Handheld Reviews

Without a modem or ethernet card, your Pocket PC is just a PC companion product -- it must have a PC to get mail, surf, or message.

With a modem, your Pocket PC becomes a truly stand alone device.

This modem is the sturdiest design I've seen for dialing through a regular analog phone line. No frail parts to snap off, no weird connections that require you to purchase a different cable to connect. You'll be able to take this right out of the box, plug it in and get connected.

With this small, rugged modem I'm able to check my e-mail at times when hauling out my laptop would do -- waiting near the gate at an airport, at breaks in meetings, while visiting a client, etc. The ability to sync up my avantgo pages or get my most recent e-mail has been a great benefit to me, especially since I travel.

(Wondering why this review reads the same as the Pretec Modem review? It's the same gadget; this one just carries the Compaq brand.)

Your Pocket PC is just a toy until you have this modem.

Can you tell me if it works with, or protecs your modem from, digital phone lines??? Does it have any surge protection? How is it better than the Xirtec CF modem? Please respond I am soon going to need to get a modem for my P/PC and want to get the best one and I have a IPAQ and don't know if I am better off sticking with COMPAQ products for compatability/warranty issues. thank you !

This is an excellent modem. I've never had a problem with it. However, it is almost identical to the CF modem by Pretec. I bought both and compared them. In fact, it is made for Compaq by Pretec. My advice to Steve, buy the Pretec modem and save some cash.

I have a iPAQ 3150 with the compactflash sleeve. One review said that this case would accomodate both the PDA and sleeve... so I bought it. Have you ever worn shoes about a size and a half too small? Well, you may be able to get them on your feet, but it's going to hurt. There's even less space in this case (for the iPAQ & sleeve, not your feet). Look closely at the enlarged picture and you'll see what I mean.

I needed a case that support my Compaq IPAQ 3135 and the expansion jacket for protect the screen of the device. This case works fine, but is a little bulky with the IPAQ with the jacket inside. The space for business cards and memory cards is very narrow, take time to put them inside the case.
The leather is good.
It took me a while find a case with enoght space to support the device with the jacket, so I am glad to bought it because solved my origin problem.

My main concerns is that it would fit the iPAQ with the compact flash expansion and it does that well. There may be some concern about cards scratching the screen, but they can be placed were the money is shown in the picture of the case to prevent any potential damage to the screen.
Overall the case appears to be of high quality and it doesn't add too much bulk to the iPAQ with the CF expansion on. If you are looking for a case for a naked iPAQ you could probably find something slimmer though.

Before I go on and on about how wonderful this product is, I'd like to take a moment to thank the creator of the first watchman, and to congratulate him on a job well done. Okay, I'm finished.

I first got an idea of buying one of these portable tvs when I had to go to my three-year-old sister's gymnastic birthday party. I found myself sitting in the waiting room, bored to death, with dead batteries in my gameboy advance. Then another unfortunate guy came in and turned on a small casio portable tv. I walked over and checked out his little gadget, and was surprised at how good the picture was for the olympic USA vs. Canada hockey match. He noticed me looking over his shoulder, and asked me if I wanted to borrow it while he ran over to the bakery to grab himself something to eat. I said sure and found myself actually enjoying my time at the party.

I immediately started pestering my dad to take me to circuit city to let me buy my own portable tv, and used every last penny in leftover Christmas/birthday money. I was originally planning on buying a sony stereo system, but this seemed more like a neccessity than loud music.

I chose this sony model (I'm such a loyal sony fan) and took it home. When I popped in the batteries and flipped the switch to on, I was immediately stunned! The first thing I saw was Star Wars, on channel 11, and the picture and sound quality was perfect. I couldn't even tell the difference between it and a regular tv (okay, I admit it wasn't completely like our living room television). I scrolled through and found fourteen channels already available including NBC, CBS, WB11, Fox, ABC, etc. Plus the ability to upgrade to more channels! Wow. What a perfect item when going to Disney World and having nothing to entertain yourself while waiting in two hour long lines. Plus the little flip up visor is a big plus by blocking out unwanted sunlight and making it more of a theatre like experience.

Buy yourself this little tv and have some fun with it. ust don't show it to your friends. They'll get to jealous and not like you as much.

I saw nothing but positive things with this little handheld. The picture is great and so is the reception with the long cord antenna. I love the visor because it will keep out most of the unwanted sunlight on the screen. Go buy yourself one and have fun with it, I do!

I don't know what that other guy is talking about. I just bought it and I love it. The reception and image are great.

Try the Targus leather case for the Palm VII. It's better made and much tougher! You can slide in the Palm VII and there is no need for velcro. The Palm VII can also be left in its slip case for added protection and it will still fit into the Targus case.

Stylish carrying case and the slots to hold business cards are quite handy. The velcro that holds the unit into the case itself isn't all that secure. I added a second piece and it is rock-solid.

I bought this case at the same time I got my Palm VIIx. I highly recommend that you get this case with your VIIx. First of all you want something that LOOKS good. This case is very attractive. So if you carry your Palm around with you a lot (like I do) it looks natural on a desktop, conference table or in your hands. The quality of the leather is very good. I take my Palm with me everywhere I go and the case looks as good as the day I got it-- so it's very durable. I've never dropped my Palm so I can't say how well it would survive, but a moderate fall from a table top to a carpeted floor should not be a problem. Perhaps the best feature is the great holder for the stylus. It's located in the inside spine of the case and keeps it there very secure (mine never fell out). I find it MUCH easier to take the stylus out of the case than to reach back behind the Palm. I use the "wallet" side of the case to hold my business cards and the Graffiti Reference Card.

Bottom line: the Palm VIIx costs too much not to put it in a nice, functional case.

DO NOT BUY THIS CD PLAYER, i got it, and if you are in the car, it will skip like every 2 seconds

I got this personal CD player for an early Christmas present and I am glad to say that it is an awesome product. It feels smaller than average CD players out on the market and the sound is wonderful. I am very happy with the battery slot is inside the player rather than opening it on the outside and risking the batteries falling out if the cover breaks or does not hold secure. I have shaken it violently while playing and have had no skipping whereas on my old CD player, I just had to hold it wrong and it would skip... The Headphones feel different but you get used to them after awhile, keep in mind that for optimum comfort, you might have to buy different headphones as the ones provided are only for convienence... Imagine having to buy a new CD player and it didn't come with headphones? I am very happy and I hope that everyone who purchaces this player is just as happy.

First off, I would like to say that this player amazes me. I bought it for a 2 week work trip for use on the planes and such. I ended up using it every night to fall asleep because the guy I had to share a room with snored louder than a diesel engine. So, it got used for ~8 hours a day. During the entire trip I only had to change the batteries once near the middle of the second week. So, long battery life doesn't even begin to describe how long it lasts. The volume goes up to a level that even satisfies my annoyingly loud taste. The one complaint I have is that the playback features are lacking. It's only good if you use shuffle all the time (which I happen to do, so it kind of works) or listen to the songs in order every time.

I had the unique opportunity to use and evaluate the Casio EM500 for a week to determine if I was interested in purchasing it. At the end of that week, I really wanted to buy this PDA, but I had some lingering concerns that kept me from doing so. Here are some of my thoughts after using it:

-First off, I really loved the display on this unit. It was extremely bright and easy to read even in daylight. I would not have thought it, but a color screen made a HUGE difference. I had a Palm Pilot before, so I know what I'm talking about here. This Casio has one of the best displays of any of the color units.

-I really liked the PocketPC OS with just a few exceptions. As I mentioned earlier, I have had a Palm Pilot in the past. Of the two operating systems, I prefer the PocketPC. This is largely due to the fact that I use a lot of Microsoft products (Outlook, Word, Excel, Money) and it was extremely easy to synch with data with these applications. Some people prefer the Palm OS's simplicity, but for what I needed to do, I found greater functionality in the PocketPC. The only reservations I had was that the PocketPC makes in annoyingly difficult to close applications and its navigation could be simplified.

-The actual hardware design of this unit is fair. It's a little on the bulky side, but I never expected to be able to fit it in my pocket to begin with. While I liked the semi-scroll wheel on the side, I never used the multi-directional D-pad on the front. In fact, I rarely used any of the buttons on the front. I was also very disappointed that there was no cradle included. The USB cable was kind of awkward to have lying across my desk, and I would have appreciated a cradle to set the unit in when not in use.

-Battery life was impressive. While I never did an official test, I was often able to go through two days of normal use before needing to recharge. The unit uses a Lithium Ion battery.

-Don't underestimate the benefit of having Internet Explorer and Microsoft Reader as included applications. Using Avantgo (which is included), it is very easy to read news, weather, and stocks from sources like MSN and Yahoo. The problem is that it is not a live connection to the Internet, and you must wait until you synch with a PC again to get the information updated. It was also fairly easy to find e-books for Microsoft Reader.

-This unit only comes with 16mb memory. While that is more than enough to run most of the bundled applications, don't expect to play many MP3's on the Media Player unless you buy additional memory.

That brings me to the biggest single drawback of this PDA and the reason I did not end up buying it. This Casio EM500 has a MMC (Multi-Media Card) expansion slot. Most of the PDA's today use Compact Flash memory slots. This means that while I could find MMC memory to buy for my Casio, I could not find very many other expansion options. There are no modems available, or cameras, or any other type of expansion pack available other that just a memory card. Being that MMC is not really catching on, at least in the USA, I worry even about the availability of MMC memory packs in the future. While this may not be important to many people, it was to me. If I am going to spend this much money on a PDA, I want it to last for a while. I want to be able to be able to expand or upgrade the unit as new technologies and products occur. Even Casio seems to realize they made a mistake by using MMC in this unit rather than Compact Flash. Newer Casio models now use Compact Flash.

NOTE: Casio announced recently that EM500 will be capable of supporting SD (secure digital) memory cards. This will require a downloadable update from the Casio web site. Even with this announcement I still am concerned about upgradability options. I have yet to see anyone selling SD memory cards.

If you are not interested in expansions such modems and such, then this is an excellent PDA for you and a great value. I give it four stars (****) in that case. For those of you that are like me and crave expansion, I would suggest looking at the Casio E-125, or better yet, the Compaq iPaq line of handhelds.

I love PDA's (and computers in general, for that matter) and this is an excellent device. There was a time when I swore by Palm's pda's, but while Windows CE (now known as Pocket PC) has evolved to near-desktop power, the Palm has remained virtually unchanged. Of the Pocket PC's available, this unit is the best compromise of size and power. It packs a 150mhz cpu (more powerful than the HP Jornada, less than the Ipaq), 16mb of ram, and an amazing screen capable of displaying 16bit color. The Ipaq and HP Jornada can both only do 12-bit color at best. All of that is packed in a comfortable, small device that feels extremely solid in the hand.

While I do believe the EM-500 is probably the best unit available, it does have a few draw-backs. The miserly 16mb of ram is hardly enough... if you buy this make sure to get a 32mb or 64mb memory card to go with it. My other complaints are minimal: lack of hardware volume control, location of IRDA port... but none of these minor issues really impact the usefulness of the unit.

Definitely a great PDA, and well worth the money

The casio is a really good casio because it is a casio and i THINK IT IS VERY GOOD BECAUSE THESE CASIO'S are always good and so i say this casio is good because it is a casio and casio's are really good so i say this casio is good because it is a casio and casios are good...

p.s. casios are good because their casios

I was very excited to get this module. I remember having had a franklin electronic bible years ago and I was hoping to have that convenience again. Unfortunately, the interface is abominable. There's no real concordance, and when you try to search, you can only do the Old or New Testament, and the presentation of results is lousy, and it always tries to search its topic index first. What a pain. I'll gladly settle for a software solution that takes up a couple of Meg, because this program is so abysmal. There are free solutions out there drastically better than this [$] module.

This is the only module that I own, and the only one that I've been fascinated enough by to purchase. I really love it, and get the funniest comments about the functionality. When the pastor is quoting versus at lightspeed, I am easily able to keep up while everybody else just gives up. Tap. Tap. Tap. One feature it didn't have that I feel I was lead to believe it had was the capability to write extensive bookmarks. I would like to be able to associate notes with specific verses, instead I get a limited entry associated with the chapter.

I love it when I am at church and the preacher asks to turn to a specific book and verse in the bible, and i pull out my PDA with my Franklin Bible and start reading along and taking notes. It is so practical. Thanks FRANKLIN!!!

I ordered this with high hopes. I was severely disappointed. This unit came with Metrocall service and after 2 weeks of doing everything humanly possible, and 4 hours online with customer service and everyone possible, I mailed it back today. This unit looked great and was a serious disappointment. Part of the problem is that you have 3 or more providers with each piece of equipment. 1)hardware 2)wireless service 3)software writers for hardware operation and programs. This just seems to be too many cooks in the kitchen. Everytime I had a problem, each would point fingers at the others. I, being the customer did not appreciate that and the attendant wasting of my time.

(I have a visor deluxe graphite, but I will post it up under all visors, because the comments apply to all of them unless otherwise noted)

I finally decided to get a handheld, so after dropping a few hints, I got a Visor Deluxe for my 15th birthday (OK, OK, I totally walked my dad through the purchase process, but who cares?)

9 days (and based on battery use, over 2 months of normal use) later, here is my review. The Visor is pretty small, I don't know what people saying it was bulky were talking about. It is really easy to use, it took no getting used to, except for the graphiti. That's still a little wierd. It has a backlit screen, but I never figured out how to turn it on, my friend did. You hold down the power button. Hotsyncing couldn't be easier, you press the hotsync button on the cradle or on the visor's screen and it goes. The 2 MB visor will probably be good enough for you if you only download Freeware Apps and use it as an organizer, but if you are like me, you will need the 8MB of the deluxe, platinum, prism and edge. The screen is very clear of most things (digital photo albums can look pretty bad, but I think it is the App and not the Visor) It has been very reliable so far, I have installed nearly every App I could find, and no freezes, even soft ones. The stylus has a built in screwdriver and reset tool.

The downside- The OS is not upgradible, maybe someone will make a springboard module someday, but I doubt it, and it will cost alot and not allow you to use the springboard for anything else, killing it's main selling point over the Palm. And also, I am careful with it so I have put no scratches on it, but I let some people borrow it, and I am seeing some. I am mad now (no, that does not read mad cow, mad now) Screen covers cost about $2, but they take all the un out of even owning one. they are that terrible. If worst comes to worst, you can replace the screen down the road for $50. even if you have to replace it once a year (which you shouldn't, but just for the sake of argument) it is worth it. A screen cover ruins everything. Being the careful user you will be, you shouldn't scratch it too badly too quickly.

Comparing to a Palm- this is Much better than a Palm. My friend has a Palm. I hate it. OK, I don't hate it, but it is a mere shadow of mine. the screen quality of the Visor is much better for moving things such as games, and the buttons on the visor are 10 times easier to push, the difference between winning and losing in many cases. The Springboard port is the final factor that puts the Visor way ahead of the Palm. You can get modems, cameras, more space, GPS, cell phones, voice recording, Games, Mp3 players (tisk tisk, stealing music, eh? Kids these days!) You name it, they got it. (look under springboard modules here at Amazon for things I missed) But one thing that annoys me about the Visor and not about the Palm is the infrared port. The visors is in an Akward location, and the Palm's is not (see pictures) And the Visor does not have an upgradible OS, but that doesn't matter too much, so far they have been little more than a minor update. All in all, definitly buy the Visor.

Choosing the right Visor- REGULAR- This has OS 3.1 and 2MB of ram. this is enough only for people who plan to use it for it's designed purpose. If it's not enough, you can upgrade later via Springboard cards. 4 shades of grey DELUXE-Cool colors (which I opted against to avoid too much attention), 3.1, and 8MB of Ram. 4 shades of grey too. PLATINUM-Faster processor, but it's not necessary. However, if you can cough up the cash, it is worth it, because it displays 16 shades of grey and OS 3.5. EDGE-Just like the Platinum, only much thinner. However, putting on a springboard card makes it about as thick as the regular ones. PRISM-Just like the Platinum, only it is in color. Definitly worth it if you got the cash.

PS-to avoid scratches, DON'T LET PEOPLE BORROW IT!!!!!!! I can't stress that enough. People are stupid. Kids these days!

I just got my @ctiveLink last week and used it to find my way around this new town I'm relocating to. It worked great. I sent myself an e-mail containing all the house addresses I was looking for then used the travel info to get from place to place. Nice addition to my toys!

I bought these today at local store in the hope that I would get something better than the Fellowes WriteRights I was using. That hope was quickly dashed as the things were difficult to apply and looked terrible once on the screen. I own a Handspring Visor Deluxe and the CompanionLink screen protector left large areas around the sheet exposed. The adhesive these sheets use is too tacky and causes a very large number of air bubbles to appear even during the most careful application. And the excessive tack makes them difficult to remove. I went through 4 of them before just giving up and going back to my WriteRights. I don't say this about many products, but these things are just truly a waste of money. The WriteRights may decrease contrast and sharpness a little, but are a far superior product.

Well if its all about clearity then these are wounderful you can see the screen like it isnt there (the cover) but you cant press the stylus very hard at all or your screen will still be damaged. So it all depends what you need it for.

At least you can see clearly your PDA screen. When these gets scratched up, use a dab of STP Son of a Gun on the Screen Protector, and you can get an additional month out of them... Don't buy Writerights!!! These are truly the best ones out there!!

I got the version of this keyboard that you can use for your Palm m100 series, and I was very unhappy with it. The plug specially designed for the m100 did not fit properly into the handheld, and then the keyboard died after a few weeks and wouldn't work at all, despite new batteries, etc. If you want a keyboard for your Palm m100, splurge and buy the Palm full-size one, or be disappointed.

Having received a Handspring Visor for Christmas, I went a little crazy and bought myself this keyboard. Overall, it is useful, but there are difficulties: Used on a smooth surface, the PDA support, doesn't; and the near-corner keys (cap lock and right-arrow) are so stiff, you need a mini-sledge to get them to register. It will do for now, but I will probably look for a setup that is not as likely to drop or damage the PDA.

It looks very nice with my Handspring. The stand on the back is useful but folds away into the botten without trouble. I've been surpised at the ease at which entering stuff has been with 2 fingers (or however many you want). I've accutally written a single page letter to my Brother without any trouble. I don't use Hot Sync as much anymore. Been pretty happy with mine =)