Handheld Reviews

This case is very nice - well constructed, attractive, fits the iPaq 4150 / 4155 very well. Just be aware that if you own the extended battery that it's too big to fit in the case.

If you'd still like proof that the average human mind doesn't think in any manner resembling a computer's processor chip (even those computers we love that help us "think different!"), attempt to comprehend the challenge in how a computer "reads" a sheet of paper.

You and I read an article in the newspaper, skip over to a eye-catching advertisement, pull out our wallets and exchange business cards, and all the time, we have learned to scan the item of interest, pick out those words that are important, discard the rest as unnecessary, and go about our busy lives.

But not a computer. A computer lives for those details. And those same details can mire a processor down.

Which in a way is why the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software engine used by ReadIRIS Pro 9.0 is a delight to work with. The people behind the software have helped to link the scanned data into basic patterns and formats ever so much more useful to the daily lives of the user (me, in this case!)

I initially looked into this review by getting my hands on the Business Card Reader (BCR) device, in this version, roman number II, so that I might make my life easier by managing the growing pile of business cards that I collect, and have collected over the past decade, and expect to continue to collect well into the future.

There is something wonderful indeed about business cards, especially in how succinct the summary of a person's relevance. But I digress away from attempting to deal with this growing pile of cards.

Card files don't seem to work for me. But I have enjoyed manually inputting some of my more frequent contacts into Address Books (both Apple's version and Microsoft's Entourage version.) So it seemed an obvious step to begin to input the business cards using a Business Card Reader!

I will warn you -- skip the software that comes "standard" with the current Business Card Reader II. An upgrade is promised, but in the meantime, consider using another ReadIRIS product -- Pro 9.0 (in my case, I tried the corporate edition).

ReadIRIS Pro is a joy to work with. The install was smooth and easy. The software engine (with all files and reference information) installed in less than 80 megabytes. I thought that quite good, especially with how the software promised to handle so many different fonts and language styles.

I tested the software with both a Hewlett Packard scanner and the BCR device. Switching between the two was very quick. I can see how the OCR software could pay for itself due to some of the vast amount of reference materials still unconverted to digital format (the software outputs in text, rich-text, html and pdf formats). Keep in mind however to put aside some time to proof your new documents against the old. If you have a set of material which needs OCR review, one of ReadIRIS Pro 9.0's benefit's shines -- the work you do to input corrections into a dictionary format can help similar documents in basic recognition of font and language skill.

In order to get back to my original project of dealing with my card piles, I was able to get cards read into Entourage's address book in an average of 3 minutes per card. I'm not too quick at typing, but I might have entered them only slightly faster just by doing it all manually. But -- I haven't done this over time. And, I was sort of mesmerized by watching the scanner process my business card stack. That is the fast part. The other portion of the three minute average was spent looking over the scanned data (automatically exported from ReadIRIS Pro 9.0 into Entourage) and "proofing". I was very impressed by the quantity of correct data, even with "pretty" photograph enhanced business cards.

My business card organization project will be ongoing. But now I have a much better tool set.

I definitely recommend the Iris Business Card Reader, but I also recommend contacting the company to see when the enclosed version of software is upgraded, since I didn't benefit from the full corporate version of the software at the listed price.

I use my unit to log traces of my hikes and runs; so good, continuous reception is my most important criterion for judging this unit.

I originally bought a Garmin eTrek GPS unit, but I had to return it. Reception was fine when properly oriented, but the small size and antenna design caused it to lose the satellite signal even under clear skies while I carried it in my hand. I could get good reception only if the unit was held horizontally. This makes it worthless for logging runs and hikes.

The user interface on this Magellan is OK: it's easy to use on the run and somewhat customizable. It's also not too hard to learn to use. But some simple data isn't displayed, like time elapsed since start of trip, or average pace (though average speed is available.)

Map quality is good, and the CD to download detailed maps is included, unlike the Garmin. Also, topographical data of most of the US is preloaded. But this I've been disappointed with, since it seems far less accurate than the USGS maps available in electronic form from National Geographic. Often, a steep uphill appears on the Garmin map as a downhill, while the data loaded into the USGS maps shows the altitude change correctly.

But again, this is all secondary to the good quality reception of the unit in different orientations. Since this is good, it gives good traces of my runs and hikes, and so I'm happy with it.

In comparison with my previous use of the Presenter to go, the Pitch Duo is far better in terms of functionality.
due to
1. It does not use the SD slot, thus see no. 2
2. You can have your presentation in the SD card
3. You can play kinoma movies and see it on the screen. (N.B. You have to get the new iDisplay software ver 1.3.2 ...)
However, the whole screen size is not utilized since the software makers made it in a way you sort of see your palm device in the screen. I hope they can come up with making it full size)
AND the playing of the kinoma movie is still choppy.. But better than none.
4. You can use the BT in your Tungsten T to manipulate the movement of your slides (tried it and the range is around 15 feet, not bad)
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I hope the engineers and developers in igo/portsmith come up with utilizing the full screen while using I display and
I hope they have a way of making the use of BT and idisplay more functional while using a UTkeyboard, since it is sooo slow on this test.
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Overall, using it for presentation using the quickpoint and ipresent is worth it. NOT tried it with other Tungsten models.

I've wanted an in-car navigation system for a long time, but was put off by their high cost and non-portability. I was pretty excited to see this Navman unit - at last a totally portable driving navigation gps, that I could use hiking, driving or boating at a reasonable price.

The unit is well constructed and does not 'feel cheap'. It is very small/thin, but has a beautiful bright display. The screen really is nice. The maps (Australia in my case) come pre-loaded on a 128mb SD Card. They also come on CD if you want to use the SD Card for other things. It comes with a sturdy windscreen suction attachment, car charger, wall charger, slip cover and USB cable.

The small flip-out antenna can lock onto satellites when I'm inside my house! I was concerned I would need an external antenna for the car, but I've yet to encounter any difficulty with getting sattelite locks.

The Navman unit is actually a rebadged Mitac Mio 168 (first Pocket PC to include a built-in GPS receiver), which has received very good reviews. The primary difference is that the Navman comes with SmartST mapping software. Unfortunately, this may not be a such good thing. The SmartST software is great to use - the 3D street maps are fabulous, and it's very easy & intuitive to enter in addresses or search for location 'types'. However, it is *NOT* possible to enter waypoints or GPS coordinates, so it is not suitable for geocaching out-of-the-box (what a shame). There are 3rd party PocketPC programs that you can use for geocaching.

The voice prompting is loud and clear, and location accuracy seems to be quite good. I've been driving around the city of Brisbane for the last few days, and only had one 'error' with the directions (I was on a service road a few metres away from a highway - it thought I was on the highway). Roundabouts are handled well (ie. it will say "On the roundabout, take the second exit"). If you make a wrong turn, it auto-calculates a new route very quickly.

As it is a PocketPC, it comes with "Office" type software, such as PocketExcel, PocketWord, an MP3 player, games etc. Since I've never used a PDA before, I didn't realise how versatile they were. It's amazing how many 3rd party software packages are available. It now seems crazy to buy a dedicated GPS or car navigator when integrated gps PDA's like the Navman are available. If you've put off buying a GPS, take a look at the Navman PiN - highly recommended.

The NexiCam was a great solution to my digital camera problems since it worked directly with my Pocket PC... previously my old digital camera used a different type of memory than my IPaq Pocket PC, so transferring images between camera, PC and Pocket PC was alot more timely than I wanted.
The NexiCam works great, has more features than my old Kodak digicam, is very simple to setup and I am happy to be rid of the old memory cards. I love the built in Compact Flash memory slot, zoom feature and configurable self-timer.
One major downside I found was lack of good user documentation. The manual is Adobe based and very basic, you really need to experiment on your own to see the full potential of what you can do with the NexiCam (although that is alot of fun too!)

This is a great Palm case for us that have our whole lives in their Palm. It is nice looking, easy to use and there is ample storage for credit cards and business cards. Only downside is that it is designed as a wallet and I don't use my palm case as a wallet !

We often buy more than 2 stylus pens for our pda so far. But, we don't have to do any more with this PDA Panache Deluxe Stylus pen which is compatible with stylus holders of Palm m100 series. It's strong enough to use as long as the palm and the design is also cool!!! It cost a little bit higher than the regular stylus pen but you can save the same money because you don't have to buy again as it's not broken at all unless you don't lose it. However, I hope to say that there's real stylus pen for palm series now with stroung body and perfect capatatiblity.

I got a PDA Skin because it seemed like a good way to consolidate my various tools including a PDA and a cell phone. I work in a challenging engineering environment where I am often in the field at night working on remote tasks. The only problem(?) is that I now have an extra empty pocket where my wallet use to reside. I have had this PDA Skin for over 6 months and have really found it very helpful and intuitive to use. It is well designed and constructed and is really worth the investment.

I love this thing!

I hated PDAs... Had no use for the things, until this little gem came along. Pop it in, load up some maps and you've got a pretty sophisticated GPS in your pocket. Now my PDA is always by my side.

It took a little practice getting used to it, but once I did, I started finding my way to and from places I never would've found before. I drove down to Atlanta and spent nearly a month in unfamiliar roads, but I never got lost.

One of the great things about it is that it's integrated with the Contact Manager (which gets synched by the PDA software with Outlook and AOL contacts), so you can find anyone in your contact list.

Here are a few things you should know:

1. Make sure your PDA has TWO memory slots. One Compact Flash for the Pharos, and the other for you to place a traditional memory card. In my case, my PDA has a second SD memory slot which I keep a 256MB card in that has maps for about 3 states that I travel to.

2. Invest in the optional car kit. It gives you:

a) A car power cord so your unit stays on, for your trip without losing power (it also charges your PDA).

b) A cool little holder to hang your PDA on your air conditioning vents so it stays put when you drive.

c) An external antenna to give you a stronger signal. In my case I generally don't use it.

3. Practice for a bit on familiar turf. You need to know how to re-route yourself in a pinch if you make an incorrect turn. I found that the routing was generally pretty accurate, but often it doesn't have North/South/East/West designations, so it may just say "highway exit ahead", when in fact there is a fork in the exit giving you an East/West choice... so you are forced to look at the screen and make a guess as to which one to pick.