Pocket Viewers Demystefied. Review on Using a PocketPC PDA

Pocket Viewers:

Pocket viewers (PV) are nothing but enhanced Business Organizers(BO), or a scaled down version of a Palm Pilot.  The additional functionality they provide is that you can have the functionality of Excel build into it, so you can have small worksheet stored and worked upon while you are traveling. Another big plus is that Pocket Viewers are able to talk to your computers, and you can upload the pocket viewer data into Microsoft applications like Excel and Microsoft Outlook.

The major heads of information, which you can store in a Pocket Viewer, are:

·Business Contacts and Personal Contacts

·Use the various schedule functionalities like Appointment, To Do and Reminders  all these functionality is provided with Alarms

·Store Expense Details  the various expense heads and payment types can be configured by the User

·Memo can be stored as Free text quickly jotted down(known as quick memo) or can be normally typed out in the PV

·Currency Converter functionality

·Games(something which I have never used so cannot comment on it)

These are the basic functionality, which comes with PVS-250, the one I use. The higher up versions provide functionality of capability to send Emails through mobile phones etc. The memory in S-250 is 2MB.

When compared to palm pilots the features which are missing are ability for hand writing recognition, ability to use various add on hard ware cards to enhance various functionality etc. But many palms do not have the pocket sheet (Worksheet) functionality. The advantages with a palm is that the cost is almost half (PVS-250 in gray market costs Rs. 3500 to Rs. 4000), and provides most of the commonly used features which are provided by the palm. So if you are a medium tech savvy guy who is looking for a tool which is mobile to some extent PV is a good value for money.

The major advantages of the Pocket Viewer is that:

·It fits to one’s pocket(in many cases smaller, lighter and slimmer than a normal Business Organizer)

·It has a very easy to connect the PV to a computer and synchronise the data between the 2 objects. The synch time is less than 3 mins.

·The Stylus for data entry is not cumbersome and data entry is quite fast. For memos and descriptions similar word select is provided so the entire word need not be types

·The Key board is  screen touch one and is exactly same as the computer key boards

·It is like a mini computer which you can use while you are traveling in a car or waiting for a train etc. You can write your mail text etc. in the PV, upload it in the computer and send it anywhere. This leads to better utilization of the time

You can learn more on the Pocket viewer and features at: https://world.casio.com/euro/pv/product/

Some of the main features of Casio PVS-250 are:

·Pocket Sheet Sync for Microsoft® Excel 95/97/2000

·PC-sync

·Quick Data Copy

·PIM(Personal Information Manager)

·Action Control

·Conversion

·Pop Up Tools

PVs are good value for money if only you use it, so see how much of these features are useful to you, and then take a decision. Since I find Synch with the computer as a very useful functionality I have got the value for money.

The disadvantages maybe, there are not many which I can see:

·Since it is touch screen, it is liable to damage more easily

·It is fragile product so should be handled with card and should be kept out of children’s hands

·It does not have the ability to expand functionality by adding cards

Since I am using it my expense and schedule management has improved and I do not have to search for my contact phone nos. I really like using a PV.