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Width:
2.6"
Length:
5.0"
Length (external to Visor):
.73"
Thickness:
.32"
Weight:
4 oz
Availability Unknown
$200.00
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| User Opinions |
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49% |
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51% |
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Great for the Tech Savvy -- but not ready yet for mass consumption |
For those who are familiar with the different wireless data options for PDAs(Yada Yada, AvantGo, GoAmerica, Palm, etc.) OmniSky is clearly the leader. However, I must say that these wireless services have a ways to go before they are perfectly reliable. If you have Internet based mail and can deal with occasional errors and spotty coverage then I would recommend this product in a heartbeat. If you are impatient with these types of things (like most non-early adopters are), then you probably want to wait a bit longer for the service and netowrks to mature.
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Anonymous |
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Pathetic |
Any company that tries to force a User into using their selted software needs to take another look at what Palm computing is really about. Give it up OmniSky, your time is running out.
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Anon |
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Nothing but Trouble |
FataL Errors, DNS problems, messing up settings for my Thincom
and lack of coverage in covered areas have frustrated me.
I may send mine back due to the expense. I could use the
money to cover my Geode.
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RonLC |
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Poor implementation, connectivity horrendous |
I bought a Handspring Platinum for the express purpose of using the Minstrel S. I had beta-tested the Palm V version but declined to purchase the modem when the beta was over because it was clearly being released with significant bugs and constant connection problems. I figured by "v2.0," they'd have solved all that.
Wrong.
The Minstrel S crashed my Visor repeatedly and, even more frustrating, in unreproducible ways, everything from soft resets to two separate occurences in which the Visor was, quite literally, wiped clean. The five step process required just to remove the card from the slot with any hope of not having to reset the machine is ludicrous. The modem hangs - often for three, four, five minutes - with no indication that it's doing anything (although, OmniSky technical support on the phone could verify that "activity is happening...). And woe to the poor end user who tries to interrupt whatever inexplicable communications it's having.
I might be able to live with some level of hardware instability, if the network coverage were even marginal - but it's not. In the greater Chicago area, I found far more places where it would NOT connect than places that it would, including most of the suburbs along the North Shore, on the Kennedy Expressway between the Loop and O'Hare airport, on the corner at Michigan and Chicago Avenues...
The Minstrel S modem and the OmniSky service are in no way, shape or form ready for wide deployment. Early adopters with absolutely nothing to lose on their handhelds might want to play around with it, but anyone with information on or business uses for their Visor would be well advised to stay far, far away from this modem and service.
Fortunately for me, I purchased the Minstrel S from a vendor who would take it back, refund my money and return it to OmniSky. Turning off the service was a very unpleasant experience - talk about HIGH PRESSURE to keep something that doesn't even work! - but at least all that's wasted now is a month or so of my time.
(Doesn't it strike you at VisorCentral that it's even the SLIGHTEST conflict of interest that a review that I'd call at best inaccurate bordering on sycophantic, is displayed on pages that are HEADLINED by paid advertisements from OmniSky? I may be new to Visor market and to VisorCentral, but I've been in the industry for a long, long time and you have just blown whatever tiny shred of credibility you might have had. Next time, make sure you're not showing BANNER ADS from the company you're shilling for; it's considered bad form.)
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Not a Happy Former OmniSky Guy |
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Great for mobile people!! |
If you need constant access to information, you gotta get Omnisky. Yes, there might be connect problems, and sometimes service issues, but in general, it's great!
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Anonymous |
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Spotty coverage, but worth it |
I agree with pretty much everything in this review, though my Prism and Omnisky modem do fit in the provided case. Also, if you want to keep some applications from installing on your Visor, just tap the "home" icon when it asks you to start the installation. If you're like me (webmaster) and you NEED a constant connection to the 'Net, this is the way to go, but if not, I'd wait it out for the technology and coverage to get better.
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Leshrac |
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Intermittent and slow and expensive |
I had trouble with information while moving in a car in an area that supposed to have complete CDPD coverage (Boston). It didn't work on the train to work (neither above nor underground) and that was the most of the time I need it. I have connection at work and at home, so there's really only those commuting times. In order to get this to work, I had to buy the Prism (even though I had the Deluxe, don't trust Yada Yada and want PQA's), the modem and the service. That makes it about $1000 investment (although with deals you can get a lot back). Then my Vaja case wouldn't work and I kept getting service errors, which are different than the errors you get if you pull out the modem without stopping the service (fatal error everytime, reset your Visor without any data is the only cure). My philosophy with this is that wireless is growing very quickly and I don't want to be tied to a single service for years (which is what it would take for this to pay off). I think I'll wait for either Visor Phone (in anything other than GSM version) or for wireless to be built in (but better than the VII). In a year or so, they'll have a system that's color, the size of palm V, and wireless.
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Anonymous |
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Too Flaky |
Had too many problems with intermittant connections. Very unreliable.
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Anonymous |
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Not bad but Not Great either. |
I received my modem in November and was very excited! Since then I find myself not taking it with me very often...it is not that it isn't useful...just there is not a very good case for it out there for it yet. I have tried everything...I even bought a VisorPhone clip-on case to try and use it...but apparently the VisorPhone is smaller that the Omnisky. I am a big fan of the Rhodiana cases that I can clip to my belt and would love to see something like this come out for the Prism/OmniSky Modem combo. The Rhodiana case has made my Visor so much more a part of my life. I now clip it on and take it everywhere...I wish I could do the same with the OmniSky modem.
My recommendation is two-fold:
1. If you need wireless access now, this is an acceptable option.
2. If you can wait for the VisorPhone to become available in your area...I would wait.
(These statements are only good, so-long as there is not a good belt-clip case out there for the Prism/Minstral S combo)
Happy Tapping! mykul bolick
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mykul |
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