I keep seeing these potentially nice PDAs and micro-notebooks with those tiny keyboards, and it makes me sick just looking at those rubber things. Psion has had really great keyboards for this form factor years ago. I have a 5mx, and the keyboard, though small, is great, and the device is very usable for putting in the lap (as long as your legs are close together), on a tray or anywhere else, and just typing. The screen is in the right angle. It's just so useful. All I want is the newer technology -- fast CPU, high res colour screen, wireless communication, that kind of stuff. So every time I see a new power PDA or micro-notebook, I'm very enthusiastic, until I see the keyboard (or lack of one, as in the case of the Sony U50). So I just want to tell the companies: get your #$&*ing keyboard design right!
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LisaG
Head Honcho
Reged: 07/11/02
Posts: 7890
Loc: Texas
The 5mx did have a wonderful keyboard and it's true that not much else comes close. Though the NEC MobilePro 900 has a notebook sized keyboard (but is bigger than a PDA) and the Sharp Zaurus C760/C860 reviewed on this site are quite small yet have excellent keyboards that I find just as usuable as the 5mx keyboard.
-------------------- Lisa Gade Editor in Chief, MobileTechReview
The Zauruses do sound pretty cool, but I'd have to actually try the keyboard to believe it's good enough. I almost-touch-type on the 5mx, that is, I can type with more than a finger at a time and don't have to look. The Zaurus seems a bit small for that, perhaps equivalent to the Revo, which I have to thumb type on (my first keyboard PDA was the Revo, I then bought the 5mx). There's a huge difference.
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