From: er+@cs.cmu.edu (Ekkehard Rohwedder)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.palmtops
Subject: Re: Boss, Wizard, 95, Opinions?
Date: 8 Jan 93 00:20:57 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.C0IEB1.G1w.1
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

Here's my $0.02 on two *low-end* organizers:

For the most part I want to use these beasties as note-takers/data repositories.
Secondly I did not want to spend more than $150 (figuring that I'll shell out
another $100 for the PC-link).

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I first tried out the Sharp (OZ?)-5000 which comes with 32kB (costs around 
$140-$150).  It does not take extra cards.

I thought that it was pretty intuitive to use: there are lots of `mini-menues'
e.g. for selecting world timezones, special characters... that display the 10
choices you used last. It also allows a primitive form of cut-and-paste between
applications. It has an expense calculator with flexible categories. Its
scheduler also allows weekly views.
I thought the Sharp's interface was relly nifty - you could tell they tried to 
creatively overcome the limitations of using and editing on limited keyboard and
display space.

What I did not like: the shift key works like a CAPS key. It becomes very 
irritating when you type in mixed text. (Its display: 16x8 chars.)

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However, I then ended up with the Casio BOSS-8000, mainly because it has 64kB,
a larger 32x6 character display, while it only runs up some $120. It also has
a nicer tactile feeling.

Its user interface, however, is FAR INFERIOR to the Sharp: e.g. INSERT just
makes a space so you can insert another character (anyone remembering the
CBM-PET/VC-64 BASIC?). I find the user interface pretty confusing and inelegant,
there are also too many other weird keys where they should have left room
for a bigger space-key.
I do like the Business-card application: since cards are sorted by company and
then by name you can use it to mimick a notion of several files with records 
in them.
I do NOT like, however, that once you have entered text into the different
categories, you cannot move it between these categories. (This is fine for
someone who really uses it to record business cards, but that is not what I
intend it for. The Sharp on the other hand sees category-boundaries merely as 
a special character which may be inserted or deleted.)

I do like that the BOSS offers different data views (one line per entry vs.
full entries), but generally they could have done a much better job in their
user interface! The shift-key only shifts the next character that is entered,
which I like better, but it still is not a real shift!

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What I do not like about both machines is that entries are limited to
384 and 512 chars, respectively, which -considering the CASIO's atrocious
editing capabilities- can probably be seen as a safeguard-"feature".

One suggestion would be to check out different organizers from places 
which have liberal return-without-questions-asked policies.

I would also like to hear other people's opinions on different models that they
have played with. I wonder if the higher-end models also use the very same
user interface.

  -- Ekkehard