reading on a pda

[ric1977]

hi,
i'm thinking of buying a Dell x30, primarily to read books and surf the web using wifi. as i've never used a pda before i'm unsure how well the dell will perferm these tasks ie.
how comfortable will i find reading books from a pda screen?
is surfing the web on a pda practical?

can someone with a bit of experience with pda's let me know what i can expect?
thanks
ric

[Howard2k]

Your best bet is to go into a store, open one up and have a look. It's really personal preference. I'm posting this from my PDA. It has limitations but in most situations is great.

[ppcfreak123]

hi,
i'm thinking of buying a Dell x30, primarily to read books and surf the web using wifi. as i've never used a pda before i'm unsure how well the dell will perferm these tasks ie.
how comfortable will i find reading books from a pda screen?
is surfing the web on a pda practical?

can someone with a bit of experience with pda's let me know what i can expect?
thanks
ric

web surfing on a pda can be a little impractical at times. for example if you want to view web pages as they appear on a desktop, you may find yourself scrolling from side to side more than you would like. there is a setting on pocket internet explorer where you can view everything in one column which gets rid of the need to scroll from side to side. i use this setting 95% of the time. it will make the web pages look different but it's not a huge difference. if you intend to use wi-fi for long periods of time, you may want to spring for the high-capacity extended battery because you may find that the 950mAh battery that comes with the device may not be adequate. as for reading books on the pda, the device should work just fine. the QVGA screen will not look as crisp as the VGA screen found on the x50v but should provide adequate resolution for long periods of reading. i would go ahead and buy the pda. Hope this helps.:approve:

[Choirguy]

Your level of comfort will be determined by how comfortable of a chair you are sitting in. ;)

I don't know what has gotten into me today with these wise cracks.

A lot of people use their axims for eBooks. And there are even some copies of illegal eBooks that you can obtain. I just don't like staring at the little screen for text, so I don't use the device for eBooks.

As for surfing the web, no, it's not very practical--yet. Can you do it? Sure. Does it work? Yes. But you'll either find that you have some choices with the limited browsers out there...either the entire page will be in one column, requiring A LOT of up/down scrolling, or you'll have the default screen which will require a lot of side-to-side AND up/down scrolling.

The programmers are working on this. They're trying to make a version of Firefox (Minimo) for the Pocket PC, which just had a new version released, but it's not so great yet. It will be. And I expect browsing capability to be improved with the bundled Microsoft programs in Windows Media 5.0, which comes out for the X50 in about 2 months.

There are also some other browsers out there that you can buy...you should probably give them a look, too. You'll want to read this post by Menneisyys:

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=93085

[Rsaturn9]

I use my Pda for both Reading and Internet as well as games!

[BRADLEY]

My main activity I use my pda for is reading, especially ebooks. About two years ago, I abandoned the ppc for palm because of the screen resolution. The ppc (320 x 240 or vice versa?) was just too grainy for extended reading. On the other hand, palm had 320 x 320 and this was fine for reading. When the x50v became available at a great price (see other threads), I jumped on the chance to have a VGA device. Man, it is fantastic! Reading is a pure joy. In fact, it's hard to go back and read on my palm device.

If you can afford it, I strongly urge you to get a vga ppc. The resolution is astounding. Check the threads for another great bargain on the x50v. Since the x51(?)is on the horizon, the x50v should be offered at a great rate often.

[ric1977]

thanks for the feedback people. you've certainly given me something to think about.

while i'm here i meant to ask if its possible to play online poker using a pda....i've become a bit of an addict so this would be a bonus..heehee

thanks again
ric