Product Review: The Franklin RexPro (1999)

(while Microsoft was still trying to figure out editorial content, I got in the rotation to write up pre-millennium tech for the MSN “Geek Chic” column. This one is a howler about a pre-iPhone great from my early career and reminds me how far we have come in just 25 years.)

I may work for a Web site, and I like my computers simple, and more to the point, I like my appointment and address book to be… the size of an appointment and address book. Only then, in my mind, does technology obviate the need for that 19th-century innovation known as the little black book.

If you’re like me and think that no matter how many bells and whistles a Palm Pilot or Windows CE-style personal data assistant may have, both are too bulky and too buggy, then the solution for you may well be the Franklin RexPro.

If you’re looking into the PDA market for the first time (or if you’re considering a switch), ask yourself these questions: Do you often need to enter things in your portable organizer, or can it wait until you get to your laptop or desk? Do you really need half-baked Internet and e-mail access at all times? And do you want to learn the Cyrillic-style lettering a pen-using PDA requires?

The incredible PCMCIA technical marvel, with rich display, in its well-appointed leather case!

The RexPro is the size of a credit card (although it’s about three times thicker) and it has an appointment calendar, address book (it can store up to 6,000 entries), to-do list, note pad and world clock. And you can enter data in a pinch. It requires using six handy buttons to navigate options and the alphabet, which is, admittedly, time intensive.

It comes with a CD-ROM by Starfish Corp. that provides a sophisticated desktop-organizer application and translator program that work on their own or can be easily set up to synchronize data between the RexPro and most major organizer applications (such as Outlook, Sidekick, Schedule+, ACT! and Lotus). Visit Franklin’s Web site (www.franklin.com/rex/) for further information on specifications. In addition to online vendors such as ZDNET, you can purchase the RexPro for less than $200 at many office supply and computer stores. It comes with batteries that last about six months and a docking station for a COM port (a computer-output microfilm port, which you won’t need if you have a Type II PC-card slot, since the RexPro is essentially a PC card itself).

My favorite feature, however, is the folded leather carrying sleeve, which has little pockets that can be used to hold business cards, note paper for quick scribbles (I usually enter information into RexPro in a spare moment later) or whatever else your functional little heart desires.

The RexPro is available at Office Depot, Staples and CompUSA.

— Jack Shay

Postscript: The good people over at r/retrobattlestations reminded me of this thing a couple years ago so I dug it up. As always on Reddit, the comments are pretty great too.