Buy one before its too late! (Psion Revo Plus)

Member Name: Shamsher78

Product:	Psion Revo Plus
Date:	18/03/02 (951 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Keyboard, Speed, Ease of use

Disadvantages: Screen not always clear in bad light, Why no lithium ion batteries?

The main reason why I chose the Psion over Palm and Sony alternatives was that it comes with a tiny keyboard built in, this takes some getting used to because the keys appear to be hinged at the bottom so you need to press the top of the key to be sure of a key press being registered. It comes with a cd rom of extra software such as opera web browser, a very good wap browser and a serial docking station. It synchronises with my pc faultlessly. I'm not sure about Mac connectivity though! The supplied stylus feels a bit flimsy so I bought a chrome one which certainly has a more solid feel - I'm not always worrying about snapping it! It would have been nice if it came with a protective pouch or case.

On first impressions the Psion Revo Plus looks good and has a lovely smooth space saving opening mechanism. It is nice and thin when closed. A point to note is that the stylus can not be removed once the Revo has been docked.

I've heard a lot of stories about battery life but mine is ok so far and the best advice I can give is to ensure the first charge is carried out properly even though you may be itching to use your new Psion for the first time. You can expect a battery life of around 10 hours continuous use, less if used for small periods daily because the memory uses about 1% battery life per day when the machine is switched off. It takes 90 minutes to charge to 75% capacity and then switches to trickle charge which can take 4 hours.


Agenda, the supplied time-management software is very capable and allows notes to be made for each entry. There are also the ubiquitous to-do list, note taking, word processing and spreadsheet programs. You can edit your phone's memory via the infra red port and copy information both ways. The fields in the Contacts program are user definable. I think that using WAP with a full keyboard is also very handy. The software is very easy to use once you are used to it and there are keyboard short
cuts so you dont always need to use the stylus. There were no instructions specific to synchronising the infra-red port to my mobile which is a Samsung A300 but I surprised myself and set it up with ease. I can also check my email quckly using my mobile phone. The connection is very reliable.

The touch sensitive screen has good clarity but can be diffcult to view in non-ideal light conditions but a backlit screen would put a much bigger drain on the battery. Handwriting recognition software is available amongst a large and varied selection of software which you can find on the internet.

It works well as a stand alone machine and I would recommemd it to anyone who wants a PDA and will be entering a lot of information, and needs to organise their work and personal life.

Buy one soon because Psion have withdrawn from the PDA market and prices are falling to move stocks.

Summary: