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| Home >> Handheld & PDA Reviews: Casio Cassiopeia EM-500 Color Pocket PC (Slate Blue) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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User Submitted Casio Cassiopeia EM-500 Color Pocket PC (Slate Blue) Reviews (cont...)Date: 2000-10-13 Still Young A lot of reviews I have read about the new Cassiopeia EM-500 say that the multi-media capabilities will appeal to the younger buyers - well at age 56 they strongly appeal to me. To think that I can load MPGs, AVIs, JPGs and play them back at work for all my jealous co-workers is worth every penny of the price. For years I have used a Casio Boss and then the Casio Digital Diary NX-6000 wishing some day to have the ability to change the names of some of the pre-set folders in them - now my dream has more than come true! I have used my EM-500 only one week - but what an intensive week it has been. 124 hours on the battery meter and still ticking (had to go to work at Wal-Mart or usage would have been much higher). I loaded the optional 32 mb MMC card with funny video clips, pictures of my family and Mitzi, our dog, and WOW'd all my friends and co-workers. One of the people at work yesterday was searching the breakroom at lunchtime for our local newspaper, The Benton Courier, I said "Here you can read it on my Cassiopeia because I downloaded it this morning" What a big suprise that was! I work in the One Hour Photo Lab and share my digital photos with customers who have questions about resolution and size of files. Having used "Vuepro" on my home computers for years when I loaded the included "Picture & Video Player" I was sorely dissappointed. No zoom or controls at all, then I found Resco's "Picture Viewer" online and now I'm a "Happy Camper" again. The only downside of owning a EM-500 so far has been "Loss of Sleep". Date: 2000-10-07 EM-500, cutting edge or missing the mark Casio's Cassiopedia is a very nice unit. Is it the best value available? Well it could have been, but unfortunately they scrimped in a couple of key areas. I base this on what I feel is their closet competitor, the Compaq Ipaq. The first thing you'll need to do after purchasing the Casio is run down to the store and purchase a very expensive MMC card. You'll want to pick up at least a 32mb card (currently between $76.00 and $99.00). Now you'll have some breathing room to work in. The Compaq comes with this additional memory with the purchase price. The last feature that is a little disappointing is the TFT backlit feature. Because of the basic design, the Ipaq does a much better job in very bright conditions. But get your Cassiopedia in a little shade and with the 65,000 plus colors you'll blow the Compaq Ipaq away. In conclusion, I guess there's pluses and negatives with most very thing, and if you don't mind having to immediately spent another $100.00 to get the space you'll need the Cassiopedia is the better unit. I would argue that the Compaq Ipaq is probably the better value. Date: 2000-10-03 Amazing Technology As one of the first users of Palm Vx I was speechless about what this little thing was able to do...that was, until I finally got ahold of an EM 500 ! The looks alone are stunning as well as the feel of the matted surface but whats inside is unbelievable: colour, sound, Microsoft software including Pocket Outlook, Adresses, Tasks, Calendar, Memo function with which you can write in your own handwriting (the EM 500 learns to recognize it), Pocket Excel, Money, Word, Internet Explorer, Win Media Player (plays MP3s and WMA's) and MS Pocket Reader for books. Did I forget something ? I probably did, but you name it, its there... Colours are clear and crisp, programs function without glitches (so far), communication with Outlook 2000 on the desktop (has to be installed to keep track of adresses,calendar etc.) and Active Sync (the program needed for the exchange between computer and Pocket PC) works smoothly and best of all, everything is included in the box along with a hotsync USB cable, recharger cable and a little slip-in case for the Pocket PC, so no extra buys upfront. I played music on the EM 500 which sounds a bit hollow when listened to without headphones but has alot of "boom" when headphones are used. I uploaded pictures onto it, just try it, you will not believe the quality (tip: resize or cut your pictures on your desktop first to what you really want to see , it saves memory and displays the picture without having to scroll on the Pocket PC). I uploaded books unto the MS Reader, who needs paper anymore ? I dictated notes to myself (yes, it has a little voice recorder built in), I moved and removed programs, users who are familiar with Win OS will have no problems with the Pocket PC OS called Win CE. So where is the catch? first of all the EM 500 is a heavy brick compared to the Palm Vx which on second thought is not that bad for all you get. But right now accessories are almost impossible to find, so one has to be patient and insistant with checking around for a modem (of course it is internet capable, E-Mail function included), the little Multi Media Cards for storage and other neat items. I finally managed to get ahold of a 64 MB MMC card for a pretty hefty prize but the reward is great...just slip in the postage stamp sized card, find it in your document folder and move games, programs, pictures and songs onto it and you will see that 16 MB of basic memory on the EM 500 is more than enough for everything that cannot be moved. Games are rare and most of the time expensive but worth it, books for the MS Reader are even rarer (but 20+ come along with the Active Sync CD Rom) and utilities have their prize as well, as opposed to the Palm Platform where you can find virtually myriads of free goodies. My advice: think about what you want/need a palmsized computer for... is it business or pleasure ? do you want to combine both ? For pure business go with the Palm Vx, for all other uses do not hesitate and at least check out the EM 500. You will most likely end up like me, that is buying it anyway even though a little voice asks you whether you really need another techy item, "making up" excuses that with not having to buy an extra MP3 player you will save at least a buck or twohundred :o) Date: 2000-09-15 Great multimedia Pocket PC The Cassiopeia EM-500 looks like a pretty sweet deal. It can do almost anything the E-115 does, and it's smaller and faster. If you compare the EM-500 to the E-115, you'll notice that the E-115 has 32MB of memory, where the EM-500 has 16MB. Also, the EM-500 offers the multimedia card memory system, so memory can be easily expanded. The EM-500 seems targeted at a younger market, with great multimedia capabilities (MP3, 240 x 320 TFT 65,536 color screen, excellent gamepad). Its main competitor, the Compaq iPaq, offers more memory and speed, but less colors, and, most importantly perhaps, the keypad of the iPaq cannot register simultaneous clicks, which limits its gameplay capabilities. If you want a good Pocket PC for both "serious stuff" and games and multimedia, the EM-500 seems the way to go. A fine product by Casio, with more memory I would have given it 5 stars.
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