My Psion Palmtop and Software
My search for the ideal portable computerMachine's capabilities
Other people software for Psion Series 5
Problems with Psion
Interesting Links
Searching for the ideal portable computer
I have long been fascinated by those little things that think big. I've always been looking for a portable computer, that I could carry around during business trips, either for working with, during the long boring evenings in remote hoters (have you ever been in Holiday Inn at Gendt, Belgium at 22:00?) or just for playing around with something during boring times.
The best one I had come up with, was an Olivetti Quaderno, which was small, light, portable, but too dated for this decade (8088 or similar processor) and didn't have any software except good, old DOS. I wasn't in the mood of writing software myself, so I simply used it for packet radio. Then I got a Compaq Contura Aero, which was nice, relatively quick, light, color screen, but again, it wasn't what I was looking for (have you waited for Windoze 95 to load on an 8 MB 80486/33 MHz machine?).
Until some time ago, I had my eyes focused on the new HP 320 palmtop. I first saw it in UK (Dixxons) but the price was quite steep (600 UKP I think). Additionally, it uses Windoze CE software, and I am not that sure that Windoze CE would be less buggy than any other product from you-know-which company. So I was always flirting with one, but never decide it.
Then, one day, some people came to the office, from another company. All three of them got some little palmtops out and started taking notes on them. They were Psions. I was particularly impressed, by one of those gizmos, which according to its owner was the new Series 5 model (have a look at the picture above, I'll bet you like it too). It had a 640x120 backlight screen (half a VGA), a decent keyboard (I had a traumatic experience some years back with a Sharp Wizard, which didn't had a QWERTY keyboard, so it took me 3 minutes to enter a contact name), which was folding inside the cover, when the palmtop was closed. NEAT! I've looked for it on the Net, and liked what I found. Additionally, there were a lot of nice programs standard with the machine, plus a hell of a lot more on the Net. I was hooked. I found the Greek distributor (INT Electronics, thanks Niko) and ...
I AM NOW THE PROUD OWNER OF A PSION SERIES 5 PALMTOP
The last few days have been spend, adding software to the little thing. I am hooked. Right now, this toy has the following capabilities :
Click here for some screenshots of Psion's applications.
Click here for some screenshots of non-Psion's applications.
Oh yes, the little baby comes with a cable and software that allows you to connect it to a PC. From then on, its internal RAM disk, acts as an additional disk for you PC. Very neat and useful.
You can also buy addional hardware, like a modem adaptor, which will allow you to connect it to Internet. The only thing I can hardly wait for, is the free Internet connectivity program that PSION has promised to bring out before the end of the year. With that and a small modem, I'll be all set for Netsurfing and e-mail. What more can I ask?
Well, I knew it that it was too good to be true. Although the Psion Series 5 is an excellent machine and it has already become indispensable for me, it is not without problems. These problems do not affect the machine's functioning, but they are quite frustrating and are already well-known to the Psion community.
The first one has to do with the keyboard. The method Psion used to engrave the keycaps is not so good. As a result, keycap engraving fades after one month of usage. The "Del" key, the "Shift" key, the "Fn" key, all the keys that are used heavily, have already started fading.
The second problem has to do with the quality of the case. The plastic used is louzy and the corners of the machine have already started pealing off. I hate to think what my machine will look like, after 6 months.
The third problem has to do with the system software, which controls (and inform the user) about the batteries status. It is obvious, that the software is way too pessimistic about the batteries level, as it reports their status as "Low", even though the batteries have quite a lot of usable life yet.
Now, don't get me wrong. These are not operational problems, but I hate to pay all these money for a device which does not look as it shouldand does not function as it should. These are well known problems to both Psion and Psion Series 5 users. In certain countries, like France, Psion has been exchanging the first Series 5 models with newer ones, which do not peal or fade and have the newer ROM version.
I contacted the local representative here in Greece, INT Electronics who are very helpful and very polite, but they simply are not aware of any exchange policy that Psion has. I called Psion UK Support Center, and their engineer refused that Psion are aware of the problem and he suggested that I send the unit to them, for checking, and they will return it to me within 3-4 weeks!!! I tried to tell them that they should inform their distributor about these problems, but they didn't even bother.
Finally, thanks to the efforts of the local representative, INT Electronics, I am the happy owner of a new Psion Series 5, serial number KCxxxxx, with ROM 1.01. Nikos, the owner of INT Electronics, did all he could to help me, and he finally managed to find a way to replace my Psion. Not only that, but he offered me another Psion 5 to use, until my unit was send to UK and returned. Thank God, Psion informed INT Electronics, that they should indeed exchange my old model for a new one, and here I am, all happy and proud.
Additionally, INT are importing Palmtop software, and just before Christmas, I bought "En Route", which is some amazing piece of software.
Thanks Niko, I very much appreciate your help and concern. That's the kind of support that Psion should have.
What's this machine capable off
A RISC processor with 6 MB of ROM and 8 MB of RAM
A 32-bit Operating System, with GUI and RDBMS included
Password Protection
Touch-screen interface with a touch-pen (fingers work also)
Word Processor (compatible with MS-WORD)
Spreadsheet (compatible with MS-EXCEL)
Diary and Time Manager
Rolodex (not the best one on earth, but ...)
Time around the Globe
Calculator (simple and scientific)
Hand drawing capabilitites (with the touch-pen)
Spell Checker and Thesaurus
Programming language
Asynchronous Communications
Sound Recording and playback (like a cassete recorder)
I've added some utilities I got from the Net
A backlight and contrast management utility
A keyboard-controlled task switcher
A couple of games
A text editor
A global find utility
A FAX sending and receiving program
A Quicken-compatible bank account management
A program that checks the battery level and warns you
A project planner
A foreign exhange calculator (ever try to convert 5.000.000 Turkish Lira to drachmas?)
An RPN calculator
Some trivial, Fileofax-type information
A Packet Radio program (believe it or not!)
Problems with Psion
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