 MB available to the user), however, which is on the low side for a PDA nowadays. There's an SDIO enabled Secure Digital (SD) slot for memory and peripheral expansion.

Even though the Tungsten E2’s display is, at 320 x 320 pixels, twice the resolution of the Tungsten E. palmOne also says the screen is 30 percent brighter with a 40 percent improvement in color saturation (16-bit in the Tungsten E to 18-bit color for new PDA). A flip cover protects the touch screen.


Tungsten E2 with Flip Cover

To help support its brighter screen and other features the E2 uses what palmOne asserts is a much more powerful battery than its predecessor. The company says the battery delivers twice the performance of the previous model's, with 10 to 12 hours of MP3 playback when the screen is shutdown, for instance.

Obviously, video and audio players, plus an image viewer are shipped with the Tungsten E2.

Although the Tungsten E2 doesn't integrate Wi-Fi as with most new PDAs from other vendors, palmOne does add Bluetooth to the series. Bluetooth is a personal are networking technology that allows you to connect wirelessly to printers and PCs, for example, within a short distance.


Back View

Wi-Fi support is available with the purchase of palmOne’s own Wi-Fi SD card (now $99). The Tungsten E2 drivers to support the card won't be released until May, however.

Software includes the company’s VersaMail e-mail client and Web Pro browser for the Internet. To view and edit native Microsoft Office applications (Word, Exel, and PowerPoint), palmOne bundles DataViz's Documents to GO 7.0 Professional Edition. Users can transfer these files to and from the desktop.

The Tungsten E2 sells for $249, placing it $50 above the Tungsten E in palmOne’s mobile device hierarchy.

Yesterday, the company lowered the price of the Zire 31 and Treo 600 to prepare for the introduction of the Tungsten E2 today. You can now buy the Zire 31 for $129, down from $149, and the Treo 600 for $299 with service. That makes the older communicator about $150 cheaper than the newer Treo 650.

Stay tuned for our upcoming review of the Tungsten E2 later this month.