Axim Received - My first PPC - My first impressions.

[sabotage79]

Well - After scouring this site, and reading up on the latest PPC's (and past), I settled on the Axim 400mhz -
Unfortunately, it was AFTER it shipped that I learned about the 250/255. The one I just received this morning is a 250. When I first opened it, and saw the Axim in person, I was ecstatic It looks great! It's not gigantic! - as people make it to be. It's actually pretty small - small compared to anything I've ever seen or held.

I had already downloaded a few games just so I was ready when it came - I installed the software on my PC, plugged in the cradle, and the Axim. - The install process was actually very easy - Not at all what I expected.

I'm a rts fan from way back - and enjoyed many hours of AoE - When it loaded it, and there sat the Aoe intro screen - :D Awesome! I still can't beleive it when I see it on the Axim. I can't wait for Duke3d.

Everything loaded fast - and there was no speed problems at all. The other game I tried was Motocross Stunt Racer - I lol when I first played it - pretty cool!

I am very pleased with my Axim - it's better than I expected - and I was expecting a lot :) Its perfect really. I havn't tried any video yet - or super 3d games - if there are any that I could really max the axim out with. Maybe i'll try some flight sims.

I had 2 screen protectors - but I think they must be cheapo. Its like looking in a mirror! The plastic also had some kind of film on it - it wasn't very clear when looking just through it. It scratched up pretty fast too.

So I headed off to Office Depot - Took my Axim inside so I could find a proper case and some protectors. - I held my Axim up to the Ipaq 8x units - I wasn't impressed. I thought my Axim looked better - and definitely wasn't much bigger. The Ipaq looked kinda cheapy - but I suppose had I bought one - then I would love it. ;)
I didn't find a case or protectors for my Axim - though looking at the price for Ipaqs-- forget it. I'll just buy online.

They way I look at the size is - The ONLY reason you could say its BIG is if you compared it to the newer SMALL units - If they did not exists then you would have people saying the Axim is small! So why bother comparing it to a newer ppc - The latest and greatest is always going to be "bigger" and "better".

So that's my thoughts on my new Axim. :) I love it! I still may purchase the 255, and put this one back on eBay where I got it. Its brand new so shouldn't be a big deal. I just can't stand the thought of having 'less' when I could have had 'more' for the same price! Grrrr! Plus i've had some good offers via email thanks to the forums.

Any sugestions on good, non-glare protectors? And is the Rhino cases the best? I do not want to use my axim hooked to some case - just something to carry it around.

[diesel]

sabotage,

if you purchased a "brand new" axim from dell within the past 2 weeks, you should have received one with a 255 processor and the new os, mobile 2003..................did you purchase your axim from some other reseller? a refurbished one perhaps? that could explain why you received a 250................however if you purchased directly from dell and you purchased a new one, i would return it and ask for a 255...........

anyway, welcome to the axim club :)

[Raynne413]

I would recommend Write Shields for some nice screen protectors that cut down on the glare. They are easy to apply, work well, and last awhile (I have been using the same one since January).

If you do not want to use the Axim while in the case, I do not know if Rhino Skin is the way to go, although I don't know of a lot of cases that are made to JUST hold the Axim. LOL If you want a hard case that is not too large and made just to carry the Axim in, you might want to look at the Next Generation Shock Suit. I had one for my Casio EM-500, and liked it. It works fine for my Axim if I don't have the extended battery in place.

Hope you enjoy your new toy. :D

Welcome to the group. Are you looking for aluminum or leather case? I have an EB Slipper that I absolutely love :love: . You just slip your Ax in. It is a leather flip top case (with or without a clip) that has cutout for nearly everything on the Ax...except for the CF slot and the IR port. But a great case :).

Originally posted by diesel
sabotage,

if you purchased a "brand new" axim from dell within the past 2 weeks, you should have received one with a 255 processor and the new os, mobile 2003..................did you purchase your axim from some other reseller? a refurbished one perhaps? that could explain why you received a 250................however if you purchased directly from dell and you purchased a new one, i would return it and ask for a 255...........

anyway, welcome to the axim club :)

sabotage's quote said ebay



as for screen protectors, i think brandos can be had for $9 each, which is, sadly enough, a good deal for a good SP.

you can also order transparency film from 3M--they send out free samples to whoever wants them.....you'll have to search this forum for a thread though, and there's a trick to reaching the right URL because all the links you'll find here will take you to an error page.

you can find some good templates at pocketpcpassion.com's forums.

i got a boxwave cleartouch SP for $12, thing is i thought i was getting three.....:p ;)

the writeshields, cleartouchs, and brandos seem to be the best quality, and will last for months. but they go for around $10 a piece. writeshields only seem to be available in 3 packs, but they come with some cleaning accessories.

[diesel]

astounded, hahahah, thanks, i feel like a retard, i missed the bit about ebay in sabotage's original post....................that explains everything.........................

[Pagnell]

What is the difference between a 250 and a 255? I ordered mine yesterday from Dell (400mhz version with PPC2003 on it) - will I get a 255 (whatever it is)?

theyre two different versions of the xscale processor. the 255 is faster, the 250 is slower. i think the 255 has a 200mhz bus speed as opposed to 100 for the 250, not sure.

hmm im not even sure what bus speed is to begin with.

most people say they cant really tell the difference.

axims shipping the last 3 months should have come with the 255

[Planet-Ed]

Not entirely true .. The Axim uses only a 100mhz bus speed no matter which processor they put in it ... I've yet to see any FACTS of any significant speed improvents between an Axim with a 250 and an Axim with a 255 processor.

Originally posted by Planet-Ed
Not entirely true .. The Axim uses only a 100mhz bus speed no matter which processor they put in it ...

yeah i saw something about 200mhz bus in a post just recently, but thats the only place i heard about it.....100mhz makes more sense because 200 should make a big difference and that's not what ppl are reporting....even the ipaq 2210/5s only come with 100mhz buses.

[Pagnell]

Just checked it out. Apparently there is a 200mhz bus port on the 255 but the board on the Axim only allows 100mhz throughput, effectively cancelling it out. However, I will still be a bit pissed if I get a 250 as there is a small improvement on PPC2002. As my system is coming with PPC2003 it will probably be an even bigger improvement. Hopefully.

[Superguy]

Originally posted by Planet-Ed
Not entirely true .. The Axim uses only a 100mhz bus speed no matter which processor they put in it ... I've yet to see any FACTS of any significant speed improvents between an Axim with a 250 and an Axim with a 255 processor.

You might want to rethink that. The xScale processor has two separate busses and I think that's where people are getting confused. One is a 100MHz bus that goes out to the memory and the I/O (CF, SD) while there's a 200 MHz Internal bus that's inside the processor.

Here's the info on Intel's site:

http://www.intel.com/design/pca/prodbref/252780.htm

From the table on the page:

"Faster internal system bus (At 400 MHz core, internal bus runs at 200 MHz vs. 100 MHz on the Intel® PXA250 processor"

More:

" For advanced devices that run the most impactful mobile applications, the Intel® PXA255 Processor is the answer. A pin-for-pin compatible, drop-in replacement for the Intel® PXA250 processor, the Intel PXA255 processor is a highly integrated, 32-bit RISC processor that combines the efficiency of Intel design with the ARM v.5TE instruction set architecture. The Intel PXA255 processor delivers industry leading processing power with built-in multimedia capabilities for high performance and hand-held functionality. This enables increased end-user functionality, helps enhance battery life and provides a rich handheld Internet experience. Based on the Intel XScale technology with a new, [B}fast 200Mhz internal system bus[/B], the Intel PXA255 processor cost-effectively boosts processing speed and power management over the Intel PXA250 processor. Power management features enable lower power dissipation; up to 60 percent less than previous Intel XScale technology based products. And the processing capabilities of the Intel PXA255 processor enable portable devices to respond fast to optimized operating systems and performance intensive applications like MPEG4 video decode speech and handwriting recognition, and Java interpretation. From surfing animated websites to streaming video to mixing MP3s, the Intel PXA255 processor delivers processing power for leading performance. "

The 100MHz bus:

"Integrated Memory and PCMCIA/Compact Flash Controller with 100 MHz Memory Bus, 16-bit or 32-bit ROM/Flash/SRAM (six banks), 16-bit or 32-bit SDRAM, SMROM (four banks), as well as PCMCIA and Compact Flash for added functionality and expandability"

Doesn't matter what's on the motherboard ... the bus is internal to the proc as shown in the diagram.

Super

[Planet-Ed]

No need to rethink it at all .. I was correct in what I said :) Lets take a look.

The Axim uses only a 100mhz bus speed no matter which processor they put in it.

That means the bus is 100mhz no matter what processor - IE if you remove the processor what bus is left in the Axim? Well only the mainboard bus speed of course ... Its implied that I was talking about the mainboard bus speed ...

Now if I didn't say "no matter which processor" or if I said "The PXA255 bus speed is 100mhz" then yes you would be correct in telling me to "rethink that."


As for speed increase yes it looks nice on paper but how much of an improvemnt is there in real life.
Take an Axim 400 w/PXA250 and an Axim w/PXA255. Run a full benchmark on both and compare the two. How much faster the the PXA255 run than its previous model?