Customer Reviews

Casio Cassiopeia EM-500 Color Pocket PC (Sky Blue)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

The MMC memory is good and small for travelling. Actually, 16MB is not too bad. Comparing the price of the 2,4 or 8 MB Palm Pilot PDA, this is a great deal. With MP3, Video, excel, word, address book features (and more), I choose the EM500 over other PDAs on the market now.

i've had my em-500 for about 2 months. so far, i've been pretty satisfied. makes me much happier than my old palm III. i still look at my friend's compaq ipaq with a bit of envy sometimes but all in all the em-500 has done everything i need it for: short voice-recording, simple tasks on pocket excel, easy access to contacts, carrying around a few dig-pics, jotting down notes, calendar/planner, spare-time wasting games. in my opinion the color screen on the em-500 looks a bit better than the ipaqs that i've seen. my main criticisms or complaints are the initial lack of memory(16 mb ran out very quickly for me, made myself upgrade my memory after the 1st week of use), and the difficulty in finding a modem. i'm happy with my em-500 and it does everything i ask of it quite well, but i sometimes feel that i may have been better off getting a device with compact-flash support. mmc is conveniently sized, but the difficult in finding accessories has been a bit of a downer thus far. all in all though, a relatively easy to use and well-functioning device.

I've been planning for a couple of month to get a Palm, probably a Vx, since a lot of friends had it, I knew it, and seemed great. Just when I was about to buy it, I found out there are better alternatives to Palms, and that is PocketPCs, which are not much more expensive. After a quick research, I decided to buy the Cassiopeia EM-500, and from the moment I received it I was amazed!

Although it's a bit bigger and heavier than a palm, you can forgive this the moment you turn it on and se the marvellous full-color display. I think it's the best display you can find on a PocketPC, comparing it with the Jornada and iPaq.

The organizer features (contacts, tasks, calendar) are like all otehr organizers, but the vivid colors make them look better.. so I find them easier to use than those from a Palm. The touch-screen reacts very well. Personally I prefer the keyboard input to writing the characters. I downloaded the free Microsoft Transcriber which improves a lot the character recognition, but I still stick to the keyboard.

The value of EM-500 comes with the software. Being powered by Windows, it has a large spectrum of applications, like Word, Excel, Money, PocketStreets... And you can download even more utilities, applications and games (even Doom and Quake). eM-500 puts the M in MultiMedia, since it has full multimedia capabilities. This PDA works as a MP3 player, or image viewer, or even MPG player. Also, as a Voice Recorder. The sound quality is OK, and the image quality is amazing for such a device.

The initial memory is quite limited (16Mb) if you plan on loading it with software, music and images, but I bought a 64Mb card, so at 80Mb I guess it's enough... At this moment, Cassiopeia comes with a $100 rebate (which makes it cheaper than the Palms), and with this money you can buy the 64Mb card.

Some flaws in the external design. The USB port cover is completely removable (not attached, like the cover for cards, for example.. so it's easy to forget to put it back, or worse, to lose it. The power button isn't very ergonomic, but I got used to power it on using the action buttons on the front. The IR port is also not very well placed... would have been better to put it at the top, make easier to exchange information with someone else.

So, I'll end with a "Wall-Street" recommandation: STRONG BUY!

I had done a lots of research and finally I bought the Cassiopeia EM-500. I love this unit and highly recommend the Cassiopeia EM-500 and Cassiopeia E-125.

There are so many reviews comparing palms and pocket PCs. Many of the reviews have missed, or are lack of two important factors: the color display ability and the screen display size. They are the major reason for me to pick EM -500.

The pocket PCs have color display ( Cassiopeia e-125 and em-500 have 65,000 colors, the ipaq has 4,096 colors). While all the palms are either black and white or grey scale, except the new visor color model. So if you want to see your photos taken by a digital camera, or movies, colorfull 2d or 3D games, then you would defiantly go for a Pocket PC. For the EM-500, the pictures are sharp, the colors are very rich, and the CPU speed is very fast

Pocket PCs have much bigger screen display and better screen resolution. The Palms use a hardware pat for letter input. This pat chops off almost 1/3 of the screen display. And the Pocket PCs have full screen display. It uses software for letter input so that you can turn the keyboard on and off. So with the Pocket PCs, they display bigger pictures, hold more lines for words, excel and books you're going to read.

Among the Pocket PCs, I tested the Cassiopeia EM-500, ipaq, and HP Jornada. The ipaq has 4,096 colors only. The more color, the better picture quality you can get.. So the ipaq is out of my choice. The Jornada seams running application slower. And the Cassiopeia runs much faster.

I pick EM-500 over E-125 because my digital camera uses MMC. I can just take out the MMC from my digital camera and put it to the EM-500 then watch the slide show. Otherwise I would recommend the E-125 which has more memory and uses CF card for storage, modem and network.

First off, the only reason I am not giving this Pocket PC 5 stars is the difficulties I have been having finding out how to get hooked up to the Internet. There are no wireless modems made for the Multi-Media Card, so your only option is to go through your wireless phone. This doesn't bother me that much, as having gotten used to a cable modem at home and a T-1 hookup at work, I'm not so sure I crave the slow speeds of a wireless hook-up. Other than that this thing is great. The screen is big, bright with beautiful color. I've already ordered a GPS system for it and a games package through Microsoft. Sychronizing with your computer is a snap, and this is coming from someone who is only moderately adept at computer technology. Fits well in your hand, and is very easy to figure out how to use. If you truly feel that you have to have a wireless modem to hook up to the Internet, get something else. Otherwise this is a great system for the money.

I have had my Cassiopeia for about six months and I love it. It synchs up with MS Outlook without any problems or difficulty. I purchased the optional modem for the unit and I am now able to browse full color web sites from anywhere I can find a phone jack. I have used the cassiopeia to document my charitable miles and expenses, keep track of appointments and phone numbers, read books, browse the web, write E-mail, and play games. It's screen is bright, large, and easy to read. It is about 10x better than a Palm and not nearly as expensive - this is one of the best purchases I have made this year.
Downsides: Cradle is sold seperately, and memory cards are pricey

Cassiopea EM-500BU: Interesting technology - practically all advertised features work: the display is very good (except outdoors in strong, direct sunlight), the colors are nice, the sound of the internal speaker is OK, the keyboard and transcriber work very well, it is fast and responsive. It is very easy to connect to the Internet, even using my Motorola Timeport P7389 infrared link. Synchronization with Outlook is a snap (even Notes and Directions are copied to the EM-500); however, use Microsoft's Contacts and not the mentally deficient ROM-based Casio's Address book - it will truncate all your international numbers! Lowdowns: the case is too tight and will press on various buttons and discharge the battery, backup using ActiveSync 3.1 hangs (this is a "known" bug). The power supply is for 110V only. It also could be smaller and lighter. Verdict: best invention since sliced bread.

I bought my EM-500 last fall and have had to send it back twice now for repairs. For some reason, out of the blue, it just refuses to either turn on, or remain on after a few minutes. There is a power update that I installed when I first got it but it doesn't seem to fix the problem at hand. If you're looking for dependency and reliablity, I defiantly wouldn't recommend the EM-500. I've lost all my data twice now (partly my fault because I didn't do a backup).

Im 12 and I had this same device for a few months now and its my favorite thing in the house. I take it any where(it fits in my pocket)and play with it, listen to songs and watch some short films. I have a palm III and the cassiopeia is so much better!