Well, I'm Out! - Page 3

littlekevbo · 07-24-03, 04:27 PM

I have never used a Palm for day to day stuff.... my wife got a m130 from the school district and she seems happy with it, she cannot do half the things I can with mine, but she is happy...

that, my friends is the bottom line... does it do what you want?

I guess the answer to the Q about a PDA or a pocket PC is simple for me... I want a 400mhz PC in my pocket... and that is just what I have... both good and bad.

after saying all that... I would like to see my Ax run Linux from the ROM ;)

mystrclean · 09-13-03, 09:15 AM

I just wanted to add my two cents. I have had multiple Palms and they served me well doing everything I needed it to do at the time. I currently have the Ax and received it as a gift in December (which is why I switched to PPC) and it too has served me well. I am one of those that have had none of the issues (with either Palm or PPC) being discussed in this thread.

I think is safe to say that we all don't use our handhelds the same way and that maybe the biggest reason why some people experience problems and others do not. Another point is that these SD and CF cards are mass produced because they are the hot item and need to meet demand. When ever you mass produce anything there are going to be flaws. Try cutting a diamond quickly and see if you can sell it. Find out what the return policy is on the card before you buy it and take it back to get a new or different one if that is an option.

When I first started reading this thread I thought I was reading a chat room from my wife’s freshmen in high school. It was a true display of immaturity and chest beating. As most of you know in the world and especially in the business world not everyone uses the same paths, directions, and programs to get the job done. Why then should be expect one handheld device to meet the needs of everyone? Just agree to disagree and get on with it.

Again this is just my two cents. If you would like the full five dollar commentary please send check or money order to......

Have a great day all. :D

George

09-15-03, 08:17 AM

When I got a ntoification that there had been a reply to a post I did on this thread I could no for the life of me remember it and had to read the erlier posts and btotom line is the last post by Mystrclean is correct. There are strengths that play to our individual needs and there is something for everyone. Just because someone else's preference is different than mine does not invalidate that preference ntr does it diminsh mine.

Have a wonderful week. :p

nasatech · 09-15-03, 02:56 PM

For those of you who claim the HP's are the tops, check this out:
http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/Categor...1,,273,00.html

To keep things even, Palm fanatics can check this out:
http://discussion.brighthand.com/pal...hp?forumid=151

My point is, EVERY HANDHELD MADE HAS THEIR SHARE OF PROBLEMS - no unit is perfect.

If you want to bash the Axim, I suggest that the moderators set up a new Whiners forum - let everyone rant there, and leave the other forums open to users who actually want to discuss relevant issues.....

srf506 · 09-15-03, 03:06 PM

Never owned a Palm. Seems to me they were kind of the pioneer in this Pocket PC thing. Developed a product out of nothing and while they owned that segment made beau coup gobs of money. Good business model everyone jumps in. I resisted buying one until the "Windows" based machines came out. Then went with HP Jornada (as an engineer at the world's largest defense contractor had had great experience with HP hardware and calculators.) The first one was black and white and was just a little more useful than my HP48 graphing calculator. Than the big HP/Compaq "merger." My next Jornada was color, stylus driven and my buddy's IPAQ made it look like C _ _ P! It also proceeded to self-destruct and burn-up within about 10 months of purchase. About this time Dell (who my brother-in-law works for as a network engineer) announced Axim. Great price, equal to or better specs than IPAQ seemed like a natural. So far its been a pretty good ride. Does everything in life I need/want. I got 1 SD card that I store mpgs on (except for its size it seems to have no redeeming features to me over CF). I now have about half a dozen CF cards with C++ programs I've written and my favorite music. I have had almost no problems with my unit, except one with the IR (running 2002 and A03 ROM). Sorry about the long-winded diatribe but wanted everyone to know what my background and "credentials" are before I get to my point, which is, sometimes a monopoly and a common standard is not an evil thing. Windows is probably the operating system of choice for 85-90% of the systems in use in the world. Almost seems to me that if you aren't running Windows or a really good clone that is seamlessly integrated you're just making more work for everyone involved to get something to work. I guess I'd like to know if all of the people having serious issues with their Axims are using them in some manner they aren't really designed for. Are you overclocking the processor? Are you using ActiveSynch to ensure you are doing the proper file conversions? I just find it hard to believe there is this much variability in these machines coming off the line and passing a reasonable "acceptance" test and burn-in. Seems to me its way out past six-sigma if the percentage of people having serious issues is represented by all of the posters. Hope Dell is lurking on this site and making notes about things to fix/include in the next release. Nothing in life is perfect. There are a few things I'd like to change about my Axim but in the grand scheme of things its a pretty good little device for the price. I'd like to thank all of the forum members though that take the time to describe their issues or recommend fixes for ones they've experienced. Helped me out of a couple of jams a time or two, and given me some fresh ideas on how to use "my brain."

CorwinB · 09-15-03, 07:02 PM

Quote:

My point is, EVERY HANDHELD MADE HAS THEIR SHARE OF PROBLEMS - no unit is perfect.

So what ? Some (E740, Axim...) have more than others. Of course, you will always find someone who drops his PDA on the ground, spill a few gallons of hot coffee on it before dropping a few pounds of rocks on the unit, then :
a) complain it doesn't work anymore and say the hardware sucks
b) say customer service sucks because they believe the problem is user-inflicted

And some people are unlucky or expect too much of what they bought.

But when you get into colossal screwups like the SD card problem or the A04 ROM, then it's not just a problem like every other handheld out there.

Quote:

If you want to bash the Axim, I suggest that the moderators set up a new Whiners forum - let everyone rant there, and leave the other forums open to users who actually want to discuss relevant issues.....

Point me a single negative post in this thread that could be qualified as "whining" : all is see after reading the thread again is people complaining about their Axims not performing up to spec or not working at all, with all posts perfectly documented, and readable. It seems to me that's pretty "relevant" to a forum called "Hardware troubles" in a site dedicated to the Axim.

I'm not calling anyone who enjoys his Axim a mindless fanboy, so I would appreciate if respect went both ways and you didn't automatically label people upset with their Axims as "whiners". Part of the strength of this community is that people are generally helpful and polite, especially when dealing with frustrated users.

Royalanguish · 09-15-03, 07:44 PM

I have used Palm (m130), Sony (some clie, I dont know which one), Casio (BE300), Hp (37xx) and my AX. I cannot stand the Palm OS, but to each his own you know? I cant sand Linux or Mac either-I am over all very satisfiec with MS products, (maybe I'm not using them right, I dont know? :) ). As for the Ipaqs and the AX, honestly I'd say 6 of one, Half dozen of the other-the only difference being price and acceesories (and TECH SUPPORT!!). Yes some of the Ipaqs have more features, but compairing them apples to apples, its all the same. Yes, the AX has its share of problems, some of them are OS some of the are Dell. Honestly though, I'm really looking forward to the new AX versions (maybe a bigger secreen and WIFI?). Anyway, for my money, you can't beat the AX, but who asked me? Just dont take it personally if someone preffers a different pda....its not as if their saying your mother's ugly..... they just prefer a different product, thats free market capitolism, its great!

MurMan · 09-15-03, 08:38 PM

Some of posts in this thread complain about the behavior of individual applications.

As someone with software engineering experience that predates MS-DOS, I can assure you that application software problems are more likely to be the fault of the application than the platform, in this case the Axim and Windows CE/WM.

I'm not saying that Windows doesn't have its problems. But it's the responsibility of the developer to fully test the application and code around the quirks of the OS.

Many application developers do not fully understand the OS or how to code defensively. I'm not trying to condemn the Free/Share ware community, but let's face it: some of these developers cannot even spell "QA", much less "regression".

Every time you download a new app, you're relying on the ability of the developer to not screw up your platform. It's a chance we all take. As for me, I'm amazed that so much of this stuff actually works.

However, when things go wrong, don't automatically blame the platform.

enob · 09-15-03, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by littlekevbo
that is all too bad. I have had mine since Feb and had nothing but good things happen due to its appearance in my life.

no SD problems, no broken parts, no trouble with Dell questions..... and I am happy to wait for WM2003.

I guess I am the exception to the rule........ more people with good exp's need to speak up. Dell is a great company and the Ax is a great PDA.

same here and this site only makes it the experience better

Granted · 09-15-03, 10:27 PM

I have to agree with others. I've had my Axim since February and haven't had a single problem (knock wood). I've got an SD chip with files on it and haven't had a single problem (knock more wood, harder).

I think some people have bad luck sometimes with computers (my mother-in-law, although her main bad luck may be my sister-in-law, living at home and wacking out the computer on a regular basis. Ain't it grand to be tech support for all your relatives).

I agree that without this site, my experience may have been a bit less rosy (knock wood, one more time [sound of knuckles on head]).

JeffLewis · 09-15-03, 10:51 PM

Little more to the middle (as always, I guess). I have a Handspring (the original Deluxe), a Palm m505 and of course, the Dell Axim X5.

I jumped ship from PalmOS for a simple reason: while Palm's core utilities were great for basic stuff - as soon as you wanted to get into more complex tasks things sort of bogged down. Also, as a programmer, I found programming PalmOS either expensive or unnecessarily complicated. The multimedia capabilites of PPC simply have no good parallel in PalmOS when you consider how easy it is to make movies and music for PPC using WMEncoder - even easier in PPC2K3. I regularily take 5 hour bus trips and now I can watch movies and TV shows on it without having to lug about a heavy laptop - this is exactly what I've always wanted.

I'm not sure precisely what 'productivity' gains CorwinB was expecting - and why PPC 2002 didn't give them to him. In almost every way that counts, I find PPC 2002 vastly more powerful and flexible, but part of that means learning to find the right utilities to do what you want.

I find the complaint that you have to use 3rd party apps a liability for PPC odd when almost everyone I know who has a Palm device immediately adds a replacement launcher - usually one with plug ins.. or HackMaster or some similar basic system modifying utility.

PalmOS is a fine system up to a point and it's amazing what people have done with it, but when it comes to things like GPS applications or serious database work, sorry - PocketPC simply stomps all over PalmOS.

On the flip side, one things PocketPC could learn from PalmOS is how to simplify the user experience. I've long thought about porting the core PalmOS utilities to PocketPC just to offer a simpler to use set of core apps and then throw in a good Launcher utility as well.

As for the SD issue - check out HappyCheeseCake's site and you'll see it's not a PocketPC specific problem - and definitely not an Axim specific issue (although Dell really should do something to fix their driver and possible make the problem go away). Even digital cameras have been known to have this problem.

Would I go back to PalmOS? Well - I have sort of... My Axim is still my main powerhouse.. but there are a number of very basic tasks that the m505 does better - like being an alarm clock (very important for me) and being a remote control. But there are very few such tasks. I also want to make beaming work between PalmOS and PPC, so I need a test device.

But would I give up my Axim? Well, more accurately - would I give up my PocketPC? No. Dell - well, I'm having issues with Dell - but not with PocketPC and I can't wait for WM2004 (which is about when the WM2003 upgrade for the Axim should ship... just kidding... :)