The "New" Tungsten E2

The Tungsten E2 uses the same design as the Tungsten E and Tungsten T5. The silver plastic tablet sits well in the hand at 114 x 78 x 15 mm, only a hair larger than the TE, and is a comfortable 133 grams. A square 320 x 320 16-bit color TFT offers slightly improved visual quality from palmOne's already excellent screen design, although still incorporates only a fixed handwriting area.

The first noticeable improvement of the E2 is the inclusion of palmOne's new Multi-Connector serial port to replace the mini-USB port of its predecessor, a change the company claims was requested by many users in order to support the optional cradle. Other than that, and the barely-noticeable increase in thickness, the E2 is almost indistinguishable from the TE.

The next notable improvement over the TE is the inclusion of Bluetooth 1.1. Other connectivity options are standard, including the SDIO slot, IR, and Multi-Connector port. Although Wi-Fi is not included, palmOne does claim that, unlike the Treo 650 communicator, the E2 works with their SDIO Wi-Fi card.

The E2 sports a few improvements under the hood as well, including a new 200 MHz, and the same non-volatile memory system palmOne has started using on all of their models to avoid data loss in case the battery runs down. Although containing only 32 MB (26 MB user-available), the chunk size is smaller than on the Treo 650, which - without delving into a lengthy technical explanation - means lost slack space is far less. 26 MB is still a fairly small amount of RAM for a modern handheld, however

The E2 includes the current state-of-the-art of palmOne's software suite. That includes palmOne's upgraded PIM suite, media suite (photo/video viewer and RealOne audio player), and web browser in ROM, with VersaMail and Documents To Go available on the included CD. The built-in Launcher also includes the "Favorites" tool debuted on the Tungsten T5 as well. All of that runs on Palm OS "Garnet" 5.4 with the usual Graffiti 2 handwriting software.

The software package for the Tungsten E2 is complete, but unsurprising. Nearly identical offerings are included in the Tungsten T5 and Treo 650, and the media suite hasn't changed much since the Zire 72 a year ago. That's to palmOne's credit, actually. The same suite found on their high-end models is now standard on the low-end, too, making for a solid business device as well as a good media performer.