Organizer Reviews

I was disappointed when I received the organizer and realized I could not store notes or memos with text, only numbers, spaces and the dash. I wanted to store to-do lists etc. I guess only phone numbers need organization.

I thought that this product was going to be a waste of money, but I was recently on vacation and I have to admit that I used it all the time. I also have an HP Jornada which has the Microsoft e-book reader - which to me displays text better.

I can think of worse ways to spend 50 bucks - and think about how many books you can carry with you in just a few ounces..

...I've used it for over a week now but i'm thinking of returning it, because even though it looks very pretty - good quality leather, classy color - i'm not terribly secure about the protection it affords my Palm IIIxe. First of all, i've had to keep the hard flipcover on my Palm on, because the soft leather of the case wasn't enough to protect the Palm from turning itself on if i inadvertantly pressed against it. The loop for the stylus and the slots for credit cards are placed in an awkward position so that they rub against the Palm - and i'm so afraid of scratches on the screen that keeping the plastic flipcover on seems like a good idea anyway. I also don't like the clasp - it's just a belt loop with no real fastening, and i'm afraid that if it ever slips out or even loosens (which it can pretty easily) it'll leave my Palm vulnerable.

I might end up hanging on to this case for business occasions where you want to whip out your best suit and leather briefcase, but for everyday use this isn't a very reassuring companion.

I was pleased with its performance until I realized that Toshiba doesn't offer the upgrade to Pocket PC 2003. Seems like just a ploy for me to sell it and buy the 755, which is the same machine. Needless to say I'm not happy with Toshiba's support of this product.

This is a a great PDA execpt for one thing. It is has NO built-in memory to save stored data. The E 750 took care of this problem and Toshiba essentially stifed the owner of the orignal -including my letter to them which was written before one year warrantee. They never even answered my letter.

Their answer was to give you a $40 credit towards their old defective E740. Good customer relations - Toshiba

I purchased the Toshiba e740 after the screen on my old tried and true Palm 3 went south. I always liked the Palm and it served me well for over four years, so I was a little apprehensive about switching to the PocketPC world. However, I've been blown away by all of the advancements in the PocketPC operating system. It integrated with Word, Excel and Outlook seemlessly and it also offers the Window Media Player and a host of other Windows functionality. Overall a thumbs up on the Pocket PC operating System.

Now for the 740, I like the unit a lot. So here is what I give a thumbs up to: The size and weight is about the same as my old Palm. The color screen is great. Indoors and out it works well. Having a compact flash and smart media slot is the only way to go.

Here's are the thumbs down: The built in speaker is a joke (but who really expects audiophile sound from a PDA anyway. So plan on buying a set of headphones). The voice record button on the side of the unit is way to easy to set off without knowing it (this runs down the battery and gives you a bunch to screwy recording to delete). The main manual is terrible, there is no index in the back to cross reference anything so if you have a problem good luck. Last but not least, the battery life is only average, so if you travel, do yourself a favor and buy a back-up charger.

Overall, I'd recommend this PDA. The features are better than the iPaq. And, you've got to wonder, how long has anybody ever effectively competed with Microsoft. I was a diehard Mac guy and also and owner of a Beta VCR, neither could effectively compete with stronger rivals. This time I didn't want to be the last guy swimming up stream.

Perhaps I'm spoiled by having had a spif leather case with a detachable belt hook for my Palm VII, but this overpriced belt clip is embarassing.

Fortunately, I don't use it very often. It is so tight fitting, that it is difficult to remove the Handspring without removing the holster from your belt. Even worse, it is wearing grooves into the side of my Handspring.

It is difficult to envision this ...plastic device lasting for very long. It is better than nothing, but that isn't saying much.

This is a good idea. However, it is poorly executed. The first problem is that the case only allows you to put the PDA into it with the screen facing out. This is a great way to put scratches on your screen. The second problem is the rigid but flimsy clip. I think I broke this clip within 2 hours of placing it on my person. My hack fix was to scavange a cheap leather cell phone case for it's leather-covered metal belt clip. I cut this out of the cell phone case and attached it to the case with epoxy. This design functioned well but failed to address the exposed screen issue so I stopped using it. However, it DID solve the belt clip issue quite nicely.

I use the belt clip the way I see many people use pagers that have clips. I just put it in my front pants pocket, and slip the clip over the edge of my pocket.

I agree it doesn't seem to be the most durable thing, and it's a shame the clip base doesn't swivel a bit. But I've found my Visor much handier to carry this way as I've already got too much junk in my shirt pocket. :)

I also wish it covered the back of the Visor a bit. If you use a Visor module that has an obnoxious logo on it (most do) then if you use it on your belt it's sort of an ad to the whole world. Which is part of the reason I use it in my pants pocket instead.

My experience with Mailstation started over six months ago. Since then I have had less than two weeks of email service. Just a few of the problems have included a Mailstation arriving with a broken screen, six weeks of phone calls to finally prove the replacement did not, would not and never would work, a month waite for another replacement to find it was in shipping, two weeks later to find no record of replacement, etc, etc. One technique is never being allowed to talk to the same person twice. "I will call you on Monday to verify it is working." "This will definitely fix the problem." "Sorry, you can not talk to a supervisor." "We will send you a refund in one month." "The refund will be posted in two weeks." "We have sent the refund to your credit card company but it will take them two or more months to post the refund." "The problem is with your credit card company. We have sent them the refund." I do not think so.
The Dilbert cartoon is Mailstation.

MailStation was wonderful for the first 1.5 years of service under CIDCO. Bought it for my computer-illiterate 77 year old mother so she could keep in touch with family members now scattered around the world. She is totally averse to computers (it took a few years to even get comfortable tapping numbers into a microwave oven), but she took to the MailStation right off. I was very impressed.

Then, ~8 months ago, CIDCO was bought by Earthlink. It has been astounding how that company has managed to foul it up.

They have changed phone numbers, network numbers and then sent out INCORRECT instructions to customers to reprogram their machines, as if customers of such an appliance have any idea at all what they are talking about. Earthlink, for some reason, thinks MailStation users are hip 20-something folk.

There have been at least 3 major configuration problems due to Earthlink [changing] around ... the system. Each has taken weeks to resolve. My poor mother has actually had to struggle with tech support people who walked her through the reprogramming INCORRECTLY 3 TIMES (after the usual 45 minute holding period). The 4th time, some guy says "oh no, that's not right -- you need a 4 digit number there, not a 6 digit number" after the previous people had said "No, you need this 6 digit number there". And the 4-digit guy was correct, meaning the first 3 people were not.

There have been billing problems (all fouled up), references to web sites where I could supposedly fix things for her that don't even recognize the "mailstation.com" domain, e-mails sent to her not delivered, e-mails delivered multiple times, and incomprehensible notifications that her "account" is full.

This last one is fascinating. Her unit is text only, thus if someone sends her a message with an attachment, the attachment is retained at the server. She has no way of accessing it.

Since Earthlink took over, these attachments are apparently accumulated until her mailbox is "full", whereupon Earthlink sends her a message telling her to delete them. However, she has no mechanism for deleting them, because the box that sits on her desk hasn't the capability. This shows that Earthlink not only doesn't know who their customers are but isn't really clear on the system itself.

So this wonderful gadget she was so pleased with has now turned into a source of anxiety for her; For an "appliance" like this, with the customers it was targeted to, to change things just for the sake of changing things, is totally unacceptable. Stability and reliability are the only important criteria to consider...

Bought this for my daughter in Hawaii. Great way to keep in touch with friends and family, right. Wrong. She can get in maybe 8 sentences in an email if lucky and only to certain people. Friends who have urls other than aol or earthlink are out of luck. Her attempts at customer service have been fruitless, until she told them she was shipping it back to them. Then there was all kinds of help, but too late. Frustrating to her and to us. Now, it comes back to us to try and get our money back on it. Didn't get a rebate either. That's another story.

I just purchased this item and it arrived today (2/2/2004). I called in to activate, and according to the operator (omnisky no longer exists, it's now Earthlink which should have told me it wasn't worth the hassle to begin with) no one supports the omnisky wireless modem any longer. Just a warning to those who purchase this item... think you're getting a hot deal?? nah... just a useless paperweight worth 80 bucks...

I've already posted a terrible review about the omnisky service; how the modem crashes the visor, how the coverage is thin even in major metro areas (like, say, New York City and Chicago). Their tech service was very responsive and they did make an effort over several weeks to get my service working better, sending me new modems, giving me different IP numbers that they said could result in better service coverage. They appeared to try all sorts of things to get my service working. They failed. When I finally said, this isn't working, I want to give up, give me my money back, they said NO, the warranty period is over. They had my money and they wanted to keep it. What's worse they wanted more and they got it.

Around a month before my one-year term was set to end, Omnisky charged my credit card for another year of service. I called and told them to take the charge off my card; that I did not want to renew. They said NO. There would be a $200 fee to cancel "early." They said I had to call them again on the exact day that my current service contract ended and cancel THEN. I asked if they could just make a note now to cancel on that day. They said NO. I had to call AGAIN. If I did not call on the exact day my current term ended I would be charged for each day that passed until I got around to calling again. By the time I did call again they had gotten me for another $16.

This is what your Visor says when you insert the Minstel modem: "Omnisky. Think it, Do it."

This is what it says to me: "Omnisky. Think it. Can't do it? Tough. We'll take your money anyway. Oh, and when you're not looking, we'll take even more money. What the heck. It's all in your contract. We have your credit card number."

I bought a Handspring Visor Platinum along with this modem to allow me to access my email remotely around the city. My cell phone has NO coverage problems ANYWHERE in the area. The OmniSky service and this modem has coverage problems almost EVERYWHERE in the area. After reading many online reviews I swapped out the useless stub antenna on the modem with one that is longer, from my cell phone. This helped improve access dramatically. However, even being outdoors within 1000 feet of a cell tower (GTE is my OmniSky CDPD carrier) I had trouble. Literally, if I coughed (and my hand shook) I would lose the connection! I'm NOT kidding. When you are in a sweet spot, and it works, it works great. But the problem is that sweet spot usually entails me standing with my arm out-stretched holding my Visor up in the air like the Statue of Liberty! This is NOT a good thing. I think Omnisky (and Novatel) are on the right track, but this technology is still in its infancy. My advice, unless you need access on the road where you KNOW you will have good coverage, expect to "work" with this a bit. Technogeeks, apply, but do NOT buy this for your Mom! I must also mention, that OmniSky tech support is EXCELLENT! They answer the phone quickly and they actually know the software and hardware! I've always been happy with them, it's just the CDPD coverage that stinks. If I could rate them separately, the modem would get 4 stars and the coverage would get 1 star.

I had no problem with this case up until now (4-5 monts after the purchase date). The plastic wore out and now I cant keep this case closed. It does close but opens at the slightest disturbance. Given the price of this unit, the closing mechanism could have been designed a bit better.

Having read many of the other reviews of this case the most common complaint seems to be inadvertantly turning on the power button. I have a m500 and have never had that problem, but I do have two complaints of my own.
1. Hotsyncing is difficult while in the case, but putting the hotsync cradle on the edge of your PC desktop allows the case halves to be "folded" back at a 90 degree angle from the PDA and then placed in the cradle.
2. The interior latch that closes the case, although clever, is not that strong. I've had mine for less than a year and the piece on the back cover has already broken. I thought I was relatively careful when closing it, but at some point it just broke. The case won't stay closed now and I'm trying to decide whether to get another or just live with it...

This is a great case. I just replaced my Palm Vx with a 515, and used the Palm hard case for the Vx and loved it, despite it getting poor reviews ("its plastic, not classy, so awkward" blah blah blah.) That was a great case that saved my Palm a hundred times when dropped, fit into my jeans or pants pocket without bulk, and this new case is so far just great- the updated version. The other reviewers say it turns the palm on, and drains the battery. I almost did not get this based on the other reviews, but am so glad I tried it. I have not had that problem and have closed the case a thousand times trying to duplicate that problem. Has not happened. If you like a hard case like me, this one is great.
Unfortunately the series V hard case will not fit the m500 series- why, Palm, why? The stylus is just a little smaller. The size of the PDA is identical, but the stylus difference means the older case won't work. A real pity, since it is a slimmer, lighter case.

I first had the Magellan which I returned because of the fact it could use up a lot of memory for the maps so I got the Geode with nice memory expansion slots. Well they still haven't released the software to use those dual 64MG slots.. it is impossible to maintain a lock in a car even with an RF optimized Visor (even if you screen the module with foil!). And it just eats batteries like no tomorrow. Coupled with poor mapping software that only gives you the streets if you ask.. Yes it does get a lock quick but even with the lastest 'flash upgrades' it is far from being worth $300. Give it a couple of years and if they improve power usage, mem slot usage and better locking from a car (where I need it most) then I will come back to them otherwise give this a miss.

I was right to start out with Magellan since they've be doing this for a long time and it works in a car! True it feels light and plasticky with no mem expansion (just keep about 2MG free and you'll be fine) but it works and half the cost!

The Geode had a lot of promise. Unluckily, GeoDiscovery went out of business before it those promises could be fulfilled. I do extend a lot of credit to the developer team who helped pull together as much as possible as GeoDiscovery was laying them off to help out the user community. Many of the developers continued to answer questions and work with users LONG after their paychecks stopped.

But... sadly that was 2 years ago. GeoDiscovery is now defunct, their website gone and no support to be found.

The Geode community did pull together and compile an archive of all the software that was available before GeoDiscovery's website died. I maintain the archive... which is available at davoice.net. The archive is about 1.2 gig in size, so no one in their right mind has been willing to host it online. So for the forseeable future, it's only available by mail on CD.

On the davoice.net site, there is also a relatively inactive forum for Geode users. I do try to answer the odd question that arises every so often.

Basically for all hardware except that which shipped directly from GeoDiscovery as they were shutting the doors, the best firmware is version 1.3. For the last hardware revision, 1.4beta works fairly well. Either way, the MMC slots never worked and NMEA connection was non-existant in 1.3 and flakey at best in 1.4beta.

Blessings,
Daniel

An excellent and useful module for the Handspring PDA. I enjoyed it while the company supported the product with their map database software. I cannot find the company to get updated software (Madison River Technologies). I do not believe that the module is available. The company either does not exist anymore or they are not making the module or supporting software. I see no point in tryimg to locate this product much less trying to purchase it.

I've been a user of Zire 21 for a year and quite<br /> satisfied with it (for a less than $100 PDA!)<br /> until I encountered same thing other users <br /> had encountered: It resets!<br /> Good thing I made sure I do Hot Sync<br /> every other week but still it's kind of<br /> frustrating knowing some data will be lost.<br /> <br /> I noticed that at extreme temperature <br /> (Im barely above freezing point <br /> right now because im on a business trip in Japan),<br /> the Zire21 malfunctions and eventually<br /> caused the reset.<br /> There might be parts (reset IC or the<br /> power supply section) that are not rated<br /> to such extreme temperature.<br /> Other reviews say that reset is triggered<br /> when cellphone rings.<br /> RF (radio frequencies)signals emited by cell sites<br /> or base stations are of microwatt range and if accompanied<br /> by a poor choice of parts, malfunction will surely happen.<br /> I looked at the back of the Zire 21, and I see it was Made in China.<br /> No wonder. <br />

Don't buy this product. I kept my cell phone right on top of it on my desk at work before I found out that this was why it reset itself. Also - after three months of keeping them that close, I can no longer press the bottom half of the screen because it doesn't register.<br /> <br /> I owned this unit 4 months and it never happened until I bought a new cell phone. It's not coincidence - it's a flaw, and I wouldn't pay money for chance.<br /> <br /> You could get a new phone - and bing, happen to you. Analyze your cell phone habits before you stick this one close to your phone in your purse. It's crappy - and Palm does nothing to make it right.

I gave my hardly used Sony Clie T615C to my fiancée and was using my old Palm III until I bought the Zire 21. I realized after owning a Palm III, Handspring Visor, Palm Vx, Sony Clie T615C, that all I really need a PDA for is addresses, notes, and scheduling. I don't need a camera, mp3 player, video player, web browser, etc. So the Zire 21's features and even lack of, were a good match for my needs, especially at the $99 price point.

True, the display is black and white and the 160x160 resolution is inferior to a B&W Clie. But what does that really mean? I have NO problems reading text on the display. It is infinitely better than my old Palm III's screen. The only major drawback to the screen is the lack of a backlit option. Impossible to see in the dark or dimly lit room.

Considering I'm only storing addresses, notes and appointments, 8MB is PLENTY with room for a few extra applications and games. No expansion possibilty however.

The lack of color display vastly improves the battery life of the built-in lithium ion battery. I should be able to go nearly a month or more on a full charge. My color Clie couldn't go an entire week. The USB hotsync cable also acts as a trickle charger. My only complaint here is I wish they would've figured out a way to put the charging cable and hotsync cable into a single cable. Because of the lack of a cradle, I have to deal with two separate cables. However, this is a benefit for traveling. I used to have to take my Clie's cradle and giant power brick with me on trips.

I have not had any of the same problems described by other reviewers regarding random resets, as of yet. And the 90 day warranty is pretty skimpy for an electronics product and reminds me of Sony. It'd be nice if they would stand behind their products, even if it is their entry-level product. Still, the Zire 21 is a very elegant and simple PDA and an excellent choice for those who are looking for a basic Palm powered device. With the upgraded memory, OS and processor, it is much more attractive than the original Zire at the same price point.