This article is a little dated but man this guy rips into the Axim a little bit. Some of his point I don't see at all. To me, it sounds like he's addicted to his PALM. But since it came from a well respected source like the Washington Post I thought it might make for some good discussion?
The article is his opinion, but it seems like at times when he criticizes the Dell Axim or Microsoft's Pocketpc, he is lying to himself. For example:
"Dell has done a fine job of bringing the Pocket PC platform to a consumer-friendly price, but otherwise the Axim isn't that special. "
Not only is the price point very special, but it has a lot more features than the other PDA's that came out with the newer Xscale processors. Expandability and battery life are excellent, and seem to be much better than other PDA's. If Compaq did not come out with their new PDA, I think the Axim's screen would be the best one on a PDA. Dell included the best features from past PDA's like a recorder button, audio out jack, a jog dial, and other features that some of the newer pda models forget to add. This is special because they thought of everything they could possibly do for the price point, in my opinion. If this PDA was $500, I think it would still be an amazing PDA.
"I'd rather see Dell apply its cost-cutting talents to the Palm side of the business, where it will find a better operating system, greater liberty to fine-tune it and more potential customers."
If they have the time and the money maybe they should, but calling the Palm OS a better operating system is not correct in my opinion. Can the Palm OS multitask? Play MP3's and video formats without the need of purchasing additional software? Those are pretty darn nice features that most people expect in the 21st century from their OS. I do think the Palm OS does a damn nice and efficient job at what it has been designed to do, but it has not been designed to do as much as the Pocket PC. The Palm OS and the Pocket PC is almost like comparing the MAC OS and Windows. It totally depends on the person using it. I prefer the Pocket PC because it has more features. The interface is familiar for me because I use Windows 2000.
"Pocket PC amounts to a catalogue of user-interface defects that conspire to waste your time in a thousand little ways: the two-second wait to wake the Axim, the need to tap the Edit menu (which isn't actually a menu) to revise most items, the spinning-beach-ball cursor that regularly surfaces, the Programs screen that fails to list many installed programs, and so on."
There is a two second wait time, I will give you that. Didn't notice it until you mentioned it. The edit menu gives you the "greater liberty to fine-tune" the program like you said the Pocket PC lacks. The spinning ball tells you when things are loading instead of having the laggy response times which happens on Palm OS Pda's when they need to load or process data. The programs screen doesnt list all of the programs because the programmer that programmed whatever peice of software you are trying to run didn't set that up. That hasn't happened to you on the Palm before? I had to run helper programs such as pocket c to run the programs that werent listed on the Palm's program menu.
"And all of these obvious bugs have been present for more than a year without any fixes from Microsoft. "
Not obvious to me. Where are those bugs?
I would take the Dell Axim for any other Palm PDA currently on the market.
Yeah, that seems to be the problem - he just doesn't like PPC. I bet he's had a Palm for years and hates Microsoft to boot. I'm no fan of Microsoft and I owned a Palm for a while but this is silly - sort of like sending someone who is afraid of the water to review a wet suit!
From reading this article, it seems to me that he is bashing Microsoft more than actually having something against the Dell. If the Dell was exactly the same, except with Palm OS, I think he would be thrilled. LOL
__________________ There are only two truly infinite things, the universe and human stupidity; I am unsure of the former.
-Albert Einstein
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I really don't care what other people think about the products I enjoy. I like to try things out, if I like it... I like it. If I dislike it... I well I won't give others the recommendation to use it.
I really don't think this guy likes any PPC's. He, I suppose, still caries around a Trapper Keeper/Day Runner or what ever those things were called, for numbers and a planner, and a Pager, using a pay phone to return calls. By the looks of it, I think he is just against any movement to get this type of organizer in everyday life.
I'll try and find more articles on him to see what type of guy he is... He may just be old school
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" We cannot appeal to the conscience of the world when our own conscience is asleep. " Carl von Ossiet
I don't think totally that he is biased, although he does present references that indicate he prefers Palms. But mainly it appears he just has no idea about the product he is reviewing. He expected it to work like a Palm and when it didn't, he thought there was something wrong with it.
Even if I didn't already own my Axim or have read other much more positive and knowledgeable reviews towards it, I would have thought this guy didn't have a clue.
$50 Bucks says he is using a Window OS.
This guy does not have any idea what he is talking about and should have stuck with reviewing Palm PDA's
Ya the most Palm PDA's are smaller ya they work good, Most do not have any CF or SD slots, and then you have the almost no network abilities.
Nope i love Pocket PC and Windows CE devices. As a Systems Adinistrator, i do not need to have my laptop everywhere i am to troubleshoot my network. All i need is a Modem and then i can connect to ANY phone ( i have a special adapter to do this) then via TS client or VNC or about 20 other apps to connect to my Network and trouble shoot the Servers, Workstations and so on. That is why i dropped the Palm PDA's about 2 years ago and switched to Pocket PC devices.
I have has Compaq, Toshiba, HP, and now Axim. Well let me tell you the Compaq is nice but sleeves to have a CF slot.....come on Compaq. The Toshiba E740 is an awsome PDA but the wireless kills the battery in about 1/2 hour, add the extended battery and you are up to the same size as the Comapq with a sleeve. Now the HP was good but mine was only 16/32 Mb so not big enough for me. Now the Axim is great. CF and SD and no wireless and a Huge main battery that does not add to the bulk. Great unit, great price and i would not change it for anything out there right now.
There was actually a big discussion about this on Pocket PC Thoughts. Rob's reply to the feedback is on this page if you want to just skip to that.
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Axim X5 400Mhz
Linksys WCF12 Wireless CF card
"I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside me." - Abraham Lincoln
I have been a Palm user for almost 3 years. The Axim, which I received the day after Christmas, is my first PocketPC and I love it.
I find the PPC far more functional than my Palm ever was. Multitasking is a bold new world on a handheld device. I love being able to listen to music while I edit an Excel file and look up a contact. Why wouldn't I want to do that if it's available to me?
Certainly Palm is a fairly solid and elegant haldheld OS. It hasn't changed much over the years so it's very "bug-free". But to say PocketPC 2002 is in anyway buggy or slow is downright ignorant.
Now I must go and play Age of Empires, let's see a Palm device do that.
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