From First Sync to Surf in 10 Minutes Flat

After running the Tungsten E2 installer CD on your Windows or Mac computer, you're all ready for the first Hotsync, which the software leads you through step by step. After entering a few things like your username, you're all set to go. Those upgrading from previous Palms will find their old data imported, as well.

We were eager to get connected to the Internet to try out the VersaMail and Blazer Web browser apps, so after the first Hotsync we went straight to the Bluetooth app on the Tungsten. Again, the screens lead you through the setup process clearly. We chose the option to connect to our laptop computer for Internet access, you can also use a cell phone with Bluetooth and a data plan that allows tethering of other devices.

You'll need to enter a few things like your laptop username and password, but connecting is pretty straightforward. Make sure your laptop is already set up to share its Internet connection via Bluetooth (more info on how to do this for Windows users here, and Mac OS X users here). Setting up your laptop initially may take a bit of work, but you only need to do it once. The Palm side of things is a snap, and the process is similar with a Bluetooth cell phone.

Once you're connected to your laptop or cell phone via Bluetooth, you can get email with VersaMail (which supports both POP and IMAP accounts) and surf with the Java-enabled Blazer Web browser. We can't wait till Palm releases E2 drivers for its Wi-Fi SD card, which are expected mid-May. Then you'll be able to surf at hotspots without a Bluetooth phone or laptop.

Using Documents To Go

Documents To Go is a file viewer for Microsoft Office documents that is very handy for offline reference and sharing with others. But Office documents can be very large and complex -- sometimes too complex for typical PDA processors. The Documents To Go desktop application lets you convert Office files to a format that can be opened more quickly on your E2. Simply drag files to convert to the DocsToGo window and they will be transferred to the Palm at the next HotSync. When we last looked at Documents To Go, there was no Mac desktop app, but DataViz has now remedied that with an excellent Mac interface:

On the Tungsten, the transferred docs show up in a list, and PowerPoint presentations are now supported as well. Slides will look small, but are still readable if you use big enough type in the originals.