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Works well, more features than expected, July 11, 2003
Reviewer: An electronics fan from Los Angeles

"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!"

More than worth the money I spent on it, June 10, 2003
Reviewer: An Amazon.com Customer from Winthrop, ME USA

"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.
• 14. 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."

Product Key Features: 768K Memory PC Link included Built-in 8-PIM Functions, 14x5 line Backlit display

(YO-290P -- old name for OZ-290)

YO-290P - My first PDA

"I've had my Sharp YO-290P for a couple of days now (April 2003). I'm new to the PDA world so I don't even know if I would find a PDA useful. I'm also one of the most frugal people I know, which brought me to the 290P. I don't need to download email, take pictures, or replace my PC. I just wanted an 'instant on', good extension to my computer, look up contacts, to-do's and take a quick note. I'm a database programmer with my own database of contacts, along with a database of contacts in Outlook. I wrote my own program to consolidate this info and load it into the software provided for upload.

"The size is awesome and it is quite sturdy. The display has great contrast even in the sunlight. The cover does a great job of protecting the screen from abrasions. To look at the thing, you would think that it cost [$$$] or even [$$$]. It has 'up, down, left, and right' buttons on the touch screen as well as physical buttons on the unit. Unfortunately, it only has 'Prev' and 'Next' physical buttons on the bottom of the unit and not on the touch screen. If you have the stylus in your hand and you need to do a 'Next', you have to shift your hand around to press the button. Not too big of a deal.

"The manual is relatively complete but fails to use the screen symbols for the major tasks which was a bit confusing to get started.

"My two major beefs: the software with the product is minimalistic. It can only upload or download one section at a time. Upload contacts, then upload to-dos, then upload memos; each their own sequence of clicking on the PC, and then selecting the PC-Link function on the unit. Tedious. It doesn't merge the data either. When uploading in batch, it overwrites the target. This goes for uploads to the PC and downloads to the 290P. I was hoping for something smarter. That being said, I uploaded around 250 contacts and a couple of 'to-do's' and I'm only using 66% of the memory.

"I went searching for better software. I downloaded and attempted the shareware XLink/Win software to no avail. The Sharp evidently has a new communications paradigm that isn't compatible with other models. Alternative communication suggestions? If I could get that to work the software would well be worth the [$$$], [$$$] more than the YO-290P.

"The 290P is a great bargain. Not perfect but a bargain."

POCKET SIZE CHOICE

"If you want to carry a PDA in your pocket, this is it. Simple to organize & store info. I can't leave home without it! Has a backlight for low-light conditions & 43 cities in different time zones. Has a calculator, calendar, schedule, anniversary, memo, expense, & to do mode. It also offers an English-Spanish bi-directional word translator function too. The best thing i like about the SHARP YO-290, comes with a PC Link software & cable which you can exchange data between the Organizer & a PC!"

Excellent Choice

"It's strange that though Amazon claims that this is one of their top sellers that they have very little (and false) information on it.

"I've used other "touch screen" organizers and found that they have several problems. You will often hit the wrong key or the key will repeat and also they seem to have a lack of features in the lower price range. This organizer suffers from none of these problems though I have found that sometimes the key I press doesn't enter (but at least it doesn't repeat 2 or 3 times).

"The size is great (easily fits in my palm), the case is sturdy, the stylus entry is more reliable than any other unit I've seen, the SEARCH FUNCTION for the phone, memo, schedule, etc. Works just as one would expect it to.

"There is one thing that it was reported to do that it simply does not. The functions and prompts are supposed to be able to be displayed in 7 languages but on this model only English is available.

"All in all a wonderful organizer though. And ...you can't beat the price to feature ratio. This unit is even on par with the data features of my Casio B.O.S.S."

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