What happened to Cassiopeia? I still have and use my E105, which was
ahead of its time in terms of color display, memory capability, and
applications. With 32 MB Ram and a 32 MB flash card, it is still a
great Pocket PC today, but I am often curious that it is no longer
listed in reviews of PDAs in PC Mag and the like. I've heard that they
are still big in other parts of the world. What's the story? A brief
answer would be fine.

Hi, boomering.

Although your E-105 is no longer Casio's most recent model, I don't
think any dire fate has befallen the Cassiopeia. The Cassiopeia E-115
is the highest-rated PDA on a list of "Top 10 Rated PDAs" at
pdabuzz.com:

"Top 10 Rated PDAs 

 Casio Cassiopeia E-115
 4.62
  Hewlett Packard Jornada 548
 4.61
 TRG TRGPro
 4.60
 HandEra 330
 4.60
 Compaq iPaq H3700
 4.60
 Casio Cassiopeia EM-500
 4.59
 Sony PEG-N710C
 4.59
  Compaq iPaq H3800
 4.58
  Hewlett Packard Jornada 568
 4.58
  Sony CLIE PEG-T615C
 4.57

Maximum score of 5.00"

PDA Buzz
http://www.pdabuzz.com/

The Cassiopeia BE-300 is listed by geek.com as the most popular device
using the Pocket PC operating system:

"Pocket PC
Cassiopeia BE-300
Compaq iPAQ H3850
Compaq iPAQ H3870
HP Jornada 568

Palm OS
HS Visor Edge
HS Visor Neo
Palm m505
Palm m500
Sony Clie S360
Sony Clie T615C"

PDAGeek
http://www.geek.com/pdageek/pdamain.htm

The Cassiopeia BE-300 is listed as #33 in popularity by BizRate:

Tom's Hardware
http://tomshardware.bizrate.com/features/more_top_sellers__rf--wgg,cat_id--435,start--10.html

There are many reviews of Cassiopeia devices at epinions.com. Some of
the reviews are quite recent:

Epinions
http://www.epinions.com/search/mem_search_~0/search_vertical_~2518365?search_string=cassiopeia+casio

Many Cassiopeias are listed in the PDA Comparison of storescanner.com:

StoreScanner
http://www.storescanner.com/cat/PDAs.asp?page=2

My Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: "cassiopeia" + "pda"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=cassiopeia+pda

I don't think you need to be concered that the Cassiopeia is dropping
out of existence. The Cassiopeia is evolving, but it appears to be
quite healthy, and in no immediate danger of extinction. ;-)

If anything I've said is unclear, or if a link does not function,
please request clarification; I'll be glad to offer further assistance
before you rate my answer.

Best wishes,
pinkfreud

---

Request for Answer Clarification by boomering-ga on 16 Apr 2003 11:39 PDT

Hey Pinkfreud,

I dig your name! I'm glad to know that the Cassiopeia is still doing
well. It's just strange that PC Mag would exclude it in the last
couple of PDA reviews. Also, the big chains like Best Buy and Ciruit
City don't advertize (or carry it, I think) it anymore. If you have a
10 second theory on that, great. If not, that's ok too.

Best Regards,

Boomering

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 16 Apr 2003 13:22 PDT

My theory on the absence of the Cassiopeia at Best Buy and Circuit
City is this: mass-market stores typically carry a very limited array
of products, and it appears that the Palm OS is currently somewhat
more popular than the Pocket PC OS. Since stores like BB and CC
usually handle only the top, trendy products, they may tend to drop
some worthy devices from their inventory. Fortunately, there are many
thriving online businesses which carry the Cassiopeia (and other
Pocket PC devices,) so I don't think you need to worry that Cassie is
leaving the building. ;-)

I am sorry not to have been able to give a fully satisfactory answer.
Just out of curiosity, what more did you need?

~pinkfreud

Hey Freud,

It's just that the thing has gone from relative prominence to
completely out of view in the sources i used to see it. Best Buy and
Circuit City still carry several brands of both Palm and Pocket PC
devices, and you didn't offer an explanation for why PC Mag seems to
have dropped coverage.

Note, however, I rated you 4 of 5 stars, which means i was mostly
happy with your answer.....

Best Regards,

Boomering