Manufacturer: Casio Model#: EM-500SlateBl Weight: .49lbs Height: .75"     Width: 3.25" Length: 5" Average Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars	Retail Price: $399.99 Online Sale Price:
Features: Color screen with 240 x 320 display in 65,536 colors Includes Microsoft Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, Pocket Money, and Pocket Internet Explorer 16 MB of internal RAM, expands up to additional 64 MB with optional MultiMediaCards Play MP3 audio files with built-in speaker What's in the box: Cassiopeia EM-500, Stylus, USB Cradle, AC Adapter, Lithium-ion rechargeable battery pack, CR2032 lithium battery, Connector cable, Pocket PC User's Guide, Hardware Guide

User Submitted Casio Cassiopeia EM-500 Color Pocket PC (Slate Blue) Reviews (cont...)

WHAT I LIKE: The TFT screen is perfect. Great colors, great contrast, great visibility, no compromise. The handwriting recognition software is reasonnably easy to use and accurate. The casing is sturdy, it fits well in your hand with non slip finishing.

WHAT I DON'T LIKE: audio recording with the built-in mike is bad to the point of being useless. The user interface is somewhat inflexible and not as intuitive or confortable as with the Palm OS . The battery needs frequent charging even when not in use. The docking cradle is not included as standard equipment.

BUT WORST OF ALL: accessories seem impossible to find. The local computer stores in my area do not hold any, even tough they do have plenty of choice for other brands (Palm, Compaq, Handspring etc.) I am completely unable to find a docking cradle, a spare stylus, a spare charger or a spare battery unit! I tried on line shopping with no more success (for example, try the amazon web site ...) EVEN THE CASIO site have been out of spare cradle for many weeks!

In conclusion: honestly built and designed, gorgeous TFT screen but I should have paid a closer look to other brands (I have heard great comments about Compaq).

Date: 2001-04-09
Cassiopeia-EM 500
This is a great product I use it for my bussiness. Once you learn how to use it, it is as easy as a home pc. The only reason I don't give it five stars is because you cannot delete any programs that came pre-loaded for example all the internet programs that came with it. Also I can't seem to find a auto adaptor or a cable to connect to my pc anywhere. If you purchace this product make sure you buy the screen covers with it or you will scratch your screen.

Sincerely: Aaron

Date: 2001-04-07
Gorgeous color screen : superb for ppc gaming
If you ever wished that your palm had a color screen, or that you didn't have to buy an expensive add on to turn your palm into an mp3 player or even into a movie player the em-500 is the pocket pc for you. The OS is very stable, it hasn't crased on me yet, and you should just see the palm owners goggling at your screen, which is what I love :-) It's a super pocket pc, and at a really good price (I bought mine for less than $400) the mmc slot works exactly as advertised. And is very easy to use. I recommend the em-500 to anyone who wants a REAL multimedia pocket pc. [ atleast 32mb mmc card recommended ]

Date: 2001-04-01
Would score it much higher except for a couple concerns
I had the unique opportunity to use and evaluate the Casio EM500 for a week to determine if I was interested in purchasing it. At the end of that week, I really wanted to buy this PDA, but I had some lingering concerns that kept me from doing so. Here are some of my thoughts after using it:

-First off, I really loved the display on this unit. It was extremely bright and easy to read even in daylight. I would not have thought it, but a color screen made a HUGE difference. I had a Palm Pilot before, so I know what I'm talking about here. This Casio has one of the best displays of any of the color units.

-I really liked the PocketPC OS with just a few exceptions. As I mentioned earlier, I have had a Palm Pilot in the past. Of the two operating systems, I prefer the PocketPC. This is largely due to the fact that I use a lot of Microsoft products (Outlook, Word, Excel, Money) and it was extremely easy to synch with data with these applications. Some people prefer the Palm OS's simplicity, but for what I needed to do, I found greater functionality in the PocketPC. The only reservations I had was that the PocketPC makes in annoyingly difficult to close applications and its navigation could be simplified.

-The actual hardware design of this unit is fair. It's a little on the bulky side, but I never expected to be able to fit it in my pocket to begin with. While I liked the semi-scroll wheel on the side, I never used the multi-directional D-pad on the front. In fact, I rarely used any of the buttons on the front. I was also very disappointed that there was no cradle included. The USB cable was kind of awkward to have lying across my desk, and I would have appreciated a cradle to set the unit in when not in use.

-Battery life was impressive. While I never did an official test, I was often able to go through two days of normal use before needing to recharge. The unit uses a Lithium Ion battery.

-Don't underestimate the benefit of having Internet Explorer and Microsoft Reader as included applications. Using Avantgo (which is included), it is very easy to read news, weather, and stocks from sources like MSN and Yahoo. The problem is that it is not a live connection to the Internet, and you must wait until you synch with a PC again to get the information updated. It was also fairly easy to find e-books for Microsoft Reader.

-This unit only comes with 16mb memory. While that is more than enough to run most of the bundled applications, don't expect to play many MP3's on the Media Player unless you buy additional memory.

That brings me to the biggest single drawback of this PDA and the reason I did not end up buying it. This Casio EM500 has a MMC (Multi-Media Card) expansion slot. Most of the PDA's today use Compact Flash memory slots. This means that while I could find MMC memory to buy for my Casio, I could not find very many other expansion options. There are no modems available, or cameras, or any other type of expansion pack available other that just a memory card. Being that MMC is not really catching on, at least in the USA, I worry even about the availability of MMC memory packs in the future. While this may not be important to many people, it was to me. If I am going to spend this much money on a PDA, I want it to last for a while. I want to be able to be able to expand or upgrade the unit as new technologies and products occur. Even Casio seems to realize they made a mistake by using MMC in this unit rather than Compact Flash. Newer Casio models now use Compact Flash.

NOTE: Casio announced recently that EM500 will be capable of supporting SD (secure digital) memory cards. This will require a downloadable update from the Casio web site. Even with this announcement I still am concerned about upgradability options. I have yet to see anyone selling SD memory cards.

If you are not interested in expansions such modems and such, then this is an excellent PDA for you and a great value. I give it four stars (****) in that case. For those of you that are like me and crave expansion, I would suggest looking at the Casio E-125, or better yet, the Compaq iPaq line of handhelds.

Date: 2001-03-23
Casio does not fulfill their rebates and the battery does no
The EM-500 does not hold a charge and Casio does not honor their rebate for this product either. Please save your self some trouble buy the Compaq. The Compaq is rated higher