If you love the Series 7 but can’t afford it, there is hope. The Psion Revo offers the same slick keyboard/screen action, the same basic PIM, word processing, spreadsheet and database pro
grams, plus it links to your mobile phone for emails. The fact that it is small enough to fit in your pocket, has a relatively small 480 by 160 monochrome screen and doesn’t offer any expansion shouldn’t worry you if you consider price.
The biggest drawback to the Revo is its keyboard. It’s a full QWERTY layout, but has very close spacing, and even more importantly, it has extremely small travel. Consequently, it’s often hard to know if you’ve hit the right key unless you look at the screen.
Inside the stylish dark blue and silver case liesa 36MHz ARM710chip, 8M each of RAM and ROM, a built-in squeaker (speaker would be too generous), a neat stylus, an IrDA window, and a bottommounted synchronisation port for connection to the host PC. This docks with a special tray-like cradle, and links to the same PsiWIN utility the Series 7 uses. A power-in socket is used for charging the internal lithium ion batteries that are good for about one week’s work.
The Revo is slightly slower than the Palm when paging through entries or applications, and the tiny yet perfectly formed icons can get a little confusing due to their close proximity, but the combination of keyboard and touchscreen make it easy to use. The ROM-based email program handles SMS messages to a com patible mobile, using the infra-red window to exchange data. The IrDA port also comes in very handy if you want to print while on the move.A direct wireless print option is incorporated into the OS. Other useful elements are the ability to link and synchronise directly into Microsoft Outlook, Organiser, Schedule* and other PIMs, as well as exchange directory entries with a mobile phone.
Taken as a whole, the Revo is a really good pocket device with lots of features. Only the keyboard lets
it down, with Its cheap feel and impractical spacing. However, If you hate Grafitti and Transcriber, this is definitely the best value QWERTY-based manager.

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