- Best Windows Database Viewer?

- RE: Nokia 9500

- RE: Nokia 9500

- Doing an Itamar ...

Date: 25 Mar 2007 18:37:09 +0000
From: Jakfish <address truncated>
Subject: Best Windows Database Viewer?

Hi, All,

I'm looking for a Windows-based Database View (CSV, Access, any file format that PsiWin can do) to read my Psion's lengthy Data files.

My data entries have only four fields but the Notes section can be several paragraphs long, which makes reading them in CSV form on Excel very difficult.

As for the Windows viewer, I don't need to input, so mere viewing is fine.

Many thanks for any suggestions,
Jake

Date: 25 Mar 2007 23:23:17 +0000
From: Alan Morris <address truncated>
Subject: RE: Nokia 9500

From: Chris Handley

} North 52 degrees 20 minutes 17.6 seconds
} West  0 degrees 12 minutes 29.5 seconds
}
} Position taken using my hand-held Garmin eTrex in their car
} park.  I don't normally use it these days, but I was
} expecting to have to leave my 9500 with them for a few days,
} and wanted to be sure that I could find them again! 

I always carry my 3mx and a 5mx with me.  My eMap also!

} (Normally I use TomTom Mobile 5 on my 9500, which is great -
} except it has a habit of crashing, if you switch to another app.)

I bought a Loox FS-720 to display camera pictures and use with my Garmin
2610, but the USB host won't work as no drivers available!  Thought I'd
install TT5 but it would not install.  The eMap works OK with OS maps
though.

} seems like Symbian & Nokia have concentrated on slowing down
} the old blazingly-fast EPOC core...  One can only assume they
} let Windows programmers "improve" it! )

The wife came home on Friday, to tell me that the local library had
'improved' their website.  So I asked what had been left out and slowed
down.  She just laughed - hole in one!

Thanks Chris,
Alan

Date: 25 Mar 2007 23:23:17 +0000
From: Alan Morris <address truncated>
Subject: RE: Nokia 9500

From: Itamar Engelsman <address truncated>

} Re.: Nokia 9500 - Surely when not working a connection with
} Broadband works out a lot cheaper than via your mobile phone
} ?  If you have a PC at home you can use MochaPPP to connect,
} otherwise sell some Psion stuf fand get a 2nd hand mBook or
} netBook with which you can use a Wifi card.

When on ED50 Orange tariff I used my 5mx and my nB  and then cancelled
it when I got broadband with Tiscali.  Tried MochaPPP.  The displays
flashed as though it was working but was never able to connect.

Probably Tiscali at fault, as I got rid of Tiscali as it was so slow.
It was go - stop - go - stop .... with more stop than go, so dial-up was
faster!

} The diary of the EPOC
} machines is very good indeed but I think that if your
} requirements are not too great that the 9500 diary is still a
} good tool to use. And at least you always ahve it with you.

I retained Agenda on a 3a/3mx when I worked, now retired, I don't use
features that disappeared on the 5 - also no screen cable problems.  I
recall that the 5 had a problem with flat batteries if the Agenda alarm
was left unattended.

I'll probably transfer my Agenda to the 7/nB (I swap and keep one as
spare stock) or probably buy a 9500 soon.

Thanks for your comments Itamar,
Alan

Date: 26 Mar 2007 09:41:31 +0000
From: Arabbitte <address truncated>
Subject: Doing an Itamar ...

Hi,

My P910i is coming up to 3 years old now and I continue to be very impressed by what it can do. The Convergence it brings means I just need to bring one device with me and with this I have a fully featured PDA, a phone, and *some* PC functionality in the form of email, browsing and Office Apps like Word and Sheet (albeit, using these with the standard keyboard does bring some, eh, challenges - although it is possible: I did survive a 1 week business trip to Australia last year without ever once having to use my laptop). It's not all good news though and things are now beginning to annoy me. Synchronisation is an ongoing issue and is really unacceptable. My P910i has stood up well to the rough and tumble of everyday life, but even it is now starting to suffer a little - it's casing is well "run in" and the touch screen is sometimes a bit hit and miss.

When Sony Ericsson announced the P990i, I thought this would be my next phone. I was wrong. The P990 represents the very first of a new generation of technology whereas my P910i was the last of it's generation and benefited from extensive tuning and honing derived from the experiences of the many who used the P800 and P900 before it. Everywhere you look, there are very sorry tales of users' experiences with the P990. I hear the latest firmware fixes a lot of the problems, but even then, not all; too little to late I fear and there are now rumours that the "P" form factor may be at an end.

Over the 3 years I kept a mental wish list of what my next device would have. This changes from time to time and currently looks something like:

Keyboard (of sorts)
On board GPS
No bigger than P910i
Good software availability
On board GPS
3G
WiFi
Infra Red
Bluetooth
Decent Camera
FM Radio

I'd always assumed the device would be powered by Symbian, but  now I'm not too bothered. I would say though that the device should have a sophisticated and stable operating system and decent functionality in it's applications. When my 5MX died some years ago, I replaced it with a Palm Tungsten. Although I was very impressed with it's form factor and it's colour screen, the noddy nature of it's operating system and the frequent crashes this brought about put me off. I was very happy to return to the family when I got the P910i.

The problem is, I know of no device that can give me what I want. The recently announced Nokia E90 looks good but this is far too big and I'm not too impressed with the S60 flavour of symbian. This was designed for a non-touchscreen smartphone and not a communicator and I hear the applications do not do justice to the device's physical capabilities. The HTX TyTn sounded impressive but didn't have GPS. Other devices were announced with GPS but no 3G. To date, I have yet to see a device that will tick all my boxes, but I started to get very interested when the HTC Kaiser (aka P4550) was announced a few weeks ago. It will be powered by Microsoft's latest OS - Windows Mobile Professional V6 - and sports an impressive list of features. The keyboard looks especially interesting and should make it much more of a potential laptop replacement than the P910i. It doesn't however, have everything:

No FM Radio - Won't fully replace my MP3 device as a media player.
No Infra Red - no possibility of being able to use it as a remote control then.

I think I may be able to live without these. The specification is still being firmed up, so who knows what might happen between now and June when it is due to be made available. In the meantime I will soldier on with my P910i. If anyone is interested, the current draft specs of the Kaiser are available at http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=733Just look at the way the screen flips up when extended!

All the best from Dublin, Ireland
Alan