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Originally Posted by FBL
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For the past 15 months, I've been using my Axim around the house with the extended battery, and a slip case.
It survived a 3' fall, hitting a top corner onto a wood laminate floor (ouch -- time to get a better case).
I just purchased an Innopocket Magnesium Magnum Case from AximCases.com -- it arrived last week. I didn't see one for the extended battery, so I purchased the DX-3110 Magnum case. The way it opened was the clincher.
After I started using the case, a post to an Aximsite INNOPOCKET vs ? thread came to mind: “If I had a case for the standard battery, I wouldn’t take the Axim outside of the house!”
This case has brought to the forefront one of the weak points of the Axim -- the original battery. It runs out so fast! You can watch the battery meter fall -- it seems like there is less than 30 minutes of use-time with the small battery. Ten minutes will bring it down below 70%. Even in the house, there is no portability with the 1100 mAh battery. (I only use the small battery to recover from a dead Axim -- when you push the ON button and nothing happens.)
So with the Innopocket case, I won't use the Axim away from the house except to look up a number. (Can't blame it on a new operating system. With all the negative reviews, I opted to wait and haven’t opened my WM2005 upgrade CD. But even with WM2003SE, the 1100 mAhr battery runs out quickly.)
My suggestion: Don’t buy a standard case. They’re useless. Don’t get me wrong, my Innopocket Magnum is a great looking case. And it’s laying on my desk where I can see it – it does look nice. My Axim is in the original slip-case again, until I can get a case for the extended battery.
With the 2200 mAh battery, this X50v is a dream of a PPC.:approve:
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Wow, do I ever have egg on my face! 
I've changed my opinion on the 1100 battery.
Over the last month, I used the 1100 battery more. I did find that I was always watching the charge, and concerned about keeping it charged. But I had some good experiences:
I took the 1100 battery to town, used it for 30 minutes at a hot spot, and again to enter notes with the stylus for another 30 minutes.
Last week, I used the 1100 battery to type using a BT keyboard for close to 2 hours. And today, I was able to use the Stowaway BT mouse and WIFI to surf the web for 1:55 before the WIFI kicked off at 24% battery charge. That is not too shabby.
I am impressed with the sleek, thin design of the X50v, something I lost track of using the extended battery all the time. This experiment has also allowed me to discover another piece of engineering excellence: the Inno Pocket Magnesium Case! With the flip-up cover, it is easy to use/hold. And syncing & charging with the USB Sync Cable is not a problem.
I don't know what my problem was with the Axim's smaller battery. I based my opinion on "what I seemed it to be." Not very scientific. And I let some previous reviews sway my thinking, one Axim user writing, "I would never take my X50v out of the house with just the 1100 battery." I was paranoid on this issue for over a year.
While I based my opinion on what SEEMED to be, during that time, with the processor speed dropping to the lowest speed while watching it, I had some problems:
The charge did drop quickly, watching it drop 6% (48 to 42%) in 2 minutes. This happened after a MEMORY ERROR. At 6:45 AM, the 1100 battery was at 78%. At 7:00 AM,
it wouldn't turn on. I inserted the 2200 battery; I got an Memory Error message. At 7:48 AM, I put the 1100 battery back in. It's charge was 51% -- then it started falling. I used a stopwatch and timed it as it fell from 48% to 42% in 2:08. I turned it off/on and the free-fall stopped, falling just 2% in the next 4 minutes 40 seconds.
On another occasion, I discovered the unit ON with the screen dim, in a freeze. Battery meter was showing 100%; top battery bar meter was showing 3 bars; After a soft reset, battery meter showed 18%. The unit was locked up and couldn't turn itself off.
May I suggest 2 must-have items:
1. A second battery. This will save your bacon when the unit is dead or has a Memory Error. (On some occasions, the unit suffering from a Memory Error, would not come on to display the Memory Error Message until I swapped the battery, even though the installed battery had some charge left. We're talking TWILIGHT ZONE here....)
2. A backup program like Sprite Backup. Recently, I had an unusual amount of soft resets. I looked at my spiral notebook log to see what programs I had installed to see where the problems began. I my case, I selected a 10-day-old RESTORE point to use after a HARD RESET. Uninstalling/reinstalling the suspect programs didn't solve my problem with frequent freezes -- it required a HARD RESET & a good restore point.
My conclusion as of today:
I WILL use the 1100 battery away from home. But that might change when I get a good flip case for the extended battery. There are some better-constructed soft flip cases available now. With the 2200 battery, I can use the this Axim for 4 hours! So I know I'll use the larger battery around the house. (Old habits and biases are hard to overcome. I used to be a Boy Scout: 'BE PREPARED' is my motto.)
But I'm also covered for the times I don't expect to do much with the PPC away from the house. Two hours battery life & a good case is all I'll need for those excursions.
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