Maestro is a master
Written: Jan 12 '03 (Updated Jan 13 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Price, features, strong on-line groups, lots of freeware, SD *and* CF slots
Cons: Screen dull compared to latest from Dell, battery life (can be handled, see review)
The Bottom Line: Great buy, great on-line resources, and easy to fix battery issue. Why pay more than you have to?
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| irunamok's Full Review: Audiovox Maestro PDA1032C |
The biggest drawback you'll read about--and it's TRUE--is the short battery life. If you use the "super bright" setting for the frontlight display, the battery will drain pretty quickly, say 2 hours of moderate/heavy use. But the lower brightness settings are useable and extend the life a lot. Also, you can build a battery pack to recharge the Maestro when you're on the road using rechargable AA batteries and about $5 in parts from Radio Shack. It's easy to do and works like a champ. See how easy it is at:
http://www.earthv.com/articles.asp?ArticleID=474
It's a cheap and easy work-around for the abysmal battery, so don't let that be the reason to avoid the Maestro.
The Maestro has a nice feel to it, pretty substantial, and it has a sleek, modern look to it. Mp3 sounds great. If you record your mp3 at 64 kbps you can get over 2 hours of music on a 64 MB storage card, and Maestro has both SD and Compact Flash slots. CF cards are pretty cheap these days.
For support, there are numerous on-line groups, forums, info, tech support, etc. And since the Maestro is just a rebranded Toshiba e570 (more or less), there's even more info available if you do a simple Google search.
Besides the battery (no longer a problem, right?), the only other drawback is the screen brightness on all the reflective screen PDAs, which is dull compared to the new "trans-reflective" screens. But you can find killer deals on the Maestro on ebay--less than $200--which is great for a Pocket PC running PPC 2002.
With PPC machines going for under $200 these days, I can't figure why *anyone* would pay more for a Palm, with lower res display, lower memory and monochrome. PPC rocks...I'm a convert. And there's No need to drop $500 for an IPAQ--get a Maestro for less than half that and it works the same. Same software, same functionality, half the cost. What's not to like about that?
Once you've gone PPC, you'll never go back to your Palm! Oh!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 170
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Epinions.com ID:
irunamok
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Reviews written: 1
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