I cannot comment on whether this translator would be an acceptable tool for a serious language student but as a non-speaking Spainish tourist, I thought it would be ideal to save space & weight for me as a tourist while visiting northern Spain. Unfortunately I have returned it and will have to rely on pocket phrase books (also applies to [ASIN:B000P6H85Y Franklin Electronic Publishers BES-1890 Speaking Spanish-English Dictionary]).
Scrolling through all the categories of phrases to find the most relevant for a particilar situation is too cumbersome & time consuming, and they cannot be saved for future quick reference. Generally those I came across in the General Section weren't very helpful anyway - how often would you really need a translation for "I need to take my pet to the Vet".
I tried some phrases with a Spainish friend via Skype who had diffulty understanding the pronunciation and said that Latin American Spainish was possibly being used. My ideal translator would also have the facility to type in a required sentence for translation and not be restricted to programmed phrases. Although not for me, Amazon did deliver on the day advised!