It is an EG-800, it works, it is brand new, it comes with a really cool mini-keyboard that clips on the bottom and is the same width of the device, it comes with the polymer battery. it comes with a special attachment for the headphones to amplify the sound.
The price is also very good.
There is one problem.
It is the Japanese version.
He says that all software will work on it ( I’d imagine this to be true, foreign machines would have to run English programs to be much good).
He has said that the handwriting recognition is set up for English.
But I do not know if it will work with active sync on my computer.
I also simply do not know what other incompatibilities there might be.
So should I buy it?
And if I do, know where I might find a new American Rom?
Or should I finally learn Japanese?
I have some expertise in Japanese PDAs, having owned one for about 6 or 7 years (an all-Japanese model, all Japanese menus, that is). I’ve found that the models with Japanese menus are difficult to use for people without serious levels of Japanese fluency. Let me give you an example of what you’re up against:
http://www.casio.co.jp/pocketpc/e800/product/soft_pword.html
That page should display horribly if you don’t have Japanese support in your OS, but the screenshots should be clear enough. I don’t know enough about WinCE to know if this software is replaceable with US editions, or can be switched to English mode, but I suspect it is not possible without replacing ROMs.
I think your chances of locating a US ROM are basically about zero, unless you buy a US version and cannibalize that, and what would be the point?
If I were in your position, I would absolutely not purchase it without personally seeing if I could operate it in a fully English menu mode, and seeing if it would hotsync. The English menus are the problem, I see no reason why it wouldn’t sync, except that you might get stuck using a Japanese-menus sync software for that too. Remember that Japanese data records are a little different, for example the Name field of a Japanese database usually has two fields, the name in kanji, and the phonetic prononciation (kana) where the English record would have only one field.
In lieu of further information, I’d recommend you not purchase this unit.
I agree with Chas.E, it’ll be nearly impossible to use if you can’t read Japanese. It will come with a Japanese version of ActiveSync which may not work at all on an English version of Windows. At the very least it will not display proper Japanese or English text. It just might work with an English version of ActiveSync (which you can download from the Microsoft home page) but I think there are some differences in data structures - e.g. there are additional fields in the address book that are not present in the English version.
Are you sure about the handwriting recognition being set up for English? I haven’t figured out how to do that on my Jornada 525. Of course it does recognize English characters, but if what I wrote looks more like one of the Japanese characters, that’s what gets input. Extremely annoying. I ended up just using the on-screen keyboard. (I miss Graffiti…)
I had trouble syncing my Japanese Zaurus model with my Mac, the data formats weren’t too compatible with any database on my desktop computer, but mostly I just didn’t bother setting it up because I don’t really like using PDAs for storing names, phone #s, etc. I’d rather write it on paper. I just use my PDA’s Japanese dictionary, and that’s all.
AFAIK, all Japanese pen-input systems come with English input, the trick is whether you input in a Japanese menu & system context or an English one. The Cassiopeia ROMs might be big enough to carry an English GUI and a Japanese one together, so you could switch back and forth, but I’d sure like to see it work in full English menus mode before I bought it.
I spent a few more minutes hunting for useful info. I figured this illustration of Pocket Excel might explain what I was talking about.
http://www.casio.co.jp/pocketpc/e800/product/soft_pexcel.html Look at the bottom half, it shows the English input keyboard surrounded by the Japanese context.