What impressed me most, however, were the applications that came installed on the included mini-CD-ROM. The Thesaurus was especially impressive as well as the language translating applications. The pre-installed carb list was practical as well, offering a plethora of useful data about the foods we eat, including carbohydrate and protein data. And searching the database is as easy as tapping the first letter of the food you with the stylus. Although I'm a pretty decent budget manager on my own, the included expense manager appears quite useful as well.

Most useful however, was the ability to finally let go of the torn scraps of paper I have littered around the office, in my pockets, and in the console of my car. Ironically, one sticky note actually got removed from the very border of my desktop's monitor once inputted into the PDA. It seems odd not to search all of my usual favorite hiding places when needing an address or a phone number, in fact, such effective organization is going to take time to get used to I'm sure.

My only minor complaints are the lack of rechargeable power supply, or even an AC adapter for that matter, and the fact that all of the wonderful applications included on the CD can't be downloaded into the unit together. However, these complaints are nullified by the extremely affordable nature of the unit and the fact that it's so portable.

As I had theorized, users of high end PDA's, notebooks, and Tablet PC's can indeed benefit from an electronic organizer such as the Franklin ROLODEX RT-8214, simply because it never allows the user to forget its intention of simplification and organization. Everything the PDA does and is capable of maintains the theme of function over form, of practicality over entertainment. And although some may consider that a disadvantage, at the end of the day it's comforting to know that your battery life hasn't been exhausting by game playing or music listening, and that all of your important information is exactly where you left it.

Special thanks to Christian Barbato for making this review possible and Jack Giacchino for providing the photographs.

OUR RATING: 4 of 5

Ed Hare, W1RFI, is the ARRL Laboratory Manager. He is a member of the ASC C63 EMC Committee and chairman of Subcommittee 5, Immunity and Ad hoc BPL Working Group. He is also a member of the IEEE P1775 BPL EMC Committee, IEEE, Standards Association, Electromagnetic Compatibility Society, and IEEE SCC-28 RF Safety. He is a member of the IEEE EMC Society Standards Development Committee and chairman of the BPL Study Project. He is also a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers EMC/EMR Committee and is on the Board of Directors of QRP Amateur Radio Club International. ARRL's general information on BPL is available from http://www.arrl.org/bpl.