 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Sharp IQ-8920 Electronic Organizer Bryan Leech bryan@melbpc.org.au |
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I have written several articles for this august journal over the last year or so on Personal Information Managers (PIMs) or Contact Managers (there is a distinction, but it is usually blurred). This type of program is popular with the person who needs to be well-organised, able to look up a contact in a moment, and able to check if there is half-an-hour free next Tuesday afternoon for a drink with a client. The trouble, for the person on the move, is it's a trifle difficult to carry your PC and to find a power outlet. Even notebook computers are too unwieldy.
For these reasons, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) have been popular for some time. They range from the credit-card-sized unit that replaces the traditional "little black book" to look up phone numbers, to much larger devices that provide most of the functions of the more sophisticated PIM, still in a self-contained package that can be carried in the pocket. The Sharp IQ-8920 is a device that is representative of the high end of the range in terms of facilities provided, and can be compared favourably to many of the PIMs available for PC use.
Sampling the features
Opening the device reveals a screen of about 85 mm by 60 mm, providing 240 by 160 dots resolution. This represents a display of fair size and good readability. To the left of the screen are 15 printed icons, each capable of activating one of the functions of the PDA. These icons, and the entire screen, are touch sensitive, and much of the use of the device is by touching and, at times, drawing on the screen with a "pen" that slips discreetly into a slot in the case. Below the screen is a qwerty keyboard with some additional specialised keys. Many of the keys serve a second function. While the keyboard is needed for data entry, much data retrieval can be done simply with the touch-screen.
The IQ-8920 provides well-conceived facilities for scheduling and time management including appointments, anniversaries and to-do lists; a versatile telephone/address book that allows three collections of phone numbers (such as Business, Entertainment and Private); a card-file system that provides for three databases (predefined as Business, Restaurant and User); a notebook that works like a simple word processor and stores files into an alphabetic file-card system; a scrap-book in which you can draw diagrams and maps which can be appended to entries in other parts of your data collection; an outliner; and, finally, a set of 24 filing folders into which you can collect pieces of information from all parts of the data systems.
A cable socket enables you to connect to an optional fax/modem or directly to a PC or printer (a well-chosen but limited range of printers is supported). Or, you can connect an optional infra-red interface unit to the serial port of your computer and exchange data by this cordless link - a parallel infra-red unit is available for transmitting to a printer. An infrared port is built into the IQ-8920 and suitable computer software is provided as an option.
Some closer glimpses
To enter a phone number you simply touch the phone icon, Tel 1, 2 or 3, to select which database you wish to use, then press [NEW]. Name, number and address fields (which can contain multiple lines - there appears to be no limit to the field lengths - and a further six user-definable fields are all provided for data entry.
Finding a number is even easier: touch the phone icon and a set of alphabetic tags appear. Touch the one for the surname you seek and scan down the list. When you find the correct name, touching anywhere on the line will bring the complete entry into view. Alternatively, you can use the Search icon, typing in a suitable keyword. The unit will search all databases for the keyword, but you can, at the touch of an icon, tell it in which database you wish the search commenced.
Scheduling is very powerful for a pocket unit. You may enter an appointment by touching the Calendar icon and a date, then touch the Schedule icon and press new. The data entry screen provides a timeline: touch the starting and finishing time for your appointment and the times are automatically filled in. The only typing you need to do is to enter the nature of the appointment. Alternatively, you can type in the date and times.
To-do items are entered on a simple screen that requires you to type in the nature of the item, the due date, and, if you wish, a numeric or alphabetic priority.
Calendar views flag scheduled, to-do and anniversary items. The calendar can be seen in 3-month, 1-month, 1-week (data), 1-week (graphical, showing scheduled times as shaded bars), and 1-day views. Touching a date in, say, a monthly view, will reveal all commitments for that day.
In the Filer you can bring together, from various files, items that have a connected theme. For example, I might have labelled a folder "Review" and placed into that the phone numbers of my editor and the supplier, any notes I might have written with the Notepad facility, any sketches I may have drawn using the Scrapbook, the time I had scheduled to write the review and the due date for submitting the review. All of these items would be available in their respective places in the PDA, but listing them in a folder makes all this related information also available in one place.
This is a sample of the major capabilities of this feature-laden unit. I was not able to test the computer interfacing. The software runs under Windows and mimics what you get on the device. Importing and exporting from other software appears to be limited, although ASCII and similar files can be transported. The principal purpose of the computer software seems to be to enable the user to keep a duplicate set of data on the PC.
In conclusion
I hated having to return this to the supplier. The unit has such a range of capabilities, that, coupled with portability, it makes PC-based PIMs seem less appealing. The IQ-8920 has a memory capacity of 512 KB with approximately 391 KB available to the user. This equates to 6900 average schedule entries or nearly 6800 average telephone entries. As you devote space to entries in other areas, there is an obvious reduction in these quoted figures.
There are a couple of points that may dampen enthusiasm just a little. At 150x95x18 mm (approx), and weighing in at 300 g, the unit is not small. It will fit nicely into a jacket pocket or handbag, but without these you will have trouble. In addition, while it is easy to learn the basics of this device fairly quickly, it needs a 317-page manual to fully describe it. I was a bit surprised at that. When I saw the manual, I assumed it must have been a multilingual one, with perhaps eighty pages devoted to the English section. I was stunned to find it is all English and it doesn't cover peripherals like PC interfacing in any useful detail (fax/modem use is fully detailed including information on accessing bulletin boards and CompuServe).
The IQ-8920 comes with anAustralian-produced (a pleasant surprise) instructional video, but this was fairly basic and did not contribute a lot in my learning how to use the unit. To users unfamiliar with PDAs, or who consider themselves "non-technical," purchasing or borrowing the video would probably be quite useful.
RRP for the IQ-8920 is $799 although it can be purchased for less; the infrared serial (PC) CE-IR2 Wireless Interface is $129, and the CE-IR1 parallel infrared printer interface is $149; the IQ990 computer software is $99.
Reprinted from the April 1995 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
