whirlybird

Years ago I bought a Casio organiser from a retail outlet in the uk after feeling I couldn’t justify spending more on a palm pilot pro, however after a couple of weeks of disappointing use I returned the Casio and dug deep to get a pilot. The pilot pro had a mono screen with a backlight, it had removable triple a batteries.
The pilot never left my side, at work, home, I added many free applications, which made the device very much a computer (not just an organiser) that fit in my pocket.
A few years later I upgraded to a Sony clie peg-n770c/u which offered a more memory (8meg), 320 * 320 colour screen, memory card slot built in rechargeable battery.
Now for a bit more detail what I use pda’s for:-

Tasks
I have multiple category tasks (for different people).
The tasks are assigned to different people – this gives them priorities and also forms a log for a projects etc.
These tasks are tracked through outlook and sync with my PDA therefore I can go to a meeting with the very latest update on progress of a project.
I keep & sync all tasks even completed tasks – I have hundreds, I often search for information on work carried out.

Calendar
I store appointments (surprisingly) , I use it as a diary, but as for task I have probably thousands, – no I do have thousands.

Contacts
I have around 300 contacts

Memos / notes
I have around 200 notes

I have installed various free applications, secure data area (password encrypted memos), conversion programs, timers / clocks, pdf viewer, quick notes, games, music (on the memory stick)

I use Graffiti for entering data and know most of the shortcuts and am pretty fast using it – as fast as the device will take of course.

This all fits into ‘under’ 8 meg – some of the task notes get trimmed when syncing.

Up to Date
My Sony is dying. In the past I have repaired the memory stick holder, some of the flexible circuit inside, but the now the battery no longer holds a charge and I don’t want to spend any money on it.
Also I told my wife it can’t be repaired ;)

So what to buy – well at first there was only Palm, after ‘assuming’ pocket PC’s were juicy on power consumption, slow, unstable and basically crap (being a palm loyalist) So I started browsing forums, and reading news articles when the latest palm TX caught my eye at the £200 mark it was within my price range, however reading further into the news and announcements by palm I started to wonder how long the palm operating system would last.

Palm are going to use windows mobile for a new palm treo – beginning of the end?
I can no longer buy the well made Sony Clie as they no longer manufacture PDA’s.
This reminded me of the video recorder wars between Betamax, VHS and yes Video 2000.
Funny enough Betamax was a mainly Sony standard and although both Video 2000 and Betamax were superior to VHS, VHS won the day.
What about the OS2 operating system from IBM? I still use this today to control equipment at work, this has many features that have only been just been implemented in windows XP, years after OS2 came out.

Anyway to cut a very long story short I felt that it was time to make a switch to a new windows mobile operating system, after all my main computers use windows XP and outlook, excel, word, so what could be better than having windows, outlook, excel, word, battlefield 2 (I wish :)) on your PDA– how could I go wrong?

So which pocket PC? I selected the Dell Axim x51v
Well I liked the features, voice recorder, LEDs to let you know what’s going on, gorgeous VGA screen, removable battery, flash memory (due to the battery going I lost data on the clie), coupled with 30% off list price if you ordered before 28th December and being a Dell, who make some excellent PC’s.

Although I was going to pay £40 more than the price of a palm TX the Axim would include a cradle – a must for me.

So I ordered it on the 2nd of December and it was delivered on the 14th of December

I tinkered, adjusting settings etc just to familiarise myself with the new operating system. I like the wifi and was able to connect to my home wireless network, excellent screen, I was initially concerned (and still am) with the battery life, however I need to evaluate this with my normal usage which to be honest will not include a lot of wifi use.

So I’m pretty happy, yes? Well !”£$%^& no!

I have been waiting for my IT department to install the software so I can sync all the latest data with my new toy. The initial sync took around 15-20 minutes, subsequent syncs took around 10 seconds – no problem.

However after syncing a have found a serious problem.

S L O W, and I mean slow, The calendar and tasks can take over 30 seconds to load initially. To filter tasks by category can take 5 seconds, moving through day, week, month, year view in the calendar and various switching to a specific day from the year view etc can sometimes take 10 seconds! But does vary. it seems to be loading into cache memory??. As a comparison the clie and pilot are both instant.

Memory. On my Clie
Todo database - Tododb 593k
Calendar database - Datebookdb 317k

What is going on? The tasks and appointments have no extra content than they have on my original palm pilot but are 100% slower to access. This is not what I expected or what I can accept.

I have also noticed that since the sync other aspects of the system have become slower like full power off / on which can take 1 minute and sometimes the unit freezes with no indication (hourglass) that the thing is doing anything.

Is this down to the operating system or is it the Dell hardware?

I have tried the processor settings with no change.

If I can’t resolve this problem or if this is what I should expect from a pocket PC device them I’m going to seriously consider returning it and buying Palm and take the risk of buying a (maybe) dying but superior palm operating system.

Please help.