Name: Justin Yu
Website: www.cewindows.net
Location: San Fransciso, CA
Although I admit that I am only 18 years of age, I’ve had a great deal of
experience with PDAs in my short time on Earth. I’ve always been interested in
mobile technology, and as soon as I saw my first Palm Pilot Professional, I knew
I had fallen in love. The journey towards buying my own PDA was no small task.
At the time, I was vacillating between the HP Jornada 420 and the Palm III.
Before diving into such a hefty investment, I knew some serious research was in
order. So, I went online and started to look around, comparing specs and
whatnot, when suddenly I found a great article written by none other than the
amazing Julie Strietelmeier! After reading the review, I had a good feeling that
this was a website I would be visiting many more times in the future. Although I
ended up buying the Palm III, I decided that I wanted to become more than just a
PDA consumer. I wanted to become more involved. So, I made a lot of calls, sent
a bunch of e-mails, and finally ended up as a professional PDA online reviewer
for Chris De Herrera, the owner and webmaster of a popular Windows CE PDA site,
www.cewindows.net. I also set up a deal with an online retailer (www.mobileplanet.com)
which enabled me to receive test products in exchange for advertisements on the
reviews themselves. I also wrote a series of online reviews for
www.edgereview.com. The reviews I wrote for both websites can be found here:
http://www.cewindows.net/reviews/pdahunt.htm
http://www.cewindows.net/reviews/hp548.htm
http://www.cewindows.net/reviews/jornada690.htm
http://www.cewindows.net/reviews/jornada720.htm
http://www.cewindows.net/reviews/casio_em-500.htm
http://www.cewindows.net/reviews/casio_e-125.htm
http://www.cewindows.net/reviews/casio_eg-800.htm
http://www.edgereview.com/ataglance.cfm?Category=handheld&ID=199
http://www.edgereview.com/ataglance.cfm?Category=handheld&ID=205
I started getting serious with my technological writing, and eventually my peers
came to know me as the “Gadgeteer,” an infamous title given to me by an intrepid
English teacher who became frustrated with my constant fiddling of electronics
in her class. In short, the name stuck throughout my high school career, and I
even had the phrase “Go Go Gadgeteer” engraved in my senior yearbook! In the
course of my PDA career, I’ve had the extreme pleasure of owning/testing these
PDAs (not in any particular order):
Jornada 430se
Jornada 790
Jornada 720
Jornada 548
Casio EM-500
Casio E-125
Casio EG-800
Hitachi E-plate
Palm III
Palm IIIse
Palm IIIxe
Palm V
Palm Vx (2)
Palm M100
Palm M505
Visor Edge
Clie N710c
Clie NR70v
My two favorites so far are the NR70v and the Jornada 720. Unfortunately, my
beloved Jornada 720 was stolen from me through a one-sided online trade. In
short, a man in New York and I exchanged numerous e-mails and I eventually
agreed to trade my Jornada 720 for a Clie N710c. When I trustingly (and probably
foolishly) sent my Jornada 720 away to New York, I expected a brand new Clie to
come in the mail. Three weeks went by, and I hadn’t received anything, so I once
again emailed my contact in NY. The email was sent back to me! The account had
been cancelled! I had been royally ripped off! Unbelievable. I loved that
Jornada 720, and now some thief is probably have a jolly old time listening to
mp3s and surfing the internet.
In the fall, I will be attending San Francisco State University, where I’ll be
studying journalism. After commencement, I hope to become the Editor of a
well-known tech-based magazine, i.e. T3, Pen Computing, etc…As for present
goals, I’m currently looking for a new reviewing job to further my skills as a
writer. Does The Gadgeteer have any openings? I can only dream…
