Psion Series 7 Smartphone
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- Screen Size (Diagonal): 7.7 inch
- Installed Memory: 16 MB
- Operating System: Symbian
- Design: Mobile
- Style: Smartphone
- Network Type: GSM
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Robust and reliable
Pros
Instant on, touch-screen, keys, mass.
Cons
Limited, expensive.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Cost effective solution for heavy typists on the move, however subnotebooks are very close.
I purchased the Psion Series 7 second hand because I needed a machine to enter text while on the move. Let's see how the machine performed during one year of daily usage.
Summary
The Psion Series 7 belongs to the sub notebook class, a very small niche of the computer market. It is a very mature, well thought product, robust hardware and software. Main advantages of the S7 is real portability and 100% reliability. It is somewhat expensive, but worth every penny. However, because of the Epoc operating system you dont have direct PC compatibility, and also the features are limited compared to a PC based sub notebook.
In the box
* Psion Series 7 Computer
* Stylus
* Psion PsiWin 2.3 PC connectivity software on CD-rom
* RS232 serial cable
* Power Adaptor (for charging and powering the machine)
* Manual
Hardware
The housing of the Series 7 is very good. I keep it in my bag sac, without any special protection, and stands up very well for the daily abuse. The screen folding mechanism is also very strong and durable. The 5mx had a serious problem with the screen cable, what liked to detach just after a year of usage, with the need of a complete screen change. This issue had been resolved on the S7, no screen cable problems. I think the Series 7 will keep up as long as I use it, and I only will stop using it once the software will be really outdated, maybe in 10 years.
On of the best features of PDAs is instant on, and to Series 7 is no exception. Turning on is just an instant, and you can go on where you have left your machine the last time! On the PCs, there is a similar feature, called suspend-to-ram (STR), that I have enabled on my motherboard. However, STR still needs 10-15 sec to power up the machine and return it to the last state I have left it.
A blue leather housing covers the S7. It is very funny, and very exceptional - I dont know about any other computer with a leather finish. But this adds nothing to the usability, or the style of the machine, while makes it quite expensive. I wish Psion would rather invest in USB or in a built in modem instead.
The Li-ion battery is specified to provide 8 hours of usage, however, I never managed to get more from it than 4 hours. So, it gives 4 hours of usage only. Before, one of the strong points of the S7 was its long battery life, however better notebooks can also run for 4 hours. The big consumption is partly because of the large color LCD screen.
Screen is a color LCD, from the passive CSTN type. CSTN was also used in notebooks some time ago, but now they all have the much better active TFT screens. However, this CSTN is enough for the Psion. Color support is a bit of fun on the Psion Series 7. The screen hardware originally would support 65500 colors. On the similar Psion netBook, the operating system supports 4096. The Psion Series 7 finished up to support only 256 colors, but by default, only 16 colors are used in the built in applications. However, images in Opera, etc. are shown with 256 colors. The 16 colors dont improve that much my productivity, the only place I have found it useful was the occasional web browsing and picture reviewing.
Keys are excellent to type, sometimes I feel them more comfortable than a usual PC keyboard. Touch typing is not only possible, but very pleasant on the S7. I only miss two extra keys so I could map all the extra Hungarian keys of my PC keyboard.
Printing is still a problem on the Psion, because the built in printer drivers allow access to nearly all type of printers, but without color support and with very limited features. You can print via the optional printer adapter, via IrDA print using the PC if a connection of PsiWin is established (very clever!).
The size is comfortable, measures only about a 1kg, and takes the place of an average book in my bag.
Software
The Epoc operating system seems to be very reliable and well made. The original release of ROM was somewhat unstable, but after applying the recommended update, my S7 is rock solid. In fact, it booted only once in its life, just after the upgrade, and was never completely powered down since then. It runs Epoc ER5, like the Psion Revo, and the Psion 5mx. Epoc is becoming one of the standard operating systems for mobile devices: the Ericsson R380 runs Epoc ER5.5, and the new generation of smart phones, starting with the Nokia 9210, 7210 runs Epoc ER6, also known as the Symbian OS.
Built in software is the standard Epoc suite of applications with Word, Excel, Agenda, Contacts, Data, Sketch, Time, Calc, Jotter, Record, Program, Comms, Bombs. I wont go in details, you can read more about them at the Psion website: http://www.psion.com.
Agenda is one of the best PIM applications I have ever used, it will cover all your possible needs. Palm, Windows CE and others are years behind. For me, this is the all time standard, and only PC PIM packages offer similar solutions.
Word is a basic text editor, suitable for 3-5 pages of text, with the most usual format options (bold, italic, underlined, indents, tabs, styles), with English (UK or US), German, French spell checker (depending on the language of the machine). Excel is the all time winner application for me on the Psion. It changed my life. Now I store all type of data in Excel sheets on my Psion, from expenses, to timetables. You also have Data as a simple database application, and Jotter to take notes.
Internet is rather functional on the Psion. You have a fully featured E-mail application, with the possibility to read also MS Word attachments. However, it slows down as the number of messages increase. For Internet browsing I rather use Opera than the built-in application. However, the slow CPU, and the reduced resolution (640x480) imposes an annoying limitation against surfing on the web. It is good for some mostly text based web page, but I wouldnt recommend the daily check of CNN.com on the S7.
Getting to know to use machine takes some time, I would say a month at least to get into the real workflow (however, former Psion users will find it very familiar). The provided manual gives only the basic help to get started. The only Help on the machine is much better, but I would prefer a printed version.
A huge number of 3rd party applications had been developed for the Epoc operating system. You can find whatever you need, you search. I have the following 3rd party applications installed:
* Collins (English Dictionary)
* Dic (Hungarian-English dictionary)
* KeyMapper (user definable keyboards, I mapped the full Hungarian keyboard)
* Macro5 (Alt-Tab for switching between running applications)
* Money (similar to MS Money)
* mp3 player (works quite well on the mono speaker)
* Opera 5.13 (web browser, I even use Opera 6.0 on my PC instead of Internet Explorer)
* PDF+ (to read PDF files)
* Periodic (Periodic Table of the elements)
* PhoneMan (full mobile phone access with SMS writing, archiving, and phone book editing)
* PowerBase (MS Access like database)
* Route Planner
* RMRFile (Norton Commander - Windows Commander like file utility)
* RMRZip (Zip support)
* Street Planner
* Sim City (Epoc version of the PC game)
* TomeRaider (dictionary databases)
PC compatibility
This is where problems start. Psion never managed to correct this weakness of their machines. There is a limited compatibility to the most widely used applications, like MS Outlook, MS Word, MS Excel, to some Lotus and Corel applications. But all these need the installation of PsiWin on the PC, and conversion is made on the PC only. It would be much better to be able to save a file in .rtf on the Psion, or to use some other format that is available in the standard office applications. This is the same for Excel and all others.
E-mail can be synchronized with Outlook, but only Inbox, Outbox, Draft are synched, and messages has to be created via the special PC account on the Psion to be synced. Works, but not very nice. Eudora is supported only by 3rd party applications.
Agenda syncs wonderfully with Outlook, and this is why I have started to use MS Outlook on the PC recently. Contacts or your custom Data contacts can be also synced with Outlook. Contacts is the straight ahead solution, but I prefer to use Data, and set up everything in the way I like. Now I run a 3 component system for appointments and contacts: Nokia 6210 + Psion S7 + MS Outlook on the PC. It took some time to set everything up so they work, but now data entered on one of the devices appears on all three after synchronization. I sync the 6210 and the S7 in the morning and in the evening to MS Outlook. The weakest point in the system is the 6210, because its limited memory and custom entry fields, but now it works quite well.
PC connectivity
The standard way of connecting the Series 7 to the PC is via the RS232 serial port, similarly to all Psion computers. This is a solid and reliable way, however, very limited in speed. There are no options for USB, FireWire or anything, just the plain old 115 kbs. This is very annoying when you want to pump several megabytes to your S7. You get the standard serial cable (compatible with the 3c, 3mx, S5, 5mx, netBook, too) in the box, but a serial cradle is available from Psion, too. It offers the similar features like the Revo docking station.
IrDA is present on the machine, but Psion did not manage to develop an IrDA option in PsiWin for the NT-W2K-XP line of Windows, only for Windows 95/98/Me during the last 10 years.
So, the best solution is to buy a CF card and USB compact flash card reader, and change the content of your CF card directly in the reader. Fortunately, .sis files (Psion installation files) can be run not only from the PC, but also from the Psion. Backing up the machine is also easier with the reader, the 48 MB of my card is copied to the PC within a minute. The only problem with this solution is file conversion - in case you want to work with the same file on the other machine, you have to make the file conversion manually with PsiWin on the PC, or with a 3rd party app on the Psion.
Macintosh users are a bit forgotten by Psion - an optional MacConnect software exists, but it is discontinued now, only available second hand, and only offers basic backup and file copy/move operations.
Mobile Phone Support
Message Suite offers some basic sms writing features with some mobile phones (via IrDA or RS232 serial), but is much better to invest in the excellent Phone Man Pro application. It supports all type of mobile phones (but you should check if you have some exotic model), with sms writing, archiving, phone book editing, logo managing, ring tone composing, etc.
Sending e-mail and browsing the web via IrDA connection is very impressive, but because of the sluggish speed and high price of the GSM network, I only use it to check my e-mail with the S7 while on the move.
Bluetooth may be supported in future on the Psion netBook, but I dont know about any plans for the Series 7.
Alternative machines from Psion
Psion 5mx
+ much smaller, with a still very operational keyboard and screen
+ less expensive
- no PCMCIA card support
- smaller screen
- fewer keys (problems for international keyboard mapping)
- slower CPU (mp3 playing and web browsing becomes slower)
Psion netBook
In fact, the S7 was born as a cut down version of the corporate user targeted Psion netBook. The S7 was released for the consumer market because of public demand.
+ 32 MB onboard memory instead of 16 MB
+ upgradeable to 64 MB instead of 32
+ Ethernet support
- even more expensive
- operating system in Ram, leaving only 24 MB free
Psion Netpad
This is a keyboardless version, with the same software suite and in a very robust body.
Alternative machines from other brands
Nec Mobile Pro 780/790
This is the only real alternative to the Psion, other machines seem to make part of a different class. The Nec Mobile Pro comes with Windows CE, and the usual Windows CE applications.
+ better PC connectivity
+ better PC compatibility (directly edit/save Excel and Word formats)
+ built in 56k modem
- more limited Pocket Word application
- no real OLE (object embedding - but can be done via Pocket Paint)
- smaller screen
- less applications
Sub notebooks
Since the release of the S7, many slim sub notebooks appeared. They cost 2-3 times more, but seem to me a much more reasonable investment nowadays. These include among others:
Sony Vaio Picturebook C1
Fujitsu Lifebook
HP Omnibook
+ full PC
+ fragile hardware
- mouse instead of touch-screen
- no instant on
- louder
- costs twice as much
- expensive add-ons (like CD-burner, floppy, etc.)
About the S7 on the web
This is a comprehensive review of the Psion Series 7 vs. the Nec Mobile Pro 780:
http://www.foxpop.ndirect.co.uk/roadtesting2/nec/comp_01.htm
The Seven Site is dedicated fully to the Series 7. Obligatory to read before buying an S7!
http://www.newth.net/psion7/index.html
The Psion Series 7 FAQ covers all important topics before buying
http://www.geocities.com/epoc_32/general.html
Palmtop Magazine is dedicated solely for Psion users
http://www.palmtop.co.uk/
My wish list
* USB PC connectivity
* direct editing/saving of MS Office file formats (Word, Excel, Power Point)
* built-in 56k modem
* IrDA PC connectivity
* 2 extra keys on the keyboard for full international key mapping
* built-in international keyboard support
* Alt-Tab to change between running applications
Should you buy it or not
If you have the money to get a Windows based sub notebook, like the Sony Picturebook, I think it is a more sensible solution nowadays. You will have the full PC with you, and the only drawback I see is the long boot time that a Windows machine needs compared to the instant on/off of PDAs and the use of a mouse is somewhat cumbersome.
However, the S7 is noiseless, very robust and reliable, an investment that lasts long. I recommend it for people who write a lot on the move, but dont need the sophisticated formatting options of a PCs application, just a good keyboard and a reliable machine enter text: journalists, researchers, writers. I mainly use it in the library - I directly type my research articles, instead of photocopying the material first.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Update (Jan 07 '05):
My best bet for electronic English-English dictionaries is the Collins CoBuild, which runs wonderfully on a Psion S7, plus, you get the full keyboard to enter words. Read my review here: 'The' English-English ESL Dictionary.
Read my other Psion reviews:
Psion Series 3mx
Psion Series 5
Psion Revo 8MB
Psion EnRoute for PC
Summary
The Psion Series 7 belongs to the sub notebook class, a very small niche of the computer market. It is a very mature, well thought product, robust hardware and software. Main advantages of the S7 is real portability and 100% reliability. It is somewhat expensive, but worth every penny. However, because of the Epoc operating system you dont have direct PC compatibility, and also the features are limited compared to a PC based sub notebook.
In the box
* Psion Series 7 Computer
* Stylus
* Psion PsiWin 2.3 PC connectivity software on CD-rom
* RS232 serial cable
* Power Adaptor (for charging and powering the machine)
* Manual
Hardware
The housing of the Series 7 is very good. I keep it in my bag sac, without any special protection, and stands up very well for the daily abuse. The screen folding mechanism is also very strong and durable. The 5mx had a serious problem with the screen cable, what liked to detach just after a year of usage, with the need of a complete screen change. This issue had been resolved on the S7, no screen cable problems. I think the Series 7 will keep up as long as I use it, and I only will stop using it once the software will be really outdated, maybe in 10 years.
On of the best features of PDAs is instant on, and to Series 7 is no exception. Turning on is just an instant, and you can go on where you have left your machine the last time! On the PCs, there is a similar feature, called suspend-to-ram (STR), that I have enabled on my motherboard. However, STR still needs 10-15 sec to power up the machine and return it to the last state I have left it.
A blue leather housing covers the S7. It is very funny, and very exceptional - I dont know about any other computer with a leather finish. But this adds nothing to the usability, or the style of the machine, while makes it quite expensive. I wish Psion would rather invest in USB or in a built in modem instead.
The Li-ion battery is specified to provide 8 hours of usage, however, I never managed to get more from it than 4 hours. So, it gives 4 hours of usage only. Before, one of the strong points of the S7 was its long battery life, however better notebooks can also run for 4 hours. The big consumption is partly because of the large color LCD screen.
Screen is a color LCD, from the passive CSTN type. CSTN was also used in notebooks some time ago, but now they all have the much better active TFT screens. However, this CSTN is enough for the Psion. Color support is a bit of fun on the Psion Series 7. The screen hardware originally would support 65500 colors. On the similar Psion netBook, the operating system supports 4096. The Psion Series 7 finished up to support only 256 colors, but by default, only 16 colors are used in the built in applications. However, images in Opera, etc. are shown with 256 colors. The 16 colors dont improve that much my productivity, the only place I have found it useful was the occasional web browsing and picture reviewing.
Keys are excellent to type, sometimes I feel them more comfortable than a usual PC keyboard. Touch typing is not only possible, but very pleasant on the S7. I only miss two extra keys so I could map all the extra Hungarian keys of my PC keyboard.
Printing is still a problem on the Psion, because the built in printer drivers allow access to nearly all type of printers, but without color support and with very limited features. You can print via the optional printer adapter, via IrDA print using the PC if a connection of PsiWin is established (very clever!).
The size is comfortable, measures only about a 1kg, and takes the place of an average book in my bag.
Software
The Epoc operating system seems to be very reliable and well made. The original release of ROM was somewhat unstable, but after applying the recommended update, my S7 is rock solid. In fact, it booted only once in its life, just after the upgrade, and was never completely powered down since then. It runs Epoc ER5, like the Psion Revo, and the Psion 5mx. Epoc is becoming one of the standard operating systems for mobile devices: the Ericsson R380 runs Epoc ER5.5, and the new generation of smart phones, starting with the Nokia 9210, 7210 runs Epoc ER6, also known as the Symbian OS.
Built in software is the standard Epoc suite of applications with Word, Excel, Agenda, Contacts, Data, Sketch, Time, Calc, Jotter, Record, Program, Comms, Bombs. I wont go in details, you can read more about them at the Psion website: http://www.psion.com.
Agenda is one of the best PIM applications I have ever used, it will cover all your possible needs. Palm, Windows CE and others are years behind. For me, this is the all time standard, and only PC PIM packages offer similar solutions.
Word is a basic text editor, suitable for 3-5 pages of text, with the most usual format options (bold, italic, underlined, indents, tabs, styles), with English (UK or US), German, French spell checker (depending on the language of the machine). Excel is the all time winner application for me on the Psion. It changed my life. Now I store all type of data in Excel sheets on my Psion, from expenses, to timetables. You also have Data as a simple database application, and Jotter to take notes.
Internet is rather functional on the Psion. You have a fully featured E-mail application, with the possibility to read also MS Word attachments. However, it slows down as the number of messages increase. For Internet browsing I rather use Opera than the built-in application. However, the slow CPU, and the reduced resolution (640x480) imposes an annoying limitation against surfing on the web. It is good for some mostly text based web page, but I wouldnt recommend the daily check of CNN.com on the S7.
Getting to know to use machine takes some time, I would say a month at least to get into the real workflow (however, former Psion users will find it very familiar). The provided manual gives only the basic help to get started. The only Help on the machine is much better, but I would prefer a printed version.
A huge number of 3rd party applications had been developed for the Epoc operating system. You can find whatever you need, you search. I have the following 3rd party applications installed:
* Collins (English Dictionary)
* Dic (Hungarian-English dictionary)
* KeyMapper (user definable keyboards, I mapped the full Hungarian keyboard)
* Macro5 (Alt-Tab for switching between running applications)
* Money (similar to MS Money)
* mp3 player (works quite well on the mono speaker)
* Opera 5.13 (web browser, I even use Opera 6.0 on my PC instead of Internet Explorer)
* PDF+ (to read PDF files)
* Periodic (Periodic Table of the elements)
* PhoneMan (full mobile phone access with SMS writing, archiving, and phone book editing)
* PowerBase (MS Access like database)
* Route Planner
* RMRFile (Norton Commander - Windows Commander like file utility)
* RMRZip (Zip support)
* Street Planner
* Sim City (Epoc version of the PC game)
* TomeRaider (dictionary databases)
PC compatibility
This is where problems start. Psion never managed to correct this weakness of their machines. There is a limited compatibility to the most widely used applications, like MS Outlook, MS Word, MS Excel, to some Lotus and Corel applications. But all these need the installation of PsiWin on the PC, and conversion is made on the PC only. It would be much better to be able to save a file in .rtf on the Psion, or to use some other format that is available in the standard office applications. This is the same for Excel and all others.
E-mail can be synchronized with Outlook, but only Inbox, Outbox, Draft are synched, and messages has to be created via the special PC account on the Psion to be synced. Works, but not very nice. Eudora is supported only by 3rd party applications.
Agenda syncs wonderfully with Outlook, and this is why I have started to use MS Outlook on the PC recently. Contacts or your custom Data contacts can be also synced with Outlook. Contacts is the straight ahead solution, but I prefer to use Data, and set up everything in the way I like. Now I run a 3 component system for appointments and contacts: Nokia 6210 + Psion S7 + MS Outlook on the PC. It took some time to set everything up so they work, but now data entered on one of the devices appears on all three after synchronization. I sync the 6210 and the S7 in the morning and in the evening to MS Outlook. The weakest point in the system is the 6210, because its limited memory and custom entry fields, but now it works quite well.
PC connectivity
The standard way of connecting the Series 7 to the PC is via the RS232 serial port, similarly to all Psion computers. This is a solid and reliable way, however, very limited in speed. There are no options for USB, FireWire or anything, just the plain old 115 kbs. This is very annoying when you want to pump several megabytes to your S7. You get the standard serial cable (compatible with the 3c, 3mx, S5, 5mx, netBook, too) in the box, but a serial cradle is available from Psion, too. It offers the similar features like the Revo docking station.
IrDA is present on the machine, but Psion did not manage to develop an IrDA option in PsiWin for the NT-W2K-XP line of Windows, only for Windows 95/98/Me during the last 10 years.
So, the best solution is to buy a CF card and USB compact flash card reader, and change the content of your CF card directly in the reader. Fortunately, .sis files (Psion installation files) can be run not only from the PC, but also from the Psion. Backing up the machine is also easier with the reader, the 48 MB of my card is copied to the PC within a minute. The only problem with this solution is file conversion - in case you want to work with the same file on the other machine, you have to make the file conversion manually with PsiWin on the PC, or with a 3rd party app on the Psion.
Macintosh users are a bit forgotten by Psion - an optional MacConnect software exists, but it is discontinued now, only available second hand, and only offers basic backup and file copy/move operations.
Mobile Phone Support
Message Suite offers some basic sms writing features with some mobile phones (via IrDA or RS232 serial), but is much better to invest in the excellent Phone Man Pro application. It supports all type of mobile phones (but you should check if you have some exotic model), with sms writing, archiving, phone book editing, logo managing, ring tone composing, etc.
Sending e-mail and browsing the web via IrDA connection is very impressive, but because of the sluggish speed and high price of the GSM network, I only use it to check my e-mail with the S7 while on the move.
Bluetooth may be supported in future on the Psion netBook, but I dont know about any plans for the Series 7.
Alternative machines from Psion
Psion 5mx
+ much smaller, with a still very operational keyboard and screen
+ less expensive
- no PCMCIA card support
- smaller screen
- fewer keys (problems for international keyboard mapping)
- slower CPU (mp3 playing and web browsing becomes slower)
Psion netBook
In fact, the S7 was born as a cut down version of the corporate user targeted Psion netBook. The S7 was released for the consumer market because of public demand.
+ 32 MB onboard memory instead of 16 MB
+ upgradeable to 64 MB instead of 32
+ Ethernet support
- even more expensive
- operating system in Ram, leaving only 24 MB free
Psion Netpad
This is a keyboardless version, with the same software suite and in a very robust body.
Alternative machines from other brands
Nec Mobile Pro 780/790
This is the only real alternative to the Psion, other machines seem to make part of a different class. The Nec Mobile Pro comes with Windows CE, and the usual Windows CE applications.
+ better PC connectivity
+ better PC compatibility (directly edit/save Excel and Word formats)
+ built in 56k modem
- more limited Pocket Word application
- no real OLE (object embedding - but can be done via Pocket Paint)
- smaller screen
- less applications
Sub notebooks
Since the release of the S7, many slim sub notebooks appeared. They cost 2-3 times more, but seem to me a much more reasonable investment nowadays. These include among others:
Sony Vaio Picturebook C1
Fujitsu Lifebook
HP Omnibook
+ full PC
+ fragile hardware
- mouse instead of touch-screen
- no instant on
- louder
- costs twice as much
- expensive add-ons (like CD-burner, floppy, etc.)
About the S7 on the web
This is a comprehensive review of the Psion Series 7 vs. the Nec Mobile Pro 780:
http://www.foxpop.ndirect.co.uk/roadtesting2/nec/comp_01.htm
The Seven Site is dedicated fully to the Series 7. Obligatory to read before buying an S7!
http://www.newth.net/psion7/index.html
The Psion Series 7 FAQ covers all important topics before buying
http://www.geocities.com/epoc_32/general.html
Palmtop Magazine is dedicated solely for Psion users
http://www.palmtop.co.uk/
My wish list
* USB PC connectivity
* direct editing/saving of MS Office file formats (Word, Excel, Power Point)
* built-in 56k modem
* IrDA PC connectivity
* 2 extra keys on the keyboard for full international key mapping
* built-in international keyboard support
* Alt-Tab to change between running applications
Should you buy it or not
If you have the money to get a Windows based sub notebook, like the Sony Picturebook, I think it is a more sensible solution nowadays. You will have the full PC with you, and the only drawback I see is the long boot time that a Windows machine needs compared to the instant on/off of PDAs and the use of a mouse is somewhat cumbersome.
However, the S7 is noiseless, very robust and reliable, an investment that lasts long. I recommend it for people who write a lot on the move, but dont need the sophisticated formatting options of a PCs application, just a good keyboard and a reliable machine enter text: journalists, researchers, writers. I mainly use it in the library - I directly type my research articles, instead of photocopying the material first.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Update (Jan 07 '05):
My best bet for electronic English-English dictionaries is the Collins CoBuild, which runs wonderfully on a Psion S7, plus, you get the full keyboard to enter words. Read my review here: 'The' English-English ESL Dictionary.
Read my other Psion reviews:
Psion Series 3mx
Psion Series 5
Psion Revo 8MB
Psion EnRoute for PC
