Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 391

http://www.casio.com/corporate/pres...t=2&pr=2975

Has anyone any xperience with this device, and knows just how far it can sync with PalmOS devices?

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Rev. Peter da Silva, ULC<br>
<a href=http://www.taronga.com/~peter/>Ar rug t� barr�g ar do mhact�re inniu?</a>

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

I got a PC-Unite 1910 couple of months ago, but found myself going back to my old watch. You can synchronize with a desktop IR unit that comes in the box, or you can synch directly from (not to) your Visor. My sense is that the PC-Unite was intended for use with the desktop IR unit, which works with Outlook, Palm Desktop, or Casio's own desktop software; the fact that it works with PalmOS and CE handhelds seems like an afterthought. PDA synchronization is mentioned on the box, but nowhere in the printed manual -- only in a PDF on the accompanying CD.

One of my main gripes with the PC-Unite is that, AFAIK, you can't simply beam a single item to the watch. Well, you can, but not without deleting the existing data. If you want to add a phone number, for instance, you have to beam it along with all the other phone numbers you want to store on the watch.

The learning curve on for the PC-Unite is pretty steep. This is definitely a watch that demands that you RTFM. There's nothing intuitive about it. For example, if you want to set an alarm, you have to press the Mode button five times, then hold down the side button for a couple of seconds -- that's just to start setting it.

When looking up a contact, scrolling to the correct name can take a while. Rather than display each letter instantaneously when you advance, it takes roughly over a half-second for the letter to draw. That may seem trivial, but it feels awkard, especially when you have to scroll from "S" to "B," and then look up the correct name within the Bs.

Some of the interface problems are inevitable due to the sheer variety and amount of information the watch can display: every button's doing double or triple duty. Other interface problems should've been fixable, like the rubber buttons used for scrolling and data entry: they're too soft, and you often have to press a second time. Metal buttons, or even plastic, should've been used.

The text "browser" was potentially the most powerful feature of the watch: the ability to have your memos, like driving directions, right on your wrist. But the 8-character/2-line limitation, combined with the slow scrolling speed, was just too painful for me to make much use of it.

While it was nice to have my vital data on my wrist at all times, I ultimately realized that there weren't many situations where I didn't have my Visor on me, so the watch was more or less redundant. Also, aesthetically I didn't care for it. It's a pretty big, conspicuous watch, and I'm the sort of person that is a geek but doesn't like looking like a geek; so I stopped wearing it in most situations.

I really wanted to like this watch, but while it's a great concept, it's one or two generations from being as usable as it is powerful.