Why buy Psion?

[Bren]

This may have some elements in common with LABroadcasts' thread below, but....
Several colleagues have admired the usefulness and compactness of my Revo, and the slick way I use it, not realising that it's taken me over a year and lots of recourse to the helpful folks on this forum to get there. (and 3rd party downloads)
Big Boss is suggesting that they all get Revos.

Could you, in all unbiased honesty, recommend a Revo above other available PDAs, knowing that it no longer has a future?
I mean, I'm happy with mine - I like the keyboard (I never got past two-finger typing anyway), I like the infra-red Nokia compatibility (check the emails when on the move, only download/reply to what you need), I like the compactness (really does fit in a shirt pocket - those other things are surprisingly bulky, especially if you add a keyboard), I like the synchronisation (eventually).
But, if they go to a shop, no ones going to try selling them a Revo any more.

I don't know much a bout other PDAs. Is there anything else that matches my "likes"? Needs to be suitable for : Contact management, check emails on the move, write up reports on the move, do simple job report spreadsheets.

Do owners of those stylus-operated palm-type things ever use them for writing? Really?

[WolfUK]

Until a few weeks ago I had been using Palms for about two years having moved to them from Psions (I started with a 3c, had a 5 and then a 5mx and then a netBook and Revo Plus). I had every intention to use my Palm for writing documents and creating spreadsheets as well as managing my emails. I even bought an external keyboard so that I did not have to use Grafitti for long text entry.

I cam beck to Psion for two main reasons ... the screen and the software. A Psion's landscape screen is much easier to work with if you have to write a document or an email or work on a spreadsheet. Using a small 160x160 screen is almost impossible for this type of work and even the high resolution screens of 320x320 are problematic since the text is half the size of the 160x160 screen, the resolution being higher but the screen itself the same size. In addition, although the Palm folding keyboards are very good they are a hassle to carry around and to set up and not as quick or convenient as opening a Psion and typing away. I also dislkied the reliance on the stylus meaning that even when using a keyboard you still need to use the stylus resulting in disjointed working.

The built-in applications for the Psion are second to none and Word and Sheet are as good as, if not better, than the third-party Palm options. The email software on the Psion is also very good and compares favourably to third-party Palm solutions. The overall stability of EPOC is also a massive bonus as is the fact that a Psion is really designed to be a stand-alone machine and not just an extension of your PC (which is what Palms werte initially designed as).

The down-side to Psion machines is that Psion are no longer active in the counsumer market (some would argue that this has almost been the case for several years now!). There can be problems with PsiWin and these will probably never be addressed fully.

If you are successfully using your Revo for things like contact management, checking emails, writing reports and working with spreadsheets then there is no reason why your colleagues cannot. There is also the added bonus that if you are all using Psions then you can beam documents between yourselves. Going with Psions does incur a small risk but perhaps the biggest hurdle you will face is buying enough of them!

[netBookBabe]

I'm in complete agreement with everything Simon posted there, in particular the point about a Psion being a stand alone computer - exactly!

I have never used a Palm, or similar non-keyboard device. Not my cup of tea. The very fact that Simon has done just that, and returned to the Psion fold (with a vengeance!) is great testimony.

I think one should also consider the wealth of third party software available for Epoc/Symbian devices, much of it freeware, and shareware is generally great quality and very good value. Having said that, the functionality of a Psion "out of the box" is beyond compare - I know many people who never felt the need to install one single extra program. Fantastic value!

Check out the cost of adding a keyboard to one of those "other" devices, never mind any other extras, and they soon begin to look pretty pricy, IMO.

Julie

[MikeMcC]

I have never used a Palm, or similar non-keyboard device. Not my cup of tea. The very fact that Simon has done just that, and returned to the Psion fold (with a vengeance!) is great testimony
I actually bought an HP Jornada 525 (which was probably the cheapest Pocket PC) to have a play about with the platform. I really think there is potential there but, with the silly little 'portrait' screen and no keyboard, I also found it unusable. It does have some good features such as a CF slot which supports CF modems and CF ethernet cards but it still stays in the drawer.

....now if the Jornada with the keyboard and colour screen didn't cost about as much as budget laptop, things might be very different :)

[ghitchen]

In my opionion the Revo/5mx/netBook are still the best PDAs you can buy unless all you want is a electronic diary and address book that will fit in your shirt pocket (in which case get a Nokia 7650)

So what if the Revo/5mx are no longer in production? Buy one of these now and I'll bet you are still using it long after anyone who buys an iPaq at the same time.

Gary

[Bren]

Thanks for those very comprehensive replies. I've printed them out as a guide to colleagues.

We still had some "out of the box" problems with getting synchronisation and email going - especially the first guy who bought one, he has more or less given up but may take a renewed interest now that he sees I've got mine working right.

I still feel each new person would need a bit of individual tuition to really get going with the Revos - the mobile phone email setup and PC synchronisation are not things you can just do intuitively.
But I've no idea how the others compare - I've never tried them.

And we've never quite been able to beam files or messages to each other - I've tried it with the colleague, he gets a notification that he's received something, but we can't find it or read it. Do we both need to get Pilbeam? Also the Win2000 infrared doesn't work with Revo, as has been well documented .

We only notice the problems with our own machines and don't always appreciate what's good about them until we try something else. For that reason, I'm indebted to those who tried the Jornada etc and came back to Psion. And I'd still like to hear if anybody ever uses stylus input for anything longer than very short messages.

[netBookBabe]

Originally posted by Bren
And we've never quite been able to beam files or messages to each other - I've tried it with the colleague, he gets a notification that he's received something, but we can't find it or read it. Do we both need to get Pilbeam?
Shouldn't need pIBeam for beaming files between two Epoc machines - only necessary across different platforms, as far as I know. Err, maybe make sure on the receiving machine that you have navigated to the location where you want the file before beaming? Just a thought.

Julie

[GadgetFreak]

This thread resurfaces in one form or another every so often. I have read the threads with interest and have a few comments. As people have said on other instances, 1) it depends on what you want to do and 2) a big part of that is whether you want it for more of a standalone or as an extension of your PC.

I had tried using both a 5MX and a Revo plus for about a year and finally gave up. I started timing myself and realized I was literally spending more time trying to synch and get emails on them than I was doing anything else.

I bought an IPAQ3835 and basically use it as a notebook replacement (with an external keyboard). Yes landscape would be nice but it synchs flawlessly, dial up, in the crade, cell phone, WiFi, whatever I have tried. I can synch to my desktop from anywhere, usually with a variety of options on how to do so. I have written academic papers on it, and edited them with the PPC version of Graffiti.

My major issue with the IPAQ is the size. So I returned to Palm and got a Treo 90. Very small, goes anywhere. In addition, if you want contacts, calendar and the ability to edit docs occasionally I would contend that nothing comes close to a PalmOS device. The synch is just perfect. The interface is wonderfully simple. So I now use both. The Treo is always in my pocket and the IPAQ is in my breifcase when I travel. As much as I liked the Psion form factor, the limitations of PsiWin and the Psion customer service make it really a no contest issue for me.

Lastly there was a recent poll of handheld users, I think in PC magazine (although I cant remember for sure). Basically, Psion and Zaurus were battling for last place in customer satisfaction as I recall. For me the bottom line is that despite the great help from some on this board, Mike especially, it wasnt worth the struggle to deal with a Psion.