VTech Helio Handheld PDA

Other products by VTech

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4.6 x 3.1 x 0.6 inches ; 5.3 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004XSI2
• Item model number: Metallic Blue
• Batteries: 2 AAA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1973

Product Description

Color Name: Metallic Blue

Amazon.com Review

Don't let the low price tag of VTech's Helio fool you. Even though the lower-end of the handheld price spectrum often seems to overlap with those $40 organizers available in the electronics department of your local superstore, the Helio is a respectable PDA with as much power and more memory (2 MB of flash memory, 8 MB of internal storage) than the low-cost options from Palm and Handspring.

VTech seems to be going for a slightly different audience, judging by the some of its color choices (among others, it's available colors include Pearlized Pink, Metallic Charcoal, and Translucent Lime). But other than that, the Helio looks quite similar your average handheld. It also offers a syncing cradle, desktop software, and the basic scheduling, e-mail, and notation applications of other PDAs.

Inside is where you'll find the differences. The Helio offers voice recording (up to 50 minutes with its current storage), memory upgradability (up to 16 MB--although you'll have to remove the current 8MB), and character recognition superior to Palm's Graffiti (the Helio uses CIC's Jot). Instead of having to memorize slightly-off gestures (the "7" for "t", for example), you write the letters and numbers just as you would on paper, which can lead to an impressive input rate.

In addition to three buttons for voice recording and playback, the Helio features three programmable application buttons on the front, and two scroll buttons that are conveniently placed on the side of the device.

However--there are no Internet connectivity options available for the Helio yet, although VTech says a 19.2K or 28.8K modem is currently in development. And since the Helio uses the VT-OS proprietary operating system, the number of third-party applications is much more limited than with a Palm OS-based handheld.

If you're looking for a gift that's a little outside the normal PDA box or just looking for a powerful handheld for general on-the-road tasks, the Helio shines. --J. Curtis

Pros:

• Inexpensive
• 8 MB of internal memory, 2 MB of flash memory
• Voice recorder

Cons:

• No Internet options
• Lack of third-party software

Product Description

Helio by Vtech is a compact, easy-to-use personal digital assistant, which runs on VTech's VT-OS1.1. It comes in a variety of color cases, and is designed to offer users a high-quality, user-friendly PDA for exceptional value, assisting them in organizing their busy lives more effectively. Helio features a 160x160 16-level gray scale LCD screen, a high-performance 75 MHz RISC processor and 8MB of memory, plus 2MB of upgradable flash memory for software applications. Input is performed either through a software keyboard, or with the help of CIC's Jot natural character writing recognition. Helio functions as a voice and memo recorder, keeps a to-do list, a phone book and a scheduler. It has an email function, a sketch pad, a calculator, an expense manager, and offers PC synchronization to transfer Helio data to a personal computer, or vice versa. Data synchronization software makes Helio compatible with MS Outlook, MS Schedule+, Symantec ACT!, Goldmine and Palm Desktop.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

194 of 200 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why Helio?, November 11, 2000

By	Aaron Rosenberg (Davis, CA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: VTech Helio Handheld PDA (Clear) (Electronics)

Negative criticism at the bottom.

I was looking for an inexpensive pda, but a pda that's worth more than it costs. I found the Helio. Palm and Handspring units are way overpriced when compared to the Helio.

I am a student. I use the scheduler to keep track of appointments or important days or activities (the alarm has a tone or a voice recording option). I use a folder under memos to list my courses, in which I keep track of assignments, tests, etc. The to-do list is great for keeping track of things you need to do (it also has an alarm that you can set, but don't have to). If I only have a few seconds to write down an assignment or something I need to remember, then I can record it instead of writing it down (4 button pushes: on, record, stop, off).

It keeps track of expenses, has a phonebook, you can sketch where you put your car or have a friend draw you a map of how to get somewhere, and jot is 1000 times better than any other writing recognition system I've seen. I can actually *write* into it as fast as I can write a note on paper (mistakes are minimal, and mostly result from my habit of rotating the angle of writing).

I have a few clips of music that I recorded for myself. 50 minutes of recording time is nice. Quality is decent (not stereo quality, but that's not necessary from a pda). I got the eReader and a few ebooks. I read "Waiting for Godot" on my Helio. Another useful application I downloaded was a program that has a timer, a stopwatch, an alarm that you can set without putting something in the scheduler (better for a quick reminder for later, like "call sue at 4"), and an analog clock.

Time and date are at the top of the screen. The scrolling buttons at the side are very useful (many palm and visor users have commented on how nice that is over their units). Shortcut buttons to applications are more useful than you can imagine (quick jump from scheduler to memo or search). It shows the time in any time zone with just two clicks.

I put some of my writings on my Helio too. All you have to do is use the Helio Desktop and copy a document into a memo. Sync it, and you have a document in your Helio. It doesn't support font sizes, different fonts, bold, italic, and such (it's basically like Windows Notepad), but I think they're making a new application to do that. Not important to me anyway.

I use my finger sometimes to write sometimes.

What doesn't it have? What don't I like about it?

Well, it doesn't have infrared. At this point, I don't see a need for it, so I don't particularly care. There isn't a huge variety of software. I definitely don't see a "need" for software. They are working on some useful applications, like a map program and an mp3 player. The scheduler isn't the greatest, but no other pda I've seen has one any better.

BTW, most bad reviews are of the old Helio. They fixed those bugs and added a lot of things. Check the date on bad reviews. (new Helio was released around April 2000, I think)

I've used about 40% of my battery power after a week. It *seems* like a lot, but that might be mostly due to the fact that I've been using it very often over the last week. I haven't had any bugs or errors on it or on the software. The battery gauge is a little quirky. It usually shows what it is, but now and then it'll show 100% battery power, which I know isn't true.

The other thing is that I can't find anything to use the accessories slot for. They said something about a keyboard/modem combo for $100, but I can't seem to find it. I don't think it's available yet. The Visor has a camera and the Palm has a few things, like their modem and their keyboards, but those aren't really that useful.

75Mhz is nice, but is it really that useful? On Palms, you wait maybe 2 seconds between applications. On Helio, you wait .2 seconds. It's nice, but for 1.8 seconds, is it really a selling point? Then again, it is useful for the search function... Nicely fast searches when compared with Palm searches (and I searched 700k of documents for a single word, so it's not like I was searching nothing).

Ok, so Helio offers Linux. I like VT-OS. I'm sure almost all people who have the Helio like VT-OS. Do we care about Linux? No. Selling point? No. Some people might, but it's not a selling point for the majority.

Oh yeah, and I'm looking for a nice case. They offer 5 cases that I've seen (comes with one, that I'm using now...it's fine, but I'm looking for something bigger to be a wallet and a pda case), but I don't like those as much. Many companies offer cases, but most of those don't fit the Helio.

Vtech is continually updating their operating system (which isn't all for bugs...they added extra options to scheduler and let you configure jot and stuff like that...they also let applications use greyscale), they're working on more applications, and they're trying to give users options as far as applications for the Helio and syncing software.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Keeps up with the other expensive models, October 10, 2000

By	[e-mail] - See all my reviews

The Helio performs just as good as the other brands out on the market. The 8MB of ram and all the options this device performs is fantastic for the 169 price tag. To top it off, it even has a built in 30 minute digital voice recorder. The ease of use is incredible. I had a few questions and contacted vtech support and got immediate assistance both via email and phone. Great support after the sale and ease of use of the product all packaged for only 169 is a great deal that won't disapoint you.

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I was pleasantly surprised!, November 23, 2000

By	T. Pasco (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I received the Helio as a gift. I actually started my research on PDAs to get my husband organized but then he truthfully claimed that he'll probably lose it. I kept doing the research anyway because by that time I wanted one for myself. I couldn't decide which one to get. I looked at the Palm M100, Handspring Visor, Casio Cassiopaeia and even the Franklin eBookman and the Helio. My sister made it easy for me by buying the Helio from my Wish List. At first, I was a little disappointed that it was not the Handspring nor the Palm which both came with 2 MB of memory. I even waited for a few days before I opened the box with every intention of returning it and exchanging it for the Franklin eBookman 911 at $229 once it comes out (the prospect of being able to download books, MP3 files and still be organized was just too hard to resist). However, my curiosity got the better of me and I opened the box. Hmmm, it looked nice. Not as sleek as the M100 but it's okay. It came with 2 AAA batteries and a carrying case. I didn't even bother reading the guide and just started playing with the stylus. I was surprised at the ease of operation! The next day I started categorizing our monthly expenses. Sure the categories are limited but I just had to be creative (eg., mortgage payments are under "lodging"). I started keeping track of vacation and sick days taken, even the menu and shopping list for my baby's upcoming baptism. The way I'm going, the 8 mb of memory sure is handy. I even made a voice recording of my baby saying "Da-da" for posterity. "Synching" was very easy and once we connected the USB cable to the right place (it helps!), it worked great! I still have to figure out how to download my e-mail (from Outlook) to my PDA but my life is not THAT hectic and my junk mail can wait until I can access my computer. All in all I think this is a great product. (Thanks, Jenn!) Now, if I can only get my husband organized...

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