OK, I admit it, I'm a PalmV freak. I just love the small size. I want to carry my data in my shirt pocket, not in my briefcase. With that disclosure having been made, I spent the last few days evaluating the new Cassiopeia E-115.

The first thing that struck me is the behemoth size of the unit - again, in comparison to the PalmV. It's at about three times as thick and almost an inch longer than the PalmV. It is definitely not a shirt-pocket item.

However, the Casio unit offers a very bright color screen that is larger than the PalmV. It also has a number of features that don't ship on the Palm unit, including a voice recorder, a book reader, a media player, and a "Today" setting that offers a single screen to view your schedule, messages, and tasks.

Both units use a stylus to enter data when not connected to your regular computer. However, I found the character recognition on the Casio to be a little easier to learn than the Palm graffiti style. It's one of those "you gotta try it" to understand the difference. Another interesting feature is the data entry area on the Casio. It is divided into three segments. One area is for uppercase letters, one for lowercase, and the third for numbers. I found stylus data entry somewhat quicker than with the Palm unit. Unlike the PalmV, Casio provides visual feedback since you can see the characters in the data entry area as you apply the stylus.

The Casio also offers a card slot on the top of the machine for additional modules such as cameras, memory cards, game programs, etc. All nice toys, but probably not something the average lawyer will seek out.

The Casio comes packed with a healthy suite of programs and 32MB of memory to handle all of it. (The PalmV has 2MB and the Palm Vx has 8MB.) Both come with cradles and serial port connectors to link with your regular computer. Both also come equipped with IR ports - and I got both of them working with no difficulties.

The voice recorder on the Casio was nice, but after I make a recording, I have to create a note to remind myself to replay it later. The media player is a very nice "toy." It's nice to have a few MP3 songs on the unit and listen with a headset. However, since the unit is large, has a color screen, and all the lights, bells and whistles, it sucks up battery power at a rapid rate. Under heavy use I can run down the battery in a few hours. With the Palm unit, it takes me days to run down the battery.

Here's my "short story." If you want color and all the gadgets, you have to give up the small size and long battery life. If you're a Windows CE person, then the Casio is for you. It's got all the goodies. It carries a sticker price of about $599. If you want something small and can do without color, then the PalmV series units get my vote. If you can handle something a little larger than the PalmV series, you may wish to explore the Handspring line of products. All in all, each of the choices depends upon what YOU want to do with the units. I was not enamored of the color screen - yeah, nice, but not necessary. I was offended by the size of the Casio, but loved the "today" setting, the reader and voice recorder, but not enough to buy one. There are times I wish my PalmV had more memory and I'll probably have to upgrade to a PalmVx shortly. I doubt I can use up the 32MB in the Casio, but I'd like to try!

Reviewed by Bruce Dorner, you can reach Bruce at callmylawyer@attglobal.net