Pros [and some cons] (Psion Series 5mx Pro)

Member Name: drmarkf

Product:	Psion Series 5mx Pro
Date:	03/09/00 (511 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Power, size, software capabilities

Disadvantages: Bit fragile, Psion support

The 5mx is well established now and there are a number of reviews already here on DooYoo, so I'm going to concentrate on a few personal issues that have occurred during my 14 months' use.

First, I should establish that overall I'm very impressed with the product; it clearly reveals the expertise that Psion have acquired over many years of producing PDAs. My 5mx runs my life, and it has been almost entirely reliable at meeting my various needs. The size is ideal; I change the batteries about once a month.

The software is very fast and reliable [on average I need to reboot only about once a month - just think on that, Windows users!] and there's a large quantity of high quality third party commercial, shareware and freeware available. There are several excellent active online sources of information, advice and software [eg the Compuserve forum and the TUCOWS site, and a couple of webrings]. The inbuilt applications are mostly fine.

The hardware has been slightly less reliable - I cracked the screen after a fall of a couple of inches shortly after I got the machine [but Psion replaced it without charge; I think they agreed with me that it must have been inserted wrongly to have cracked after such a small fall]. Recently 4 adjacent keys on the keyboard have stopped working [probably a cracked PCB] and it's just about to go back for a repair. Psion repairs take ages. I also had problems with a 64Mb CF expansion card, which had to be replaced [but this wasn't Psion's fault, of course].

Other niggles - the new case is much slippier than the old rubber-coated one and they get dropped more often [but the coating now doesn't peel off]; I've never found the keyboard 'excellent' as some reviewers report [I've always had missed and doubled keystrokes and the Tab key has always been very stiff]; the screen's only a fair compromise; the stylus retention clip still tends to stick.

I use
mine with an Ericsson i888 mobile via the IR link for email access while away from home, including abroad. This works very well once all the adjustments have been made, but demands a degree in EPOC hacking to set up! Support from Psion for this sort of thing is virtually useless; Ericsson are better, but the best help by far is found on the palmtop Coumpuserve forum. The Psion Web application is useless, but there's a version of the Opera browser for EPOC which is now really good. It's fun to see webpages on the tiny machine, and it certainly amazes your friends!

On balance, there's nothing else to match its balance of size and capability [WinCE in comparison's a joke, and Palm computers are aimed at a different market], but I wish psion would be more responsive to users and address some of the residual problems.

Summary: