The Toshiba Pocket PC e310 poses a serious threat to devices based on the Palm operating system.
Like the Palm, it is thin, light and affordable. Weighing only 135 grams and with a thickness of 12.4 millimetres, the e310 weighs the same as many Palm-OS devices, including Palm's m515 and the Sony Clie T615.
On its left side, there are a voice-recording button, a power switch and a jog-dial wheel, which was not included on Toshiba's previous model, the e570. The discreet design gives the device a sleek appearance and users are safe from hitting the keys accidentally.
Despite its small size, the Toshiba device comes with everything we expect from a Pocket PC, including a 206MHz Intel StrongARM processor, 32 megabytes each for random-access memory and flash read-only memory and it runs on Microsoft's Pocket PC 2002 operating system.
Like many personal digital assistants (PDAs), the e310 can play MP3s. But its value-added features mean the 32MB of on-board memory is far from enough for users to hold their applications, data, music, and video files.
The device comes with a Secure Digital slot which provides an option for additional storage. The single-slot option means users have to make a decision between storage and networking options like wireless connectivity with an Ethernet, Wi-fi or Bluetooth card. This is a backward design for Toshiba, whose e570 comes with two slots for CompactFlash Type II and SD cards. And compared to devices like Casio's three-slot Cassiopeia E-200 (SD, CF and PC Card), the lack of expansion capability will be a deal-breaker for many.
The e310 sports a 3.5-inch, 240 by 320 pixel liquid crystal display. It handles 65,536 colours and has a good reflective quality that poses no problems for outdoor viewing.