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Sharp OZ-290 Wizard Personal Organizer

Sharp OZ-290 Wizard Personal Organizer

List Price: $39.99
Your Price: $23.74
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Works well, more features than expected
Review: For [this price], this is well worth it. More features than expected, even comparable to Palm Pilots, minus handwriting recognition. The features are good and the touch screen/stylus works very well. Not too difficult to use, even w/o manual. The protective lid seems solid enough and protects well. The stylus fits in the side like Palm Pilots and is useful. There isn't to many cons for the money. Little improvements could be a second caps key that doesn't act like caps lock, changing "mobile" to "cell" so the intial is not confused to "home" (M vs C, to not confuse with H), a cancel/esc key, ability to repeat schedules + repeat alarms, and have the next/previous key as on screen as well, like the enter button.

This are all pretty minor, compared to the benefits of the pda, so I highly recommend this for someone who doesn't need a Palm Pilot and definitely doesn't need a Pocket PC. Good price, good features!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not Bad For Starters
Review: I bought this organizer on my first day of work, I was thinking of investing in a rather expensive PDA and then I saw this.

Pros:
-Looks cool -- like other PDA's
-Has all the functions that I need, calenders, memos, to do lists and reminders to meetings etc.
-And yes if you learn to use the organizer properly, you can indeed enter MORE than 1 entry to your lists per day (this is to refute some one's comments on this organizer before me.)
-I like the calculator feature.
-The stylus works really well.
- The 3 alarms are really cool, way better than my cell phone. One rings everyday at the same time, another rings when you want it to, and the third rings as a reminder for appointments.
-It is so much cheaper (and has all the features I wanted) than what I thought I wud end up spending on expensive PDA's esp since I wasn't looking for Wi-Fi or MP3s in them!
-You have the option of turning off the display of the synchronization program when you boot the PC. (someone else mentioned that this troubled him/her.)

Cons
- The 9 pin serial port sucks in this world of USBs and I am thinking of getting a Serial port to USB converter to make things work.

Overall, I definitely recommend this product to all those who could do with an organizer (without the Wi-Fis and all) but are not really happy with the price of PDAs in the market.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Totally Pleased
Review: I bought this organizer on my first day of work, I was thinking of investing in a rather expensive PDA and then I saw this.

Pros:
-Looks cool -- like other PDA's
-Has all the functions that I need, calenders, memos, to do lists and reminders to meetings etc.
-And yes if you learn to use the organizer properly, you can indeed enter MORE than 1 entry to your lists per day (this is to refute some one's comments on this organizer before me.)
-I like the calculator feature.
-The stylus works really well.
- The 3 alarms are really cool, way better than my cell phone. One rings everyday at the same time, another rings when you want it to, and the third rings as a reminder for appointments.
-It is so much cheaper (and has all the features I wanted) than what I thought I wud end up spending on expensive PDA's esp since I wasn't looking for Wi-Fi or MP3s in them!
-You have the option of turning off the display of the synchronization program when you boot the PC. (someone else mentioned that this troubled him/her.)

Cons
- The 9 pin serial port sucks in this world of USBs and I am thinking of getting a Serial port to USB converter to make things work.

Overall, I definitely recommend this product to all those who could do with an organizer (without the Wi-Fis and all) but are not really happy with the price of PDAs in the market.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: I bought this so called Wizard Organizer and used this for one day and without any hesitation I returned. This is my frank advise to anyone who is looking for a PDA. Add some more money and buy some thing which is worth. It is very difficult to understand the function. Secondly it is not at all user friendly and screen doesn't look good at all. Happy surfing for a better organizer !!!!

Vinu Varughese
Philadelphia

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good PDA for the money
Review: I checked every PDA in this price range. That was my only waste of time. I asked for this as a gift, and I'm glad I did. Hey, if you have to compare every feature on all of these items, then you probably need something better. Get an m130. If you're buying this for a young student (9-13 yrs. old) get a Phusion. As long as you need a good organizer for it's reference, get an OZ-290. It won't sing, it won't dance nor will it take a lot of info on the fly. That's what paper is for. Beyond that the OZ-290 works very well, and it's easy to use. Believe me, I'm no rocket scientist. Hooking it up to my PC was so easy I thought it might set itself up. Whoever wrote the instructions deserves a medal for it's simplicity. The only major drawback that I see is that it only works with Outlook. NOT Outlook Express. (Note to Sharp: Think simplicity: Outlook Express) Minor gripes are that the cover does feel flimsy. Don't drop it. I'm no fan of the plastic screen cover. It may be tougher than it looks, but I have this terror that it'll tear. Overall, I am happy with this and I think I will be for some time.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: good bang for the buck
Review: I just bought this little item and as far as I've used it, it works great. The bells and whistles work as advertised, it's easy to learn the features and I'm glad I bought it. The only negative so far is the hook up to my P.C.. It requires a 9-pin port, which I have one of, and that is currently being used by my U.P.S. unit. Since most new PC's today have a multitude of U.S.B. ports, it would make sense to make the connection thru one of these. Still, if you don't need a "Palm" then this serves its purpose nicely.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not bad but synchronization with Outlook has issues
Review: I needed an organizer that would hold my phone numbers and addresses and be able to transfer that information from Microsoft Outlook with ease. That wasn't the case for me.

After encountering problems with synchronization, I called Sharp's support. I was very pleased with how quickly they answered the call and at how pleasant they were. I talked to two different support techs and they both tried several steps to help fix the problems. They weren't able to help but I was very appreciative of their attempts. Since this was a gift and my husband didn't keep the receipt, I was forced to try to figure out a solution myself.

Conflicts with Outlook 2002 that I experienced:
1. When I exported my Outlook contacts into a file so I could import it into the organizer, the field headings did not match Sharps field headings. Any headings that didn't match didn't get imported. Also, the Outlook contact type (personal contact or Business contact) didn't come through in the export and none of the records were imported into the organizer correctly under "Personal" or "Business". I was able to manually edit the exported file and change the headings to match the organizer. Then, it worked.

2. I've read that the phone number format for Outlook 2002 is hard coded based on the geographical region you select in Windows. For the United States, the phone number format includes parentheses around the area code which does not work well with the organizer. Sharp pulls in the parentheses but then leaves a large space after the area code which causes the end of the number not to display.

3. When I used the synchronization icon located in the taskbar, it would consistantly freeze during the process. The communication was made between the devices but something caused it to freeze in the transferring process. I learned that when I got to the point where it froze, I could close Microsoft Outlook and then I would recieve a message from Outlook requesting permission to transfer e-mail addresses (or something like that - can't remember exactly). When I said yes to the message, the transfer completed. Unfortunately, I still had the issue with the parentheses, though.

My solution to these issues was to create my own .csv file (this is the file type that the Sharp software looks for when importing), using the same headings as the Sharp organizer and format the phone numbers with dashes, leaving out the parentheses around the area code. This worked great when I imported it in. I can't use the synchronization feature of the organizer because it doesn't give you the option to go to a file (it automatically goes to Outlook) but I still can import info in from my created file using the utilities Sharp provides.

The icons are a little small to see on the organizer but that doesn't bother me much. The lid doesn't close securely but I don't know if that'll be a problem yet. These issues aren't much different than I found in other organizers in this price range. I like the looks and size of this one.

Basically, I like the organizer alot except for the compatibility issues it has with Outlook 2002. Sharp's support did say that they would look into the problems. They felt that maybe Microsoft had made some updates to Outlook that was causing these problems.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very looking unit for the money
Review: I purchased this unit as Xmas gift for my baby sister. She was
really impressed about the features this unit has and she thought
that I spent a ton ;)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: More than worth the money I spent on it
Review: I wanted (and got) an inexpensive electronic organizer, which would give me the functions of a calendar/schedule and an address book. This unit has both as well as a calculator, English/Spanish translation dictionary, several different type alarms, a memo function, a backlight feature, a couple of basic games, a conversion mode for metric measurements and currency (when you know the exchange rate), and the ability to sync with my Windows computer using Outlook. The unit has 1MB of memory, which is plenty for storing tons of addresses and memos for 150 years into the future. (The calendar goes from 1950-2150. It goes backward for what reason??)

Pros:
1. It has a backlight.
2. The stylus tucks away in the unit and it works precisely. (So does the end of an unclicked pen, in case you lose the stylus.)
3. Batteries *are* included! (2 Lithium batteries, model CR2032. One for unit operation and one for backlighting.)
4. It has an auto power off after 7 minutes to save battery life.
5. Data isn't lost while replacing batteries as long as you do it quickly and don't pull out both at the same time.
6. The @ and dot (.) symbols are conveniently available so you don't have to search for them when you enter an e-mail address. You can enter other symbols by toggling through a list of 32 different ones.
7. There is a 5-line display and the letters are a good size for reading.
8. It has a protective cover that flips neatly to the back while you're using the unit.
9. The search feature for names & addresses is nice-- it searches by last name.
10. Address fields you can enter are: last name, first name, company, home#, office#, fax#, mobile#, e-mail, address, city, state, ZIP, country, and note.
11. There are 3 kinds of address books: "Unfiled" "Personal" and "Business" for organizing your contacts.
12. The memo feature is nice for storing all those account numbers you can never remember.
13. It has a password lock feature for privacy.
13. The accompanying operation manual is well organized and clear to understand. (It's also in Spanish.)


Cons:
1. The screen has a glare to it unless you hold it at a certain angle.
2. The backlight isn't very bright- more like a "glow." Use a lamp when possible. It's probably good in pitch dark.
3. Some of the screen words like "MENU" and "EDIT" are very small-- have your reading glasses on!
4. I doubt I'll ever use the language translator, so to me it's a waste of space. (Hey, I can read the Spanish version of the manual!)
5. The data entry is not as intuitive as I would like it to be. (I had to read the directions.) And there is no "ESCAPE" or "CANCEL" for navigation.
6. The "ENTER" key on my unit is up-side-down.
7. It has a slightly annoying habit of wrapping words and phone numbers to the next line unless you insert spaces to keep a word or number together.


The following are requirements for synchronization with your computer:
-IBM PC or 100% compatible
-Windows 98/98SE/2000 Prof/Me/XP
-Pentium 300MHz or higher
-50 MB free disk space
-64 MB RAM for Windows 98/98SE/2000 Prof/Me
-128 MB RAM for Windows XP
-Available 9-pin serial port
-CD-ROM drive
-Mouse
-Microsoft Outlook 97/98/2000/2002 must be installed to use the Synchronization Software between the Organizer and your PC.

I don't have Outlook (only Express) and haven't tried this feature. Someone else will have to report on it. (Sorry)

Overall, I think I got more than what I paid for. This is a nice organizer and is superior to its paper counterpart address book and appointment calendar.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This isn't even deserving of one star!
Review: If you are looking for an organizer do NOT buy this. It takes for ever to enter information into it and there are no helpful features that help you repeat calander entries. The calander only holds one scheduled event a day. As for birthdays you can also hold only one per day.

If you only want a spanish/engilsh translator, buy this. If you want a "personal organizer" I highly suggest you do some more research and get something that will be useful to you.


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