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Over a year ago, Casio released its first color-screen Palm-size PC, the Cassiopeia E-100. It and its successor, the E-105, proved to be the most popular of the color-screen Palm-size PCs. This was because Casio focused on creating an excellent multimedia device. The E-100/105 was the first Palm-size PC to include a stereo headphone jack and a built-in music player. It also accepted an optional Digital Camera Card, allowing it to record and display still images and video. Casio decided to base the hardware of their first Pocket PC, the E-115, almost entirely on this successful design. With the exception of a slightly different coloring of the outside case, the hardware of the new device is identical to the E-100/105.

The E-115 is slightly larger than the other Pocket PCs, but still small enough to slip into your pocket. It has three application launch buttons on the front of the device and a large "cursor pad" button you can use for navigation and game playing. The fourth application launch button is found on the left side of the E-115 and is set up to activate the Start menu. All application launch buttons can be re-configured to open any application on the Pocket PC. The E-115 has a clear 65K-color display that is very suitable for indoor viewing, but fades out in bright sunlight.

Three previous articles review or comment on the hardware of the E-115's predecessor, the E-100. Check out "A Tale of 3 Palm-size PCs" in the March/April 2000 issue, "Multimedia Powerhouse" in the November/December 1999 issue, and "Casio E-100" in the May/June 1999 issue. All can be found on our Web site (www.pocketpcmag.com).

Standard software and extras from Casio

The Cassiopeia E-115 Pocket PC comes with all the standard Pocket PC applications from Microsoft built in. This means you don't have to install them, and unless you physically destroy the E-115, the applications do not corrupt. In addition, Casio built in two new applications. Mobile Calendar provides a different and simpler way to view and enter Calendar appointments (Screen 1). Mobile Address Book does the same for Contact information (Screen 2). Also built into the E-115 are Casio Menu (an iconic start menu (Screen 3), CF Backup (lets you back up all or part of your E-115 to a CompactFlash storage card), an e-mail setup tool and a dialer utility to connect to AOL.

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Screen 1: Casio's Mobile Calendar provides a different and simpler way to view and enter Calendar appointments.

Screen 2: Casio's Mobile Address Book provides a different and simpler way to view Contact information.

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Screen 3: Casio's user-definable Menu application provides a simple iconic start menu that lets you launch your applications with the tap of a large icon. By default, Menu is associated with one of the hardware buttons on the front, making it easy to open Menu and launch additional applications.

On CD-ROM Casio includes a data converter to translate PIM data from a Palm to the Cassiopeia. It's good if you're switching devices, but it's not intended to be a synchronization program. Casio also includes installable versions of its suite of multimedia applications, including Mobile Camera, Mobile Video Player (see Screen 4); and Mobile Video Converter. Mobile Camera lets you slip Casio's optional Digital Camera Card ($299) in the E-115's CF slot and take still images (JPG format) or videos (CDF format). Mobile Video Player lets you play back the videos. Mobile Video Converter runs on your desktop PC and converts standard MPG video files that you download from other sources into Casio Digital Format movies. You can then transfer them to the E-115 and play them using Mobile Video Player.

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Screen 4: Casio's Mobile Video Player lets you play CDF format videos on your E-115 Pocket PC.

The Cassiopeia E-115 also comes with the Microsoft CD-ROM, which includes ActiveSync 3.1 for data synchronization with Outlook on a desktop PC, MS Outlook 2000 for the desktop PC, MS Reader sample books, Windows Media Manager for the desktop PC; MS Expedia Pocket Streets; Transcriber; AOL Mail; and MusicMatch Jukebox.

Other Cassiopeia Pocket PCs in the near future

Casio is preparing to release two additional Pocket PCs. One is the EG-80, a Pocket PC version of their ruggedized Palm-size PC. This device is designed for industrial uses and will use high-capacity Lithium Polymer battery technology, giving users as much as 75 hours of continuous use on a fully charged battery. It will come in monochrome and color-screen versions, and will be durable and secure.

Casio is also near release on a "Mobile Multimedia" Pocket PC. This device will be smaller than the E-115 and be targeted towards users interested in personal information management and multimedia entertainment. It will include a stereo headphone jack, 65K color touchscreen, and will have all of the standard Pocket PC applications built in. It will have a Multi-Media Card slot instead of a CompactFlash slot. Multi-Media Cards are smaller storage cards that can incorporate SD Card copyright protection for downloaded music files. I expect the ruggedized and multimedia devices to be announced this summer.

Casio will offer some kind of upgrade program for its existing E-100/105 users, but like HP's program, it will probably involved trading in the earlier Palm-size PC for a discount on the newer device. It won't be a user-installable upgrade chip. That's too bad, because there's no significant difference in the hardware.

Casio-based its Pocket PC on the solid and successful E-100/105, and I think that was a good idea. But it's good to see that they are not going to rest on their laurels. The Cassiopeia E-115 was a smooth slide into the world of Pocket PCs. The Mobile Multimedia device, with its smaller card slot, breaks new ground. I expect Casio to keep pushing hard on the multimedia end of things.