Rating: 
Summary: Sorry - it does not deliver
Review: When you look at the specifications for the Nino, it looks extremely cool. Colour, large memory, Windows CE. But after working with it for a month, I am seriously considering dumping it. Its actually quite large, it is slow, and as Win CE is a memory hog 8MB is really not a lot. I'll give it two stars for the screen. It is certainly better than the Aeros. But it seems like the idea behing Nino and Win CE is to cram all the functionality of a notebook into a palm-sized device. It is bound to fail, and it certainly does so in this case. Perhaps I'll give it a shot if they ever do a new and smaller version of CE. In the meantime, I'm putting my old Palm Pilot Pro back to work.
Rating: 
Summary: WinCE blows PalmPilots Away!
Review: Why own a simple rolodex (palm pilot) when you can have the same power as your desktop applications in a palmsize PDA? Simply put, you should buy this and don't look back. If you use Outlook, you shouldn't even be thinking of using anything else but this device!WinCE is a fully developed OS with many more features. It feels like a real OS. PalmPilot doesn't even scratch the surface of this futuristic device. Be glad you can own one of these for far less than the price of Pilot. Forget the stories people say about 8 MB not being enough. I've got 400 contacts, tons of calendar entries, it saves desktop documents (yes, WORD files) and exchanges them back and forth with your PDA and desktop. Text documents and folders can all be exchanged with your desktop. Plus, you also get the security of know that the operating system on your handheld and the creator of the desktop operating system you are using are made by the same company. You don't get that kind of guarantee from 3Com.
Rating:
Summary: The most stylish WinCE palmtop on the market
Review: WinCE vs. PalmPilot is like Mac versus PC, and it's equally futile to determine a superior machine when it comes to these platforms. The Nino looks awesome, is fairly fast even with WinCE, and gets 12 hours of battery life before recharging. Thanks to the rechargeable battery pack, there is no battery switching like with the Palm III or IIIx. Storage space on the Nino is infinite thanks to the CompactFlash memory slot. The 19.2kbps modem is good for e-mail downloads, but don't try any web browsing with the soft modem and the grayscale screen. Software is good and plenty for WinCE palmtops...I run ICQ, PocketPaint, the Starbuck HTML book reader and a bunch of games on mine, in addition to the factory software. The T9 soft keyboard is far superior to the Graffiti input on the Palm systems. Synchronization with the desktop is flawless. The Nino is a bit big, but it looks much better than any other WinCE palm PC. I actually prefer the size of the Nino to that of, say, the Palm V, just because it is easier to use for guys with big hands (like me). Plus sides of the Nino: Very stylish, fast, expandable with CompactFlash cards. Good software bundle. Rechargeable battery pack, very good battery life even with the backlight on. Negative sides: Somewhat bulky. The click-on modem adds to the bulk and is a little flimsy. I have had my Nino for a few months and I've compared it with my wife's Palm V extensively. The Palm V is much lighter and a bit faster, but it's too minimalistic for me. I appreciate the CompactFlash slot on the Nino, as well as the WIndows-like GUI of WinCE. Never had an issue with battery life, the usable time of the Nino is more than enough between recharges. I wouldn't swap my Nino for any Palm box at this point. It is unbelievable how much you can do with these palmtops...they take over your life if you let them. I have several full-length novels on the CF card, as well as a dozen maps for PocketStreets. If you don't have one, go get one...and get the Nino if you can. It looks awesome and adds to Philips' history of cranking out good, solid and funky handhelds.
Rating: 
Summary: Whopping 8MB actually isn't much for WinCE
Review: Yes, the "whopping 8MB" of RAM is a whole lot more than the 4MB Palm IIIx, but the Nino has less USABLE space if you compare numbers of address entries, calendar items, and To-Do items you can actually retrieve. How? (1) The Palm OS operating system is in Flash memory (not RAM). (2) The main apps are built-in, not add-ons. (3) It's primarily text-based, rather than lots of screen-hogging graphic windows, so it's much more compact. (4) It has compression. Looking at the EFFECTIVE memory to get WORK done, even a 2MB Palm can do more than an 8MB WinCE. I don't think WinCE is bad, it's just not good for handhelds (yet). Any WinCE machines like the Nino is awkward because of the size, weight, and horrible battery usage (compared to the Palm). The size & weight means they aren't wearable, and if you don't have it with you, you can't use your data. Batteries are wasted on color & sound recording, which is useless on handhelds (or pagers or cellphones). When you run out of battery, you lose access to your data (and permanently lose any new data). What good is a handheld if you don't have it with you and it won't hold your data? Finally, someday there may be support for WinCE applications, but right now everything is on the Palm -- this is a VHS v. Betamax type issue, where WinCE just doesn't have support.
Rating: 
Summary: Bulky, but useful
Review: Yes, WinCE machines tend to be larger than their Palm counterparts, and the RAM doesn't stretch as far as on their more elegantly-coded competitors, but the Nino is a good bet. Inexpensive, especially since it includes a modem (although my modem showed up broken; another is en route from Philips). There are enough freeware programs out there to make customization easy, and there are no compatibility problems syncing with Outlook. WinCE is still a kludgy operating system, but you're getting a *real* handheld PC with all that phrase implies (both good and bad).
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