Rating: 
Summary: Excellent PDA
Review: I love PDA's (and computers in general, for that matter) and this is an excellent device. There was a time when I swore by Palm's pda's, but while Windows CE (now known as Pocket PC) has evolved to near-desktop power, the Palm has remained virtually unchanged. Of the Pocket PC's available, this unit is the best compromise of size and power. It packs a 150mhz cpu (more powerful than the HP Jornada, less than the Ipaq), 16mb of ram, and an amazing screen capable of displaying 16bit color. The Ipaq and HP Jornada can both only do 12-bit color at best. All of that is packed in a comfortable, small device that feels extremely solid in the hand.While I do believe the EM-500 is probably the best unit available, it does have a few draw-backs. The miserly 16mb of ram is hardly enough... if you buy this make sure to get a 32mb or 64mb memory card to go with it. My other complaints are minimal: lack of hardware volume control, location of IRDA port... but none of these minor issues really impact the usefulness of the unit. Definitely a great PDA, and well worth the money
Rating:
Summary: Beats Jornada, more available then ipaq
Review: I'm giving the EM-500 four stars, it would receive five except for a few small shortcomings. All in all it is a well thought-out device, and and excellent investment. I agree with the previous reviewer from CA (and used their review quite a bit in my buying decision), screen size, processor, etc, all won me out over other Pocket PCs. These machines are a head and shoulders above Palm devices, one can not even compare this to a color Palm. I've had my EM-500 for long enough now to know that I made a good choice. The battery life is admirable, though a car charger was a must-have accessory for me--I never remember to charge the thing at night. You'll likely want to add more memory the day you get this PDA. I ordered a 64mb MMC card separately, and it didn't arrive for another few days. I was stretched pretty thin memory-wise without the additional card. My favorite aspect of the Pocket PC platform is its ability to DL mass amounts of offline internet data for a person to peruse throughout the day (If you haven't seen the free services from AvantGO, you are truly missing out). I can check flights, read the journal (or any other newspaper), save driving directions, you name it, from this PDA in offline mode (huge step above my Visor Platinum, now quickly gathering dust). It saves links from all the sources you select 2- or 3- deep (or more), using the built in browser in offline mode is so close to sitting in front of a desktop, it's scary. I was, however, out of storage space within a night. The MMC cards are finally coming down in price, which makes this a more attractive purchase. I really look forward to the day they either make larger MMC cards, or introduce some sort of external storage. (It would be _really_ nice to clip on a microdrive or other peripheral to the serial port and have gobs of MP3 storage available) Not that most of us buy a PocketPC to use as an MP3 player, it is very nice feature. Consider a different case for your Casio. The included nylon case is slim, but fairly limited in its usefulness. (it's simply a hard-sided sleeve which holds the unit) I picked up the Targus leather case, but am not at all happy with it, the PDA has to be removed from the case to use, and something just doesn't seem professional with the sound of the velcro (for twenty dollars, I shouldn't expect too much). The EM-500 is a great platform. There is not as much software for Pocket PC as there is for Palm, but what there is is of far higher caliber. I was a little apprehensive about the "sky blue" color, but I didn't want slate (how boring). I'm very happy with the blue, it is still professional looking; IMHO, it is more a surgical blue than sky blue. MMC is very handy, though not as widely used as CF, if it weren't for the current lack of larger storage, it would definately deserve five stars. Good luck!
Rating: 
Summary: Best PDA available
Review: I've been planning for a couple of month to get a Palm, probably a Vx, since a lot of friends had it, I knew it, and seemed great. Just when I was about to buy it, I found out there are better alternatives to Palms, and that is PocketPCs, which are not much more expensive. After a quick research, I decided to buy the Cassiopeia EM-500, and from the moment I received it I was amazed! Although it's a bit bigger and heavier than a palm, you can forgive this the moment you turn it on and se the marvellous full-color display. I think it's the best display you can find on a PocketPC, comparing it with the Jornada and iPaq. The organizer features (contacts, tasks, calendar) are like all otehr organizers, but the vivid colors make them look better.. so I find them easier to use than those from a Palm. The touch-screen reacts very well. Personally I prefer the keyboard input to writing the characters. I downloaded the free Microsoft Transcriber which improves a lot the character recognition, but I still stick to the keyboard. The value of EM-500 comes with the software. Being powered by Windows, it has a large spectrum of applications, like Word, Excel, Money, PocketStreets... And you can download even more utilities, applications and games (even Doom and Quake). eM-500 puts the M in MultiMedia, since it has full multimedia capabilities. This PDA works as a MP3 player, or image viewer, or even MPG player. Also, as a Voice Recorder. The sound quality is OK, and the image quality is amazing for such a device. The initial memory is quite limited (16Mb) if you plan on loading it with software, music and images, but I bought a 64Mb card, so at 80Mb I guess it's enough... At this moment, Cassiopeia comes with a $100 rebate (which makes it cheaper than the Palms), and with this money you can buy the 64Mb card. Some flaws in the external design. The USB port cover is completely removable (not attached, like the cover for cards, for example.. so it's easy to forget to put it back, or worse, to lose it. The power button isn't very ergonomic, but I got used to power it on using the action buttons on the front. The IR port is also not very well placed... would have been better to put it at the top, make easier to exchange information with someone else. So, I'll end with a "Wall-Street" recommandation: STRONG BUY!
Rating:
Summary: 2 mth. review
Review: i've had my em-500 for about 2 months. so far, i've been pretty satisfied. makes me much happier than my old palm III. i still look at my friend's compaq ipaq with a bit of envy sometimes but all in all the em-500 has done everything i need it for: short voice-recording, simple tasks on pocket excel, easy access to contacts, carrying around a few dig-pics, jotting down notes, calendar/planner, spare-time wasting games. in my opinion the color screen on the em-500 looks a bit better than the ipaqs that i've seen. my main criticisms or complaints are the initial lack of memory(16 mb ran out very quickly for me, made myself upgrade my memory after the 1st week of use), and the difficulty in finding a modem. i'm happy with my em-500 and it does everything i ask of it quite well, but i sometimes feel that i may have been better off getting a device with compact-flash support. mmc is conveniently sized, but the difficult in finding accessories has been a bit of a downer thus far. all in all though, a relatively easy to use and well-functioning device.
Rating:
Summary: Can't wait to get it...
Review: i've just ordered an em-500 and am very excited to get it. I can't wait to get this device and see what it can do. so far, the reviews have been great and i am very anxious to try it. i will get back when i receive my device....
Rating:
Summary: The cassiopeia EM-500
Review: Im 12 and I had this same device for a few months now and its my favorite thing in the house. I take it any where(it fits in my pocket)and play with it, listen to songs and watch some short films. I have a palm III and the cassiopeia is so much better!
Rating:
Summary: Great for travelling
Review: The MMC memory is good and small for travelling. Actually, 16MB is not too bad. Comparing the price of the 2,4 or 8 MB Palm Pilot PDA, this is a great deal. With MP3, Video, excel, word, address book features (and more), I choose the EM500 over other PDAs on the market now.
Rating:
Summary: Great Pocket PC!
Review: Well I just bought an EM-500 Sky Blue and am very happy. I know that there are going to be a lot of new Pocket PC's hitting the market soon but I did some research and found out that this is really all I need. The price is great (only 299.99 here) and the MMC/SD cards are going down! There is an optional modem from casio and a few other venors that plugs into the port at the bottem of the devise. I have 3 32 Mb MMC cars (I own an Mp3 player that uses them)and that is plenty of space for anything I want. If you have been thinking of buying this, do it. You will be very happy!
Rating: 
Summary: Good system, not worth my money, or anyone else's
Review: Well, for those of you out there who are putting a lot of thought into what color Cassiopeia to buy, don't use this picture as a guide. When I received mine in the mail, I was slightly dismayed to find the PDA (which, at the time of my ordering it, July 17, 2001) was an odd, bluish-green color. But I wasn't about to send it back because of the color. When I examined the contents of the box, I was happy to see headphones, because I had been planning to take advantage of the mp3 playing capabilities of the PDA. But, alas, within a week, they were broken. No matter, I bought some better ones. But if you plan to be storing more than 3 or 4 medium-length songs on the Cassiopeia EM-500, I would invest in a 32 MB or 64 MB memory card. For video, even more, if possible. I, who had assumed that it would be possible to fit more onto it without using a memory card, did not order one. Stupid, stupid move on my part, as if u plan to get even close to your money's worth on this, you need one. When I was done charging the batteries, I turned it on and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was very fast and relatively easy to use, considering the instructions were minimal. Obviously, you need some Windows backround to use this one. My friend, who uses mostly Macs, had some difficulty with some of the wore Windows-related functions. But it was pretty self-explanatory. Many of my friends, relatives, and colleagues have Palm Pilots, which aren't compatible with Windows CE systems, and therefore can't beam information back and forth, which becomes a bit annoying, but if you know a lot of CE users, then it's fine. The Cassiopeia EM-500 does its job well, very quickly and usually without a hitch, the only downside is its lack of memory for the multimedia-using set and that it isn't compatible with Palm OS.
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