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MDM English Language Reference Cards

October 14, 2003

These two cards pack a lot of valuable information into a tiny little space! The Meriam-Webster’s Dictionary card includes the full version of the Eleventh Edition of the dictionary, with over 200,000 definitions. The Franklin Thesaurus includes more than 500,000 synonyms, so it’s a great reference for writers seeking to “punch up” their writing with new words while avoiding some of the tired old phrases and cliches we’ve all seen too many times. The card includes the Mobipocket Reader software to access the information in both the dictionary and the thesaurus, and it works remarkably well— you can change the text and background colors, rotate the screen, use an autoscroll function, etc. You can also set your own bookmarks and highlight/annotate the text. It is possible to search for specific words in the dictionary or simply scroll through the various definitions. A separate section of tables helps you to find a large array of extra information that you might not have expected to find in a dictionary. That sort of attention to detail makes this card into more of a reference tool than a simple place to find definitions. As you can see from the screenshots, full phonetic pronunciation guides are included for each word, as well as the part of speech and multiple definitions for the various meanings of each word.

The Britannica Concise Encyclopedia is even better than the Dictionary/Thesaurus card. It contains more than 24,000 entries on people, places, events, animals—you name it. There are also over 900 illustrations, which is really what makes this into a superb reference. You’ll find pictures of famous people such as President Roosevelt (both FDR and Theodore), animals, famous places such as the acropolis, and LOTS of maps. The included image tools make it very easy to use some of the larger pictures, such as the US map shown below. It is possible to fit the picture on one screen or zoom in so that you can get more detail. If you do that, just use your stylus to move the map around on your screen, so that you can see the portion that you are most interested in. It works extremely well, and I was very pleased with the speed, even on my relatively underpowered Kyocera 7135.

Both of these cards will work in almost any handheld device, including any Palm OS device with an SD expansion slot, any Pocket PC 2002 or higher device with an SD slot, and the Nokia 3650 phone. These two cards would make a perfect gift for almost anyone who needs English language reference tools at their fingertips at all times. Each card is available for $39.95 from PalmOne, and with the special “buy one, get one” promotion you can buy either one of these cards and get a FREE game card. One of the choices for the free card is the Merriam Webster Crosswords and Word Challenges card, which would make a perfect holiday gift for the writer or student on your list this season.

PocketGoddess Rating for the MDM Meriam-Webster’s Dictionary & Franklin Thesaurus Card: