Comments on: Moreio EZPAD CE. NET Device Review

By: Guga

Guga — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 10:03:57 +0000

Hi all!!!
I’m really interested in buying one of this machines, there are not many of this type around…too bad.
I have two questions:
1-Did anyone try to install tomeraider, the pocket pc version (with the fake dll’s or something), to be able to have the whole wikipedia in this beauty??? I would appreciate if someone tries out……anyway…it worths it!! (if you need info, where to find the tomeraider wikipedia file, ask me)
2-Is it not sold anymore? I didn’t find retailers of this machine as of june 2007.Will I have to search for a used one?
Thanks

By: trophyofgrace

trophyofgrace — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 00:07:37 +0000

I bet there’s a free application that you can use to just write. If anything, you could use Pocket Paint that was mentioned in the review.

I don’t think they can run Linux, but it might be possible.

By: kdpross

kdpross — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 00:03:11 +0000

I’ve owned an EZ-Pad for something like a year, and all it does is collect dust! I’ve tried hard to find some useful role that it could play in my work / personal life, but I simply can’t figure out a single thing it can be used for. I have three laptops, so I’m not interested in a keyboard-less portable web browser / document editing platform. The reason I bought it was that I was hoping to use it as a digital notepad (i.e., something with lines that I could just write on — no handwriting recognition, just write text, store text (in a portable format), read text so entered), but there is no application that comes with it that does anything along these lines.

What do other people use theirs for? Can it run Linux (or another free operating system)? Is it good for anything other than being a USD800 image viewer (and not a very apt one at that)?

By: pak1976

pak1976 — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 22:32:06 +0000

Hi Everyone,

I have ezpad and i am using this from 2 months… last time i found some bugs in his opreating system. For this reason i want to update its OS Image file…
i download this file from his website…. Moreio EZPAD Dowload Center.. but it give me checksum error during instalation….
After that my ezpad screen become off….. in basic mode it is working but in window mode it become dark ….now i need help

Have Anyone Professional Who except this chealange ?

take care

By: ezb

ezb — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 01:49:09 +0000

Just another update. The device runs great still, still has the same
minor glitch, but not a huge deal. I doubt it would play a dvd/mp3 very
well, although we never tried to, nor did we try its audio
capabilities. USB storage keys work fine with the ezpad, we
use it to transfer files back and forth. We tend to use up the
extended battery when we use it, but rarely get to using the primary
before we start recharging the batteries.

I will say two things that we ran across since the last time I posted:

1) No writing pad program was included in our ezpad. What I’m talking
about is something like OneNote for Tablet PCs or like most Pocket PCs
where you can scribble a simple note and save. What we got was only
Wordpad (look at comment #2 regarding Pocket Word/Excel) and if
you tried writing onto it, it would attempt to translate your writing
into typed letters. So no drawing, notta. What we ended up doing,
for a client, was writing our own scribble-note-taking program and
adding it to the device.

2) Although the 3C EZ website lists under their applications that
it has Pocket Word and Pocket Excel, it does not. We informed them
via email about this and they did apologize (although their communication
was somewhat slow/spotty). Apparently, they haven’t removed that
off their website like they said they would in their email back to us.
Their Clearvue programs all you to view word or excel or powerpoint
files but do not allow you to edit them. However, you can add Pocket
Word/Excel yourself..

I noticed the 3C EZ website has a newer device called the MidasPad..
Also the device is now $649? I thought it’s supposed to go down
in price, not up

By: axnoel

axnoel — Wed, 17 Nov 2004 10:59:56 +0000

Hi,

It looks like these guys offer something similar:http://www.mobinote.net/na/product_mobinote_eng.asp. Are them the producers!?

I ordered one from 3cmpc too few days ago. Let’s hope I’ll get it

By: HenkBos

HenkBos — Sat, 30 Oct 2004 15:38:51 +0000

Thanks, Tyler. Don’t expect much, but it’s handy occasionally!

By: trophyofgrace

trophyofgrace — Sat, 30 Oct 2004 15:22:22 +0000

I wouldn’t count on DVD viewing too much, as the Moreio has a fairly slow processor. It wouldn’t be terrible, but there are better devices for watching DVD’s.

By: HenkBos

HenkBos — Sat, 30 Oct 2004 04:45:35 +0000

Am interested in this device as well, especially for:
- picture viewer with hard disk attached to USB
- GPS while off-roading
- DVD and MP3 player
Can anyone comment if this device will be a good choice?

Have tried to get in touch with the company that sells the 3C EZ PC, but they are VERY slow responding. MAde me a little worried doing business with them. How good are they?

By: ezb

ezb — Thu, 14 Oct 2004 06:38:37 +0000

Just to finish up on this device after using it quite extensively the
last few weeks..

1) We got ours from 3cezpc in about a week as well shipped from Taiwan.
It came with the wireless card as well. I checked our device, it has 64Mb
of internal flash storage.

2) We’ve gotten the device to go as long as 9-10 hours with the
extended battery (which we purchased from convergent technology).
This is without using the wireless card, or any other peripherals.
With the extended battery, it is a bit heavier to carry one-handed, but
still not as heavy as a tablet pc. Heck the battery lasts so long, I
can finish an ebook in one sitting. The only glitch is sometimes when
you first turn it on, it will turn off in a few seconds, but after you turn
it on again, it stays on (assuming you continue using it). No idea what
causes the glitch, even with fiddling with the powersaving options,
but not really a big deal. The device itself does get warm after
prolonged use, but not as hot as a tablet pc can get. One annoying
thing is there is a popup message box that will show up, all too
frequently, as the battery (or extended) hits 50% or so. It continues
to popup as it goes to 0%. I haven’t bother to figure out if there is
a way to turn it off. Also, one time we let it go all the way to 0%,
on both batteries, the device lost everything that was installed or
changed and reverted to the original image.

3) It really is a superb device for reading e-books, with its screen size.
We tried a few others that had 8.4″ or 10″ lcd screens, but the ezpad
felt the most natural and comfortable device to use. It was rather surprising to me that by default you can not install acrobat reader, or ms reader, or for that matter, many other reader programs we tried out there online. You have to do some nontrivial things to get some of them to work.

4) We did get our CE.NET and SQL CE programs that we wrote to work
on the device, which was really our main goal.

By: bkilian

bkilian — Wed, 13 Oct 2004 20:20:06 +0000

ezb wrote:

Anyhow..I had two questions and then one comment.

Q2. For business purposes, we want the device to last a bit longer on the battery side (12 hrs would really be nice…). You mentioned that a $100 battery to double the life was out there. Do you have a website url to whomever makes that battery?..or is it from Convergent Technologies?

C. I wandered some more and found another link to a very similarly looking (if not exact) device, for anyone that’s interested:

http://unitedpage.hypermart.net/3cmpc/page5.html

They have it priced at $549+$18.90 s&h……

Ok, for Q2, I have not had much problem with the battery life. I can use the device all day and only have to recharge it in the evening. This assumes, of course, that you are not using it every minute and that you hit the off button when you’re not busy with it. It lasts about 4-5 hours for me if I use it full out, a little less if I have the network card in it.
The Extended battery can be had from ConvergenTech. I can’t vouch for it, since $150 is a little much for my purposes.

The device at 3cmpc is the one I bought, I had a stunning user experience with them, I ordered the Pad, and I had it within a week. (Ordered on Tuesday, got it the next monday morning). Their price has gone up to $599 since they now include 128MB of internal flash storage instead of the original 32? I think, but that price includes the wireless PCMCIA card. To get the card to work properly I had to download and install the wireless drivers from ConvergenTech.

(And the reason I bought it over a PocketPC device is because I mainly use it to read e-Books, and I required the larger screen)

I’ve had mine for just over 2 weeks, and I love it.

By: trophyofgrace

trophyofgrace — Sat, 31 Jul 2004 14:57:22 +0000

WinCE tablets (such as the Moreio) are all but abandoned. Microsoft seems to think Tablet PC’s will replace them, so they are discouraging companies from making them. If you think the Moreio would be good for your purposes, by all means go for it. Don’t let me stop you. But, I am just saying you can get a much more powerful Pocket PC device for a lot less cash.

By: ezb

ezb — Sat, 31 Jul 2004 00:56:48 +0000

By “one of these”, I assume you mean the Moreio EZPAD..
the reason I have been looking for something like this is
because of its larger dimensions. This is for a group of doctors with multiple locations – who want something of a portable nature (light in weight, semi battery lasting), a decent size screen (they do not want to use “small” pda screens on the 3.x inch to 4 inch range..hence my search. We don’t need it to display full motion video or anything fancy graphically, but it needs to have a larger screen than what current pda’s have. The reason we weren’t considering tablet pc’s was partly the price factor and partly a concern that if it got dropped….which undoubtedly would happen. If you dropped one of these, at least it would be at a
smaller cost.

Anyhow, I kind of like the idea of a larger pda, especially
for reading .lit .pdf files in a portable manner. I have a dell axim that is great for reading the .lit files, but I tried some of those pdf files and they don’t show up on the screen that well (imo) just
because of the lack of screen space. I just wish more companies would sell something similar to this Moreio brand.

By: trophyofgrace

trophyofgrace — Fri, 30 Jul 2004 15:18:02 +0000

Smart displays are basically a normal monitor that you can detach from the base station, and take anywhere in your house. Basically a tablet PC, but as you said it can’t be used standalone, it is connected by WiFi to the desktop PC. Microsoft has given up on this, they cancelled all Smart Displays (ie don’t buy one).

Frankly, I don’t see why anyone would want one of these over the VGA Pocket PC’s starting to appear, one is out already by Toshiba and one is coming by HP, ASUS, and a few other companies. They are more powerful, have more software, and have a more polished OS than WinCE tablets like this device.

By: ezb

ezb — Fri, 30 Jul 2004 09:12:59 +0000

Hi, I was browsing the web for a large-screen pda, for a business I am doing consulting for. I wandered the web and then decided to check if the-gadgeteer had any review on such a device (lo and behold!). Good review, it seems to be that this is a much better device than those Smart Displays (that I see predominantly on Ebay made by Viewsonic under the Airpanel brandname). Although I’ve looked around as much as possible, it seems like you can not use the Smart Displays as a standalone device (if I’m wrong someone please correct me, although I’ve read in one review from cnet asia that it is not a standalone).

Anyhow..I had two questions and then one comment.

Q1. The very first picture which shows a blueprint sketch, there’s a top section that’s detached from the main device. Is that an addon section or actually part of the main device? What is it? heh

Q2. For business purposes, we want the device to last a bit longer on the battery side (12 hrs would really be nice…). You mentioned that a $100 battery to double the life was out there. Do you have a website url to whomever makes that battery?..or is it from Convergent Technologies?

C. I wandered some more and found another link to a very similarly looking (if not exact) device, for anyone that’s interested:

http://unitedpage.hypermart.net/3cmpc/page5.html

They have it priced at $549+$18.90 s&h……

By: ezpad

ezpad — Sat, 24 Jul 2004 03:57:28 +0000

I will try to get a measurement soon by the end of the weekend

By: shermanii

shermanii — Sat, 24 Jul 2004 03:09:26 +0000

Thanks for the info.

I only know C, making it mathematically impossible to calculate A and B.

Using a picture from the internet and linear extrapolation I’ve come up with 6.75×5. Wouldn’t mind a verification if you get a chance.

By: ezpad

ezpad — Thu, 22 Jul 2004 14:29:31 +0000

The is behaves like a transreflective one. It’s quite awesome indoors, but outdoors its not the best. It is still quite viewable and the screen does not go blank, The case quality is quite good and its not flimsy. You can grasp it and not worry about it cracking or whatever else possible. But it will crack if you drop, but you wouldn’t do that :rolleyes:

The screen, i haven’t measured yet. You’d have to use A squared plus B squared equals C squared and its a right angle. I hope you did well in Geometry.

By: shermanii

shermanii — Mon, 14 Jun 2004 17:46:47 +0000

A couple of questions about the EzPad:

a) How does the screen perform outdoors or in a vehicle (car, aircraft)?
b) What is the actual screen size? The specs say 8.4 diagonal but what is the height and width?
c) How stiff is the case? Is it something that you need to be careful to flex or is it fairly sturdy?

Thanks,

By: ArchiMark

ArchiMark — Sat, 08 May 2004 17:27:51 +0000

I get it now….

Thanks ezpad!

Mark

By: ezpad

ezpad — Sat, 08 May 2004 14:57:28 +0000

The EZPAD has remote desktop which allows you to access a Win XP Pro computer from anywhere. XP Pro allows devices access to itself, much like the system at my school. Remote Desktop is just like PcToGo, except its faster and free. Its just like being at your very own computer. To set it up, you may need a little help, but once its all done….you have a new computer than runs all the programs. It isn’t great for watching movies, but for all other applications, it works rather fine.

By: ArchiMark

ArchiMark — Sat, 08 May 2004 14:09:14 +0000

Hi ezpad,

Thanks for the extra info.

I do have WinXP Pro on my little Fujitsu 5020d laptop of mine. How does that help??

Thanks,

Mark

By: ezpad

ezpad — Sat, 08 May 2004 12:23:10 +0000

It depends on what you are going to use it for. Remember, the EZPAD doesn’t have the largest software selection around, but using fake DLLs you can run quite a few pocket pc programs. It all comes down to what you want. The EZPAD has a larger screen, so if you want the real estate, then i’d go for it and if you’re running Win XP Pro, you’re in luck.

By: ArchiMark

ArchiMark — Tue, 04 May 2004 13:43:06 +0000

Thanks for your comments ezpad!

Sounds good…maybe I should sell my Toshiba e805 PPC and get one??

Mark

By: ezpad

ezpad — Tue, 04 May 2004 10:41:22 +0000

I actually still use the device a lot. The wow factor has worn off as with any device. In situations, I am still able to whip out the EZPAD, type up the assignment, and still hand it in on time. I still use the internet feature since it connects me. I use RDP, AIM, PIE the most which allow me a broad means of communication. I would still recommend it to anyone.