So it looks like the new Toshiba e740 has now hit CompUSA and online vendors such as CDW and Amazon. From the initial specs this device looked like the killer Pocket PC PDA: 400 Mhz XScale processor, 64 MB Ram, 64,000 color screen, built in 80211b wireless, secure digital slot, built in compact flash slot. All in a form factor slightly larger than the current HP/Compaq IPaq.

After making a mad dash down to the local CompUSA in Bellevue about 15 after I heard it was available, I was surprised to see that the device didn’t feel much fast when I played with it. Don’t get me wrong, all the bells and whistles still make this a great device, but I just expected much faster performance. So I quietly walked out of CompUSA without a new device in hand.

Now, after a few days, im reading online that there are some severe performance issues, especially regarding video applications such as Pocket Divx and Windows Media Player. Quake runs at a terrible 7.2 FPS, and Pocket TV is reported to be at only 10 FPS. Its almost amusing to see that Toshiba support is of absolutely no help.

Apparently there is an explanation:

Microsoft’s current PDA operating system, Pocket PC 2002, is based on a Windows CE 3.0 kernel, which is optimised for a class of processors which includes StrongARM, but not Xscale. It may be that the next version of PocketPC, launch date unconfirmed, will make more use of the Xscale performance enhancements. But a source at Intel suggested that the CE.net kernel, on which the next version of PocketPC will be based, wasn’t optimised for Xscale either. The follow-up to CE.net, based on a kernel known only by the codename Macallan, is closer to being Xscale optimized. And even that “wasn’t where we want it yet,” the source said. Macallan is not due out until 2003, and a Pocket PC operating system based on Macallan, and making full use of Xscale’s speed enhancements, may not be out until the year after.