Customer Reviews

Sharp OZ-290HII Pen Touch Wizard Organizer with Outlook Sync

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

I wanted (and got) an inexpensive electronic organizer, which would give me the functions of a calendar/schedule and an address book. This unit has both as well as a calculator, English/Spanish translation dictionary, several different type alarms, a memo function, a backlight feature, a couple of basic games, a conversion mode for metric measurements and currency (when you know the exchange rate), and the ability to sync with my Windows computer using Outlook. The unit has 1MB of memory, which is plenty for storing tons of addresses and memos for 150 years into the future. (The calendar goes from 1950-2150. It goes backward for what reason??)

Pros:
1. It has a backlight.
2. The stylus tucks away in the unit and it works precisely. (So does the end of an unclicked pen, in case you lose the stylus.)
3. Batteries *are* included! (2 Lithium batteries, model CR2032. One for unit operation and one for backlighting.)
4. It has an auto power off after 7 minutes to save battery life.
5. Data isn't lost while replacing batteries as long as you do it quickly and don't pull out both at the same time.
6. The @ and dot (.) symbols are conveniently available so you don't have to search for them when you enter an e-mail address. You can enter other symbols by toggling through a list of 32 different ones.
7. There is a 5-line display and the letters are a good size for reading.
8. It has a protective cover that flips neatly to the back while you're using the unit.
9. The search feature for names & addresses is nice-- it searches by last name.
10. Address fields you can enter are: last name, first name, company, home#, office#, fax#, mobile#, e-mail, address, city, state, ZIP, country, and note.
11. There are 3 kinds of address books: "Unfiled" "Personal" and "Business" for organizing your contacts.
12. The memo feature is nice for storing all those account numbers you can never remember.
13. It has a password lock feature for privacy.
13. The accompanying operation manual is well organized and clear to understand. (It's also in Spanish.)


Cons:
1. The screen has a glare to it unless you hold it at a certain angle.
2. The backlight isn't very bright- more like a "glow." Use a lamp when possible. It's probably good in pitch dark.
3. Some of the screen words like "MENU" and "EDIT" are very small-- have your reading glasses on!
4. I doubt I'll ever use the language translator, so to me it's a waste of space. (Hey, I can read the Spanish version of the manual!)
5. The data entry is not as intuitive as I would like it to be. (I had to read the directions.) And there is no "ESCAPE" or "CANCEL" for navigation.
6. The "ENTER" key on my unit is up-side-down.
7. It has a slightly annoying habit of wrapping words and phone numbers to the next line unless you insert spaces to keep a word or number together.


The following are requirements for synchronization with your computer:
-IBM PC or 100% compatible
-Windows 98/98SE/2000 Prof/Me/XP
-Pentium 300MHz or higher
-50 MB free disk space
-64 MB RAM for Windows 98/98SE/2000 Prof/Me
-128 MB RAM for Windows XP
-Available 9-pin serial port
-CD-ROM drive
-Mouse
-Microsoft Outlook 97/98/2000/2002 must be installed to use the Synchronization Software between the Organizer and your PC.

I don't have Outlook (only Express) and haven't tried this feature. Someone else will have to report on it. (Sorry)

Overall, I think I got more than what I paid for. This is a nice organizer and is superior to its paper counterpart address book and appointment calendar.

I bought this organizer on my first day of work, I was thinking of investing in a rather expensive PDA and then I saw this.

Pros:
-Looks cool -- like other PDA's
-Has all the functions that I need, calenders, memos, to do lists and reminders to meetings etc.
-And yes if you learn to use the organizer properly, you can indeed enter MORE than 1 entry to your lists per day (this is to refute some one's comments on this organizer before me.)
-I like the calculator feature.
-The stylus works really well.
- The 3 alarms are really cool, way better than my cell phone. One rings everyday at the same time, another rings when you want it to, and the third rings as a reminder for appointments.
-It is so much cheaper (and has all the features I wanted) than what I thought I wud end up spending on expensive PDA's esp since I wasn't looking for Wi-Fi or MP3s in them!
-You have the option of turning off the display of the synchronization program when you boot the PC. (someone else mentioned that this troubled him/her.)

Cons
- The 9 pin serial port sucks in this world of USBs and I am thinking of getting a Serial port to USB converter to make things work.

Overall, I definitely recommend this product to all those who could do with an organizer (without the Wi-Fis and all) but are not really happy with the price of PDAs in the market.

For [this price], this is well worth it. More features than expected, even comparable to Palm Pilots, minus handwriting recognition. The features are good and the touch screen/stylus works very well. Not too difficult to use, even w/o manual. The protective lid seems solid enough and protects well. The stylus fits in the side like Palm Pilots and is useful. There isn't to many cons for the money. Little improvements could be a second caps key that doesn't act like caps lock, changing "mobile" to "cell" so the intial is not confused to "home" (M vs C, to not confuse with H), a cancel/esc key, ability to repeat schedules + repeat alarms, and have the next/previous key as on screen as well, like the enter button.

This are all pretty minor, compared to the benefits of the pda, so I highly recommend this for someone who doesn't need a Palm Pilot and definitely doesn't need a Pocket PC. Good price, good features!

Good grief, guys! This thing is just an organizer, not a PDA. It costs 1/10th as much, and what it is supposed to do, it does great! The words wrap - big deal. Can't read address all on one screen - c'mon. For $30 you can dump all the data in your Outlook database into this light slim organizer, and have it all in your pocket wherever you go. I've been using one of these for a couple of years to carry my Outlook info with me, and it is totally easy to use. And of course if you need to enter any changes, or pop a note to yourself, it syncs back to your PC with a click. And if you drop it and break it, so what! $30 for a new one, instead of $300!!

These things are great for what they are intended, which is to enable you keep your organized info with you wherever you go. If you need a PDA, get a PDA. If you just need an organizer, this is a good one!

I needed an organizer that would hold my phone numbers and addresses and be able to transfer that information from Microsoft Outlook with ease. That wasn't the case for me.

After encountering problems with synchronization, I called Sharp's support. I was very pleased with how quickly they answered the call and at how pleasant they were. I talked to two different support techs and they both tried several steps to help fix the problems. They weren't able to help but I was very appreciative of their attempts. Since this was a gift and my husband didn't keep the receipt, I was forced to try to figure out a solution myself.

Conflicts with Outlook 2002 that I experienced:
1. When I exported my Outlook contacts into a file so I could import it into the organizer, the field headings did not match Sharps field headings. Any headings that didn't match didn't get imported. Also, the Outlook contact type (personal contact or Business contact) didn't come through in the export and none of the records were imported into the organizer correctly under "Personal" or "Business". I was able to manually edit the exported file and change the headings to match the organizer. Then, it worked.

2. I've read that the phone number format for Outlook 2002 is hard coded based on the geographical region you select in Windows. For the United States, the phone number format includes parentheses around the area code which does not work well with the organizer. Sharp pulls in the parentheses but then leaves a large space after the area code which causes the end of the number not to display.

3. When I used the synchronization icon located in the taskbar, it would consistantly freeze during the process. The communication was made between the devices but something caused it to freeze in the transferring process. I learned that when I got to the point where it froze, I could close Microsoft Outlook and then I would recieve a message from Outlook requesting permission to transfer e-mail addresses (or something like that - can't remember exactly). When I said yes to the message, the transfer completed. Unfortunately, I still had the issue with the parentheses, though.

My solution to these issues was to create my own .csv file (this is the file type that the Sharp software looks for when importing), using the same headings as the Sharp organizer and format the phone numbers with dashes, leaving out the parentheses around the area code. This worked great when I imported it in. I can't use the synchronization feature of the organizer because it doesn't give you the option to go to a file (it automatically goes to Outlook) but I still can import info in from my created file using the utilities Sharp provides.

The icons are a little small to see on the organizer but that doesn't bother me much. The lid doesn't close securely but I don't know if that'll be a problem yet. These issues aren't much different than I found in other organizers in this price range. I like the looks and size of this one.

Basically, I like the organizer alot except for the compatibility issues it has with Outlook 2002. Sharp's support did say that they would look into the problems. They felt that maybe Microsoft had made some updates to Outlook that was causing these problems.

The Sharp OZ-290 has a sleek appearance and isn't too difficult to find and use all of it's functions even without the manual but the excitement ends there.

With a 2 X 2.5 inch screen containing 5 lines of user data and 5 lines reserved for data input and function selection, the user needs good eyes and a steady hand to make data input; especially the ten fixed symbol options at screen bottom. I suppose data input is going to be tedious on any personal organizer that doesn't have an extensive keypad.

The OZ-290 allows backlight adjustment and has a real button to illuminate the LCD. You can set the time allowed for this lighting from 10 to 30 seconds to conserve the life of the twin nitride batteries supplied with the unit. Contrast ranges from 1-8. I only found the highest setting to be useful and still struggled to see clearly at times in directional lighting from windows.

Things like the date format and memory testing / usage are also part of the Menu configuration as well as the PC/LINK and key tone on/off toggles.

Getting back to screen and symbol sizes, even with my magnifier enabling me to see the symbols adequately, I still poked the wrong onscreen selection frequently or failed to hit anything at all. Of particular difficulty was the bottom line with ten narrow selections. That's when the thought of a real paper pad rather than this virtual device might be a more logical solution to memory aid. The omission of the anemic (2) games option and the redundant enter button would give a wider and easier to see and useful area for the remaining functions.

The left 15% of the data screen is wasted in my opinion with a blank space and then a solid block to show the user that s/he is viewing entered data. This adds to word wrap that for some reason seems to put one or two characters on a line all bit itself making for a messy display. I think this is probably characteristic with these devices though. Still, I wish I had that 15% available for real data.

There is some provision to edit the field data names but for the most part you are obligated to at least pass over some n/a fields of data input. It is a little reminiscent of a US government 1040 tax form wasting the preparer's time with generic lines of questions which do not relate.

The software that comes on a CD and RS-232 9 pin serial port connector cable are both outdated accessories. The OZ-290/ZQ-290II Desktop Utilities software assumes the user has MS Outlook (not Outlook Express) and is all but useless without it. What you are left with is the ability to back up and restore the six individual data features, one-at-a-time! Owners may be left with the question of why not have the ability to backup / restore all of the stored data at once.

What's worse is after the PC software is installed and self-starts when you boot your PC's operating system, you are presented with the communication port selection query again. Something that should be remembered and tested without prompting. The really annoying thing though is the box that reminds me that Outlook could not be found -- each and every time.

At about $30 the OZ-290 isn't a big waste of money and some may even find it a reasonable investment but cheaper less known brands have similar features and interface with your PC. My advice is to either go real cheap or search for a better unit with up-to-date software and perhaps a USB connection.

I bought this to keep up with my college assignments and work schedule. It isn't very useful because when you enter a "To Do" item for a day, it will only show it to you for that day. I either had to enter the assignment for every day which is a lot of hassle or remember that my 10 pg research paper is due 12/5 (Isn't that the reason I bought it?) It could work for people who have tasks/appointments that only require 1 day's notice, but for students who have several long term projects, it is a waste of money.

This product performs as expected for the money, I guess, but it has some limitations that don't fulfill my needs.

-The screen is hard to read in any light.

-Takes too many steps to input data.

-There is no way to input weekly/monthly repeating items on the calendar without putting them in one by one.

-I wanted to keep track of a shopping list but was limited to 96 characters in the memo feature.

-I have Outlook Express and presume that it will not be compatible.

-The cover flips open nicely but would prefer one that locks shut.

I was hoping to use this as a phone book/calendar/note pad that I take with me everywhere but will probably be back to my old wall calendar, post-it notes, and paper phone list in a month or so. I just bought this unit yesterday and am still learning about it so with time I may find other features to overcome my misgivings.
Wish I had done better research before I bought this and then I would have bought one that better suits my needs.

Bought this for my wife to replace her ailing OZ-290 that had finally started to fail after 4 years. She loved the OZ-290 and just wanted a duplicate, but the OZ-290HII was the closest I could find -- appears to be an upgraded version of the basic OZ-290. The new unit works great -- I was able to use the included software and cable to easily transfer the data (from the OZ-290) that was synched into Outlook into the new OZ-290HII in a matter of a few minutes. I think the problem of people complaining about the syching not working is because they don't take the time to read and follow the directions exactly (both for installing the software and transferring the data). If you follow the directions it works flawlessly.

I cannot comment on the Outlook Sync, since I have not and probably will never use it. This organizer does what it's supposed to do...it stores names, memos, and has an alarm. There is also a password protection feature, which is nice, and a backlight as well as a few other basic useful features (spell check, Eng/Span dictionary). It's not a PDA, doesn't go online, no color...etc. That's why it's cheap. It's a great, basic, organizer that looks more professional than it costs.
My only issue was that the functions were not very intuitive. I had to look up a lot of things and go online to get the full functionality going.