Dana by AlphaSmart Befriends Students

Eden Melmed, AT Specialist, New Castle County ATRC

Many of you are already familiar with the AlphaSmart 3000. It is a simple, portable, low cost solution for many with handwriting and/or language-based difficulties. The AlphaSmart 3000 allows the user to enter and edit text, then send that text to any available computer for formatting or directly to a printer. For those who need something a little more powerful, AlphaSmart, Inc. recently introduced its latest product, Dana. Dana is being promoted as "the Palm powered laptop alternative that's truly affordable." Dana combines the power, convenience and affordability of a handheld device with the simplicity and ease of use of the AlphaSmart 3000--a great benefit for those who struggle with writing tasks.

Like the AlphaSmart 3000, Dana weighs in at just 2 pounds and is designed to take the abuse of daily use, making it easy and safe to transport to and from school. The new and exciting feature of Dana is its use of the Palm operating system (OS) v4.1 while maintaining the full-size, integrated keyboard and a screen that is 3.5 times wider than typical handheld devices. This new larger, backlit LCD screen is much easier to see than the AlphaSmart 3000 display. Like other handheld devices, Dana has onscreen entry that gives the user the option of writing with the stylus directly onto the screen. Dana ships with the basic Palm tools:

• Address book
• Date book
• To do list
• Calculator

Dana is also compatible with most of the existing Palm applications (estimated to number more than 10,000). It also comes with AlphaWord, a full-featured word processing software compatible with Microsoft Word.

The Dana by AlphaSmart is a powerful new tool for writing, taking notes and organization. At $379, it is a low cost alternative to a laptop. For more information about AlphaSmart, Inc. products, please visit their website at www.alphasmart.com or contact your local ATRC.