Dell technician responds to claims that New OS Slows Down Axim X5

keithwnyc · 07-14-03, 09:10 AM

Read this article on http://www.brighthand.com
Has anyone else heard anything about this????

Dell Users Claim New OS Slows Down Axim X5
By Ed Hardy | Editor-in-Chief
July 11th, 2003
Dell was one of the first companies to step forward and offer upgrades to Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC to those who owned its handhelds. It has also been shipping the new operating system on handhelds purchased since June 23. Now it is beginning to appear that the new OS is causing problems for its Axim X5 models.

Several Axim users in the Brighthand forums have reported noticeable slowdowns with the new Windows Mobile 2003 when compared with Axims running Pocket PC 2002. The same issue is being discussed in forums on several other handheld-related sites.

People are also reporting that the devices are slower than other ones running Windows Mobile 2003, like the Hewlett-Packard iPAQ h2210. For example, Microsoft Reader is reportedly sluggish and Windows Media Player 9 tends to skip when running in the background. Those who have run Spb Benchmark on all three devices report that an Axim X5 with Windows Mobile 2003 scores much lower than an Axim X5 with Pocket PC 2002 or the h2210.

So far the only Axims available with Windows Mobile 2003 are ones that have been bought since the launch of the new operating system. The upgrades Dell is offering for the older Axims have yet to begin arriving.

Dell has not yet officially responded to this issue. However, a couple of people have posted in the Aximsite.com forums that they were told by a Dell Technical Support person that the company is aware of the problem and a fix should be available a week from today.

burns · 07-14-03, 09:12 AM

this is in the wm2003 forum isnt it

dtgrdn · 07-14-03, 09:14 AM

Well it's been the main topic for the last 2 weeks.

keithwnyc · 07-14-03, 10:48 AM

oops, I guess I should really venture out of my normal stomping grounds a bit more;)

thezed · 07-15-03, 02:51 AM

Hrmmm...

I just did a simple test here. Playing Thumbwars (about 19MB wmv file) in media player. Played on friends X5 Advanced (his was delivered 2.5 weeks ago) with 2002. Ran flawlessly. Run it on mine (delivered 1 week ago) which has 2003 and it and it ran VERY sluggish... runs ok for 10 frames... pauses for 5 seconds... runs okay for another 10 frames. And before you ask, I was reading the same CF card in both Axims, so it isn't a dodgy CF card. And it wasn't running in the background :(

I might be calling Dell tonight to talk about a refund :(
[from what I gather from postings on their own forum sites, they don't even want to admit the problem]