Casio Digital Diary SF 3300A

In the 1990’s single chip computers and increasingly cheap RAM allowed the proliferation of small, low power digital databanks for use as dictionary’s/thesaurus to translators, language tutors and of course PDA’s. These devices were incredibly popular due in no small part to their low cost! Here we take a look at a Casio Digital Diary this is a fairly basic model but is perfectly functional.
www.casio-diar...

[@kurtiunlisted8589]

Very cool and important that someone makes a video to document this! When I‘ve been younger I‘ve seen quite some of these (or similar) devices around, PDAs not so much.

[@HandheldComputing]

They are (in my opinion) interesting devices that for many have been lost to the annals of time

[@DavisMakesGames]

Very cool that this was a genre, that there was a niche that these apparently filled. Great vid as usual!

[@HandheldComputing]

Glad you liked the vid. Yes it was a huge market with loads of company's making them by the million!

[@SteveMorton]

I have a couple of Casio SF4600B Digital Diaries. They still work! I moved to a Psion 5MX after using the Casio for about 3 years! The nice thing about them was their long battery life. I recently rebooted one and used it for a couple of weeks. I think I got mine in about 1990. The SF4600 had a serial link for syncing with Outlook etc.

[@HandheldComputing]

The SF3300 seems pretty basic, being able to sync with outlook would have made it a lot more useable - but still no where near as good as a Psion 5MX!!!!

[@yeety1208]

i have a sf-4600

[@krissjacobsen9434]

Congrats on 1000 subs! I have several Digital Diaries, mostly from Casio but also from some others like Texas Instruments. The first one I owned was a SF-4000 I got from my dad to play with when I was a kid. I actually learned to write on it. I still have it on display in my living room 😅

[@HandheldComputing]

Thanks, I'm glad I finally got there! I had a couple of different ones but they all got broken or sold, always wanted one with IR messaging but then I would need to know someone else with one too...

[@dmitryhetman1509]

What encoding do they use? How many characters fits into 1 kb?

[@HandheldComputing]

@@dmitryhetman1509 Not sure on the encoding but you see to get close the 1000 characters per Kb

[@dmitryhetman1509]

@@HandheldComputing looks like regular ANSI ASCI encoding, where one character uses 1 byte

[@iammituraj]

gosh... childhood...I used to think that it was the computer in my dad's pocket

[@HandheldComputing]

They were pretty cool as digital organisers go

[@zvezdan__]

Step 1. I like Step 2. I watch

[@HandheldComputing]

Thank you! Hope you enjoyed the vid!

[@Ansaf69]

I got a same one from my grand parents home.its not working even if i press on button.will it work if i change battery

[@HandheldComputing]

It should do there is very little to go wrong with these so if the screen looks OK, no rust in the battery compartment or signs of water exposure give it a go. Ultimately there's only one way to find out

[@islam_icthoughts0793]

How to decrease the volume of digital diary

[@HandheldComputing]

There is only on/off - to select this you need to go to the alarm function, press the sound key (space) and then select when you want sound eg keypress, alarm etc

[@MOHTASHIMKING]

Hey, I've 3990 version, may you help me in operating that , if yes then reply!!!actually my digital dairy is not opening as that's doesn't have set option 🤷🏻‍♀️??

[@HandheldComputing]

Most of them work in exactly the same way, what are you struggling with?

[@sarahthestrangeish]

Wow your fiancé sounds great! 😜

[@HandheldComputing]

Yes she is!

[@sudarshanparajuli5275]

Thank you so much sir for the video :-) but this device is very basic and lacks a lot of functionality... I request you to have look on some of the advanced models of Casio digital diaries!

[@HandheldComputing]

That was my thought as well. Some of the later models have so many more options as well as colour screens! I will keep an eye out for a later model, I have a lot to cover before then though ;-)

[@yeety1208]

Nice video! I have a SF-4600 which is more advanced than this model but unfortunately the hinge will no longer stay on

[@HandheldComputing]

Shame about the hinge! What extra features does it have?

[@yeety1208]

@@HandheldComputing double the amount of memory (a whopping 64kb!!), better screen (the pixels are not separated and no 7 segment display either) so it's easier to navigate too, i'll do a video on it soon

[@kalsoomtalib6463]

Hi 👋 can you answer this? I have this same diary but its yellow cell locker broke so does my diary still work?

[@HandheldComputing]

should still work fine but it might lose info when you change the batteries but only if you remove them both at the same time - check before you go filling it!

[@Mostafa_Momi]

I've got 10 Electronic Organizers I want to sell them, where can I sell??

[@HandheldComputing]

Ebay? Superwife got this one from a charity shop for me 😁

[@mimo.06cciine]

I do have a calculator just like this one but it's not working anymore 😐nice vid brother 💗

[@HandheldComputing]

Glad you liked the video, shame yours no longer works 😏

[@vkg465]

Sir please tell me that how to change in that am to pm and pm to am in time

[@HandheldComputing]

When setting the time and date just press A for AM or P for PM :-)

[@asmishrivastava4932]

My diary is showing BUSY.......... how to resolve it

[@HandheldComputing]

When you say "busy" is the memory full? Or has the device crashed? The free memory shows momentarily when you turn it on. If it's full you need to delete some entries. If it's crashed you can try a reset but be aware you might lose your data...

[@sidharthcs2110]

I have one from SHARP that looks exactly like this one

[@HandheldComputing]

I think this unit was rebranded by several companies nearly all databanks seem to work the same way so I suspect that they share the same chips

[@notopgamerz9987]

Bro this have any torch option??

[@HandheldComputing]

There was a later version with a backlight, no backlight on this model though

[@jenineolitaakbari5782]

I have the same calculator as this video but when I press the time/alarm then press edit, it says (Tery low) and the calculator turns itself off immediately. but it only appears when you want to edit the time/alarm. Why is that

[@HandheldComputing]

Sounds like one or both of the batteries need replacing

[@avcomth]

I remember having this when I was in middle school. My dad had another one that has more advanced features. Anyway I ended up just tossing it into a drawer because it was a hassle and finicky to use. My dad continued to carry his unit around inside his man's purse and just used it as a calculator 😅

[@HandheldComputing]

They are a bit limited in what they can do but for simple scheduling they still work well. I suspect a lot of these are sat gathering dust in draws the world over!

[@hackerzforlife4life836]

how do you delete a letter

[@HandheldComputing]

You can press CLEAR (bottom right) to clear the whole line or SHIFT EDIT (next to the arrow keys) to delete a single letter

[@aprilfoolplays3827]

Thanks for this video I was wondering what the hell is this thing i have on with me

[@aquillawhite1060]

How do you change the date

[@HandheldComputing]

Its at 8min 17sec for setting time and date

[@justsomeone64]

These are so cool! But, has there ever been a PDA that doesn't wipe when the ALL powers gone?

[@HandheldComputing]

Yes there has! Some later pocket PCs have flash based storage like the Acer N300 but if you want something really cool check out the Rex 6000 kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaW2iGSDrJp9asU

[@justsomeone64]

@@HandheldComputing Thanks for the info! Am loving the content! Shall check out your suggestions :)

[@HandheldComputing]

@@justsomeone64 I'm glad you like it!

[@jabanan]

But can it run Doom?

[@HandheldComputing]

🤣😂🤣😂 I wish!

[@fradd182]

I had one of those (32Kb casio diary) in mid 2000's. I actually thought it was programmable (somehow) and was disappointing that it wasnt. So i ditched it for some palm device and (later on) for a several PocketPc's (starting with ipaq h1940)

[@HandheldComputing]

If only they had been programable or app expandable, I had one and just found it too limiting so swapped for an Erricson MC12 (CE2 device) then quickly changed to a Psion 5! The h1940 is a very nice device :-)

[@fradd182]

@@HandheldComputing Yeah, I had almost all models worthy of mention in my hands and i can seriously claim that h1940 is the fastest pocketPc/winMobile ever, not even kidding.

[@HandheldComputing]

@@fradd182 I will add it to my list to look for, they come u fairly often on ebay so I will check it out!

[@fradd182]

@@HandheldComputing Last time Ive checked, there were no good offers for h1940 on the Ebay. It would be ridiculous paying anything above $20 (or €) for it, but even that price point is optimistic. I have h1930 and h1940 devices, unfortunately both with the same display problem (low contrast and bad flicker).

[@HandheldComputing]

@@fradd182 £15 to £20 is bout the most I would pay unless it was in great condition and complete with box etc. I will just keep looking and one will pop up eventually! Is the display issue common then? Do you think its just corroded contacts or something else?

[@nelsonenriquemorenozambran4673]

QUISIERA ESCUCHARLO EN ESPAÑOL.

[@HandheldComputing]

I'm sorry but I don't heve the time to create the subtitles for google to translate

[@nelsonenriquemorenozambran4673]

@@HandheldComputing ESO,GRACIAS.

[@kksister1513]

I want to buy it

[@HandheldComputing]

You will get one far ~£10 on ebay 😉

[@brownwallet942]

I have the one that has hangman game an anagrams. My sister has the one you can create faces for your friend's info

[@HandheldComputing]

They made sooooooooo many versions, including colour screens, games and some with IR messaging - being able to create faces for the contacts sounds like fun though!

[@brownwallet942]

@@HandheldComputing yea it's called casio my magic diary

[@nurellekhan]

When I click the secret button, nothing happens

[@HandheldComputing]

That's weird, the little key icon doesn't appear and it doesn't ask you for a password? You might have corrosion on the board or some grit under the button preventing it working

[@mansoorparray]

How to turn Button press Sound ?

[@HandheldComputing]

time/alarm function 3x to Alarm, then space, - this should bring u the sound settings. Scroll down using the arrow to 'key' then select Y/N and hit set Hope this helps

[@mansoorparray]

@@HandheldComputing Thanks Done 👍

[@HandheldComputing]

@@mansoorparray happy to help 😀

[@moizbutt4030]

It is showing me full when i set all my name and things any fix plz?

[@HandheldComputing]

@@moizbutt4030 Is it full? Did you do a reset? Is there other data already on the device?

[@moizbutt4030]

How to change AM to PM

[@HandheldComputing]

Sorry for the delay, when setting the time just press A for AM or P for PM

[@Unan1mouz]

I think I owned something like this back then but I forgot 😂😂 Definitely not that useful compared to a PDA... Plus the screen is just too small.

[@HandheldComputing]

Just no where near as good as a Palm, Psion, Pocket PC or the Rex 6000!

[@Unan1mouz]

@@HandheldComputing Definitely! Even their very own Pocket Viewer was more useful and has more features... 😂 Haha

[@HandheldComputing]

@@Unan1mouz So true! I do wonder how good the later digital diaries were though so might just keep an eye out for a cheap one

[@heyderrod]

Can You send ir messages?

[@HandheldComputing]

Not on this one, Casio released a few later ones with IR chat, this feature was mainly aimed at kids