Toshiba e570

Toshiba's e570 is one of the less impressive Pocket PC solutions available. It features a rather small screen that measures just 9.2cm diagonally, although it does display 240 by 320 pixels and supports 16-bit colour.

It's light, weighing just 180g including the Li-ion rechargeable battery, but its construction is a little unreassuring and it's rather difficult to fit in to the supplied USB synchronisation cradle.

The Toshiba uses a 206MHz StrongARM CPU and is backed by 64MB of memory.

The e570 lacks many extra hardware features, but there's a 3.5mm headphone socket at the top of the device for use with Windows Media Player 8. There's no jog wheel, but you can launch Notes easily thanks to the hardware button just above the microphone.

Audio playback is possible, thanks to a speaker on the front of the device, while an infrared port allows for data exchange with other PDAs.

The standard four application launch buttons are situated on the front of the device. However, we found the four-way paddle a little small and lacking in a positive action.

Like NEC's PocketGear, the e570 hosts both a Type II CompactFlash slot and an SD Card slot for device expansion. The SD Card slot is always exposed, but the CompactFlash card is protected by a hinged flap.

Toshiba provides some extra software, although it's not as comprehensive as the Compaq and HP offerings. You get a copy of driving game V-Rally and a version of the London Underground map from Visual IT.

Instead of a hard cover, the e570 comes with a soft plastic case which doesn't offer particularly good protection for the screen. Unusually, the cradle and power supply aren't integrated, so you can recharge the Toshiba e570 without having to place it in the synchronisation cradle.

There's nothing that distinguishes the e570. It's a serviceable, basic and relatively inexpensive PDA, but you might find its lack of features a drawback.

Contact
Toshiba: Toshiba Court, Weybridge Business Park, Addlestone Road, Weybridge, Surrey KT15 2UL. Tel 01932 828828, Fax 01932 822952
www.csd.toshiba.com/pda/pda_home.html

See also:

Toshiba e310

A lightweight PDA that certainly looks the part.  12 Jul 2002

Compaq iPaq H3880

A sturdy device that's well suited to corporate use.  02 May 2002

Compaq Pocket PC

The Ipaq gets a makeover, but is it still the best Pocket PC?  08 Mar 2002

Sony Clie PEG-N770C

The latest addition to the Clie range falls short of expectations.  01 Mar 2002

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