Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Would score it much higher except for a couple concerns, April 1, 2001
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.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beats Jornada, more available then ipaq, March 8, 2001
I'm giving the EM-500 four stars, it would receive five except for a few small shortcomings. All in all it is a well thought-out device, and and excellent investment. I agree with the previous reviewer from CA (and used their review quite a bit in my buying decision), screen size, processor, etc, all won me out over other Pocket PCs. These machines are a head and shoulders above Palm devices, one can not even compare this to a color Palm. I've had my EM-500 for long enough now to know that I made a good choice. The battery life is admirable, though a car charger was a must-have accessory for me--I never remember to charge the thing at night. You'll likely want to add more memory the day you get this PDA. I ordered a 64mb MMC card separately, and it didn't arrive for another few days. I was stretched pretty thin memory-wise without the additional card. My favorite aspect of the Pocket PC platform is its ability to DL mass amounts of offline internet data for a person to peruse throughout the day (If you haven't seen the free services from AvantGO, you are truly missing out). I can check flights, read the journal (or any other newspaper), save driving directions, you name it, from this PDA in offline mode (huge step above my Visor Platinum, now quickly gathering dust). It saves links from all the sources you select 2- or 3- deep (or more), using the built in browser in offline mode is so close to sitting in front of a desktop, it's scary. I was, however, out of storage space within a night. The MMC cards are finally coming down in price, which makes this a more attractive purchase. I really look forward to the day they either make larger MMC cards, or introduce some sort of external storage. (It would be _really_ nice to clip on a microdrive or other peripheral to the serial port and have gobs of MP3 storage available) Not that most of us buy a PocketPC to use as an MP3 player, it is very nice feature. Consider a different case for your Casio. The included nylon case is slim, but fairly limited in its usefulness. (it's simply a hard-sided sleeve which holds the unit) I picked up the Targus leather case, but am not at all happy with it, the PDA has to be removed from the case to use, and something just doesn't seem professional with the sound of the velcro (for twenty dollars, I shouldn't expect too much). The EM-500 is a great platform. There is not as much software for Pocket PC as there is for Palm, but what there is is of far higher caliber. I was a little apprehensive about the "sky blue" color, but I didn't want slate (how boring). I'm very happy with the blue, it is still professional looking; IMHO, it is more a surgical blue than sky blue. MMC is very handy, though not as widely used as CF, if it weren't for the current lack of larger storage, it would definately deserve five stars. Good luck!
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23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great for travelling, December 1, 2000
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.
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