Digital Diaries yet another area of electronic for Casio to dominate. It is well known for Calculators and Keyboard or Synthesizer. Just like Xerox became synonym for Photocopying in India, Casio is for Small Keyboards Players. Of course musicians have big and expensive Yamaha synthesizers but right from my childhood Casio was know for above-mentioned goods. Also they have huge diametric wristwatches with calculators and broad strap sport watches. As the technology evolved no wonder Casio came up with a compact, sleek instrument to maintain your contact details including phone numbers and addresses. If you have a big friend circle then your conventional paper diary runs out of page. Also the condition in which we keep it (mostly in wallet) does it no good and the pages start to wear off. Also if you’re in a job requiring keeping track of many contacts then the need for Digital diary becomes serious. Old days are gone and trust me if you are getting the new Digital Diary below 1K Rs. then its nothing like it.
This diary was passed on to me from my brother before he left for Germany. I do have a big friend circle, in fact friends from almost all parts of India. When I was doing my M.Sc. in Pune I used to stay in University Hostel having students from all parts of India including Calcutta, Assam, Banglore, Kerala and also a senior from Kashmir. After the end of the course when its time to leave the Hostel all of sudden we realize the need to have contacts details of our friends ‘cause throughout the course we never bothered to have them. I really got emotional leaving friends. But when I know I have there contacts safe and well organized in my Digital Diary I don’t get sad anymore.
Casio has basically 3 families of Digital diaries. SF, CSF and NX are three different series available with it. Casio SF 3600 is one of the old models of Casio, now we have fancy, hi-fi 7500 and 7900. It would be inappropriate to call them digital diaries.
Memory of SF 3600 is 64 Kb. I was in a dilemma regarding reacting to it. On second thought I would say it’s more than enough since yet my address book is not that expanded. Perhaps later when I’ll be in a Research Institute I will need more memory. I’m not sure but I suppose a plug in memory card can also extend the memory of this model from 64KB to higher multiple.
Display is a simple 3 line LCD Display. A backlit facility is also provided for viewing in low or dim light conditions. Especially in evening or twilight conditions this facility is very useful. In low light we need to align the display in proper angle facing towards maximum light to view the data on display (just like moving radio in the air to get a better signal). A light gives a reading even better than bright light conditions. The reason could be the contrast between the color of the letters and numbers and the light.
But we should keep in mind that the more we use the light more the battery power consumes. And when the battery is used up we can’t just remove it and put it back again because that would erase the contents in the memory and you will have to start from zero again. If there is no back taken then there will be no start from zero you will at and zero only. All you could in a situation like this is enter your own details or give your mighty brain a little stress and try to memorize all that you have left behind.
I will now highlight some of the features of the diary. Most important of all, The Telephone Directory should come first. I’m not at the stage to handle business appointment so this is the feature I can make use of to the full extent. You can make six entries per person including Name, Telephone number, Email-Address, Mobile number, Fax number and outdated page number. You can store more than 4000 entries. There is no special entry for address. This is the major disadvantage of the model. I agree with achougoo that the only way to store it indirectly is through memo function. I said indirectly because it not made for storing addresses. So you don’t get search facility with it since it is only for entering text.
Search function for telephone directory gives quick access to the stored entries. And it is broad search, meaning entering first few letter would display all entries with similar starting words. Page up and Down can be used to see the entries on successive pages.
To Do is for storing the things or task you want to do. I use is quite often. Apart from planning and scheduling I like to make a list of small things I need to do and store them. When done I mark them done. For example small things like to go in the library, buy a book, go to the temple etc. Scheduler is for storing appointments with date and time. You can set the beep alarm to remind you the event.
A basic Calculator is a also available with the Diary. I don’t carry my Scientific Calculator everywhere but do carry Diary, so used the Calci quite a lot.
A final major drawback is the incompatibility with the Computer. So as I mentioned earlier if somehow your battery goes the whole data is erased just like that. So you are again made to rely on old paper back up. In such cases this piece of electronics is just a dumb, metal crap. So you decide before buying what to look for in a diary. From durability, design and prize point of view this is a really a good product. But in my personal opinion spend few more bucks and go for a better version.