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I’ve been a bit busy lately doing some reviews among other things and thus there hasn’t been a mid-week content posting this week. Instead, I will be posting a review today, a few days earlier since I may not be able to post it on Monday or so. Posts may be even less frequent for the next week but we’ll see.

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For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

Click on the thumbnail images for a bigger picture

Proporta 3-in-1 stylus on the left, stock Treo 650 stylus on the right

Video of 3 in 1 stylus

Video at YouTube

Alternative link: Vimeo

If you’re one of those people who are always looking for or fumbling around asking people for a pen, then Proporta’s 3-in-1 stylus may be what you’re looking for. As you may already have guessed, this is a stylus that offers 3 features in 1 item. First of all, it is a Treo stylus. It is designed to fit perfectly into the stylus holder of the Treo device, unlike a lot of other multi-functional stylus that can’t, thus it can be a great replacement stylus. Second, it functions as a ballpoint pen to provide you with that often needed writing instrument without requiring you to carry it around with you. Since you carry the Treo with you everywhere and the stylus is normally inserted in the holder, you are carrying this multi-functional stylus with you everywhere. Let’s not forget that not everyone owns a Palm or PDA device so you can’t beam or bluetooth your business card or that file over. And third, there is also a reset tool located underneath the tip of the stylus. Simply unscrew the tip to expose the reset tool. Now you’ve got that last remaining important tool you need, all neatly packaged in one compact stylus that fits perfectly in your Treo’s stylus holder.

What can I say about it? It works. The stylus works just as well as a regular stylus but offers the ball point pen and reset tool when needed. Simply unscrew the stylus tip to remove the reset tool or remove the cap to access the ball point pen.

Here are my observations: Although the idea of having a reset tool is nice, I am slightly confused. The Treo 650’s reset button/hole is already big enough to allow the tip of the stylus to go through to reset so I guess it would be useful for those who also own previous Palm devices that would need the reset tool.

I have tried the reset tool with my Zire 71 and although it would fit through, the reset tool wasn’t long enough to reach the trigger button deep inside the reset. It did however, fit into some reset holes or buttons like the LifeDrive, Tungsten E2 and of course, the reset tool won’t work on others with similar deeper trigger buttons like my Zire 71. So, my suggestion is that the reset tool on this stylus be slightly longer to accommodate the varying access length to the trigger buttons.

I would have preferred that to access the reset tool I could have easily removed it just like that of the cap or head of the ball point pen. Most times when we want to do a reset of a Palm device, we don’t want to have to take the time to unscrew something to get at the reset tool. I don’t know about you, but I’m normally a bit tense and anxious when I experience a crash on the Treo and having to unscrew a stylus tip would likely add to the aggravation. But then, that’s me.

When I need to use the ballpoint pen, I would also have preferred that I could have attached it to the stylus tip, similar to many ball point pen caps where I can put it at the other end of the pen. That way, I won’t have to worry about accidentally leaving it somewhere and losing the tip. And as most of us know, most ball point pens still get lost or left behind even when we can put it at the end of the pen. Especially for this 3-in-1 stylus, losing the cap or head will mean that you won’t be able to put it back into the stylus holder.

Review Summary

The Proporta 3-in-1 stylus works as described. It’s very handy to have not only a stylus, but a ballpoint pen and a reset tool, all in the stylus. Obviously since it fits the stylus holder of the Treo very well, it allows you to have all those tools with you, as long as you have your Treo with you. Other than the reset tool not being long enough to poke the trigger button on some Palm devices and that you’d need to unscrew the stylus tip to get the reset tool, there isn’t much to complain about this multi-functional stylus. I love how everything is there in the one stylus that fits my Treo 650’s stylus holder, just like the stock stylus. There’s no need to carry and possibly lose that pen. Just get the Proporta 3-in-1 Stylus and you’re set.

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