I just bought a Sharp Wizard -- the OZ-9520.  I'm wondering
if anyone else is using one of these, or a Newton, or some
other PDA/Palmtop.  I'm pretty happy with this little machine 
so far.  The physical design is real nice (size/shape/tactality/
sound/weight/etc).  The built in software is also pretty useful,
somewhat flexible.  Also the interface is nice.  Pen and keyboard
and a quirky but easy to get used to GUI. 

So, for a week or so, I've been putting it to alot of use-- phone
number, to do lists, appointments, doodle, checkbook register,
plus the occasional rumination, a few new words I've learned,
and a small collection of favorite poems & quotations.

My one misgiving - with the Wizard, is not the lack of pen to text
input, or even display (big enough, though much smaller than a
Newton's).  It's the fact that, even with a card slot, the
Wizard seems like a pretty closed system.  I don't know what
software IS available, but I have a hunch their isn't & won't
be much.

Any body else useing one of these little things? (Wizard
or other.)  Any thoughts/tips/tales?

108 responses total.

I've been eyeballing them every time I seem them in a display case
somewhere.  I think your misgiving about their expandability is
a good one, from what I've seen.  But of course, in such a small
package, there isn't much room for expansion.  Connectivity to the
outside world is almost mandatory (so you can upload those ruminations
to your desktop machine and turn them into the great American novel :).
Does the Wizard offer anything for that (like a serial port)?

You can buy a card & cable for the Wizard that let you move all the data
back and forth between a PC or a Mac (two different products).  These
kits  (I believe) also come with software for the desktop machine, which
immitaes the Wizard app's -- so you can edit the files but keep 'em in
"Wizard format".  Them model I got also comes with this little
fax modem, so you can send anything from the Wizard straight to a
fax machine, or dial up a machine useing vt100 emulation (2400).
Analog phone lines only though - sticker on the thing says digital
phone line will make it "overheat and melt".  Yikes!

I expect to be including the Motorola Envoy wireless PDA in an executive
package I'm designing for one of my customers.  I understand it has
similar capabilities as other PDAs, plus e-mail, fax, and on-line services.

I'll know if the Envoy will be part of the package in about 2 weeks.  If
I learn anything, I'll post a followup here.

Thanks for entering this, Bill. I, too, have been thinking of buying one
of these babies.  It seems perfect for the stuff I want to do.  I'm
still trying to decide between one of these or a HP200.

Can I ask how much you paid and where you got it?

Dan, I'm very sorry for not answering your simple question
sooner.  I fell off the system for a week of so.

I paid $500 for my Wizard w/ little fax-modem.  This appears
to be the standard street price for the model I got.  I know
you can get it w/o the modem for less (not sure how much) and
that you can get the OZ-9500 (less memory, otherwise the same)
for about $360.  I got it at Circuit City in Washington, D.C.

However (this is the important part) after getting my third look
a Newton, and talking to it's owner for a while, I packed my
Wizard up & sent it back.  The Newton 110 can be had for about
the same price, does everything the Wizard does, and is just
outrageously cool.  It definately isn't a little PC, like the
HP200, but than neither was the Wizard.  I'f you don't 
absolutely need to carry around a little PC, I highly recommend
finding a Newton and checking it out.  Best to find someone
who can really show you how it works.

Interestingly, I've read at least two or three magazine colomns
lately all saying the same thing.  That some hardware/software
improvements, and changes in people expectations, and the
growing body of shareware make the little machine worth a
serious look, despite its initial poor reviews...

End of evangelizing.  Hope nobody bought a Wizard while was
spacing out...

Has anyone looked at or purchased the PDA that Rat Shack touts as
better than a Newton?  I lingered on their display for a few minutes
one day and all I can remember is one of those table comparisons
(has it/doesn't have it) with the Newton getting all thumbs down
(of course).  Any comments on that one (other than ad hominem attacks
on Rat Shack itself)?

I've been looking at the Newton pretty hard since the 110 came out.
I think I will weaken early next year when the 120 comes out.
  
...or I might wait until the 120 with the 2.0 ROM appears.
   
That's the thing about computers, wait a bit and things get better.

...and then, obsolete...

Yeah.  A comic in the FP last week or so pictured an ad for a computer
guaranteed not to become obsolete for at least 2 hours after sale (or
something like that).  How true!

Y'all can have your Newton.  Comming from Ann Arbor, I am not surprised that
you are biased toward the Apple product!  But I think that I will wait for 
next version of the sony magic.  That little baby is one of the best PDA's
I have seen around...

(Damart has the Wizard OZ 9500 for $300 (free s/h) and the OZ-8200
for $150, fwiw.)

I was thinking of one of these devices for taking surreptitious notes in a
classroom situtation, noting the contributions (or lack thereof) of
students during free-form discussions. It can't be done on paper as the
students nearly break their eyeballs trying to see what you are writing. I
thought a "spreadsheet" with coded axes for students and categories, with
the possibility of entering codes for good/better/best contributions,
would work. Do any of these devices permit operations like this? 

In terms of daily usage of PDAs (for those of you that use them), have
you found them to help or hinder your work efficiency? (For example, do
you find yourself spending more time trying to program them or find
nifty new applications than just writing something in a paper organizer).
 
Rane, I guess you could try your suggestions.  The students will probably
be curious in any event.  Having a slanted podium helps, but if you are
sitting at the same level as the students, as in a discussion circle, 
they'll be able to see what you're doing, anyway.  I've always just used
a grid with names on the X-axis and Dates on the Y-axis, then just put
tick marks or +/- signs in when people made (or didn't make) contributions.
I imagine a spreadsheet would be good for that, but using a pointing
device to get to the right cell seems to me to be a much slower method
than using a pencil.  YMMV.

I wanted to "spreadsheet" to accept but not show my entry. And a 
touch-screen input. I could just touch the +/- in the cell to enter
it into memory. 

Touchscreen would be reasonable, I'd think.

I've looked at Wizards, but the ones I've seen have had really tiny
keyboards to do the input with, and I think they would be hard to type on.
I have been seriously considering getting a Newton.  The 100s are now down
around $200, and since they are operated by a pen they don't have the
keyboard size problem.  I still think a notebook would be easier to do
work on, but they aren't as portable.

Indeed, that is the major problem I've found with notebooks -- they
are really too big to carry around with you (especially if you
also carry around a power supply and power cable, so you cna use
it for more than a couple hours).  A notebook also takes too
long to start up if all you want to do is take a quick note or
make a datebook appointment.

Ouch...  I guess that I never realized that teachers actually paid
that much attention to students when in group discussions.  Maybe I
should actually start paying attention during them.  (And I always
wondered why I got better grades in large lecture classes...)

Rane & Kent,  Thank you for enlightening me!  <grin>

I am pleased to have enlightened a student. Now, how do I enlighten
*my* students? Enroll them on Grex?

I meant to also ask, will the Newton do what was described in
#s11-13? (Touchscreen entry of codes into a spreadsheet)?

Since the Newton does everything with touchscreen, i fyou had a
spreadsheet that would probably be the only way you could enter things.

Will a Newton do something like a ansi or vt100 emulation and be able to
Grex?  If it will, with some way to enter the occasional response, then
I'm about sold after seeing it at the potluck.  Way cool, but if the
handwriting recognition is even OK, then it has to be better than my
touch-typing on a tiny keyboard.  I'm starting to hit the practial 
boundary of my paper Dayrunner for updating the address book etc.

I'm fairly satisfied with the Newton 100 so far.  The handwriting
recognition isn't quite as good as I'd like, but most of the errors it
makes seem to be results of the word I was writing not being in its
dictionary (it has an amazingly small dictionary, but it keeps growing). 
It is possible to get a modem for it (or even a celular modem), but I
don't have one so I'm not entirely sure what it's capable of.

I bought a Radio Shack Zpda around Christmas $400 + $120 for null modem cable
and Lap Link software.  I was disappointed in handwriting recognition and
resorted to using the tty-grid touchscreen for most input.  Speed was also
a dissapointment, as I waited several seconds for ramdisk accesses.  (Seemed
to run as slow as a floppy drive.)  Although AOL was included, I was supprised
to discover there was no basic terminal program unless I paid another $300 for
a modem w/cable & software.  The final disappointment came when I tried to
maintain a common data base (my principal need) on both PDA and desktop systems
There was no way to update from either system without overwriting intrim 
updates on the other system.  I guess the designers saw it as merely a backup
device.

I took it back.

So is the Newton Grexable?  vt100, or whatever, does it exist?
And if it exists and you have tried it, does it work?

The built in software will only send faxes and do e-mail through Apple's
Newton Mail service.  I'm not sure what sorts of other communication
software is available for it.

OK, now I have my own Newton 100.  I decided to get the older model for
about $180 instead of the cool new model at $690, and blow most of the
savings on a PCMCIA modem and some software.  There is a product called
PocketCall that is beta testing vt100, so I am going to be a beta tester
(in an area where it MEANS something to be a beta tester - not like
Windows 95 beta testing :)  ).  So far no software acquired, although it
came with a spreadsheet (which I will probably need a memory card to use :( )
and the 1993 Fortune 500 ???  (Even comes on a PCMCIA card!!!)

My plan is to do casual (no fancy editing) Grexing and also track my hours
at work (something I have to do on paper and then key into a database for
future project planning).  The calendar and note functions are already
coming in handy.  The only thing that sucks is the speaker - way too quiet
for a proper alarm.

If you go into the preferences settings, there is a sound control panel. 
I haven't used the alarm on it, since I use my watch for that, but you
might be able to turn the volume up high enough for it to work.

No, it's not enough even all the way up.  There are supposed to be some
free or share packages that have alarm sounds that get more volume- the
right kind of signal instead of some elegant noise.

  I read in Wired magazine about a popular program for the Newton:
it replaces its handwriting recognition algorithm with a more accurate,
though less flexible, algorithm.  Apple's approach seems to be to let
the user write however they want (including cursive), and have the
Newton learn to recognize it.  This other package sounds like it took
the approach of having the Newton read only a specific style of writing,
and have the user learn to write it.  It supposedly provides faster,
more reliable input, once you're used to it...sounds believable to me.

I think I'll stick with Apple's.  It works reasonably well, and I don't
have to change my handwriting for it.  I've tried for years to change my
handwriting so that it would be more readable, without success.  No cool
gadget is going to change that.

The package is call "Graffiti" (sp?) and gives fairly strict set of motions
(sort of liek shorthand, only not so short) to write various characters.
The motions are carefullly designed to be sure that even if you do them
sloppily they are unique enough for the software to be sure what character
it is.  The real advantage, I am told, is that there are also characters
defined for carriage return and other "symbols", so you can do more without
resorting to the keyboard thingy.  I am getting it in an enhancement pack
that should be coming any day now.  I'll review it after a week or two?

I've been using Graffiti for a few monthes now, I'm very happy with it.
The Newton's built in HWR slowed me down in two ways -- the screen would
often fill up with writing, I would have to pause and wait for it to be
recognized before I could write more.  Also,  when it did make mistakes
(I was getting a word wrong every few sentances) correcting the word
interrupts you, stops you from pressing ahead.

This slow down was starting to discourage me from USING my newt -- I
wouldn't write stuff down becuase I would anticipate these hassles -- or
I would write stuff down but I'd use electric ink, leaving things 
unrecognized.  That's not so good cause it uses alot of RAM, your notes
don't show up in the overview, and they are unsearchable -- you can't run
the "Find" function on them.

With Graffiti, you get ZERO mistakes.  Seriously, no exageration.  If
I'm really spacing out, I might put down the wrong letter & get the wrong
letter.  Usually I just flick my letters into the Graffiti box one at a
time, one on top of the other, and they come popping up on the screen
as fast as I write them.  If you do make a 'typo', you can feel it right 
away, so you just make a little backstroke, your errant letter is backspaced
over, by now you've written the correct letter.  Last but not least, I 
learned to use it adequately in five to ten minutes, I had mastered it
within a day or two.  

That does sound nice.  I'll have to try to borrow helmke's newton and try
it out.

Sure, any time.  I am starting to appreciate Graffiti a lot because of the 
ability to throw in lots of abbreviations and codes that take too long to
do with the stock handwriting and keyboard.

Hey what are you using for batteries for your Newt?  I am currently using
the Renewal batteries, but doews anyone have experience with NiCads, 
the battery pack, etc?

 I use NiCads for my radio, and I've had them for the past 5 yrs. I 
know a place in Queens NY that *may* have a battery pack for your Newton.
There called W&W Associates, and they should be listed in the toll free
information. They make batteries for a lot of things, so this might
be a cool option for you, Scott.

I'm using alkaline batteries, either Duracell or Energizer.  I tried a
Renewal in my pager, and it died after only two days and two pages.  That
kind of made me not want to use them for anything else.

The Renewals need to be charged a lot, which is my only complaint.  I like
NiCads for some things, haven't spent the money to buy the AAAs to test
in my Newton yet.  Apple does make a $26 battery pack, don't know how
well that works.  I suspect it is 5 NiCad cells whereas the AAA battery
clip is 4, meaning that using AAA NiCds would result in 4.8 volts while
Alkalines give 6V, and of course 5 NiCd cells is 1.2*5=6V... 

Apple's NiCd pack works very well for me -- my Newton typically
goes several weeks between charges, with light-to-medium use.
It will probably last at least 4-5 days with heavy use.  (I use
a MP110, BTW.)  If you get two batteries and the charging station,
you can always carry a spare battery, and have one charging while
you use the other.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss