CASIO DC-E700 and DC-E800 ========================= (Warning: it's an old text I ahve found on my MC600 laptop) As I have mentioned before I have got a CASIO databank device. The DC-E700 is somewhat special as it has a size of a credit card and it is very thin (specs say that it is 1.4mm thick). It is powered by solar energy. A similar device exists (the DC-E800). It is identical except the orientation: the 700 model has screen and keyboard in landscape orientation and the 800 one in portrait. In the text below I will refer to the 700 one but the 800 works in the same manner. It has a keyboard so data can be searched and it can be also used as a simple calculator (for "+", "-", "*" and "/" operations). All data are written to the EEPROM and the solar panel doesn't provide enough energy to re-write it. Thus no data can be saved when the device is powered by solar energy only. Additional power can be provided by a small dock which houses a CR2025 battery. The dock is tiny, of course, but still it is at least four times thicker than the databank itself and its footprint is bigger, too and thus the device with a dock does not fit to pockets designed for credit cards. The data which can be stored are very limited there can be an owner name (the 800 model also allows to store owner's phone number but the 700 one does not) and 300 pairs of owner name and phone number. It is not possible to add more data to a single name. And the phone number can only include numbers, not letters. The data can be protected by a password. All this sounds to be very limiting but I actually have found it useful. I can carry the databank in my wallet as it is only marginally thicker than any of my shopping cards. It stores the most important phone numbers for the case that I will not have my phone with me (which is my common habit) and will have to call someone. It also can be used as a simple calculator (typing on its tiny keyboard is not comfortable but it's better than nothing). For such use I don't need to be able to write data when I'm not at home so I don't need to carry the dock with me. It might sound as a strange concept put the principle is similar to the (later) Franklin/Xircom REX organisers: data can be written at home (when the REX was inserted in the computer's PCMCIA slot) and then used in read-only mode (of course the REX was some ability to edit the data but it was pretty limited - only the latest model had a touchscreen and a stylus to enter the data). But the REX (which is very small as it has o fit inside the PCMCIA slot) is bulky and ugly when compared with these CASIOs... These devices seem to have problems with LCD screen leakages. I have 6 of them (both 700 and 800 models) and only of 2 of them have intact screens. All of them can be used anyway but the screens with black leaks are of course ugly. And all of them came as never used devices with their original packaging... It is also weird that I am not able to find how old they are. I was not able to find any date on the Internet and the device itself carries no date information (even the documentation does not refer to any date). On the basis of model numbers I assume that they are from early 1990s (the timespan of 1993-1994 seems to be the most probable). But I can be mistaken. Anyone know more about these devices?