I just got a new Axim X5-400 MHz for a relative. I also have an Axim X5-400MHz that I've owned for almost a year now.

Is it my imagination, or is everything faster on the new Axim X5? I was quite surprised ... many of the SPB Benchmark tests ran 1.5 -> 4.0 times faster!

Does anyone know if there is newer, faster hardware on the recent Axim X5s, or is the OS upgrade that good?

azjazz

I think that it's both. Dell changed the Axim to use the PXA 255 processor from the PXA 250 at launch, and WM2003 is marginally faster in some areas than PPC2002.

I find WM2k3 much faster the PPC2002. Most if not all apps seem to run 5x quicker.

AximX5 Advanced 2k3 400Mhz
Cradle
256mb SanDisk CF
64mb SanDisk CF
LinkSys Wireless Compact Flash
Leather Axim case

I agree, WM 2003 is much faster than PPC 2002. I don't have benchmark numbers to quantify this, but it sure seems faster. I don't know that I'd say 5x quicker, but double or triple would seem about right.

The biggest difference I see is in battery life. On my old PPC 2002 I used to charge the battery every other day. Now I can get two weeks of my normal stuff out of the charge. I also notice it's more stable. I don't soft reset anywhere near as much as I did with 2002.

i agree that wm2003 is faster. i did loose sync a couple of times but that seemed to be corrected by rebooting my computer. the biggest complaint i would have is that not all my games and programs would run on 2003. i have several clickgamer games that should have worked but did not. i have a business specific program that would not work, so i went back to 2002.

Harold Nelson, USN, ETC(SS), retired
"Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity." - Horace Mann

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away" - George Carlin

  

The results are in ...

I ran SPB Benchmark before and after installing WM2003. I used to have ROM A03, now I have ROM A05.

On my PDA (Pretty Darned Ancient) Axim that I bought last February (with a PXA250).

The SPB results are posted below.

Summary: Mostly, about a 5% to 20% improvement in speed, depending on the test. (Most of the numbers below are in mSec, so a lower number is better).

Visable Speed improvements during use: Basically, none. I haven't tried Windows Media before/after tests, since I never used Windows Media - I heard there was a significant improvement from other posts. Internet Explorer was just as slow as ever.

Oh, well.

azjazz

Original Benchmark:

- benchmark-results
- info
platform-name>Dell Axim X5
device-name>Pocket_PC2002
start-date>10.27.2003
/info
- main-tests
fs-largefilewrite>1624.500000
fs-largefileread>63.400000
fs-largefilecopy>1582.200000
fs-manyfileswrite>4194.300000
fs-manyfilesread>203.000000
fs-manyfilescopy>5745.200000
fs-dirlisting>19.000000
fs-db>1741.300000
grf-ddb>93.595000
grf-dib>119.790000
grf-gapi>22.520000
builtin-pw>16167.100000
builtin-pie-html>9812.500000
builtin-pie-jpeg>4601.000000
builtin-fe>11412.300000
misc-zip>17172.700000
misc-jpeg>707.200000
misc-arkaball>28.991500
misc-mflops>6190.000000
misc-mops>1202.000000
misc-mwips>12911.900000
misc-memcpy>16.202000
/main-tests
/benchmark-results

WM2003 Benchmark:

- benchmark-results
- info
platform-name>Dell Axim X5
device-name>WM2003
start-date>11.08.2003
/info
- main-tests
fs-largefilewrite>1447.900000
fs-largefileread>54.600000
fs-largefilecopy>1459.200000
fs-manyfileswrite>3186.400000
fs-manyfilesread>206.300000
fs-manyfilescopy>3583.500000
fs-dirlisting>131.800000
fs-db>985.200000
grf-ddb>41.785000
grf-dib>125.570000
grf-gapi>37.145000
builtin-pw>10765.900000
builtin-pie-html>8674.800000
builtin-pie-jpeg>2072.600000
builtin-fe>5167.900000
misc-zip>5919.300000
misc-jpeg>648.500000
misc-arkaball>41.237000
misc-mflops>6165.200000
misc-mops>1196.000000
misc-mwips>12532.600000
misc-memcpy>13.731000
/main-tests
/benchmark-results

Can we swap then?
I had zero resets on PPC02 and now (in 2 weeks) 34 resets in WM03

--
Boards Don't Hit Back - Bruce Lee