Customer Reviews

Diamond Multimedia Mako Mobile Internet Organizer

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While the Mako is a new entry to the US market, it is based on a platform that has been popular in Europe for some time now. This is because the Mako is a repackaged version of the Revo Plus PDA by Psion. From the UK, Psion has been making and marketing PDA's running Symbian's EPOC operating system. You probably haven't heard of Psion or Symbian, because they have done a lackluster job of marketing in the US. Psion's new relationship with Diamond is designed to change all of that. What this all means from the customer's point of view is this: the Diamond Mako is based on a tried-and-true, mature operating system that has been around at least as long as Palm's. Psion uses the same OS in two of its other products as well - the slightly larger 5mx, and the sub notebook-sized Series 7.

The screen on the Mako is excellent. It is a high-contrast LCD that is as sharp as the Palm Vx. What sets it apart from Palm devices is that it is about 50% larger, and is laid out horizontally. This makes it significantly more useful as an eBook reader compared to the Palm. Its 16 shades of gray allow for a very attractive user interface, with detailed icons and drop-down menus. The screen also acts as an input device when used with the included stylus. One interesting feature that the OS handles is a global zoom. From any application you can increase or decrease the size of the text, without actually changing the structure of your documents. The only downside with the display is the lack of any sort of backlight. Psion did include backlighting with its 5mx model at the cost of contrast and clarity. I have seen both, and prefer the display on the Mako. Adjustable contrast can make the screen readable in any indoor situation, but not in a darkened car or movie theater.

The keyboard on the Mako is a love-it or hate-it affair, and will probably be the deciding factor for most customers, even those who love the PDA's other features. The keyboard is small, with each key about the size of an M&M candy. They're too small to allow regular touch-typing, but you can get up to a good speed with two or four finger pecking. Doing this assumes that you have a flat surface to set the unit on. I am able to type on it virtually as fast as a normal keyboad by cradling the unit in my hands and typing with my thumbs. The Graffiti system on the Palm is fine for entering short bits of text, but can be excruciatingly tedious when working with large documents. This is not true of the Mako keyboard. As a matter of fact, I wrote this review on one and pasted it into Amazon. The keys provide a bit of tactile feedback when pressed, but they do not go down very far. To make typing a little easier, the OS allows you to set "keyclicks" to off, quiet, or loud, so that you can hear a clicking sound as you type. Another thing that makes the keyboard nice is that you can do practically anything on the Mako without using the stylus. This isn't true if you're using a drawing program, of course. Since the stylus doesn't need to press against the screen very often, this can reduce or eliminate the screen scratches so common on other PDA's.

The Mako is a very powerful and full-featured PDA. Its processor is speedy, and its internal rechargeable battery is convenient. The built-in applications are superior to Palm's in almost every way, and it would cost if you were to purchase similar yet inferior software for a Palm device. This includes the Word Processing, Spreadsheet, and Database programs. The keyboard may not be for everyone, so I would recommend trying one out before making a purchase if at all possible. The lack of a backlight may also be a problem for some. Although the Mako is just a PDA, it's advanced features and keyboard make it feel like a mini-PC. You will be missing out on a great product if you fail to check out the Mako when you shop for your next PDA.

I asked for this for Christmas to replace my aging Palm Personal w/2MB upgrade. Essentially, I was disappointed with the cost and features of the new Palms and Visors and wanted more stability than the Windows CE/Pocket PC devices could offer. Plus, I really don't need a color screen for what I do.

I started looking around for alternatives and found the Psion Revo/Revo Plus. When reading about it, it almost seemed too good to be true. I found out that Diamond (er, S3 or SonicBlue or whatever) is selling the Revo Plus as the Diamond Mako. I finally found one I could play with at my local Worst Buy, and I was hooked.

The 8MB of ROM/16MB of RAM are perfect for me, and the EPOC O/S blows the CE and Palm O/Ses away. It multitasks and has keyboard shortcuts for just about everything (although you can still used the included stylus). I have found that by holding the keyboard in both hands and thumb-typing, I can enter data at least 2-3 times faster than with Graffiti on my Palm. The included apps are also amazing. In addition to the standard organizer (Agenda, Contacts, etc.), the Word and Sheet (MS Word/Excel equivalents) applications blow the Word/Excel viewers and editors that I have used for Palm out of the water. Plus, you don't have to pay an extra $40-$60 for them.

Additional great features are the rechargeable batteries and the EPOC Connect software. I can drag and drop files to and from my Mako when it is docked.

I could go on and on, but I highly recommend that, if you are in the market for a new PDA, you check out the Psion Revo or Diamond Mako.

The Diamond Mako is exactly what I've needed. Far cheaper than a laptop computer, it synchronizes easily with Microsoft Outlook (the scheduling software used at work) and creates Word and Excel files. I've needed something portable that allows me to write and format documents on-the-go.

I use it to gather research, write sections of my dissertation, write articles for publication, keep track of appointments, and plan work-in-progress.

Although many people claim one can't touch type on it, I can. My fingers may be somewhat smaller than average and I've touch typed for over 30 years. It's great to have a computer that will fit easily in any pack or purse, does not rely on handwriting (which I hate), will synchronise easily with the Outlook platform, and produce documents that are compatible with the software platforms I use.

I've used it for hours without having to find an electrical outlet (although I do carry an AC adaptor when I'm on-the-go). The only drawback is that it doesn't have a backlight, but since that (and color) would be a major battery drain, I would rather not have either.

I frankly don't understand the popularity of the palm-type schedulers; I'd far rather have a built-in keyboard.

For those who really and truly need information at their fingertips all day long - the Diamond/Revo is hands down a better and more powerful machine. IT IS IDENTICAL AND MADE BY PSION! This is actually the Revo PLUS since it has 16mb of ram and much more software.

I have tested in the REAL world the iPaq 3650, the Palm m500 and the Visor over the past year. All are really nice but none are as user friendly. The fact is that writing with the pen is just plain cumbersome, slow and downright dangerous when you're driving.

The Psion/Diamond software offering is outstanding and let's face it THE KEYBOARD IS INCLUDED FOR ONLY 1 INCH TALLER THAN A PALM M500!

While the Palm Platform has more software in-total - the Psion/Epoc library has everything you could ever want.

THE ONLY THING THIS THING COULD HAVE IS BACKLIGHTING. BUT THEN YOU MAY AS WELL HAVE THE PSION 5MX.

I opted for the smaller and sleeker size of the Diamond/RevoPlus over the 5mx, which by the way I also owned and tested.

Synchronization is a breeze and having real world Excel, and Word documents with you make sense when you have a keyboard.

The Diamond is priced incredibly, watch this one take off. It's funny because Psion has been around for 20 years and they just keep on developing better and better units.

Hope this helps those who are undecided. I promise this: I don't work for Psion/Diamond. If you use this unit you will ALWAYS come back to it even when the slightly smaller size of the Palm sways you away from time to time.

If there is one word to describe the Mako, it's "Awesome".

I started with the Palm IIIx and used it for a year before moving on to Palm V. The Palm's were great, did the basic jobs, let me play games and take my notes and email with me. That is where the functionality stopped.

Then I moved to the Ipaq. Again a great device on its own terms. But the high cost and terrible battery life in addition to the bugggggggy OS made me look for alternatives.

That is when I decided to try the Mako. I always believe that what sells well in Europe never does well in the US, whatever the reason. The Mako is a twin brother of the Revo plus and they are very very popular in Europe !

What does it do ? All that the Palm is capable of and most of what the Ipaq could. But wait, throw in these features and you have a winner:

1. Battery life while not on par with the Palm's is sooooo much better than the IPaq. I hardly charge once a week with a heavy use.

2. Half the price of a IPAQ and slightly above the Palm's.

3. FULL Office functionality on a wide screen. I cannot emphasize enough as to what this means. This is the one feature that drags the mako miles away from the Palm. The wide screen actually lets reading word and excel files practical and useful.

4. Very very stable OS. This is one of the few OS which was build on a 32bit platform. That in laymans terms simply means more stability and speed.

5. Lots of free programs available on the Net.

All I would say is, Go out right now and buy it ! You will not regret it till the day when you have to use it in the cinema hall (No backlight. The one bad point in the device).

One word of caution though. There is some known problems with the batteries and unless charged properly the first time, they usually get messed up. There is a lot of info on the net about this problem. READ them first before you open the mako box.

Don't get me wrong, I love you, my blue Handspring Visor, but, I'm sorry honey, my new toy has a screen 3x the size of yours (480*160), with 16 grayscales, and unbelievable sharpness. Yes, I enjoyed all the good times we had, spending time learning Graffiti and taking 10 minutes just to scratch out a quick note, but my Mako has an actual QWERTY keyboard that I can use to type out the same message in seconds. She has double your memory (16MB) and all her built in apps in another 8MB of ROM, and an OS known for its flexibility and stability, and a processor twice as fast as yours (36MHZ). I'm sorry honey, really I am. Maybe if you had only had built-in versions of Word and Excel, and a rechargeable battery, it might have worked out between us, but I have to move on.

I've only had this product for a couple of weeks, but I love it more and more. I really thought I was going to end up with a Palm Pilot or clone, but really didn't like info layouts I saw. The Psion Revo/Diamond Mako was so much more appealing. I'd always used a paper organizer (lefax, Filofax), and the software format played to that approach. If you like Lotus' Organizer software, you'll know what I mean. They've designed it so well that you can get away using your fingers instead of the stylus on most of the software on-screen buttons. And I just love having a keyboard. No, you can't touch-type on it, but for me it's much faster than handwriting and you'd have to look down at the page to do that as well, assumedly.

Now for the reservations:

The lack of back-lighting is a really a problem. I'm looking into figuring out how to clamp a book like on to it as I hear some Nintendo Gameboy fans do with their units. It's not just that you can't see it in dim lighting... it's difficult to see if there's a glare reflecting off the screen as well... so you really find yourself jockeying for good lighting to read it.

Also, even though it's a touch screen...it doesn't come with a paintbrush program or any handwriting recognition... although perhaps some exists out there on the internet (I haven't had time to search yet). This would have been nice for making little notes at times. Of course you can display a graphic on the screen, but you don't seem to be able to edit it.

Also, Psion seems to have discontinued it's interest in developing electronic organizers further.

I've yet to figure out how I can check e-mail from America Online on it even though you can browse the web with it. There seems to be some sort of problem with a java applet that AOL uses.

Tracking down the version of Lotus Organizer that works with the unit was a bit difficult too, but Amazon does sell it.

I figure, even if Psion has terminated the line, this organizer will last me 5 years until a suitable powerful alternative is available cheap.

Up side: intuitive keypad, preloaded Excel & Word, PC link and docking station free with purchase, large screen, alarms, internet and e-mail capability (you have to buy modem separately) and holds 16 MB, all for half the price of its competitor.

Down side: no back light, expensive modem.

A perfect combination of a personal organizer and a computer. It is very compact, slides easily into your jacket pocket, won't weight you down.
It has a large screen, where you can fit a normal page across for reading and writing. The large screen is also very good for the organizer, as you can easily fit a whole week on a single screen. The screen is very clear, it is easy to read even in very dark conditions like cinema or night on the street.
The keyboard takes some time to get used to, but it is very good then. I can easily write a long email or a page or two in the Word. It is fast enough to make notes during meetings. The applications built in are good. The OS is very stable. Crashed at most 5 times during 2 years!
The internet connectivity is easy to set up. The e-mail app is simple but sufficient. I use it for sending SMS messages as well. I like that I not only can read my mail, but I can write a serious answer as well immediatelly. Other internet apps like FTP or Telnet are available as well. The Opera browser is good, the large screen again pays off.
The only major drawback I see is the lack of any expansion slots. On the other hand, honestly I can't think of any expansion I would like to buy.

The Diamond Mako is a wonderful choice if you're looking for a PDA. It offers 16 MB of RAM (which is twice as much as most Palm Pilots), has a full QWERTY keyboard, and a very friendly interface. It is easy to link with your PC and has a very good software package included. The only downfall is the lack of a backlight for the screen, but there are many ways to get around this. I feel that the Diamond Mako is the best PDA on the market.