Sharp Electronics PW-E550 Electronic Dictionary

Rating:
Summary: Just recieved it today. Initial impressions are...
Review: Good
* Screen size is just about right, very readable and fairly bright. Zoom feature is excellent
* Love that the words appear as you type, very fast. Only the spell checker has a delay, but works very well.
* The definitions are extensive and include a sentence with the word.
Bad
* Not a biggy but for the price I wish the case was metal.
* I'm not always reading in a well lit room when I look up a word so a backlight would be nice.

Rating:
Summary: Why would anyone purchase this dumbed-down version?
Review: I cannot imagine why anyone would want this dumbed-down version of the PW-E500 which is being sold (I was informed by Sharp) only in the UK and Australia. I think that we Americans are being cheated. The 550 has only 2/3 of the vocabulary definitions and completely lacks the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.

The PW-E500 has:
* Oxford English Dictionary (355,000 words, phrases, and definitions)
* New Oxford Thesaurus (600,000 synonyms & antonyms)
* Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (5th Edition) (20,000 quotations and 3,200 authors comprehensively indexed - Name, Keyword Search, Themes, etc)
* Crossword Solver (if you have, for example, A_i_on_, type ? into the blank spaces like so - A?i?on? - hit Enter and the options alimony and Arizona appear)
* Anagram Solver (type in "Listen" and inlets, silent, tinsel, enlist all appear. Type in "Bowel" and bowel below elbow appears - an anagrammatic sentence of anatomical correctness. Love that discovery!)
* History Key (keeps track of 30 items most recently accessed)
* Zoom Key (permits 2 text sizes, should you misplace your specs)
* Calculator (12-digit, fully functional, with memory calculation)
* Currency & Metric Converter functions
* Power (200 hours on one AAA battery)...
...and more




Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive, intuitive and convenient
Review: I had been thinking about buying an electronic dictionary since they first appeared on the market. I knew pretty much what I wanted in a device but until now, I've found them all wanting in some area that was important to me. This device is absolutely perfect for my needs. These are the attributes that I was looking for, in roughly most important to least important order:

It had to be easy and intuitive to use
It had to have a very comprehensive dictionary and thesaurus
It had to show (not speak) pronunciation
It had to be non-invasive (imagine using one of the speaking dictionaries in a classroom or library setting)
It had to be reasonably priced

The PW-E550 meets all of these requirements.

At the time I was considering the PW-E550 I was reading two books: "Being And Nothingness" by Sarte and "How To Be Alone" by Jonathan Franzen (as an aside, if you're not familiar with Jonathan Franzen I highly recommend checking him out). I decided to page through each book and write down a short list of words that I either did not know the meaning of, or was unclear of. I then took that list of words to my local bookstore, found the hardcopy version of "The New Oxford American Dictionary" and looked up my words. With the minor exception of "transphenomenal", I found all of my words in some form (with "transphenomenal" I was able to find "phenomenal", "phenomena" and "trans-").

To give you an idea of what I was looking for I unashamedly present my word list:

nihilates, transphenomenal, ontological, heterogeneity, facticity, thematized, interiorization, objectivation, vagaries, preponderant, exigencies, isolationism, milieu, preemption, multilateralism

When I received the PW-E550 the first thing I did was to recheck my word list. My experience was better than I expected. Not only did I find the same words and definitions, I didn't have to glance at the manual at all to figure out what to do. I just pressed the "DICT" button, typed my word and watched the list of words that matched my typing get smaller until my word (or a form of it) was displayed.

The screen has two zoom settings and the contrast makes the display easy to read. The entire unit could fit comfortably into a shirt pocket (both size and weight). The fact that it uses a single AAA battery (as a previous reviewer mentioned) is a real plus.

There was one feature that I did not think about until I started using the device - it would be nice if, when looking at a definition, I could look up any of the words in the definition without losing my place. That's when I picked up the manual and much to my delight I discovered the device can do this (they call it "Super Jump"). It's not as intuitive as the other features but once you've used it, it becomes obvious. Finally, the hardcopy version of the dictionary has pictures on some pages but the E550 does not. Again, not an issue for me.

I would like to comment on an earlier review where the author gave this unit a one star review. She complained that the PW-E550 is a dumbed-down version of the PW-E500. By dumbed-down, she meant it had fewer words than the E550. This is true. However, the PW-E500 uses the "Oxford English Dictionary" and its corresponding "New Oxford Thesaurus". That dictionary gives both English (as in England) and American definitions, likewise the thesaurus. This would be a personal choice. I don't need to see both "color" and "colour" in my dictionary but that's just me. To me it was like she was saying that she thinks a Jaguar is a better car than a Cadillac therefore a Cadillac is a lousy car. This is a great reference tool.

If you have any doubts about the contents of this unit, go look at the hardcopy versions. I am very impressed and absolutely delighted that I have such a simple yet comprehensive reference sitting on the arm of my chair as I read.

Rating:
Summary: Good BUT get the UK version.
Review: I spend time in the US & UK. I always wanted a portable dictionary with a 'bit of meat' & so far, this fits the bill - by that , I mean that I paid £95 instead of $95 for the better version that is sold in the UK.
Why better? because it offers more words & spellings as well as the other useful features mentioned by another reviewer.
It is an expensive bit of kit ,but a one off buy , so make sure you get the right one - tricky if you are only in the USA but worth it ( try amazon.co.uk ) - if you like words , buy this, It is small , portable & very useful because of that fact - but plump for the UK version.

Rating:
Summary: No Running to the Nearest Computer Anymore!
Review: I would highly recommend buying this dictionary over all others simply because it provides you with much more "content" than any other! This dictionary/thesaurus/grammar handheld holds so much information that is available right when *you* need it; no need to run to the nearest computer to look up that one word you don't know... just pull this little, thin thing out of your bag/pocket and you're set.

Most other reviewers will agree with me in saying that this handheld contains an over-abundance of words that most handheld dictionaries never bother to put in. Why waste money getting a Franklin that you have to buy even more miscellaneous products in order to get the standard of English you sought in the first place? Save yourself some trouble and buy this because there won't ever be a need for buying another, let alone "accessories" that you very well could do without.

I'll admit, before I bought this, I did quite a bit of research on what was available, for how much, and the value of the item. This is a one-time buy, something you'll never need to replace or return for something better.

Quiet, unobtrusive (as another reviewer states as well), and compact... For those of us who obsess over the littlest definitions or if you're a perfectionist, buy this handy little item, you'll never regret it!

Rating:
Summary: Product descriptions are just about completely useless...
Review: Product descriptions are just about completely useless in comparing electronic dictionaries. Just telling you how many thousands of words and synonyms the item has isn't enough to help you know if it will meet your needs. So I'll just relate my experience.

About a dozen years ago I bought a Franklin electronic dictionary. It's called "Language Master" and I don't know how many tens or hundreds of thousands of words or definitions they say it has.

My problem with it is mainly that it doesn't have fifty percent of the words I look up. It also doesn't have pronunciations and word origins. And the batteries are those expensive CR 2035 (or something like that).

The Sharp PW-E550 has none of these negatives. I can hardly come up with a word that is not defined in it. Unfortunately, I don't know of a simple, surefire way of demonstrating that the Sharp is better than the Franklins in this way. Nor do I know if the newer Franklins are improved over their older ones. It just isn't possible from the product descriptions of the various items, to determine how USEFUL the particular product will be to you.

I took a chance on this one. I reasoned that I could return it if I didn't like it. But I love it.

It does have pronunciations and word origins. It has numerous little essays on grammar and usage.

I made up a list of the most unusual, obscure words I came across while waiting for this dictionary to arrive in my mail. It has all of them. It also has every other word I've looked for since I've been using it (about a week). There was only one word I gave it that it didn't have. I don't remember what that one was, but it was something very silly.

It runs on just a regular AAA battery, which is certainly less expensive to replace than lithium, calculator-type batteries. It looks to be that the Franklins now use AAA's too.

The Sharp PW-E550's product description doesn't even mention that it has pronunciations and origins! Sharp: If you're reading this -- what are you thinking?

I can't understand why this electronic dictionary doesn't have a lot of glowing user reviews.