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| Home >> Handheld & PDA Reviews: Casio Cassiopeia BE-300 Pocket Manager (Color) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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User Submitted Casio Cassiopeia BE-300 Pocket Manager (Color) ReviewsDate: 2007-01-08 Do they Still Make this???? While I used this, it worked reliably and was fun to have. Not even sure Casio still makes it (would guess NOT). Have moved up to PDA's by now, but if you don't need anything fancy like a pda, this unit worked just fine for the years I used it. Date: 2005-03-02 Unique PDA! If you are a consumer who elects to pay out over a $1,000 for a simple desktop PC and $500 for a PDA, the BE 300 may not be for you. Designed in year 2000, the BE 300 was released in 2001. Casio made it to compete against the expensive fad PDAs. It was worth the original $299 suggested retail price. Casio stopped making them early 2004 and Casio pulled out of the North American PDA market completely. The BE 300 is unique and there are a few hundred BE enthusiasts worldwide who know it, which is why there is a brisk trade in used units. Today (2005), a BE in its original condition will not please many people. To reduce cost and to provide stable programs, Casio installed a stripped version of Window CE 3.0 and its own programs. It does not come with many programs but it does come with the basics, Music Player, Photo Viewer, Notes, etc. It has a line menu, not an icon screen. Here is the great part. Unlike the majority of other PDAs, the BE is modifiable. BE enthusiasts do not use the Casio screen. There are three operating systems you can choose from and install . Favorites vary from user to user. My favorite is exPod, which is free. eXpod makes it possible to install and use non-casio software. The BE is small, thin and light. It easily slips into a shirt pocket. It has excellent stereo sound and makes a fine mp3 player. It has a Flash Card slot, type I and II, well located at the top. I own three of them and I have set up disadvantaged students and seniors with used BEs, which can be purchased from $20 to $100. I just bought one that had never been removed from the box for $60 I can not begin to tell you how modifiable the BE300 is and it is well designed and manufactured. It is forgiving. It is incredible the abuse enthusiasts put units through experimenting and modifying and they keep on working. I cannot list all of the reasons here that you should consider a BE 300. Unlike other PDAs, the BE 300 has a large group of friendly enthusiasts who know a lot about the unit, what can be done with it and where to get free and inexpensive quality software. Before you decide to buy or not to buy check out these two excellent BE300 sites [be-central.be] & [be300.org] Final note: No PDA is a practical replacement for a desktop PC for one reason. The industry has repeatedly failed to come up with a practical input device. The screen keyboards are nearly useless, thumbboards are not much better and foldable keyboards add still another item to pack, carry, set up, etc. PDAs are excellent, true mobile devices for addresses, contacts, dictionaries, encyclopedias, music, for information retreival but input is another matter. If you want a true mobile PC look into the HP Jornada 600 through 728, these are actually mini-laptops built around PDA technology. They weigh under 2 lbs and a battery charge is eight or more hours, depending on the model. NEC still makes handhelds.They have the largest keyboards for handheld PCs (90% of full sized) They are pricy, about $1,000 for the mobilepro 900 but that is the price for a low end notebook, which--lets face it--is not a mobile device. Notebooks are no more than expensive portable desktop computers that people lug around and set up from desktop to desktop and once you set them up, you are chained to the desk. I chuckle when I see students and professors lugging them around libraries. Jornadas and NEC Mobilepros come with install phone modems and Jornada 700s come with built in wireless, so do NEC Mobilepros 700 - 900. They can't keep their eyes off of me when they see me pull my HP Jornada 680 from a coat pocket, open it and immediately type away. I snap it shut, slip it in my pocket as I get up and take off into the stacks, tracking down another journal or reference book. The 680 was designed in 1998 and released in 1999. HP no longer makes handheld PCs but you can get one in great condition on eBay for under $200 and they cost over $900 new!! You do not know about these PDA-mini laptop hybrids because they were business, not consumer devices. Oh, the BE300 and Jornada 600s - 728 have excellent color touch screens. Date: 2004-08-31 Great for price and great to learn on This PDA is great for beginners and to learn how to use a PDA. If you use it, then upgrade to something more technical. Date: 2004-06-04 Slow Recall I have owned this unit. It's processor was very slow when searching a contact. It took up to 20 seconds. I have always had Casio PDA's, but had to trade this one in for a Toshiba. Date: 2004-03-26 BE-300 is Very Good-BUT This is an excellent PDA. BUT it stopped working in 3 months but i would still highly recommmend it because i caused the problem and it is very sturdy and the screen quality is great and the mp3 player is nice too! Plus CompactFlash is a must have! Buy It! Nicholas
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