Psion - the need to change (Psion Series 5mx Pro)

Member Name: bigsimon

Product:	Psion Series 5mx Pro
Date:	17/02/01 (380 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Powerful Product

Disadvantages: £1 per min helpline

I have sold Psion products for nearly 11 years right from the psion II. For along time Psion were untouchable, your choice was either a laptop PC or a filofax. However as Palm, handspring have moved in, Psion is beginning to lose its uniqueness.
Firstly the Psion Series 5mx is an great product for the 30 something buisness person, who is either upgrading from a previous Psion, or who requires great computing power.
The screen is large enough, and with good resolution. Has a backlight for dim light conditions.
If you are writing your life story, best selling novel or whatever the built in 3/4 size keyboard is a very comfortable way of inputting text when compared with the grafitti style of the palm etc.
If you are handling huge databases or wanting to handle spreadsheets then again the Psion 5mx is for you
However, a large part of owning a PDA is size, ease of use and ease of connection. Regretably the Psion begins to fall on these points. The psion is a serious machine, and as such is not quite as easy to use as the palms. But worse is to come. I receive regular comments on the Psiwin program that is included with the 5mx (to link to a PC). Not as user friendly as the palms hot sync.
Perhaps worse is Psions technical support. With such a powerful machine and with some many connection options now days, I would expect the average user to need some sort of help. (The manuals are good, but sometimes they dont quite cover what you need to know)
Psions technical support is either FAQs on their web site, a premium rate line £1 per min, or a credit card help line £14 per problem. Not terribly user friendly.
To summarise a good powerful machine, perhaps a little more than just a PDA, but becareful if you want to do a little more with it, unless you know what you are doing it could cost you.

Info for people with Psion users who have problems who live in London. Psion have a drop in centre in West London, you book an appointment and th
ey fix on the spot or same day (if parts in stock), all you need is guarantee. Have not got phone number now but if your interested I will add at later date, leave a comment if you would like me to update with the drop in centre details.

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