Good machine but the Lotus Organizer GS 97 does not seem to work with Win 98 SE and the Lotus people are not the least bit interested in talking about the problem. I would not recommend the Avigo to anyone who would be dependent upon the Organizer 97 software. Thanks,
Charlie Bauer
[email protected]

The Avigo is a terrific gadget - and the first PDA that's worth its
price too.

Georg Zimmermann

Hello, just a few comments on the avigo review.

well, the TI Avigo has changed significantly, but I think the most important one is the price.
The TI Avigo is for sale now at only $99.00.  Sometime you can get them for only $85.00
at Office Depot, or Office Max.

There are also many new third-party applications developed, especially in the e-text/doc reader. 
There is also a freeware SDK, and original SDK is about $50.00.

There are many more, but I think these are the items that make me buy the avigo.

TNgo

That is a fair review if I ever saw one and the first piece on the net
that also covered the processor.  I own some PDAs and not yet the Avigo
but its pricing and feature set compares well with the likes of the
Zoomer, HP OmniGo and Nokia Communicator. What I didn't see is whether
the OS can be replaced, for instance by running GEOS on a memory card,
in order to use all the existing GEOS PDA apps...

Clemens Kochinke

(Note: As far as I know, the OS can not be changed...jas)

Hi!

I'm a german Avigo-user and WHOW! It's real great. Compared to the
PalmPilot it's the best deal possible - because the palm pilot costs in
germany about 3 times more than the Avigo. Okay, the pilot has a
handwritig-recognition - but who really needs? You just have to learn a
new style of handwriting and so on. And a programmer just released a
beta version of an handwriting recognition system. There is such a lot
of applications for the avigo and there all more and more each day.
If you want a REAL pda with all GOOD functions, just take a subnotebook
like the olibvetti libretto (Intel Pent. 75, 8 MB Ram and more, 800 MB
harddisk, in the size of a two cigarette packs).
For the money, the avigo is great I think - because everything you need
for start up is included - avigo, batteries, soft- and hardware for
synchronisation with pc and the lotus organizer '97. What do you want
more for this little price? I got everything I need.

Mit freundlichen Gr��en

Sven K�per

I must concur with your other respondants: while the Avigo is not the best
solution to what I was looking for in a PDA, it was far and away the best
value.  I was delighted to get away with a very functional machine for $99,
despite the admitted shortcomings (most notably handwriting recognition,
which may be pending both from professional and grassroots developers.)  I
personally don't see much point to a modem on a PDA unless said modem is
cellular, which is well outside my budget anyway...

I'm very excited about the recent push for more grassroots development
(spawned, no doubt, at least in part by the release of the SDK for $50 from
Avocet Technologies)-- see TI's Avigo discussion site at
http://www-s.ti.com/cgi-bin/discuss/sdbmessage.cgi?databasetoopen=avigo for
more...

James Klock

The good news is:
The $99 price tag.  The $39 memory upgrade.  At these prices, the
functionality of the Avigo blows away the competition. The unit is
solid.  The flip cover is functional.   The backlight is bright.  The
long screen means you to view more and scroll less.  Rotating the window
is innovative.  So is the folding cradle.  The layouts for the schedule,
contacts, task list, and memos are extremely intuitive.  The built-in
expense sheet is very handy.  Creating your own data entry tables is
terrific and exporting the data to/from Excel is a breeze.
Synchronizing to Outlook 97/98 and other PIM's is a snap with the
optional Intellisync software.  Other niceties include the popup
intelligent keyboard, the global "Find", the sketch feature, three
useful calculators, and storing the time for any town or city in the
world.
The bad news is:
The screen is glossy.  No hand writing recognition.  No recharger.  No
modem.  No vibrating alarm.  Cannot directly pass data between Avigo's.
Not much shareware yet and the version of Intellisync included with
Avigo interfaces only to Lotus Organizer.
Bottom line:
If Texas Instruments stopped selling the Avigo tomorrow, I still would
feel I received more than I spent.  The built-in applications makes this
PDA extremely useful for years to come or at least until the others drop
their price.  But that would be quite a steep drop to $99.
Robert E. Anderson

Had an Avigo for a week but returned it. The problem I had was that I make recurring appointments. On the Avigo, if you edit/delete one of the recurring appointments than every one of them is edited/deleted with no warning. It was a royal pain and makes it ill suited for someone with a repetitive schedule (ex. student). Your alternative is to enter everything in seperately. Blech! Also, in the weekly view, touching on a blocked out space of time will not bring up any appointment info while staying in the weekly view. You have to go to the day to get any information at all. In all, it's a great machine for $99 but its minor glitches are real pains for some people, yet won't affect others.

K Gray

Hi,

I just bought an Avigo and wow. I have used a casio b.o.s.s. for the last 6 years and find this a good bargain for $99. The organizer and the sync program for $99.

There are other apps for the organizer and more on the way. This could be the Palm Pilot killer.

Bill

Hello,

I read the article about the Avigo. I now have one and the best part is- the price- Just $99.95! WOW! I showed it to a few members in my department (IS) and now the sale of this little device has propagated through the entire department! Everyone has one! As for looking in the WRONG direction you spoke of for replacement of a Palm Pilot (still $300), I think with the exception of the modem feature, I am looking in the RIGHT direction. With the recent price drop from TI, I believe based on what I have seen in my own department and lack of availablility in stores (they've sold out), 3Com better reevaluate their marketing strategy or else, suffer the consequences! The more TI sells, and the more SDK apps are written (many new ones have popped up)the next release of the Avigo I believe will have the most features and toys possible for a PDA (including more memory) that it will be the NEW KING of PDA's! Update your report if possible to reflect the new price! Let EVERYONE KNOW! And, one observation, try not to be so biased toward the Avigo. And not so NEGATIVE. By the way you closed your article, I would not be suprised if 3Com were paying you to endorse them. People like to hear facts without the redderick.

Sincerely,
Keith W.

From Julie: 3Com did not and does not pay me ANYTHING to endorse their products. I just happen to use them.