PDA Reviews

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.

I was very lucky to get this handy product as a gift. Nino is very impressive. First, no setup is necessary, just take it out from the box and it is ready to be used. I also used the handy Nino-to-PC cable to connect it to my PC. Unlike many other products which require USB, Nino can be connected via regular RS serial port, which is a standard on any system.

Personally, I didn't face problems connecting the port. But some might since serial ports have their own stuff. For example, they must not share the same IRQ. Now the customer service at philips are not smart enough to tell you that. So I guess you should go over your Windows manual and philips manual for troubleshooting.

Nino is very portable, and except the fact that it is thick not to fit in my pocket, I think it is great. I anyway am a college student and carry my bag almost anywhere I would carry my nino. In this case, Nino fits nicely in my bag.

This is an excellent stylus/pen combination. I bought this exact item from a store near where I live, and have had it for several weeks. It is durable, easy to switch between pens and a stylus. My only complaint is that it slips out of your hand after a long period of use, but it's excellent for usual use. I'm going to order another one for my visor!

I got my FotoShow at OfficeDepot in the summer of 2002 for a trip to Scotland just before the device was discontinued by Iomega. (See some of the pictures on Webshots under username legonut2k.) I took about 128MB worth of pictures per day on SmartMedia memory, and every evening copied them to zip disk in the car (using the cigaratte lighter adapter). This used one zip disk for every two days of the trip. I came home with a box of zip disks and 2GB of photos. There were zero problems, the device worked as advertised every day. Put in the disk and memory card, then push a button and wait for the light to turn on steady green saying it is done without errors. It took about 5-10 minutes to copy 128MB, so it is no speed demon, but that wasn't a problem. Back home, I hooked it up to the computer with USB and copied the disks. I also hooked it up to the TV and ran a slideshow, but this was fairly slow (it must build a catalog of thumbnails before running it the first time which takes a very long time). The drive feels a bit bulkier than it should be, but it was worth it's weight in gold and did manage to fit into my suitcase with ease.

I have never found another device capable of replacing this for my next trip, so this summer (2004) it will go back in my suitcase with that same stack of zip disks for another two weeks of photos. My new video camera takes stills with SD type memory cards, so I am going to buy an SD/Compact Flash adapter which looks like it will work (I haven't tried it yet though).

Positives: Unique and indispensible at making a couple memory cards last for weeks far from a computer. Worked reliably.

Negatives: A bit bulky. Not very fast (painfully slow to setup a slideshow). Doesn't connect to European televisions (NTSC format but not PAL).

Puzzle: Why hasn't anybody produced an updated version of this, lighter weight, faster, more storage? One button copying of a memory card without a PC can't be that hard to do. Somebody give me this functionality in an IPOD formfactor!

Well, since wireless is a thing of the future, I guess this is no exception. While we think of Palms as, say, buisness tool, they can be used for lesure like surfing the web. While the little tool is limited to web page clippings, or special pages for smaller bandwith units. Now battery life is great, though. the 2 AAA batteries charge the unit so fast along with the modem. So, I really love this palm for my buisness and my leasure time. So, I give it 2 thubs up!!
Also, the palm has all of the features of the IIIxe, but with the wireless, so you have all of the ease of navagation.

Made out of aluminum with the cover sliding length-wise. Cover makes a nose when used and some people may consider it bulky since it doesn't comfortably fit in a pocket, thus the 4 rating. Visor holds secure without Velcro or anything else that you may have to use to hold Visor secure in traditional cases (very nice feature). Pen and infrared beam easily accessible. VERY strong and has a high tech look. Would recommend especially for the ... price, since I've seen the same case run ...in retail stores.

The Linea32 synchronizes easily with both my desktop and laptop PC's using the software included with the product. Its much easier typing info into a PC, and then downloading to the PDA than entering on the PDA alone. Also, includes cover to protect the screen.

The writing recognition is a little tricky, but very helpful once you get the hang of it.

Well first of all i just recently bought the modem and i have to say i am very proud of it except that sometimes the palm cant find it even after changing batteries. If you have aol you can go on aol but its hard to get on lets say amazon.com or .... Because aol doesnt support that kind of stuff i guess so i was disappointed. But when i went on aol on it it was very fast and didnt have alot of problems. So if you have compuserve, earthlink, at&t world net, netcom, shore, mindspring , ibm global network i think it will work for you. Overall very nice product.

Socket Communications keeps bringing the handheld market some of the lowest power consuming PCMCIA and CF devices around, and the Serial I/O CF card is no exception! I use it primarily on my HP 200LX palmtop when I need an extra serial port for a mouse, and it has almost no noticeable affects on my battery life! My friend borrows it to connect his HPC (which doesn't have serial ports) to his cell phone whenever I'm around. He should buy his own already! And of course, it's small enough to keep tucked away in your carry bag unnoticed just in case of an emergency.

Ok so this item is the same as original T665. The only thing that is different is that it's a limited edition orange color. I think that this just ads little bit of personality to this PDA. But let's get to the performance of the item. It is a fast PDA. Nothing supersonic but it gets the job done. It nicely syncs with my Outlook and keeps track of about 1000 emails. Phone book software can be little more graphically enhanced but it does the job as well. Battery life is not the greatest one but solutions are available out there that can make your life easier. I do not use this PDA for games or MP3s. I use it for work. I'm a programmer and I work as an EMT in my spare time. I use this organizer in the field noting down patient assessments or looking up medical terminology and in the office I use it to keep track of my schedule, time, expenses, email and contacts. Very useful software that comes with this unit is World Clock. I saw a version of this software being used with old Psion organizers. It allows you to set different alarms for different days with different times. I love it. Simple application yet very useful. Comes with load of extra software that will satisfy every user out there. Another nice this is that I have a Sony digital camera and sometime I view the pictures I took right on my Clie.

Few things that may change your mind about this product that I found out after purchase:

-MP3s need special memory stick. You can't use standard blue one you have to use one called Magic Gate memory stick.
-Stylus is small and tiny. When on the run it's hard to operate.
-Battery becomes concern if you use it a lot. I have a mobile charge unit for my car so I'm doing fine with that
-There are special new hard cases available for this unit. They are GREAT! but in order to sync you need to keep taking your Clie out of them which is a hassle. I guess they were design so you go out and buy new sync cable.
-Screen is much better than anything I expected. Yet I smacked a protector on it just in case.
- Controls are small. For people with big hands it may be small hassle.

As you can see I'm not pushing this product to the limits. I'm just using it everyday over and over again and I find it very reliable. Also I like the limited edition orange version because it stands out and if I lose it it's easier to spot.