Sharp Wizard OZ-590A Electronic Organizer

The OZ-590A syncs with Microsoft Outlook via USB and is compatible with Microsoft Windows XP Home and Professional, Windows ME, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 98, and Windows 98SE. Software is included to enable the sync. At less than half an inch thick, this Wizard will easily fit in your pocket and go everywhere you do. A protective flip cover protects the display from scratches and damage. Battery life is approximately 120 hours when data is continuously displayed without backlight, and can last a year when turned off with the clock running. The Sharp Wizard OZ-590A Electronic Organizer runs on one AAA battery and is backed by a 1-year warranty.

What's in the Box
OZ-590A electronic organizer, alkaline battery, software CD-ROM, USB PC-Link cable, operation manual, and stylus.

Product Description
Sharp OZ-590 Wizard Organizer - This inexpensive organizer from Sharp features a full-size PDA design, with a silver metallic finish and protective flip cover. Your colleagues will think you paid hundreds for it! And it's extremely functional with 9 built-in PIM functions: telephone/address book, calendar, scheduler, date reminder, memo, to do, expense, world clock, calculator,&conversions! Brick Attack&Slots games to keep you entertained on long trips or during boring meetings Includes - CD-ROM software&PC-link cable Dimensions - 4.6 (l) x 2.8 (w) x 0.6 (h)

That said, this product is VERY USEFUL for people, like me, who -
1. Do NOT want to spend a lot on features that we will rarely use.
2. Do NOT want to worry about charging their units every half a day so as to not lose data (this pda runs on 1 alkaline battery and hence, we just change it every month at the most).
3. Want to just get organized with their basic data such as contact numbers, addresses, emails, urls, memos, to-dos, anniversaries, reminders, expenses etc.
4. Want to use a very simple interface and yet have all the necessary stuff we need.
5. Do NOT care whether they input their data through graffiti or an on-screen keyboard (this PDA does not have graffiti or any hand-writing technology).

I like the touch sensitivity levels and the ease-of-use. It is very light-weight and very slim and small.


Simple Useful Personal Organizer   December 8, 2004
Edward J Vasicek (Kokomo, IN USA)
93 out of 94 found this review helpful

I am a busy pastor who constantly changes hats and needed a better system to stay organized. The Sharp OZ-590A did the job.

The calendar allows you to schedule appointments. By writing the appointment time for 15 mintues before the acutal appointment and setting the alarm beeper, it is a great reminder. It has a clock, and lets you write "to do" lists. The enclosed softward makes it easy to synchronize Sharp OZ-590A with Microsoft Outlook. You can write a list of addresses and phone numbers with the mini-keyboard on the Sharp OZ-590A or using your computer with Microsoft Outlook. By connecting the Sharp OZ with the enclosed cable to your computer, the two will synchronize one another. If you have a Mac, I do not think this would work.

The only drawback is that sometimes after synchronizing it freezes up; this is remedied by removing and then replacing the battery. It takes a second. Then you have to check to the clock. If you do not do this quickly, you might have to reset it.

This really does the job for me. It is smaller than palm pilots.
It's great to have all the addresses and phone numbers you want on your person, to be able to schedule appointments and set reminders. This is a good deal. The used, reconditioned version is even a better deal if they are still available.


I'm happy now   November 5, 2004
Everett (Rio Rancho, NM USA)
44 out of 46 found this review helpful

Except for the fact that the bottom buttons on the screen stopped working, and I was no longer able to get to the menu without pressing the back button, I am very pleased with my SHARP OZ-590. I was able to send it to Romax because of the one year warranty that the PDA has and got a complete replacement for it, and I am very happy now, so if you have problems with it, just call SHARP and they'll tell you exactly what you need to know, because it seems a lot of people on here don't like it because it doesn't seem to work after a while. I've only had my new one for two days, but my last one lasted a month.

As for the PDA, it's a great little organizer. For me, I'm a high school student about to take on Senior, and I can easily forget school assignments and come to school empty handed because of forgotten homework. But if your a busy person, this one sure fits the needs. With the menu screen, it makes you feel as if you're using an expensive PDA with the well low price of $50.00. I was astonished, and immediately purchased it. A lot of us really don't have the money to be spending 300 to 400 dollars on a PDA with internet when you just need one that you can easily enter the assignment you need and even with an alarm that warns you when you need to do so.

I would suggest reading the handbook. When you have trouble understanding exactly what you're entering in, just look into that. And for the people who have already purchased it, I also noticed that a lot of people are complaining about the fact that it's hard to see the screen in any light. I used to think that too and just went under a dim light each day so I could see with the glow in the dark light which is very useful at night when you need to enter in something fast. Well here's the trick. Click menu twice on the screen, and go to Set Up. There, you'll find a writing on the screen that says "LCD Contrast". There, you can lower and dim the screen background anyway you like it. I learned by browsing around the neat little thing.

It may seem frustrating at first (for me it was too) but once you get the hang of using it, and typing in things with the pen that pops off the top of it, you'll be able to remember things a lot easier than before. Don't bother spending almost half a grand on an expensive PDA. Get something that's as simple as one of these. You won't regret it.


Excellent   November 7, 2005
Alyssa A. Lappen (Earth)
40 out of 47 found this review helpful

I have been using this PDA organizer and hand-held electronic phone book for more than a year and have found it excellent in every way.

It has run on the same battery since August 2004. Having instant access to my schedule and phone list has proved a life saver.

Having said that, I do NOT use the sync function, which is not compatible with MAC or Linux computers. I did not need more than 8 megabytes of memory and did not want a unit that could connect to the internet.

I didn't want to spend a fortune on a fancy electronic gadget with multiple bells and whistles. Even this unit has far more features than I need to use--email, calculator, anniversaries, and a world clock.

For simple folks who do not need computer synchronization, this unit is tops, at the right price. Oh yeah, and it doesn't eat batteries.


Can't beat it for the price   April 18, 2006
busy mom (washington DC)
30 out of 30 found this review helpful

I was looking for a small, cheap electronic organizer that would sync with my Outlook calendar on my work computer. This fits the bill perfectly. I paid $11 for a refurbished Sharp 0Z-590A and am very pleased. It is very thin, lightweight, and fits in my smallest purse. I now have access to my calendar at all times, a necessity given I have to keep track of myself, my husband, and two children's schedules. It took me about 2 hours to set up the software and sync feature because the tech guy and I did not have the adaptor plug all the way snapped into the Sharp unit. It looked like it was all the way in, but needed to go another little bit before my computer detected the device. Without this problem it would have taken me about 30 minutes.

I highly recommend the Sharp organizer if all you want is to carry your electronic calendar with you, and a few phone numbers, e-mails, calculator, etc. But be warned I think it would be hard to have this device as your primary entry tool for an electronic calendar. The read-out for the daily schedule is small, and difficult to understand. It just lists times and description, without the date. You have to know what date you are looking at, and to do so you have to switch back and forth from calendar mode to schedule mode. It is fine if you just occasionally need to check a date, but I would go with something better if you will constantly be updating your calendar on the portable unit.

Also, I had no problem with storing e-mails on the portable unit, but decided not to since it used a lot of memory (I have a lot of e-mails, too).