Diamond Multimedia Mako Mobile Internet Organizer

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Summary: I want one of these!
Review: (...)Most people are probably wondering what makes this better than a palm or visor. First, the mako has a whopping 16 MB of memory. The only visor or palm that can match that is the Visor Pro. All those others have a mediocre 8 megs. Next, how many palm or visor handhelds do you know of that have a built-in keyboard? I certainly cant think of any. It is rather small, so you cant touchtype, but if graffiti annoys you, then this is the cure. It is easy and can still write about 3-5 times faster than graffiti. Oh, man ths thing must be huge! But its not. It can easily fit in your pocket or the palm of your hand. What else? How about a word prosessor AND spreadsheet. NO palm or visor has that. Also, unlike most of the palm speadsheet apps (which you must buy) do not have the ability to produce graphs from the spreadsheet. Also, the shape of the mako makes wod prosesing sooo much easier than palm. The wider than tall screen make typing docs much more natural. Not enough? The graph from sreadsheet can be transferred to your word docs. How about online capibilitis? Try the OperaO web browser. If the horribly limited "web-clippings" for the palm handhelds erks you, you will luv the Opera's ability to access virtually any website available. STILL not enough? Software you say? How about the most amazing selection of free software available. (...)

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Summary: A real computer, not just an expansive toy!
Review: A perfect combination of a personal organizer and a computer. It is very compact, slides easily into your jacket pocket, won't weight you down.
It has a large screen, where you can fit a normal page across for reading and writing. The large screen is also very good for the organizer, as you can easily fit a whole week on a single screen. The screen is very clear, it is easy to read even in very dark conditions like cinema or night on the street.
The keyboard takes some time to get used to, but it is very good then. I can easily write a long email or a page or two in the Word. It is fast enough to make notes during meetings. The applications built in are good. The OS is very stable. Crashed at most 5 times during 2 years!
The internet connectivity is easy to set up. The e-mail app is simple but sufficient. I use it for sending SMS messages as well. I like that I not only can read my mail, but I can write a serious answer as well immediatelly. Other internet apps like FTP or Telnet are available as well. The Opera browser is good, the large screen again pays off.
The only major drawback I see is the lack of any expansion slots. On the other hand, honestly I can't think of any expansion I would like to buy.

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Summary: Some Real Problems Here
Review: Well OK, there are some nice things about this gadget. I find it very compact and I like the keyboard and the fact that it has a word processor and spread sheet. However, after endless amount of time writing to Sonic Blue (the staff were incredibly unhelpful and didn't seem to care about my problem at all), consulting with friends etc, my Diamond Mako still does not talk to my computer (my operating system is Windows 98). BIG PROBLEM!

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Summary: I'm sorry Visor, I just don't have time for you anymore....
Review: Don't get me wrong, I love you, my blue Handspring Visor, but, I'm sorry honey, my new toy has a screen 3x the size of yours (480*160), with 16 grayscales, and unbelievable sharpness. Yes, I enjoyed all the good times we had, spending time learning Graffiti and taking 10 minutes just to scratch out a quick note, but my Mako has an actual QWERTY keyboard that I can use to type out the same message in seconds. She has double your memory (16MB) and all her built in apps in another 8MB of ROM, and an OS known for its flexibility and stability, and a processor twice as fast as yours (36MHZ). I'm sorry honey, really I am. Maybe if you had only had built-in versions of Word and Excel, and a rechargeable battery, it might have worked out between us, but I have to move on.

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Summary: Diamond Mako is an excellent PDA
Review: The Diamond Mako is a wonderful choice if you're looking for a PDA. It offers 16 MB of RAM (which is twice as much as most Palm Pilots), has a full QWERTY keyboard, and a very friendly interface. It is easy to link with your PC and has a very good software package included. The only downfall is the lack of a backlight for the screen, but there are many ways to get around this. I feel that the Diamond Mako is the best PDA on the market.

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Summary: What about the battery?
Review: I agree with all the features what the others are saying. I agree with the drowbacks as well. What disturbed me the most is the battery is not replaceable and the voltage monitoring circuit is not very strong eather.
I went to Europe for four weeks and recharged the battery using voltage converter recomended for turists. The chager died and my Mako doesn't work since. You can send it back for a flat repair rate of US$100 plus shipping.
This is a nice little machine until you have battery problem. It can happen in one year or later, but no battery lasts forever.

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Summary: Nice Little Computer with a Great Operating System
Review: I got my Psion Diamond Mako in January 2002 and have been happily using with it ever since. Closed, it is the size of an eyeglass case. I wanted a handheld which did word processing and spreadsheets and the this one does both. I use it to write on and re-read portions of my novel-in-progress during my child's gymnastics class. The Psion operating system offers everything a desktop computer should offer, but does not. I programmed my Mako to turn off when I close it, and guess what? When you turn it back on, one tap of the stylus takes you back to where you were when you turned it off. I can pull my Mako out and do something on it while I'm waiting for my desktop to boot up. Mine came with an old-fashioned serial port interface, so I didn't have to upgrade to USB to use it. It doesn't play music or have an expansion card slot. Yes, it is true there is no back light for the black and white screen, and the screen is not the state of the art, but it one tap can enlarge the size of the typeface on the screen to make it larger and more readable. The screen is wider than most PDA's, which increases readability. I move word processing documents between the Mako and Microsoft Word 6 for Windows 95 and Word for Office 97. I sometimes have to re-boot my desktop computer after moving files between Mako and the desktop, but then my Windows 98 system seems to looks for excuses to crash. My Mako never crashes. This week, at lunch, without the benefit of the manual, I learned how to use the IR port to exchange contacts information with a friend's new Palm MC505. Nine months of use and still my favorite toy. The Information Technology Corporate Gestapo at my place of work have not allowed me to try to interface it with Windows XP, so I can not report on XP compatibility. I use Windows XP at work, Windows 98 at my home desktop, and I watch my husband suffer with the arcane artistry of Linux. This little computer seems so much easier to use than the big machines with their big and hardware intensive operating systems. If you think computers should make word-processing and spreadsheet use truly portable, this is the hand-held to try.

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Summary: Mako
Review: This is a very good product. They only drawback is that the screen is not backlit. This is easy to use and compact to haul around. Much easier than the traditional laptop. Convenience.

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Summary: more powerful than PalmOS, more dependable than PocketPC
Review: The software on this system is easily better than anything PalmOS supports, especially the included word processor and spreadsheet (not to mention the excellent day-planner/to-do program). Trust me: I tried switching to Palm and came back. And unlike the bloated, flaky Windows software on PocketPC units, the EPOC OS on this is rock-solid and doesn't chew up batteries like breath mints. Combine that with an actual keyboard rather than trying to scribble on the screen, and there really isn't much of a contest.

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Summary: Best little computer I've seen
Review: This item isn't a Palm! It works like a small computer. I still remeber when 16M RAM and 36Mhz processor were real computers. This one has actually replaced my laptop for word processing and Excel. I was able to take this item to a conference and actually take notes during the presentations, even in the dark since the keys are light colored and easy to see. The lack of backlight was somewhat of a problem. However, with a complete spell check built in I was able to make corrections in only a minute. The battery life is incredible. After 9 hours of continual use I still had 60% of the battery life left over. The data program is easy to customize and Jotter takes notes easily. One of my favorites is the integration of the Agenda program with Word so that you can take endless notes and attach them to the event. All-in-all I am glad that this was my first PDA device.