Toshiba (www.toshiba.com) has entered the Pocket PC marketplace with a vengeance! One of the world industry leaders in portable (laptop) computing has developed one of the coolest, smallest, most versatile Pocket PCs to enter the mobile professional's pocket since Compaq's iPAQ.

Sleek and powerful for the enterprise

The new Toshiba e570 is one of the most versatile Pocket PCs I have tested. The small, lightweight device uses the new Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 operating system and is powered by the now-mandatory 206 MHz Intel StrongARM processor. The e570 has 64 Mb of RAM (standard). Initially, this device will be made available in the U.S. to the Enterprise market only. That said, Toshiba is planning to introduce the device with very little add-on software. Toshiba says that it wants to keep as much memory as it can available for the individual Enterprise solution. Interested consumers can check the e570 Web site (www.pda.toshiba.com) to check future plans for retail availability.

I tested a 32 Mb version of the device, currently shipping in Japan under the name of GenioE. It was re-programmed by Toshiba with the English version of the Pocket PC 2002 software. The GenioE is identical to the e570, except that it only has 32 Mb of RAM. Toshiba will only ship the 64 Mb version in the U.S, and the final U.S. unit may also come with additional software that was not available at the time of this review.

The 206 MHz Intel StrongArm processor will work with all software designed for the original Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC. I tried out many older software titles I used with my iPAQ (including all of my medical software), and never crashed the Toshiba or found any problems with the software.

Compact Flash and Secure Digital expansion slots

The most innovative feature of the Toshiba e570 is the dual-expansion card slots. Toshiba is the first Pocket PC to utilize built-in Compact Flash II and Secure Digital expansion slots (see Screen 1). This allows users to select from a wide range of add-on options, enabling them to have access to wireless connectivity and additional memory storage—both at the same time! These slots are built-in and do not require an expensive slip-on cradle like you'll find with other Pocket PCs. Sporting a Type II CF slot and a Secure Digital (SD) slot that also accepts MultiMediaCards, this Toshiba Pocket PC is the first device to give users incredible expandability and performance options that can easily fit in a small hand. It will have no trouble competing with other Pocket PCs and color-screen Palm OS devices, especially in the Enterprise arena.

Screen 1: This top view of the new Toshiba e570 Pocket PC 2002 shows the open door of the larger Type II CompactFlash card slot and the smaller Secure Digital card slot immediately above it.

Currently, available expansion devices for the Type II Compact Flash slot include various CF file storage cards, IBM's 1 GB Microdrive, Teletype's WorldNavigator (a wireless Type I Compact Flash GPS reviewed elsewhere in this issue), wireless LANS, 10/100 Ethernet, V.90 56k modems (from Targus and others), and more. The postage-stamp-sized Secure Digital (SD) expansion slot accepts both SD cards and the slightly thinner MultiMediaCards. Currently, only file storage cards are available in the SD and MMC formats.

My sources tell me that we may see a one gigabyte SD card by mid 2002. I'll let you know when I find out more about this. Toshiba's new notebooks also come with a SD slot, so file transferring between Toshiba e570s and Toshiba notebook PCs can be accomplished via exchange of SD cards, or by using an optional wireless Bluetooth SD card that will be shipped early next year. This would also allow quick exchange of information between the e570 and other Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as cellular phones.