Good, but not perfect (Psion Revo)

Member Name: Bateleur

Product:	Psion Revo
Date:	27/02/02 (242 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, With a keyboard, Versatile

Disadvantages: No backlight, Some strange quirks in the programs, Battery problems?

This is my first PDA and I don’t think I’m going to be able to live without one now.

I used to have a Filofax (yes, I was one of those) but whole thing got fatter and fatter and fatter. In the address book some of the pages just had one or two names on, with the rest crossed out and replaced on following pages. Keeping it up to date was a full-time job ... so it got out of date.

What I like about the Revo is that it’s so easy to use, largely intuitive. If you know how to use Word and Excel you should be able to use it easily. And not have to navigate through a sea of crossings out to find someone’s latest telephone number.

It’s a good size, too. Fits in a coat pocket or the jeans without any trouble.

It’s got lots of functions. One that is particularly useful for someone like me (who is a procrastinator with a short-term memory problems) is the alarm function. You can easily set a reminder to do something and it beeps at you (in a variety of tones - you choose) to remind you. If you don’t do it the thing keeps beeping until you do, and switch the alarm off. great.

You can also keep a wealth of information which is much more difficult to organise in a Filofax - names of associates’ spouses ... children ... pets ... likes ... dislikes ... etc. and this is all shown with their address in the address book function.

Files can be transferred between your PC and the Revo (though not without problems) so, as I work as a writer and editor, I often put some text I have been working on into the Revo so that I can work on it in a plane, traffic jam, waiting room, whatever. Very useful, though the keyboard is a bit small. I’ve put an 80-page Word document into it and not nearly filled up the memory.

My major gripe is the lack of backlight. That is a serious omission and can make the screen very difficult to read under certain circumstances.

Also, I someti
mes have difficulty in transferring files. About 50% of the time, when it is in its docking station and my PC shows that a connection has been made, I can’t manage any transfers.

It also has an annoying habit, when you have closed down the word processor or spreadsheet entirely, of trying to automatically open the last file you used when you re-open these programs. Why can’t it just re-open to a blank screen?

I have yet to experience the battery problems that others talk of, but my Revo is only about three months old. They are NiMH batteries (according to the handbook) so in theory there shouldn’t be any memory effect, but I used to have a laptop with the same type of battery and they went dead after a while. Can the batteries of the Revo be changed? Why didn’t they make it with replaceable batteries?

As I understand it, Psion are going to stop making PDA's in the next year or so. This means that the price of them is likely to come down. I bought mine in an electronics shop that was closing down for half price (250 Swiss Francs, which is about £100).

All in all a very useful machine and one that I would recommend. If the batteries could be relied upon and it had a backlight it would be great. But if you can get it at a reduced price (even considering batteries and no backlight) it's amazing value.

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