What the Psion 7 does - it does very well (Psion Series 7)

Member Name: danfreedman

Product:	Psion Series 7
Date:	26/09/00 (335 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very useable software in a neat package

Disadvantages: Not enough colour programs commercially available

So what is the Psion Series 7 like to live with. In many ways it is an excellent all rounder. The desktop is simple to use and any one who has just a short time on their hands will get used to it. You develop a new kind of technique. You start to type holding the stylus in one hand dabbing at the screen as you intermitently type. The keyboard is excellent. The form factor is just right and a reasonable speed is quite possible.

The word processor has a wide range of features, although I would have liked to have seen a better implementation of on screen fonts (only 3 are possible - Times, Sans Serif and Courier -all though others are downloadable, they do not display). There is a built in spell checker and it is a breeze to incorporate an embeded sheet or drawing. All this happens quickly without any significant draw on memory or file sizes. Drawings, sheets and memos can also be embeded in the excellent Agenda facility.

The Agenda has all the usual views, Day, Week, Busy and Annual although strangely a monthly view is missing. Alarms can be set for all types of entries - you can even customise the alarm with the built in recorder function.

An excellent spreadsheet is included with a huge range of functions, but don't expect the bells and whistles of Excel. The drawing program is fun, and even has clipart as standard.

It is expected that many people will be using the Psion to conect to the Internet to send and recieve mail. The built in mail reader is excellent and does not appear to be missing any features. The standard Web browser on the other hand is a little light. There is light on the horizon here. The latest build of the Psion will come with Opera 3.62 for Epoc. This is available as a free download for existing users. Opera is significantly better, faster and and a better representation of the pages also results.

Other facilities include a jotter, a database a calculator and a world time function. Lastly, the Series 7 has
a Contacts program for all those names and addresses.

All this and you can write your own programs too. Infra red for printing and exchanging documents, this becomes an almost a perfect mobile PIM.

Freeware and shareware software has always been a part of the Epoc scene and there is quite a lot to be had from some very well organised sites

Summary: