Customer Reviews:
 Decent, but not excellent, and here's why August 16, 2005
Gadgester (New York)
46 out of 51 found this review helpful
It's been a long time since I last took the SAT, and increasingly I find myself encountering words that I know I used to know but can no longer recognize. It turned into embarassment a month ago when I tried to read out a story for a kid and there were half a dozen words I either didn't know the meanings or how to pronounce! Time to get a dictionary.
So I picked up this Franklin Speaking Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition. (That's its full official product name.) I chose it because of its speaking feature. I found the price a bit too high, but I was willing to shell out the dough for the Franklin name as well as the venerable Merriam-Webster brand. (My first real dictionary was an M-W.)
Upon receiving the Franklin and thoroughly playing with it, I find myself both excited and disappointed. Here's why.
This electronic dictionary has a lot of features. It has a dictionary with a claimed vocabulary for 200,000 words. (But who's counting?) There's also a 500,000-entry thesaurus. Then there are lots of learning tools (like an SAT word list) and games (like "hangman" and "letris"). You can even turn on a setting called "learn a word" so every time you turn on the dictionary, a word and its definition are displayed, allowing you to build up your vocabulary randomly.
The dictionary feature is the one I bought this for, and for the most part it's great. Each word entry gives you its part of speech, its year of first use (some amazing trivia here!), definitions (of course), some usage examples, synonyms, and etymology. Most words also have a spoken pronunciation, but no written pronunciation key. I'm very disappointed that the speech is computer-generated speech, not human-recorded speech. Last year when I was traveling in Asia I saw electronic dictionaries in the $100 range with real human speech. The quality was just amazing. I really wish Franklin had used human speech, or at least provided written pronunciation keys to supplement the poor-sounding computer voice.
You can view the word screen in three different sizes: small (11 lines), medium (8 lines), or large (6 lines). Large size is by far the best-looking, not only because the font is big, but it's also smooth. The other two sizes look too jagged, and there's often a shadow behind the text that makes reading difficult. There is *no* backlight on this thing, making it impossible to use in the dark.
Unfortunately, I've found a few words -- by no means tricky words or foreign ones -- that are not in this dictionary but I can find on the free Encarta online dictionary (...). This is very disappointing, making me suspicious of the vocabulary capacity of this product.
One more thing that disappoints me: the overall build quality of the product is rather poor. Assembled in Malaysia, it just feels cheap, period. It's made of gray plastic that ages quickly, and the thumbboard buttons are the worst I've ever used. (I've used countless PDA thumbboards as well as those in the Treo, Sidekick, Blackberry, etc.) The buttons are hard tactilely and not very responsive. The flip cover is a total joke and can come off very easily. I'm very disappointed in the quality of this product that cost me 90 bucks.
On the plus side, this Franklin uses 2 easy-to-find-and-cheap AAA batteries. I can't comment on the battery life yet since I just got this a couple days ago. But given it doesn't have backlight, I imagine it should last a few weeks of moderate use.
Because I did not check out other electronic dictionaries, like those from Casio or Sharp, I cannot do a comparative review. Let me just say that I regret not having done more homework before I made the purchase. I really should have compare-shopped. I took a blind trust in the Franklin name and, frankly, I'm rather disappointed. For close to $100, I expected more in terms of quality and dictionary capacity. (I personally don't care for its bell-and-whistle features.)
 A powerful, portable tool September 23, 2003
switterbug (Austin, Texas United States)
27 out of 29 found this review helpful
I just received my Franklin's Electronic 11th Collegiate Dictionary, and already it is indispensible to my activities. The hand-held user-friendly device is a comprehensive dictionary with voice-activated pronounciation of words and defintions; additionally, it is a mighty useful and expansive thesaurus. Supplementary features include word games, a calculator, a grammar guide, a table of signs and symbols, a currency converter, a World Clock, a BOOKMAN book card feature, and learning tools designed to help a student study for the SAT or increase one's spelling acumen. It displays confusables, antonymns, homophones, and pre-fixes/suffixes. Moreover, if you want to use it as a name and address database, there is a program for data storage (and secret password entry, if you desire).
The letters are arranged like a keyboard instead of alphabetically. Since the keyboard is too small to prop your hands on (like a computer), it would be my preference to arrange them alphabetically. I reasoned, however, that the keyboard arrangement (as well as the speaker) is designed to be user-friendly for the sight-impaired. I only wish that they had designed it both ways, giving the buyer a choice. My only salient complaint is that the optional PC connectivity kit that you can purchase for $7.95 (includes Desktop Software, an expansion card, serial cable, AC adaptor, and pc software to allow you to download eBooks, magazines, language translators, etc.) is not Mac compatible. Regardless, I will keep this literary-friendly gadget velcroed to my personage!
 Not bad for a dictionary September 6, 2004
N. Shields (WA USA)
26 out of 27 found this review helpful
Overall: I bought this as a substitute for a bulky paper dictionary - just to look up words as I'm reading. For this purpose it is nice. If you want to know how a word is pronounced, however... well, here's a letter I wrote to Franklin:
===================
Dear Sir or Madam:
As an owner of several Franklin products, I am familiar with the company's commitment to quality electronics. I recently purchased the SCD-1870 electronic dictionary and generally have been satisfied with the unit. It is the most extensive handheld dictionary I have found yet, and I have occasion to use a dictionary frequently.
Having read reviews of the product from several sources, I anticipated that the speaking function would give ambiguous pronunciations. Thus I was pleased to see (on the product's packaging, figure 1) that a textual pronunciation key would accompany each word (as occurs in all the other electronic dictionaries that I have encountered).
[figure 1]
I now believe that this is not the case, and that the speech function was intended to replace the text pronunciation. I appreciate the advances in speech technology, but this design leads to several disappointing consequences.
Firstly, pronunciations can be ambiguous:
Ch- often sounds like sh-, as in champion.
Secondly, uncommon pronunciations can be chosen:
Eschew appears to be pronounced is-`choo, which is the fourth pronunciation listed on the Merriam Webster web site.
Thirdly, pronunciations can be incorrect:
Hors d'oeuvre appears to be pronounced `or-"duv-r& rather than or-'d&rv, the only pronunciation listed on the Merriam Webster web site.
Lastly, no pronunciation may be included:
I had to refer to a normal dictionary to find the pronunciation for hacek.
The second most common reason I refer to the dictionary is to learn the definitive pronunciation for a word, and while the speech function is passable for most applications, I feel I was misled by the product's advertisement. Including a pronunciation in the text of each entry would be a definite improvement to the unit for the reasons listed above, and for the increased convenience of not needing headphones in the library or other quiet place.
Overall, I am pleased with the product's expansive lexicon and accurate definitions, and with its expandability and word games. However, I may not have paid full price had the packaging not depicted the presence of in-text pronunciation. I appreciate your attention to this matter.
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Franklin vs Sharp October 27, 2006
Jean in Wisconsin
26 out of 26 found this review helpful
I have the Franklin Speaking 11th Collegiate Dictionary and the PW-E550 Sharp. I've been reading Song of Roland and have been looking up words in both to see how they compare.
Hands down. If you plan to use the dictionary for literature written in older English, you want the Franklin; I've searched for many words over the last week, and the Franklin rarely fails me, but the Sharp frequently does not have what I need. Also, I find that words I do not know how to spell can be located more easily on my Franklin.
I love the way the Sharp is packaged--closes up in a nice little box, nice big keys to push, large print on the screen, pronunciation guide included, but no spoken component. None of that makes it worth buying if it fails to have the words I need.
Unfortunately, the Franklin has small keys and a floppy cover. I like the electronic speaking voice, but I'd prefer it include the written pronunciation as well as the spoken. The use of the Franklin, however, is intuitive, where I've had to do more reading of the owner's manual for the Sharp.
I plan to buy each of my children his own dictionary; although I like the Sharp's package better, I will be buying them all Franklins.
--Homeschooling mom
Extremelly useful! January 10, 2004
Vahania63 (Michigan United States)
20 out of 21 found this review helpful
I got this device as a dictionary book replacement so I can take it with me everywhere. It excedeed all my expectations. The number of words is astonishing. The keys on keyboard, although small, are up to the job. It also includes the voice pronunciation for all the words. The pleasant surprise was the presense of other features, some are useful, some not. For example, it provides words synonyms, antonyms and other related words. It provides correction for misspelled words: in many cases it gives a choice of a few corrections. You can store the words you were interested in. The device also contains various games and other simple programs, such as calculator, currency converter, etc. My only complaint is the size of the screen, which is not very big. Very often the information fills more than one screen so you have to scroll it. The scrolling mechanism is not the most convenient one. I would imagine something like Apple iPod has would be better. But for this price you probably cannot get anything better. All in all it is a portable dictionary that works very well.
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