|
by Xin Feng [10/09/03]
I never liked Palm and its alike PDAs or PocketPCs because for what people
use them mostly for, organizers do them better and are much cheaper.
However, organizers were useless and vulnerable toys because they could not be
synchronized with a PC (there were PCs back to then?). What made Palm
successful is exactly this synchronization feature (plus third-party software
support).
There are three reasons why an organizer must have synchronization function:
- To be prepared for data loss. Old organizers use battery to back up
memory and data is easy to loose with a power/battery failure.
Organizers are easy to loose and drop off; you simply cannot leave all your
important data in risk without a PC back up. Without synchronization to
your PC, you'll still have to write down everything on paper - then what's the
point to use an electronic organizer?
- To be prepare to transfer your data to a new unit. Organizer users
are all gadget lovers and they tend to switch their gadgets very frequently.
If all the data you input into one unit cannot be transferred to another unit,
you'll be screwed up when you must replace it later. The most popular
way to transfer data is to synchronize data from a old unit to Outlook and
then synchronize from Outlook to the new unit.
- Data must be able to be edited on a PC. It is always a pain to
enter/edit data on a small device. If things can be done on PC, people
will more likely use it; or the unit will stay in dusts forever after initial
passion.
Synchronization must be easy and convenient too; or people won't bother to do
it and it is no better than without this function. Palm did these very
well; so people accepted it. Old organizers all either lacked this
function or did not do it right, until Sharp OZ-590.
The new Sharp OZ-590 organizer (above picture) can synchronize with a PC and
Outlook as easy and fast as Palm does. It is slim, light and its single
AAA battery lasts forever. Such characters are no longer found on PDAs.
 | Only $50. For ordinary organization tasks, it does better than a
Palm or PPC. When you turn it on, it goes to the main menu page.
As long as you don't need to edit data, you can scroll to a function and
browse your data with just one hand without having to pull out the stylus.
Any Palm or PPC can lunch an application and access it this way? I know
some Sony Clie models and the new Tungsten T | C and Treo 600 can lunch an
application with a dial, but you cannot go any further with traditional apps
because navigation buttons are not supported at Palm OS level. There is
no back or menu key though and Sharp really should have assigned these
functions to the Prev and Next keys. I suggest
Sharp let the Prev key go back when it is at the beginning of entries and let
the Next go to main menu when it is at the last entry (dear Sharp engineers,
please consider this suggestion). For now, if you want switch to
a different function from current function, you have to turn it off and turn
it on again to get to the menu page. This is about one-hand operation;
if you use the stylus, you can always tab a back icon that appears on every
page. |
| 8MB flash memory. Far more than enough for all your possible data
(address, notes, etc.) and no more data loss fear. |
| Automatic synchronization to Outlook. All you need to do for a
synchronization is to plug a tiny 2.5mm plug into OZ-590 and the sync program
(running besides the clock area) takes care everything for you. No
button to press, no need to turn it on nor stupid questions to answer.
All my data in Treo 300 were transferred painlessly
into OZ-590 through Outlook. |
Sharp also provides you a desktop utility, which allows you to
backup/restore data between PC and OZ-590 and import/export from/to Excel
files. Excellent!
| Expense tracking with customizable categories. I don't want to talk
about all the well known functions (phone book, calendar, schedule, to do
list) except this one. This feature actually allows you to record more
than just ordinary expenses (meals, tolls, gas, etc.). Better than
earlier models, now you have customizable categories, in addition to payment
options. With customizable categories, this function is actually a very
power full database (like Access) and spreadsheet (like Excel) and it allows
you to record not just expenses but income as well or whatever you want to
record. With 8MB of storage, you do can record as much data as you want.
And you can always export data to Excel files and have more space for new
data. I find it is even more powerful than the one in my Treo 300 (Palm
OS 3.5.2), which does not support categories at all. |
For example, I have to record my car mileage for business usage. I
used to write mileage down on a paper notebook and year-end calculation was a
pain (adding hundreds numbers). I do not want to use a Palm or PPC for
this neither because they are not reliable - too short battery life; whenever
I need to use them, battery is low; and, data are gone when battery is empty.
With OZ-590, now I rename two expense categories as A1(for trip start mileage)
and A2 (for trip end mileage). I input mileage to A1 before I start my
car and input mileage to A2 after I get home and turn off the engine.
OZ-590 can show me the total mileages (ΣA1 and
ΣA2) for any given period and I can do a simple ΣA2-ΣA1 to get the total
business mileage for tax return forms at year end. As shown above, you
can periodically back up or export the records to a Excel file to be safe
(expenses are not synchronized to Outlook).
| Line separated memos/notes. As I have so many notes for door-key
codes, CD keys, passwords, etc. that I must take with me always, a good memo
function is a must to me. With OZ-590, I can create couple memo entries
for "audio", "business", "codes", "computers", "keys", "passwords", etc.
OZ-590 recognizes line returns; so I can, for example, put passwords for
different accounts in separate lines in the "passwords" memo. When I
need a password, I only need to scroll up and down in the "passwords" memo and
find a password easy. If I'm looking for a door-key code, then I only
need to go into the "codes" memo. |
| Like all other Sharp organizers, it has a backlit. No problem to use
it in dark. Like watches, no problem to use it under direct sunlight
either. |
I cannot list all the cool points of OZ-590 here, but you can read the
manual for
details.
Some Other Organizers
| My local CompUSA sells a PD-880 made by
Columbia Telecommunications, which is
a copy of OZ-590 with some enhancements. Same price. Same 8MB
flash. It is milky white and half inch shorter. It uses 2 AA batteries
but still weighs exactly the same and it is even slimmer. It has menu and back
buttons (yes!). When you turn it on, it goes to where you were (OZ-590
always goes to the main menu page). Unlike OZ-590's very simple desktop
utility, PD-880's desktop software is very much like the Palm Desktop.
Like Palm Desktop, you can edit all the records in this desktop application
and then synchronize it to PD-880. You can also download ebooks, TXT
files and email messages to PD-880 and view them on PD-880. You can
import/export from/to Outlook and Outlook Express. You can even draw
memos with a stylus. There's even a short cut button for quick access to
four mostly used functions. |
Sounds very good and has all what's missing in OZ-590? The problem
is, both hardware and software are buggy. Use the desktop software to
edit, import/export and synchronize is a real pain. To do a
synchronization, you plug the cable, turn the PD-880 on (have to), start sync
on PD-880 side, must answer a nonsense Yes or No question "Do you really want
to do synchronization now?" like you are using an ATM machine. Then hurry up
to the PC side to get all the followings done before the unit times out: start
the desktop program (it does not run in background), start synch there, have
to answer some nonsense questions again, click a "Link" button in a popped up
dialog box. When sync process finally starts, it takes forever to
finish. Believe me, once you did this painful process once, you never
want to do a sync again. It is pretty much like using an ATM machine but it is
even slower and all the questions you must answer each time are totally
unnecessary. Dear designer: let people setup the
options; it is a computer not a dummy ATM machine; you don't have to ask
people the same questions repeatedly. If you can address these
little issues, it is absolutely a Sharp killer.
On comparison, all you need to do a sync with a OZ-590 is to plug the cable
- you don't need to turn it on or press any button and you don't need to do
anything on the PC side either.
Furthermore, when you add or edit a phone entry on PC, you must give a home
number (why?). Although you can import and export to Outlook and Outlook
Express, but you cannot sync with them and sync is far more important.
This unit has exactly all the features I wanted from OZ-590, but when I use it
more, I realize it is a crappy toy, not a serious business tool. So, I
returned it (even though CompUSA charged me 15% restocking fee) and kept the
OZ-590. BTW, PD-880 does not have a backlit. This comes to the old
design philosophy: a good unit is not about how many features it has; it is
about how well it does for what it does. If you are not capable to
provide more, then don't.
I should also add that there seems to be no any customer support for this
product as their website is almost empty. I emailed to the email address
found on their website but of course I receive no response.
| OfficeMax sells a Royal organizer that has both a stylus and a keyboard
for $29. This one seemed like my dreamed organizer - a full keyboard
with a stylus as an option but not a must. However, it is not that way.
With this Royal, you still have to use the stylus all the time and the
keyboard always produces wrong keys. Like all other Royal organizers,
all memos/notes are stored and viewed in single line documents. For example,
you cannot put passwords for different accounts in separate lines. Piece
of junk. I really hate to pull out a stylus whenever I need to access my
data and it is always a hassle decision for when to put the stylus back
because I never know when I'm done with it. I have no idea why stylus
gets so popular and all manufacturers including Sharp must use it in new
designs. |
| As all the new organizers use stylus, I have to look into the old models
for a keyboard-type one. I found the Sharp YO-480 is the best.
However, this model has two serious shortcomings: no categories for expense
tracking and it uses a backup battery and all data will be lost if power is
lost. |
| The new Palm Zire is as affordable for $70, but it uses fixed rechargeable
battery. If you like this type of battery, it is a better choice than
OZ-590 because Palm OS allows run seamless applications. [01/01/04] PalmOne is
selling the Treo 90 for $110. Treo 90 is smaller than the Zire, but with
a backlit keyboard, color screen and SDIO slot for adding memory, Bluetooth,
WiFi or GPS. |
Until someone comes out a new keyboard-type organizer like the small YO-480,
OZ-590 is the best choice to me. It is one-hand accessible as long as you
don't need to edit data; its synchronization is very convenient; it has all the
functions I need for every-day organizing and notes-taking; there is no risk of
data loss with its 8MB flash memory; it is always available without daily
battery charging; it is so slim and light that I can always carry it in my
pocket. Simply put: it is dependable and that's all about an organizer.
It was very sad to see expensive and crappy PDAs dominated the market in the
last couple years. Put high price aside, the initial PDAs were actually
not bad organizers (using 2 AAA batteries for example). However, things
turned into wrong direction while competing with PPCs by adding more features
(color screens and fast CPUs that eat up batteries for example). Now PDAs
have totally lost their roots: they still cannot do powerful things and they no
longer do what they were good at neither (a programmable organizer). Who
can depend on an organizer that must be charged just at the time you do need it?
Only the Treo 300 (now
Treo 600) went to the right direction
and made a PDA, keyboard and cell phone comb done right. You cannot
imagine how hot the new Treo 600 is (just released yesterday and all stocked
units were sold out in the first day). If you do need more than just an
organizer such as always-available Internet access, then Treo 600 is a very good
choice. If you do need a powerful pocket computer, give the new
Samsung Nexi S160 a consideration and
don't bother with all other PDAs and PPCs - they are either too small to be
usable or too big to be pocketable. This S160 has a 800x480 screen and a
keyboard and it is still small and light enough to stay in a pocket.
It is good to see organizers still evolved and survived. Just like more
and more people realize radios are still
more favorable than MD, CD, MP3, more and more people will go back to organizers
after the PDA fuss. Just take the good points from PDAs (easy sync and
programmable etc.) and don't take the bad parts (the stylus, fixed battery,
bulkiness etc.). After so many years, Palm designers
finally realized how awkward it is to force people to use a handheld with a
stylus and they dropped that idea in the new Tungsten | C and Treo 600.
Ironically, now all organizer designers are picking up this thing.
Hopefully organizers will keep to be cheap, small, and battery friendly.
[11/03/03] I just realized that, other than using expense tracking, you can
simply write records into notes. Just separate records with "," and then export
the note to Excel. Therefore, expense tracking is no longer a must-have
function unless you must check total expenses on the organizer.
More Cool Tips Like This
|
