BKBROIL Review: Toshiba e805 and Resco Keyboard Pro

bkbroil · #1 03-04-2004, 01:17 PM

The Toshiba decision and the Resco Keyboard Pro by BKBroil
===Some Background info==
For those of you that follow my PocketPC antics

know that I have been toiling over the purchase of the next pocket pc device. Basically it came down to the choice between the Toshiba e805 and the Ipaq 4155. My decision was made final one late night after going back and forth on ICQ with Brad Issac where we discussed the pros and cons of the Toshiba and the Ipaq. One final statement from Brad made me realize what I must do.
Brad Isaac: "One more thing...here's my honest feeling about it. the 4155 is not an exciting device...the toshiba is.
bkbroil: "Ya know what.....your right! The 4155, I would just be saying...."ahhh...it's smaller"....but the Toshiba I will be saying "Look at this screen!"....."

____________====Psychological profile of BKBroil=====

So that that tiny conversation should give you insight into what makes :roll: me tick. What's more important to me is the being on the cutting edge of the technology as well as having the ability to tinker with a gadget. When I was coding for a living, I would stay up late at night constantly tinkering with my code. Since I no longer code

, I believe I have transferred that satisfaction of getting it "just a little bit better and faster" into my ability to tinker with a Pocket PC.
____________====end of profile====

So I purchased the Toshiba e805 a week ago and I have been in Pocket PC nirvana.

And the main reason is the fact that there is a ton of other people out there who tinkering with their PPCs just to make it a little better. Two (unsupported by Toshiba) hacks for the Toshiba e805 out there are MyVGA and Ripboard.
The Toshiba e805 ships with an application called "Screen Resolution" which allows you to change the resolution of your PPC from QVGA (Quarter VGA 240 x 320) resolution to VGA (640 x 480) but the problem with this application is that only allows you to use 4 Clearview applicaitons in VGA mode.

And on top of that the applications are view only and the Start menu is disabled. So, what's the point of having VGA?

Along comes MyVGA. MyVGA is a hack for the Toshiba along with another hack called Undead that opens up all of the applications to work in VGA mode.

I was so excited after installing MyVGA on the night I purchased the Toshiba that posted screen shots for everyone to see the difference of a regular PPC and the VGA difference. :P
====end of background info====

Using the VGA PPC
One problem though, the native keyboard that is now made usable by MyVGA is extremely small and hard to use with these now freed applications.
Here is the native keyboard in VGA mode on the Toshiba e805. Not very impressive. :?

So along comes a developer who goes by the name "Ripnet" on popular forums, and he creates a keyboard for VGA mode in which he calls it "Ripboard" to solve this problem. Yay! I followed the conversation which lasts about 18 pages of forum dialog to see the latest developments of this keyboard and to try to understand how to install this keyboard. I literally spent about 3 hours of nonstop reading trying to determine which is the latest release of this keyboard and what do I have to do to install this.

But then....I read something somewhere in the middle of this forum from Ripnet himself "Ive tried Resco keyboard pro, and it is indeed very good. This has killed my motivation to write a good keyboard now, so I am officially going to give up on RipBoard and spend my time doing something more productive instead."
Woh! There's a product out there that does all this? Ohhhhhh ma gaaad! I've wasted all this time!

So away I go to Resco to download Resco Keyboard Pro.

Voila! look at the keyboard(s) you get from Resco! Very nice in VGA resolution. Here's what you get after installing Resco keyboard. It's skinnable with Red, Black, Light, and plain. Very nice, now I'm getting excited to use my Toshiba!

The FX difference
After playing around with it, I find this button on the bottom row of the keyboard with "Fx" on it. What is "Fx"? It stands for "Frequently used phrases". It allows me to enter in .....you guessed it...."frequently used phrases".. Now that's a good idea. "Fx" mode allows you to write the frequently used phrases by just two stylus taps.

The Calculator
Three numeric layouts including Calculator. In addition to the standard text layout it supports three numeric layouts including calculator with formatted text output.

Summary:
I truly believe that the Toshiba e805 has changed the bar for Pocket PCs and their display. You've been hearing recently that other manufactures are starting to come out with models to support VGA. If you are like me and you love to fiddle with things to make them work even better than the Toshiba is for you. Once you get it into VGA mode, the only "REAL" way to enter text with a stylus (besides handwriting recoginition) is a full size keyboard. And Resco's keyboard PRO is the solution to make the Toshiba a usable PPC.
Overall on the bkbroiler hamburger scale (5 being an industry changer ...or dare I say...a Whopper ) :P
Conclusion Toshiba e805:
I give the Toshiba e805 5 STARS! This is the first 5 stars I have ever given out and why? Because I believe it is an INDUSTRY CHANGER!

Conclusion Resco Keyboard Pro:
I give the Resco Keyboard Pro 4.5 stars, because it is not an industry changer but I would not easily use the Toshiba e805 without it.

.5

knelson · #2 03-04-2004, 01:45 PM

I am reading your articles with a certain envy as I stare at my 3950 telling it that its useful life is short for this world....

Bruanor · #3 03-04-2004, 02:29 PM

damn you bk!! Now I just Got to get one of those... and here I was content to wait until I saw that

now.. just need $1000... hmmmmmmm
Bru...

bkbroil · #4 03-04-2004, 07:05 PM

Quote:

damn you bk!!

I'll take that as you liked the article?

bkbroil · #5 03-04-2004, 07:09 PM

Quote:

I am reading your articles with a certain envy as I stare at my 3950 telling it that its useful life is short for this world....

Buying a new Toshiba will definetly improve your family life!

You can carry screen captures of your daughters movies....no..no...better yet...You can watch your daughters movies at any time! Bring it to parties to show your friends and relatives! The 3950 is nice, but it's an older processor and it won't show the movies as well.

knelson · #6 03-05-2004, 01:31 AM

practicing that line with a straight face - I should be ready for delivery this week.

Brad Isaac · #7 03-05-2004, 01:41 AM

Good luck with the "act" knelson, maybe your daughter could give you some acting pointers on intensifying the drama

nigeljedi · #8 03-05-2004, 02:10 AM

Man, does my brand-spankin' new 4155 look meager. Crap. Another toy to try and buy.

nigeljedi · #9 03-05-2004, 02:13 AM

Oh, yeah...Resco's keyboard pro is pretty expensive, though. I just spent $4.95 on PDAMill's TopKey (of course, I didn't even know of Resco's version) and think it's pretty neat. Not perfect, but neat.

jkendrick · #10 03-07-2004, 01:44 AM

Check out our front page:
www.pocketpctools.com

bkbroil · #11 03-07-2004, 03:34 AM

That's cool...ya see..we'll get everyone using VGA before the year's out...It's my mission...People don't know what they're missing!

jkendrick · #12 03-07-2004, 04:07 AM

bk, solution to your Netfront tweak problem:
http://www.pocketpctools.com/modules...26310580e0fcdd

bkbroil · #13 03-07-2004, 04:12 PM

Excellent.....what an obvious answer (smacking my forehead).

bkbroil · #14 03-08-2004, 03:43 PM

Yup, changing the user agent to IE 6.0 allows me to browse in VGA rather than being identified as a PPC. I'll have to review the Netfront for Toshiba browser...It allows multiple tabs (above picture) ...which I believe is a necessity in today's browsers.

mtlcfull · #15 07-09-2004, 02:02 PM

After reading all of these stellar reviews on the e805, I hurried down to CompUSA to purchase. I received the bad news that Toshiba was discontinuing the model and CompUSA had purged their inventory. On their website, they have it priced at $399 (as I rolled my tongue back into my mouth). I was going to use my TAP to trade in my Toshiba Genio e550g for the e805. What a bummer. I can only find the e805's at online stores now. Do you have any info on this? I can't believe they would drop this innovative new technology. Guess I'll have to wait on newer introductions.

jkendrick · #16 07-09-2004, 02:09 PM

This rumor has been popping up again and again since two weeks after the e805s release in the US. Only Toshiba knows if it's true or not and so far officially they're not saying.
Hopefully later this summer we'll see the first of the competing VGA devices appearing from Asus and HP.