Casio Pocket Viewer PV-S250

The Casio Pocket Viewer is actually a series of PDAs. All

models in this series have the same basic architecture, but differ in features.

We got our hands on the PV-S250 model, which has a slim design, and serves as an

effective Personal Information Manager (PIM) for those on the move. It has its

own operating system and 2 MB of flash memory, which ensures that your data is

retained even if the batteries pack up.

The

PDA’s display is dot matrix and backlight illuminated. The backlight can be

manually controlled or timed to switch off automatically. You can control the

interface either with the provided stylus, or by using the action-control

carousel on the top-left side. The carousel ensures easy navigation through

commonly-accessed menus.

The Pocket Viewer uses two AAA-sized batteries and claims to

have a battery life of 180 hours. It also has auto-power off to conserve power.

This retains the last screen you’ve accessed, so you don’t need to delve

into the menus again after turning it on.

When you start up the device, it does its basic settings like

touch panel alignment, contrast adjustment, language and home time settings. A

touch on the Menu tab brings up all menus like the Scheduler, Pocket Sheet,

Contacts, Memo, Quick Memo, etc. we found the Quick Memo function very useful

for quickly scribbling down any information, say a phone number or a message.

You also have shortcut tabs to some of the menus on the lower strip of the

device. Navigation through individual menus is easy and self-explanatory.

Text input to all required fields is through a small

keyboard-like matrix display, which activates characters when you touch them

with the stylus. Due to the small display, however, it takes some time to get

used to the layout.

The Pocket Viewer comes with a software counterpart for the

PC–the PC-Sync Software. This has the same layout as the interface on the PDA.

A cradle is provided for synchronizing data with the PIM data on your PC. The

Quick Data Copy feature lets you copy text from your PC to your Pocket Viewer.

Thus, you can quickly transfer long text messages, e-mail, etc, and go through

them later.

An added feature in this model is its ability to handle

spreadsheets. It can store and synchronize Excel data from your PC. The Pocket

Sheet menu handles a 999-row by 26-column spreadsheet and also gives you basic

capabilities, operations, and functions to edit it.

The menu bar option can be invoked at any time to switch to a

different function. It has a system menu for modifying date or time settings,

sound, memory management, capacity check, contrast, data communication settings,

etc. The Pocket Viewer also has a password-protected memory area, where you can

work on all functions and applications.

You can also find updates and additional software

applications for the Pocket Viewer on Casio’s Website–www.casio.com.

Ashish Sharma



at PCQ Labs