Toshiba continues to impress with its Pocket PC range of PDAs. Its latest model boasts an Intel XScale 400MHz processor and a tasty array of add-on goodies.
Visually the e740 looks like a cross between Toshiba's previous two PDAs. It shares the same button layout and dual memory format as the e570, but its silver plastic stylings make it visually very similar to the slimline e310.
Driving slow in the fast lane
Up until now, all Pocket PC PDAs boasted a 206MHz ARM processor. The e740 is the first unit to market to feature the higher speed XScale 400MHz processor. It's a faster beast with a trick or two stolen from Intel's notebook processors. Like Intel's SpeedStep processors, the Xscale can boost or decrease performance depending on how heavily the user hits it with software. We were keen to test out this functionality; after all, a faster processor should equal faster performance.
While there's very little that can be done to effectively benchmark a PDA, we noticed very little perceptible difference between a regular 206MHz PDA and the 400Mhz e740. Normal Pocket PC applications ran at around the same speed, so we switched to some more processor intensive applications, running video footage and playing Pocket Quake. Both ran very well, but again we were at a loss to spot a difference in the newer processor. One thing playing games did reveal was that the central directional pad on our test unit was a little loose.
It's unclear at this stage whether the lack of performance increase is simply due to software not being designed to take advantage of the newer processor. It's certainly worth bearing in mind that we didn't get any noticeable performance increase running today's software.
The other new feature that the e740 range brings to the table is your choice of wireless connection models. In the US Toshiba's offering only the WiFi variant, and in Europe Bluetooth e740s will be sold. For the Australian market you get the choice of either integrated WiFi or Bluetooth. Given that the e740 boasts an SD and CompactFlash slot, it would be child's play to get both up and running if that suited your needs. The unit supplied to us was the Wifi version.
When the wireless connection worked, it worked well, but we encountered some teething difficulties setting it up. In order to preserve battery life, the e740 has a solid switch at the base of the unit for the Wifi antenna. There's also an onscreen indicator that must be toggled on to enable wireless communications. For reasons that still baffle us, the two switches didn't talk very well to each other; often the toggle wouldn't work because it was convinced the switch was in the off position. A quick reboot, and some fiddling with the WiFi settings seemed to convince it otherwise. We had a great deal of fun on a Sydney train scanning for networks as we passed through various points; this would be a great wardriving (or should that be warwalking?) toy.
Toshiba don't offer any additional software with the e570 apart from a copy of ActiveSync and the standard Pocket PC applications. That still gives you Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, Internet Explorer and Media Player to start you off.
What Toshiba will be offering in the near future are an array of add-ons for the e740. An expansion pack offers VGA output and USB connectivity for any device the e740 can recognise. Bearing in mind that USB acceptance is totally driver-based, and nothing has specific e740 drivers yet, it's unclear how useful this will really be. Toshiba were yet to confirm pricing for this expansion pack at the time of going to press.
The regular battery on the e740 has a claimed battery life of nine hours, with data backup up to 72 hours, thanks to the last portion of the battery being off-limits for regular use. That nine hour figure is somewhat qualified by the statement "subject to usage", as it's not clear under exactly what circumstances you could expect to get that nine hour life. WiFi usage will also drain the battery much more quickly. Heavy duty users will be able to purchase a high capacity 25 hour use battery. We were unable to extensively test this battery, which clips to the back of the unit increasing size and weight quite noticeably.
The price difference between the physically similar e570 is just over AU$250. That's not a bad price to pay for wireless connectivity and the latest mobile processor, which will hopefully in time bear fruit in performance terms.
Toshiba Pocket PC e740 WiFi
Company: Toshiba Australia
Price: AU$1,548
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: (02) 9887 6000
