[Big Mac]

A friend of mine saw me in the hall today and asked for my email address. I told him sure thing, so he handed me this nice looking little PDA with a good quality screen, word processing and a built in keyboard. He identifed it as a Psion he purchased off of Half.com. I love my iBook 466, but on some days it's just too much work to tote around. I had heard about this Psion once or twice before, and my interest was piqued, so I conducted a quick search on MacNN about it. To my dismay, I've learned that the Psion has particularly poor Mac support that never seems to improve. So even though it's a nice unit, MacNN has ruled it out for me.

The thing that really impressed me about the Psion was it was small and had a built-in keyboard. I know that Palm and Handspring offer the best support for the Mac, but I'm not too interested in keeping an external keyboard with me.

So, tell me, are there any Mac friendly units out there with built-in keyboards? I know I'm pretty perfectly describing the eMate, but, as we sadly know, she's dead. Maybe I could pick one up on eBay, though. It would match my iBook quite well. Can anyone offer another suggestion?

The Psion 3c has a nice keyboard, good display, and excellent built in software productivity suite (contacts, Word Processing, Spreadsheets, calander...). With PSIMac software, it works nicely with a Mac. I've been using one for years, with my iMac DV/SE 400, and my PB G3/400; both running OS 9.1. The word andSpreadsheets from the Psion will open on the Mac as either an AW or MSW/MSXL document. It's simple to create a document on the Psion, pass is to the Mac, edit it, pass it back to the Psion, and so on. I find the interface is better than Palm Desktop. On the downside, it's been out of production for years (still pops up on eBay quite frequently).

To answer your question, though, I've been using the Treo for a couple of months and as a Psion afficionado would recommend it highly. It's very nice, readily available, and Mac-ready out of the box. Although it's not as productivity-oriented as the Psion, I've been using the Treo exclusively since I've received it. I thought that I'd carry a torch for Psion forever, but the Treo has converted me. They are on the shelf at Staples, go check out the keyboard (thumbboard).

There is a comprehensive and objective review for both the Psion and the Treo here:
http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/

Good luck.

Originally posted by Big Mac:
<STRONG>
So, tell me, are there any Mac friendly units out there with built-in keyboards? I know I'm pretty perfectly describing the eMate, but, as we sadly know, she's dead. Maybe I could pick one up on eBay, though. It would match my iBook quite well. Can anyone offer another suggestion?</STRONG>

Have a look at the new Sony Clie NR70 which is due out soon. It's got a tiny keyboard. I am not sure how well it works with Mac though.

I had a Revo and really liked it, but its got a problem with its battery which kept dying. I sent it back for repair twice and its still bad so i've given up on it. and, like emate, i believe revo is now dead too.

[Nebrie]

Originally posted by Big Mac:
<STRONG>A friend of mine saw me in the hall today and asked for my email address. I told him sure thing, so he handed me this nice looking little PDA with a good quality screen, word processing and a built in keyboard. He identifed it as a Psion he purchased off of Half.com. I love my iBook 466, but on some days it's just too much work to tote around. I had heard about this Psion once or twice before, and my interest was piqued, so I conducted a quick search on MacNN about it. To my dismay, I've learned that the Psion has particularly poor Mac support that never seems to improve. So even though it's a nice unit, MacNN has ruled it out for me.

The thing that really impressed me about the Psion was it was small and had a built-in keyboard. I know that Palm and Handspring offer the best support for the Mac, but I'm not too interested in keeping an external keyboard with me.

So, tell me, are there any Mac friendly units out there with built-in keyboards? I know I'm pretty perfectly describing the eMate, but, as we sadly know, she's dead. Maybe I could pick one up on eBay, though. It would match my iBook quite well. Can anyone offer another suggestion?</STRONG>

The downsides are that there's no usb (as far as I know, I'd love to be able to hook up my Psion 5 to my mac) plus Psion is essentially dead. They've gotten out of the handheld market; whatever new units you see are whatever is left in their warehouses. They were very close to releasing a new bluetooth handheld unfortunately.

You definately won't find another handheld with a keyboard as great as the Psions unfortunately.

[Walter J. Ferstl]

In addition to PsionBrian's remarks:

The latest member of the Series 3 by Psion has been the 3mx (2 MB RAM, double processor speed compared to the 3c). Most of the accessories for the 3c work with the 3mx as well.

If you happen to see such a thing for sale, make you give it a closer look.

Mac support is a huge difference between the Psion 3 series and the Psion 5 and Revo models.

Psion 5 series (via MacConnect) Macintosh connectivity can be improved a little bit by using the free converter tool by Enfour Group, Text Convert (EPOC &lt;&gt; Mac), additionally.

Download link at http://www.enfour.com/psion/text.html

Regards,

Walter.

[jamez bond]

I am using a Palm M500....it's great.
I have the foldable keyboard that does the job when I am out and about. Usually carry a bag of some sort anyway.

It's easy to use, you get LOADS of software and it looks very sleek.

There has been some problems like synchronising issues. No problems now, though.

maybe check out the new m515...looks like a winner to me.

AND, you now get the bluetooth for it....I think that's better than having this 7 series palm...you don't need to be connected ALL the time...do you?

Adding to Walter's above mention of the Mac Text Convert download, I beleive that Atelier has a similar text utility, although I can't vouch for it.

There is also an intriguing title for the Series 5 called "Java-Psion Link" (JPL). It looks like a very interesting approach to connecting a Series 5/Revo with a Mac using Java. It can be downloaded here:
http://website.lineone.net/~john.mon...ink/index.html

Regarding Psion's status as being "dead" in the PDA market, Psion, like Apple, has a legacy of unique, innovative design. While Psion is, at the moment, a non-player in the PDA market, their legacy continues in the Symbian OS, which is positioned to be a major player in 3G. Check out the new Nokia's running Symbian (one has a keyboard!).

Good luck.