Rating: 
Summary: Finally got outlook synchronization working.
Review: After I got the product, I struggled couple of hours to get it synchronized with MS Outlook. Everything seems fine but it would say communication time out and nothing get transferred. Then I noticed that my computer time does not match with the one on organizer. After setting the organizer time to the same minute as the computer (I could not set the seconds), it is able to synchronize. I think every one has to go through some learning curve to get used to this. Once you got used to it, it may become easy to operate. Ignore my star rating as I did not compared it with any thing else. I could not update this review without selecting my star rating.
Rating: 
Summary: Display, what display?
Review: Backlight, contrast? These don't help at all. If the font could be changed that might help. $$ isn't saved by going cheap ($21.50). I got this an hour ago and it's in the trash already. I'm getting a Palm like I got my wife for Christmas.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm happy now
Review: Except for the fact that the bottom buttons on the screen stopped working, and I was no longer able to get to the menu without pressing the back button, I am very pleased with my SHARP OZ-590. I was able to send it to Romax because of the one year warranty that the PDA has and got a complete replacement for it, and I am very happy now, so if you have problems with it, just call SHARP and they'll tell you exactly what you need to know, because it seems a lot of people on here don't like it because it doesn't seem to work after a while. I've only had my new one for two days, but my last one lasted a month.
As for the PDA, it's a great little organizer. For me, I'm a high school student about to take on Senior, and I can easily forget school assignments and come to school empty handed because of forgotten homework. But if your a busy person, this one sure fits the needs. With the menu screen, it makes you feel as if you're using an expensive PDA with the well low price of $50.00. I was astonished, and immediately purchased it. A lot of us really don't have the money to be spending 300 to 400 dollars on a PDA with internet when you just need one that you can easily enter the assignment you need and even with an alarm that warns you when you need to do so.
I would suggest reading the handbook. When you have trouble understanding exactly what you're entering in, just look into that. And for the people who have already purchased it, I also noticed that a lot of people are complaining about the fact that it's hard to see the screen in any light. I used to think that too and just went under a dim light each day so I could see with the glow in the dark light which is very useful at night when you need to enter in something fast. Well here's the trick. Click menu twice on the screen, and go to Set Up. There, you'll find a writing on the screen that says "LCD Contrast". There, you can lower and dim the screen background anyway you like it. I learned by browsing around the neat little thing.
It may seem frustrating at first (for me it was too) but once you get the hang of using it, and typing in things with the pen that pops off the top of it, you'll be able to remember things a lot easier than before. Don't bother spending almost half a grand on an expensive PDA. Get something that's as simple as one of these. You won't regret it.
Rating: 
Summary: Great product at a great price
Review: First and foremost, this product is NOT for people who are -
1. Looking for the 65K or more colorful display.
2. Looking for E-mail synchronization.
3. Looking for wireless connectivity or surfing the net.
4. And finally looking for MP3 playing or huge data storage etc.That said, this product is VERY USEFUL for people, like me, who -
1. Do NOT want to spend a lot on features that we will rarely use.
2. Do NOT want to worry about charging their units every half a day so as to not lose data (this pda runs on 1 alkaline battery and hence, we just change it every month at the most).
3. Want to just get organized with their basic data such as contact numbers, addresses, emails, urls, memos, to-dos, anniversaries, reminders, expenses etc.
4. Want to use a very simple interface and yet have all the necessary stuff we need.
5. Do NOT care whether they input their data through graffiti or an on-screen keyboard (this PDA does not have graffiti or any hand-writing technology). I like the touch sensitivity levels and the ease-of-use. It is very light-weight and very slim and small.
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST!!!
Review: Hello everyone! This prodect is the best thing I have ever used!
This GREAT prodect fetures a PDA witch is helping me in school,games like blackjack ETC.
The rest of all the info. I am leaving the rest for me to be glad when you buy this prodect. HAVE FUN! ...
Rating:
Summary: Terrible Synchonization
Review: I actually really like the way this unit looks and operates. It had great potential to be exactly what I wanted and needed.
My main reason for purchasing this is that I have lots of meetings and appointments, and I'm not always in front of my computer with outlook running. I really need something that would synch up with outlook and give me reminders of all my appointments.
THIS ORGANIZER WILL IGNORE ALL RECURRING OR MULTI-DAY SHCEDULE EVENTS!!!!!!
I could not believe this shortcoming when I began using the unit. The majority of my meetings are recurring. I would have to go into outlook and change all my recurring appointmenst to one time events, and then copy them over and over....
The worst part of this is that Sharp has the knowledge needed. A freind of mine has a cheaper model with far less memory, and fewer features (Sharp YO-290 I think), but it synchs up with ALL the outlook shcedule events.
If Sharp had some sort of patch to fix this I would keep it.
But since they say in the ReadMe.txt file (which you only see after you've purchased and installed the software) that this unit will not display repeated schedule events, it sounds like they don't intend on providing a fix. So, my 590 is going back.
Rating:
Summary: Simple Useful Personal Organizer
Review: I am a busy pastor who constantly changes hats and needed a better system to stay organized. The Sharp OZ-590A did the job.
The calendar allows you to schedule appointments. By writing the appointment time for 15 mintues before the acutal appointment and setting the alarm beeper, it is a great reminder. It has a clock, and lets you write "to do" lists. The enclosed softward makes it easy to synchronize Sharp OZ-590A with Microsoft Outlook. You can write a list of addresses and phone numbers with the mini-keyboard on the Sharp OZ-590A or using your computer with Microsoft Outlook. By connecting the Sharp OZ with the enclosed cable to your computer, the two will synchronize one another. If you have a Mac, I do not think this would work.
The only drawback is that sometimes after synchronizing it freezes up; this is remedied by removing and then replacing the battery. It takes a second. Then you have to check to the clock. If you do not do this quickly, you might have to reset it.
This really does the job for me. It is smaller than palm pilots.
It's great to have all the addresses and phone numbers you want on your person, to be able to schedule appointments and set reminders. This is a good deal. The used, reconditioned version is even a better deal if they are still available.
Rating:
Summary: Keep looking!!
Review: I guess there's are reasons that other electronic organizers are twice the price as this one...FUNCTIONALITY and QUALITY! Two things this organizer is dreadfully lacking! I'll probably end up giving mine away as soon as I get a new one. The features are so cumbersome, it'll take you forever just to create an appt entry...and forget about trying to repeat the appt...no such option! The display is extremely difficult to see in normal romm light, but at least the backlight option is good in the dark. Next time, I'm not going to buy one of these without TRYING it first!
Rating:
Summary: Great for my purposes
Review: I think the majority of the bad reviews come from people expecting to get all of the features of a top of the line PDA for less then $50 bucks. That aint gonna happen...this really isnt a PDA per se, its more like a an enhanced version of a basic electronic organizer. It stores appointments, has calendars, alarms, phone books, clocks, memos, To-Do Lists, and some neat extras like foreign language translation, spell checking, and a couple of admittedly lame games. I started using it for organizing contacts and schedules as I teach college part time, and work other jobs. It helped in keeping all the important info handy...and now Im using it making grocery lists, and to keep track of every other little thing I need to do during the week. I rarely use Outlook (because I hate it) so I dont really care if it syncs with it or not. Its nice to know the option is there if I ever really need to download the contents of some important email, but thats not why I bought it. For its main puropose, organizing and entering basic data, and reminding me about things, it does it very well. The touch screen operates suprisingly smooth, and I dont have any trouble entering data with the stylus. Any trouble with reading the display can be fixed by adjusting the contrast level. The only complaints I have thus far is a lid that doesnt lock shut, and you cant take the same entry and copy it...for example if you go to the doctor every other thursday, you have to enter all of it manually on each day. Other than that its fine for the price (got mine for $30 at Target) and does pretty much all you need it to do.
Rating:
Summary: Reasonable hardware, junk software.
Review: Maybe it's a bargain if your time is free...
Do NOT buy this item if 1) you don't already use Outlook for addresses (not Outlook Express, not Windows Address book, or any other third party software), 2) don't always follow the instructions letter by letter, or 3) aren't willing to battle finicky, very poorly programmed sync software.
The unit itself is nice. It's got a good display, and navigation is OK, and the unit's built in functionality is sufficient. I personally think that a refurb Zire is a better bargain, but if you're not willing to learn graffiti, this is a reasonable unit to get.
The sync software, however, is something to be reckoned with. It's a total, complete disaster, and there isn't yet an update available that fixes what I would consider show-stopping problems. First, the xxxA unit isn't really USB, but comes with one of those super-cheesy USB-serial conversion cables that works if the phase of the moon is right and you've done no system software fiddling whatsoever. Worse than that, the sync software doesn't manage buffer overflow at all - if the very slow processor in the unit gets behind, the sync sofware aborts the sync. Given the very slow processor in the unit, it can take upwards of 11 syncs (wonder why the sync resume works so well? Must've been the only part of the software that was tested extensively...) to get a reasonably sized address book over.
Almost anything out of the ordinary will cause the sync software to freak out. This was done by junior-grade programmers who couldn't think outside of the instructions. An odd setting, anti-virus software (!), or some other difference between your system and what the programmers expected will cause you to waste hours trying to get things working again.
So, really consider if the small amount of extra money for a refurb Zire unit and the need to learn graffiti balances out sync software that promises to be a constant thorn in your side. There are apparently people for whom this thing works - just let this be a warning about what you may be getting into.
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