The Sharp EL-6950 is a compact, relatively inexpensive electronic organizer with 512K of memory, several built-in applications & games, a QWERTY-style keypad, and data transfer capabilities. For some purposes, it is a good alternative to a laptop computer, because it is smaller and uses less power.
SCREEN: The EL-6950 has a small three-line LCD screen (about two inches, measured diagonally) with adjustable contrast and a backlight which can be switched on/off. Unlike some less-expensive organizers, it is capable of displaying both upper and lower case letters, along with some types of European characters. It has twelve columns on each line, with the bottom two lines reserved for numbers and some symbols. A silver-colored (like the rest of the organizer) protective lid can be closed to protect the screen and keypad. Quick reference instructions are printed on the inside of the lid.
INSTRUCTIONS: The Sharp operation manual included with this organizer is larger and easier-to-read than the instructions for many electronic organizers. It has detailed instructions for using each feature of the organizer, as well as a thorough list of specifications. A separate Spanish version of the manual was included as well. The quick reference instructions on the inside of the protective lid and the words on the keyboard are all in English, but the on-screen prompts can be set to one of ten different languages when the unit is initialized or reset.
POWER: The EL-6950 runs on two CR2032 coin-type batteries, which are fairly inexpensive. Like most electronic organizer models, it cannot be powered with an AC adapter. According to specifications printed on the back of the unit, it consumes 0.11 watts of power. More power is consumed when the display backlight is turned on. It has an automatic power-off feature which turns off the organizer when it hasn’t been used for about five minutes. Working Panasonic brand batteries were included with the unit, already installed. The battery door is held shut by a small phillips-head screw.
DATA TRANSFER: The EL-6950 is capable of transmitting and receiving data from a computer. Unlike some Sharp organizers, it is sold packaged with the necessary CD and cable to connect it to your computer’s serial port and send/receive information. After installing the software and connecting the organizer to your computer, you can select the application on the organizer which you want to send or receive data from. The data is transmitted in alphabetically-organized CSV files. The organizer can also send its entire memory contents to the computer in a back-up format which it can load from the computer later if necessary. The software CD can be used with Sharp YO-P20 and ZQ-P20 electronic organizers as well. System requirements to use this software are fairly high; the manual indicates that it requires an IBM-compatible computer with a 300MHz or faster processor, Windows 98/98SE/2000-Pro/Me/XP, 64MB of memory/RAM (or 128MB in Windows XP), and an available serial port. I tested it on a Sony computer with Windows 98 and was able to successfully transmit and receive data from the organizer.
APPLICATIONS: The applications built into the Sharp EL-6950 include a scheduler, memo feature, to-do list, clock, world time, telephone directory, English/Spanish translator, ten-digit calculator, password feature, currency converter, and measurement converter. The clock shows the current date & day of the week, has an alarm, and has 12/24-hour and daylight saving time options. It can display the current time in 43 different cities around the world.
The word translator can translate words to/from English and Spanish, one word at a time. According to the manual, it can translate about 1200 words per language. It successfully translated the words “rain”, “south”, and “clock”, but I was unable to translate “truck”, “printer”, or “associated” with it.
When the organizer can’t translate a word, it suggests a word with similar spelling.
The calculator has memory, square root, and percentage keys. The telephone directory is split into two separate listings (one could be used for business and the other for personal phone numbers) and has separate fields for name, mailing/postal address, e-mail address, website URL, and phone number.
Memo records are limited to 36 characters each, not including numbers which can be entered on the 2nd and 3rd lines of the screen. The measurement converter can convert inches/centimeters, yards/meters, miles/kilometers, temperatures, feet/meters, ounces/grams, pounds/kilograms, and gallons/liters. Five currencies can be programmed by the user.
The organizer also has a menu feature (accessed by pressing shift, then “Q”) which lets the user check what percentage of the memory is free, activate a data transfer, set the date, or turn the key tone on/off.
GAMES: Two built-in games, “Blackjack” and “Alpha Attack”, are included on this electronic organizer. “Alpha Attack” is a fast-paced game in which the player tries to press letters and numbers racing across the screen before they reach the left side. In the “Blackjack” (a.k.a. 21″) card game, the player presses the space bar to be dealt another card and the enter key to stop taking new cards and keep the current hand. These two games are included on some of the other Sharp electronic organizers as well.
MEMORY: The Sharp EL-6950 has 512KB of memory (524,288 letters/numbers), which is more than most electronic organizers can hold (most PDA and electronic organizer models have between 5KB and 256KB of memory, a few have 1MB/1,024KB or more). According to the manual, the “user area” of this memory is approximately 511KB, and the “application capacity” is about 5,000 entries. It is not likely that you will need more memory than this; most people are unlikely to need an organizer with any more than 32KB.
KEYBOARD: The rubber keys are placed in a computer-like “QWERTY” arrangement, with separate numeric and arrow keypads. The space bar and enter key are both about as large as two of the regular keys; it would be preferable if the space bar were somewhat larger. A small reset button is located on the far right part of the electronic organizer’s keypad and can be pressed with a paper clip. The depth and style of the keys makes typing quickly more difficult than with some of the other keyboard-based electronic organizers I have used, but faster than pressing letters on a touch-screen with a stylus. For example, I prefer using the Spectra EPB-340 electronic organizer’s keypad, but it has less memory and fewer features than the Sharp EL-6950.
Overall, the Sharp EL-6950 is great for keeping a schedule or to-do list, entering short notes, mathematical calculations, playing games, translating basic English/Spanish, using as an alarm, converting measurements, and checking the current time & date. However, it is insufficient for word processing, scientific calculations, or translating complex sentences.
