keef

Firstly, apologies for this long post. But it does seem rather timely, as I've just noticed a post about a new member upgrading from a T3 to the X30. I've just bought a TH-55 with the aim of moving back to the Palm fold.

I should start by pointing out that I’m not anti-Palm, and I’m not necessarily pro-Pocket PC. I’m pro-whatever-works-for-me. I was a confirmed Palm addict, first with a Sony Clie, then with the Tungsten T. I loved this unit but when I saw the Dell Axim I just knew that was the way to go. Wifi, blazing speed, Bluetooth – it had it all. Even thought I’d invested a fair bit of cash in Palm OS software I hoped that the transition to the “dark side” would be worth it. And it was. I LOVED the fact that I could browse while sitting in the living room, that I could pick up mails from anywhere in the house and (with the advent of Pocket Player) I can stream shoutcast stations and my entire MP3 collection from wherever I am within a fairly wide radius of my house. It took a bit of learning (“x” button – what’s that all about?). But it all seemed so cool…

But after a while I got to thinking about what I actually used my Axim for. I used it for the calendar, I used it for the contacts. And that was pretty much it. I’m not a power user (or so I thought). Everything else was just “gimmicky”. So I started to get to thinking a couple of months ago about going back to the palm fold because, even with software like Pocket Informant on the PPC platform, nothing comes close (IMO) to the excellent Datebook 5 on the palm. And I missed the higher resolution of the palm machines. And I missed real graffiti (and block recognizer on the PPC ISN’T real graffiti!). The one thing I would miss is the wifi, But with the Sony TH-55 having that as standard (and Bluetooth – I live in the UK) that could be solved. So I went onto e-bay, put in a bid and now I’m the proud owner of a TH55 that I received yesterday. And, after only a day with the new machine, I’m regretting it and am about to put it up for sale. Let me explain…

First off – Hotsync. By god, I’d forgotten how incredibly frustrating syncing a Palm OS machine to the PC is. Nothing is automatic, everything has to be initiated. And don’t get me started about things like Pocket Mirror and Intellisync (of which you only get the “lite” version with the machine. This is tantamount to buying a car and having to pay extra for a complete steering wheel!!) Regardless of whatever the Palm community say, until you’ve used a Pocket PC to sync to an actual PC you don’t know what a joy it can be. I’ve NEVER had my axim hang on me during a sync. The new TH-55 hung twice yesterday. And when it hangs it’s (usually, but not always) a reset. I’m very happy with the way activesync works. Drop the axim in its cradle and it syncs. Make a change on the PC and it immediately changes on the axim. And I can drag files to the axim without having to go through any kind of filtering system. It’s there on my desktop, ready and waiting to be used as extra & portable storage should I need it. Drag and drop a word document to the dell and it’s there, either on the SD card or on the machine itself. Admittedly, with the advent of WinXP this is handled much better on the Sony machines (the host PC now recognizes it as a removable drive so it’s easier to work with) but it’s taken a while to get there.

Get the issue of the syncing out of the way and the TH-55 starts to look a whole lot better. The screen and resolution are fabulous, and side-by-side comparisons between this and the Axim reveal how low-res PPC QVGA is. Browse to a website and you can see a LOT more on the Sony machine. It’s all legible as well. Very tasty. I’d read a bit about web page rendering speeds on the TH-55 but I’ve got to say that I didn’t notice a great deal of difference between the two machines. The simple way that the Palm handles memory is perfect. When it says that you’ve got 26Mb left then you know that you’ve got 26Mb left. On the PPC it’s all BIS, actual memory, external storage, install so-and-so here but not there or else the world will end and you’ll catch avian flu. It’s a learning curve to be sure, and sometimes it seems that it’s complication for the sake of complication (or else it’s there to placate the more serious “geeks” who like to really dabble!). And I really like the fact that the TH-55 is “intelligent” in that when you tap on the browser it automatically launches the wifi client. As far as I know, there is nothing on the Axim that replicates this. You have to enable wifi manually. OK, it’s not exactly a hardship but it would be nice to have the machine recognise that when you tap on IE you want to enable wifi, and likewise inbox. So wifi on the TH-55 is great. Easily as good as the Dell. But (and here’s another niggle) why or why can’t I have wifi and BT enabled at the same time???? That’s right – if you’ve got wifi enabled on the Sony unit then you have to forgo BT, and vice versa. A problem? Yes. I want my cake and I actually want to eat it too.

A little while ago I mentioned that I didn’t think I was a power user. Well, recently I’ve begun to think that maybe I am (well, sort of…). One of the ways I use my Axim is to stream audio. When I’m in an office environment I need to keep the volume down so as not to annoy other people, so I use a Bluetooth headset to stream the music to. OK so it’s not stereo and it’s below FM quality but it does the job – I get to jig about in my chair listening to some crunchy rock while the rest of the world gets on with its business. And I can even move desks (within reason) and walk and talk to people without breaking the signal. I can also hear phones ringing and people can talk to me without me having to remove any headphones and ask them to “…say that again?”. Try and do this on the TH and you’re stuffed. It’s one or the other for you matey. Don’t ask for too much. Of course, to actually stream music you need to be able to access either:-

a) the network and the server PC with the MP3’s on or,
b) a web based server such as shoutcast or,
c) a specific URL (I use Windows media encoder to stream Musicmatch jukebox to my Dell)

And the Sony unit makes this difficult. You need extra software to actually link up to the PC’s in your network (and even then, the only software that I’ve found that might do this doesn’t actually work with the TH-55 – yet). And you need to know things like IP address, domain names etc. If you use Resco Explorer on the PPC then you can simply enable wifi, map the network and bobs your aunt sally’s uncle. You’re then free to browse all the files on your remote machines, dragging things over and opening things as you see fit. It’s all seamless, as it should be with a PC running a Microsoft OS and a PDA running an OS from the same company. This synergy is something that Palm lacks.

I still love the simplicity of the palm OS environment (although the lack of a multi-tasking OS does now bother me slightly. I want to be able to download in the background while listening to an MP3 while working on a document and having access to my calendar and contacts at the same time). And I still think that, coupled with the stunning 320x480 resolution, Datebook 5 is absolutely THE BEST PIM on any platform. And the battery life on the TH-55 is something that the Dell unit can only dream about, even when you’re surfing using wifi and listening to MP3’s. But I’m having a hard time justifying keeping the TH-55 when some of the things I now take for granted on the Axim just aren’t there on the Sony unit. I can’t go to a website and download an AVI trailer, for example, because I know it won’t run on the Palm. It needs converted. And there are certain places on the memory stick that files have to be placed so that the standard applications can “see” them (MP3’s and movie files for instance). Handling of excel / word files etc. are now better than they used to be but still ain’t perfect. A 1Gb SD card is about £60. A 1Gb MS is – well, it’s way more than I’m willing to pay.

Maybe I’m missing something. If there are any inaccuracies in the above then I apologise. Like I said, I’ve had the unit for a day or so and I’ve had a pretty good play with it but it seems to me that it still lags behind in being able to be completely integrated into my PC-centric life (both at work and at home). I’m not anti-Palm. I love it and, for a fleeting moment, was actually contemplating going back to that OS because of all the good things I remember from the early Clies and the Tungsten. As an electronic organizer I honestly don’t think that it can be beaten. Screen resolution, Datebook 5 and general ease of use make it a winner on this front (and Zlauncher is possibly the greatest launcher there is). The PPC is NOT an organizer – rather it’s a fully featured pocket PC, something that I think I’ve only just begun to realise. So maybe it’s not the TH that’s lacking, maybe it’s just my expectations. Oh well…