Capabilities of original Psion Sheet Software?

[Stillnoidea]

I am soon to be buying either a Samsung Nexio S160 or a Psion Netbook. The problem is that I am having trouble deciding between the two.

I will use Wi-Fi and Spreadsheets mostly. I know that Excel files will Sync with the Nexio easily and the Nexio Spreadsheet is almost as powerful as the desktop version. What I don't know is how good the Netbook Sheet is and how well that Sync's. I want the software to be able to do Data Validation so that I can choose from drop down menu's on my sheet.

I would be most grateful for any opinions you could share with me as it will assist me with my decision, and spending this sort of amount of cash, I want to get it as right as I can.

[cshandley]

The usual wisdom is that the Micro$oft Pocket Word/Sheet/etc apps are far less functional (compatible) than you might expect, and that usually the Psions apps are better.

The reason for this is that M$ does not want you to stop using your beloved Desktop PC, whereas Psion's are designed to replace the Desktop PC as much as possible (don't expect the earth, but Psions are pretty good IMPO).

A quick search gave these articles:
http://www.foxpop.ndirect.co.uk/roadtesting/Return01.htm
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cache:www.foxpop.ndirect.co.uk/wince/apps01.htm
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cache:www.foxpop.ndirect.co.uk/wince/apps02.htm

[Stillnoidea]

Thanks for that. I have checked the links and they confirmed what I thought may be the case.

The only issue I have now is whether the functions that may be created in the full version of Excel might transfer to Pocket Excel...or Sheet, even though they weren't created there.

I suppose the answer should be obvious but I am clutching at straws for a product that will achieve what I want it to!

[cshandley]

If you show us a few examples of the cells in Excel you want to use, it should be easy to say if this will work on Psion's Sheet or not.

If the cells use macros (or some other full-blown programming language), then the answer I don't think any PDA will do what you want.

[Stillnoidea]

Thanks for your help!

I have tried to upload the .xls file to the forum but it won't go.

Any ideas or can I email it to you?

[MikeMcC]

If you look at the bottom of the message reply window it mentions Valid file extensions: gif jpg png txt zip bmp jpeg. You would be able to upload your file if you put it into a ZIP archive.

[Stillnoidea]

Thanks.

Didn't notice that file extension there....all too new to this!!

Thanks again for your help, Excel sheet should be attached. It is just a quick example of what I want to use!

[Jim Cooke]

No, there's no way in Psion Sheet to provide the type of drop down menu that's shown in your Excel sheet.

You can, however, do this quite easily in PsiDat, a freeware database program. The results can be exported to CSV or HTML, either one of which can be read by Excel. You can find PsiDat at http://www.millican.info/Home/PsiDat.htm .

Regards, Jim

[Stillnoidea]

Thanks for that software link.

I will take a look at the database. I presume that there is a much greater range of third party software available for the Epoc systems than there is for Windows CE?

[Jim Cooke]

Originally posted by Stillnoidea
Thanks for that software link.

I will take a look at the database. I presume that there is a much greater range of third party software available for the Epoc systems than there is for Windows CE?

I don't know the relative numbers for the two but I suspect that Windows CE, or the Pocket PC OS, as it's now called, has more software available than EPOC simply because the PPC is still being actively developed whereas EPOC development has slowed to a trickle. There are still a lot of programs available for Epoc though. You can search the software section here for a sample.

Regards, Jim

[diem]

I agree with what Jim says, but I would add that the received wisdom is that the quality of third-party EPOC software is usually superior to PPC/Palm equivalents, since the community has been around for longer.