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Home » PocketPC

Did you know that the Dell Axim was rather disastrous

Posted by Chris Leckness on October 8, 2009 – 11:51 am

axim_x50 Yep, I didn’t either. I don’t really like to stir things up here much and I don’t know why it bothers me that an old device is getting some bad press 2 years later, but it does so I guess I will stir a little. The Dell Axim was the love of my life for 4-5 years. It was a Pocket PC that turned that market upside down instantly. Until the Dell Axim X5 hit the streets, Pocket PC prices were through the roof. HP and Toshiba were laughing all the way to the bank with their $500 price tags. Enter Dell with the affordable X5.

Well, according to Sylvie Barak from Hexus.net, the Dell Axim was rather disastrous…

The move, which has been widely reported by the media and panned by most analysts, won’t be Dell’s first attempt to enter the smartphone space, but it will be the firm’s first effort in the US since its rather disastrous Axim WinMo PDA failed to take off and was shelved in 2007.

Hmm. I don’t know what they know that I don’t but jumping into a game with both feet strongly planted and making an big impact is far from disastrous. Dell went on to make several models and the last model, the Dell Axim X50 was wildly successful. Dell jumped back out of the game when the stand alone PDA was no longer valid for the masses. Smartphones took over that sector like a storm.

Anyhow, just had to vent a little.

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Chris Leckness is the Owner/Administrator of Mobilitysite. He is a Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices and a member of the exclusive focus group, Mobius. Chris runs a Mobilitysite, GotZune, and a few other smaller sites and blogs. His personal blog is chris.leckness.com.


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  • msliberty
    Disastrous? Maybe Dell handles their products in a disastrous way, but the truth is that the Axim PPCs were waaaaaay ahead of their time, were revered by users and are still being used and followed by the Aximsite community. I am one of those users who carry multiple devices because I have everything I need in my Axim AND have it backed up and synched up with two computers. Dell started a major tech advance and just dropped the ball. Instead of support which could have made new users more comfortable to step up and continue with their technology, they let Apple re-discover the uses and make up a simpified version for the public. I Axim-vent daily when I continuously hear people talk about their "Apps" when the software has been around forever in a more organized and more computer connected way. The hardest part was when my husband picked up his 3G Iphone and said look a this, it was made for you. No, I am a PC, But when my Verizon contract is up in March, who knows, I may sadly and guiltily join him. My Axim has had a life 2 times longer than any computer. Disaster? No way, say I.
    msliberty
  • Jake_Speed
    If Dell had added phone capabilities to the Axim X51v and came out with that in 2008 they would have been ahead of the game and probably outsold every other converged device. Looks like they are going to come out with something else now, I think they are too late.

    Does anyone else think there are too many models of phones out there, it's ridiculous!
  • I don't know about that, Jake. The iPhone came out in 2007. :D

    Steve
  • c1oudrs
    Yes--the Dell Axim x50-51v series was disasterous--because of Dell's abysimal selling model, customer support and self-insight into brand recognition. Dell likes to have crappy customer support (and throw millions down the flusher). Dell likes the warehouse clearance selling model where there is no loyalty but the loyalty of the lowest price. Sell and forget it.

    The Dell Axim x50-51v series did not lend itself well to Dell as a company in my opinion. For years the best customer support was NOT from Dell but from Aximsite. And for the most part Dell representatives could not bestir themselves to even make the occassional appearance to the community.

    For years the Axim brand was worthy of respect and had a fierce loyal following in the community. There were many of us who would buy anything that said 'Axim' on it. And so of course Dell discontinued the Axim line. And slowly the Axim fans went on to other things. The 'Axim' name used to be worth money in my opinion. But Dell never knew what they had.

    I still have my Axim x51v. My mother still has her Axim x51v. My brother and sister in law got rid of theirs I think a few years ago. In its heyday the x50-51v series was one of the most popular, if not the most popular PDAs around.

    Yes, it was a Dell disaster.
  • To my mind the two best PPC based PDAs ever produced were the iPaq hx4700 and the Axim X51v (sorry Loox fans)....that is hardly a disaster.

    Clearly this writer has no familiarity with PDAs in general and PPC devices in specific.
  • I never got to use either of those much. My picks for the best PDAs that I've used (at the time they were popular, not necessarily now) would be the iPAQ 5550 and the Motorola Q9m (except for mine, um, dying after just over a year).

    Steve
  • breley
    Disastrous? That seems a rather strong word for a PDA that had a comparatively long production run. The Axims, particularly the X50/51 series, were marvelous HTC engineering designs and are still quite popular. The latter units in particular were affordable, thereby making pocket computing more readily available to the masses. Third party suppliers took note of its popularity...look at all the accessories still out there for Axims. Also, let's not forget the Axim's affect on the pocket PC software developing community for Windows Mobile. The X50v/51v I think were some of the primary drivers for VGA-capable software that has dovetailed nicely into VGA-capable smartphone platforms.
    I don't disagree with Barak's primary article title, I do think that Dell introducing a smartphone is likely too little too late, unless it has some really unique, game-changing features. I just agree with Chris that her adjective was a tad melodramatic.

    @Frank: Love your avatar! :)

    @johntmcdougald I agree. ;) For such an unpopular device I do recall quite an outcry when Dell halted support and cooked ROMs became popular.
  • HP and Toshiba were laughing all the way to the bank with their $500 price tags.

    Only $500? When the iPAQ 3970 came out (running Pocket PC 2002), it listed at $750!

    I never had a Dell Axim (I was an iPAQ man), but thought the x50 and x51 were nice looking devices that sounded quite powerful. The X5, while priced well, was quite ugly; the X3 was better looking, but not as good as the x50 series.

    Steve
  • Lojik Supreme
    Yeah, whoever wrote that must be from a altenate reality or something. I used my X5 until 2006 when I picked up my X51v. Now my little brother uses the X5 in college and I'm about to semi-retire the X51v for the Tilt 2. Why. Because now finally the pda/phone devices are starting to catch up with the X51v, FOUR YEARS LATER! 624MHz processor, Intel 2700G graphics engine with 16MB of dedicated video memory, vga out, SD & CF support (got 8 gigs in mine), and to top it off you can flash it to WM 6.1! It was a device before it's time.
  • Ken
    disastrous?
    I got the X5 the first year it was out, and used that until the x51v stopped production, and bought the x51v (new) and I'm still using that!
    Disastrous, NOT!

    Its great that the new software still works on it!
  • johntmcdougald
    I have to agree with the article. I've been stuck using my Axim x51v for the better part of 6 years now. Most people have no idea how bad it is to use such outdated technology that has such a fast processor, vivid screen image and expandability. It horrible I tell you. Horrible! The absolute worst part of it all is that I am stuck with using my Axim AND having to carry a regular cell phone on my person all the time since nothing out there even comes close to matching my Ax.

    They should be ashamed of themselves for putting such a product.
  • I have to agree with Chris, whoever says something like that about the Axim line does not know nothing about the topic. In fact, after reading that fragment I'm afraid that I won't read the rest of the article. I have better things to do.
  • badersk
    I agree as well. My X50 mid is still a solid device to be so old but I moved to a converged device and now use my axim for a GPS. There are many who have mentioned they would buy one today if they sold them.
  • I'm with you - I didn't have any of the early Dells, I was still using other things, but knew they were good and sold well. I still use my x51v and know others who still use various Axims.
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