Pemolis

Ok Going to go down the list of issues/questions I have about the axim.

1) the D Pad, is it really that flimzy (heard many reports of it breaking, getting stuck in 1 direction, not working, etc)

2) How well does the axim 300/400 (please specify which) play Pocket PC games (lets say Everquest, Tomb Raider)

3) Does the Axim have a hardware Graphics accelerator?

4) Emulators (like the commodore 64, Nintendo) how well do they run on the Axim 300/400(please specify which).

5) Does the Axim Develop Stylus Screen Lumps (constant screen pokage)

6) How well does the handwritting recognition program work? Do you use the virtual keyboard when writting notes, or do you use your normal handwritting?

7) Toggle wheel, what is that/its use.

8) Software Related, is there any Pocket PC based C++ compilers/writter programs (Considering what I am working on).

9) Hardware, The Axim has a 32 meg rom, how much of that rom can you access (how much of it does the operating system/loaded default programs take up?

10) How well do videos/games/music run off the SD card?

11) 64 Meg Ram. Is this Internal, or are they refering to a separate SD card that comes with the Axim?

12) What does that IR port on the axim do?

13) Specified to those in college, could I take Classnotes using my Axim (while in class), does the Hand writting recognition program work that well?

14) How badly (or how many) of you bought the Axim Keyboard (either the 49 or 99 dollar model)? Any complaints/complements?

15) Taking an Educated Guess based on a daily usage of about 3 hours (or 20 hours use a week + rechargings). How many months would the Axim Battery Pack last before having to replace/buy a new one.

16) Back to the Rom, Is it necessary to load in programs into the Rom/Ram of the Axim (the onboard Chips, not the expansion cards) to get the best performance out of applications/videos/music, or will those applications run just as well off a SD or MMC card?

Any other comments or complaints about your Axim would be welcome. I am also looking for any noticable differences between the 300 and 400 Axim (considering coughing up the 100, or getting the keyboard, depends).

Thanks in Advance.

Your Treehugging Friend and Mines
Pemolis.

jda5id

I'll tackle a few of them...

6. I find it abysmal. I believe that I have done "training" it requires and still I get nothing but gibberish when I try to get the handwriting to be recognized. I must be doing something wrong (it can't be this bad) but I haven't bothered to try to figure out what yet. The virtual keyboard is OK (I am used to it from another PDA) and I am playing with an entirely different input method called Quikwriting (http://mrl.nyu.edu/projects/quikwriting/) that I am happy with so far.

7. It is great for scrolling when reading. I use it when reading my daily newspaper via AvantGo and Pocket IE and when reading ebooks with Reader. Beyond that, I haven't found any use.

8. MS has an SDK that you can download. I have downloaded it but haven't had a chance to play yet.

11. It is internal. The device comes with no external cards.

12. It has a very short range so it cannot be used (very well at least) as a remote control. You can beam stuff to other PDAs and I think you can beam to your laptop though I have wireless so I don't worry about it. The main purpose for me is that I have the Micro Innovations/PocketOP wireless keyboard that utilizes the IR port.

13. I wouldn't count on the handwriting recognition that much (though others may differ). Using an external keyboard however I think it would be great for that purpose. I used a laptop for notes and I would have much preferred to have had this instead of lugging a laptop around.

14. I use the PocketOp wireless and I like it. I haven't worked with it much yet, but my initial tests show that I can type at a pretty good clip with it (50+ wpm versus 70-90 on a standard keyboard)

15. Who the heck knows. At a minimum, if you have any problems in the first year Dell will replace it and then you will wind up having two years worth out of it. At that point, the Axim will be obsolete and you will be able to get 4X the power for 1/2 the price.

Mizar

I'll take a few, too:

1. My d-pad is a little mushy but not that bad. A light touch seems to work fine. Taking the number of complaints about the d-pad in this forum, versus the number of members, it seems to be a small percentage actually experiencing real d-pad problems.

5. Been poking away frantically on mine since mid-December, and no lumpiness noted. The screen is still as flat and smooth as when it arrived.

9. The OS takes up about 26-27MB, leaving about 5MB free on the 300 and 21MB on the 400. The free space can be accessed as a storage card ("Built-in Storage"). This is separate from the 64MB "Main" memory.

14. I bought the Dell folding keyboard. I'm very happy with it, with the one caution that you can't sync while using it. You can plug the charger into it. I can type at about 80WPM on it and will be faster once I've grown more accustomed to the spacebar (a bit short on the right-hand side) and the right-shift key, which is further off to the right than on a standard keyboard. It does have a full row of number keys at the top, unlike some other PDA keyboards.

15. No idea how long before the battery would wear out, but repeated charge/discharge cycles aren't really an issue for lithium-ion batteries.

16. You can put programs and data pretty much wherever you like. Programs may load more slowly from ROM or storage cards but should run at the same speed regardless. Larger A/V files might be a little slower than if stored in Main.

I went with the 400. My reasoning was that if I were shelling out for a PPC2002 device with lots of expansion options, I may as well get something with lots of onboard RAM (bearing in mind that software is getting larger and more complex all the time) and ROM (more likelihood of being able to take advantage of future OS upgrades, etc.). I felt, for my purposes, that buying the 300 would be like buying a Cadillac with a lawnmower engine.

'Hope some of this helps,

-Bill

Deputy

(1) The D-Pad works OK for browsing around, but it is not good for gaming.

(4) MAME runs great.

(10) Everything runs great off of the SD and CF cards. I don't put anything on the built in memory.

(11) Internal.

(14) I have the Snapon Thumbpad and it works fine.

(16) As I mentioned, software/files/etc run fine off of memory cards.

__________________
Axim X30 624MHz
USB Cradle/256mb SD/Dell BT GPS/Belkin Zippered Case
WM03 2nd Ed/Battery Pack 2004/Journal Bar/Calendar+/Resco File-Photo Viewers
Lots More ...

JakeRich

I only have one comment. The handwriting recognition is actually amazingly accurate. I have a terrible handwriting, but it manages to decipher the marks pretty well. One key is to make sure the axis it is using is the axis you are using. WHat I mean is that there is a little arrow on the screen when using the transcriber that shows which way is "up" to the recognizer. If you write on the screen with the same "up" it is very accurate. I turn the "up" to be 45 degrees to the left, then hold the Ax in my left hand and write diagonally across the screen with my right hand. Lefties can reverse the direction. It's very comfortable and as I said, accurate. You need to write large for more accuracy. I use it to take notes in meetings, and it works well for that.

axim_form

Quote:

Originally posted by JakeRich I only have one comment. The handwriting recognition is actually amazingly accurate. I have a terrible handwriting, but it manages to decipher the marks pretty well. One key is to make sure the axis it is using is the axis you are using. WHat I mean is that there is a little arrow on the screen when using the transcriber that shows which way is "up" to the recognizer. If you write on the screen with the same "up" it is very accurate. I turn the "up" to be 45 degrees to the left, then hold the Ax in my left hand and write diagonally across the screen with my right hand. Lefties can reverse the direction. It's very comfortable and as I said, accurate. You need to write large for more accuracy. I use it to take notes in meetings, and it works well for that.

Dell sells the Smartpad II For Window-Captures HandWritten Notes Into Handhelds [$98 or $3/month1]. Does one need to buy this program to use handwritting?

fm80

I'll have a go.

1) The D-pad seems durable to me. The problem you might have is that it doesn't "click" in the four directions like you might expect it to.

2) No experience with the two you mentioned, but it plays Age of Empires nicely. I think the requirements should be somewhat similar to Everquest.

4) I have PocketNester and it runs near perfection on my 400mHz.

5) Not in my experience.

6) I'm a Palm convert, so I used Block Recognition on the Axim for a while. It is identical to Graffiti on the Palm. Since then, though, I've changed to the on-screen keyboard and it is my method of choice.

7) Similar to the D-pad, it is solely for moving Up and Down through lists. You can also click it in as an "Enter" function.

10) A properly formatted movie will play surprisingly well. I use Windows Media Encoder's PocketPC template to create full-length movies that are approximately 120 megabytes.

11) Internal.

12) It is supposed to allow data exchange. Third-party apps can use it for anything. The Axim's IR port is notoriously weak, though.

13) It does, but I'd recommend the folding keyboard attachment instead.

14) See #13. It works great and is perfectly suited for taking notes in class.

16) I run all games and multimedia from the SD card. I believe a CF card would be even faster, but my CF slot is occupied with a WiFi card.

v8sho

Hey administrator....


Once all of these questions get answered why not put this in the FAQ?

(I'll volunteer to do the compilation if that would help.)

Cheryl

1). The D-Pad on my first Axim got stuck. I have had my replacement for just over 5 months with no problem at all.

2). Gameplay is awesome! :D I have all 3 EverQuest episodes on my SD card. They play flawlessly! I also have BugLord, Age of Empires and Argentum .... actually, all of my games are stored on SD card and I have had no trouble at all. I have 400, BTW.

5). I play...eh, ah use my Ax several hours a day-every day. I have always used a screen protector. There are no bumps or scratches on my screen :). I have had this Ax just over 5 months.

10). I have music and movies on my CF card and they are outstanding! My SD card holds all of my games, themes, ebooks, and other apps that don't have to be installed in the main memory. No problems at all :).

mdcauthen

does that help?

importluva

how are the emus on a 300? I used to have a ipaq 3835 and they played fine on that. I'd assume the basic should be all good too.

mdcauthen

yeah i'll be getting a 300

Julia

mdcauthen - FWIW, I got a 300 and wish I had ordered the 400. I am not a high level user but have filled it up fast (2 weeks). There are so many great things to add on . . . now I need to start peeling things off as my memory is getting LOW! Just my opinion. I was on a budget but this would have been a good time to disregard it!!

__________________
Julie

XKalibuR

Quote:

Originally posted by mdcauthen does that help?

no can you please answer questions 10-15 for me, I still dont quite understand how they work.

thanks

cen

8) This is the best I can answer your question. I was reading last months Pocket PC magazine and they had a program and a tutorial on programming. Wish I could find the article on the web but it was very helpful.