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 Apple eMate 300 Review Comments
 Apple eMate 300 Review Comments
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| Author | Topic: Apple eMate 300 Review Comments |
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Julie Administrator Posts: 2752 |
posted 03-22-2002 05:27 PM
   
Post your comments here on the Apple eMate 300 Review. http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/apple-emate-300-review.html Just click the POST REPLY button on this page. |
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forrester Member Posts: 125 |
posted 03-22-2002 09:33 PM
You got me, Julie. I thought a new Apple PDA was finally a reality! |
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Julie Administrator Posts: 2752 |
posted 03-22-2002 10:11 PM
Sorry about that Doug!  Julie |
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eichin Member Posts: 83 |
posted 03-23-2002 02:25 PM
Ah yes, I remember being jealous of these (at the time I couldn't justify the $800... I'll note that even *today* they still go for $250!) Apparently the eMate 300 filled the niche previously occupped [for long past the original design lifetime] by the Tandy 100 -- *reporters*. They need something straightforward to use, lightweight, reliable, and capable of taking a lot of abuse; the eMate was apparently designed for the educational market and thus had a lot of overdesign in that regard :-) (Ah nostagalia. I should see if I can still fire up the old Sinclair Z88 :-) ------------------ |
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tontangent unregistered |
posted 03-23-2002 06:08 PM
I remember them showing them for the first time at MacUser UK that year. After all the pree about them being kid proof, we could not get him to drop it on the floor during the presentation. ! I'm off to eBay to see if i can find a price... tristan |
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JakeTWake unregistered |
posted 03-24-2002 09:32 PM
I use Emates every day in Composition Class at School... |
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icruise unregistered |
posted 03-25-2002 02:36 PM
There was mention of it being hard to find new emate styli in the article, but I was able find quite a few in stock at Stylus Central and Small Dog last time I checked (admittedly nearly a year ago, but those looking for them might check those sites out. Personally while I was a fan of the Newton I never really understood the appeal of the emate, at least outside the educational setting. Especially now with the new ibook it just seems to make more sense to carry a fully-featured computer, although it isn't fair to compair a product from 1997 to a modern laptop. |
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Mike Riegel unregistered |
posted 03-26-2002 03:33 PM
I'll tell you why the guy never dropped the eMate - they are not THAT kidproof... The night I got mine, I was showing it off to someone on my night job, and the thing slipped right through my fingers...there was a moment that i saw it rise up into the air as it sailed across the room. Momentarily, I thought that the closed case might protect the item... I was wrong... It hit the ground and bounced, sending four of the keys skittering across the floor and cracking the screen... Took me two weeks and $350 to get it back... All electronic devices require a certain amount of TLC, and the eMate is no different...but it still a neat little jobber... Mikey |
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Mark R unregistered |
posted 04-02-2002 08:29 AM
Bought 2 units used (near mint) last Dec for $75 each. Gave one to each of my kids (4 & 8) along with pre-installed appropriate games, typing tutor (still available from a Candaian company), MacinTalk, etc. They love them, use them for homework, drawings, friends' names, and you would NOT BELIEVE the number of people who want one for their kids and CAN'T BELIEVE this is 5-year-old Apple technology (altho I can). |
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anthropocentric unregistered |
posted 04-04-2002 09:05 PM
I really liked this "blast from the past" review!!!! I think that these kind of reviews should be done on a regular basis! They are really interesting from a kind of basic, novelty point of view, but even deeper, they show the huge technical achievement that have been made over time! Great job! Let's see more!!!! |
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Kezza unregistered |
posted 04-05-2002 11:55 AM
Ahh, the eMate. For the first 6 months at my current job (so, up until about a week ago) I didn't have a computer, so my trusty Buttercup (that's my eMate's name) took the responsibility of being my primary computing device. Thanks to a usb-serial adapter I bought for my old Palm, I can still sync the eMate, and thanks to MacLinkPlus translation engines, I do NewtWorks exports to my iMac at home with no troubles. If I save as RTF I can also easily convert documents to WordSmith format and carry them around on my Palm. Handy for procedures and protocols and such. Ahh, I love my eMate. It's just too bad you can't find those old eMate memory upgrade kits anymore, because as it is I've got very little space left. And that's with a 4mb flash PC card I keep in all the time, too. One of my favorite pastimes is easter egg hunting. Anyone else found the poker game in the NewtWorks spreadsheet? |
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photoedit unregistered |
posted 04-05-2002 01:59 PM
It was nice to see someone open minded enough to look at something other than a Pocket PC product. I look forward to Apple revisiting this niche; perhaps a souped-up iPod? 'Till then, I'll keep plugging along with my Palm III. |
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Julie Administrator Posts: 2752 |
posted 04-05-2002 02:03 PM
It's fun to imagine a pocket PC sized color Newton!
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adrianbee unregistered |
posted 04-16-2002 07:06 AM
I also craved an eMate. I have a newton MP2100 that I still use, tho admitably very sporadically. I have a wireless Pocket PC project going on using the iPAQ (http://www.icewrx.com/) and I love that. I wish the Newt had managed to go the distance. It needed propoer implementation of iRDA. cheers from Australia |
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davidc2182 unregistered |
posted 08-01-2002 12:30 AM
hey julie do you think whoever owns the emate would like to sell it to a current student? |
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Macfan1984 unregistered |
posted 08-30-2002 07:22 PM
It's sad to see how Apple dropped the ball on this. I recently went shopping for a PDA. I wanted a keyboard for touch-typing, so Palms and others of their ilk are out. I considered an eMate, but hated the weight and bulk. It's thicker and almost as heavy as my TiBook! Eventually, I settled on an NEC MobilePro. Introduced only a year after the eMate, it offered so much more. Color touchscreen, modem, voice recorder, less than half the weight of an eMate and a lot more compact, rechargeable battery. The only sacrifice I had to make was that it runs Windows CE, which is a pretty big sacrifice for someone who much prefers Macs. Why couldn't Apple have made something like this? Why do they still refuse to do so? |
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NeilB unregistered |
posted 12-23-2002 05:30 PM
I have been using a Tandy 102 for a couple of years now. They are great for a few things. It's awesome for just sitting on the couch and typing a letter, or coding if you're a programmer. I can play a small game while I'm there too. Sync it to my PC and upload the text, and wham-o...I've got it all on my PC for printing or emailing or whatever. I'm looking for an eMate now to upgrade to from my 102, mostly because I want more memory and the handwriting recognition technology. Everyone says the Newton platform has the best handwriting technology. I don't expect it to be a powerful computer, but these things are good for what they were meant to do...and now you can get them cheap! I mean, you can get a Tandy 102 (or Radio Shack Model 100, same thing) for less than $100 on ebay, same with an eMate. Show me a laptop that is as durable, takes AA batteries and comes on in about 1 second that is as good for just typing letters? We throw technology away too easily today. I see Compaq Aero PDA's selling for $20...nobody wants them! Why not? I'm sure they're good for something!? If you're on a budget, look at the old technology...there's tons of software and support for all this stuff on the internet. neilb@enbcom.com
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AWallace unregistered |
posted 02-11-2003 06:41 PM
I am a writer and I have to say I still use my emate every day and I love it to pieces - I am dreading the day when it finally gives up the ghost and I have to go searching for something else that is as robust and has such a fantastic battery life. I just hope apple do something just as good in the meantime! I do have one problem though and would appreciate any suggestions anyone has - after having my emate xrayed through customs some of the software has dropped off and is looking decidedly sad - where can I reinstall it from!! I am terrified that one day I am going to open it and it is completely blank! Still despite the ever lurking terror it is a truly wonderful wonderful machine - and yes I have dropped it a number of times on concrete, wood, carpet (all accidently) and it still loves me! |
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dietzm@tripoli.k12.ia.us unregistered |
posted 02-17-2003 11:07 AM
My emate screen was left out in a car too long and I think froze. Does anyone know where I can get a replacement? |
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oblique unregistered |
posted 03-09-2003 09:21 AM
I forgot my emate password and cannot remember it. Does anyone know what I can do? |
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mikeriegel unregistered |
posted 04-01-2003 10:23 AM
If you have forgoteen your password, you an always hard reset the unit - you will lose whatever you have on there, but ii's not doing you any good now, is it? Hard resetting involves pushing the RESET pin with the stylus and holding, then pressing the POWER button for something like 2 seconds, and then release the reset button (or something like that...)... As for software problems, you might want to get a PIMCIA card and back up onto it...they are probably going for about $0.50 nowadays... As for the broken screen, I busted mine after owning the eMate for about 15 minutes (I have a serious droppage problem) and had to send it back to Apple (this was a year after the item had been disco'ed) and $300 later, I had a new screen... Sorry, not really the news you were looking for, was it... |
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lipwer unregistered |
posted 04-14-2003 06:51 PM
We had a few at the school where I teach. They were perfect for kids with dysgraphia (means bad handwriting). I have two kids now who could really use them but the school says they don't know where they are. This was a really good product. |
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thistleje unregistered |
posted 04-18-2003 03:17 PM
This is a slick looking PDA. Unfortunately, like most other PDAs, it lacks in funtionality. IMHO, PDAs lack a killer ap to really catch on. IDEA - can anyone create a clamshell/mini-notebook hybrid with B&W display (to conserve battery power), 802.11b or Wi-Fi wireless conncectivity sync capabilities, along with a high definition screen to read eNews, stock quotes and eBooks. NEWSPAPER PEOPLE - please create headlines and brief summary decriptions for this new device so we don't have to use our printers and have all the papers lying around. Throw in MP3 capabilities and maybe this would be a killer ap. I mean who wants a HP Jornado or Palm with the ability to write Word documents only? We want more aps. Do you think better software solutions would help the PDA to really attract more users? Mr. Jobs, are you listening? Jim |
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matt unregistered |
posted 08-23-2003 10:52 PM
some of you are mentioning looking for a better or different device....you might want to look at "DANA" which is manufactured by alphasmart...it's palm os based, has a decent sized screen, and reportedly a nice keyboard...I think it weighs in at 2lbs, and they're working on adding in wifi capacity...the only downside (to me) is that they currently sell for around $400 or more, depending on features....for me, that's a bit much for a pda w/ keyboard, I'd rather stick with checking out these antiques from a few years back
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digikid unregistered |
posted 03-03-2004 11:01 AM
quote: hold the reset botoon on the back and the power botton in front for 15 sec. that will reset the system but not your work. than you won't have to put in your passward. |
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Daniel! unregistered |
posted 03-14-2004 08:55 PM
Hi, i have an eMate 300 that was given to me cause the person lost the powerpack. I was wondering if anyone knew where i could get a powerpack from, or one that woked as an equivilant? |
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sysadmn unregistered |
posted 03-15-2004 07:55 AM
quote: Google "emate power supply". Wegener media used to have some. |
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dkfackler unregistered |
posted 03-17-2004 05:10 PM
quote: J K Sales in Kentucky sells an equivalent power supply for about $10. Google JKsales to find them. |
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Eluttmer unregistered |
posted 03-20-2004 05:52 AM
I left my son's Emate 300 in th car over Feb Vaca and now it seems half the screen is unhappy. Can't calibrate the lower right corner. Did you find any other solution short of a replacement screen? My emails include eluttmer@allenmajor.com and eluttmer@hotmail.com
quote: |
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Eluttmer unregistered |
posted 03-20-2004 06:00 AM
You can get multi voltage transformers with Do you still need a power supply? I may have a spare soon. quote: |
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BMW ISETTA NUT unregistered |
posted 06-19-2004 09:46 PM
quote:I am using the power supply from a Sony CD player. 4.5 volts DC 500mH. The center conductor is + . |
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bob. sakamento@gmail.com unregistered |
posted 03-22-2005 01:48 AM
I think that this is the dreaded eMate screen cable issue. You may want to go to www.newtontalk.net and subscribe to their list for more info.
quote: |
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emateking unregistered |
posted 04-25-2005 04:40 PM
Just saw--Wegener Media is selling eMates for $55 complete! they say the battery isn't guaranteed, but i'm thinking that's pretty much cheaper than finding a way to rebuild my LCD which has gone belly-up on me.... http://www.wegenermedia.com/emate.htm All the best, Tom |
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