After doing what I though was careful research, I ordered an Axim X50 about two weeks ago. It arrived yesterday and was shipped back today.
Among the problems were:
1.) failure to recognize the 512MB CF card which was ordered from Dell with the unit. The Axim reported it was 90MB;
2.) wireless function did not work. The wireless router is three feet from the Axim. A Toshiba laptop was able to connect and work with the accesspoint, but now the Axim;
3.) battery would not charge. It was left on overnight and was charging for about 10 hours. It would only work with the AC power supply. It would not turn on with the just the battery; finally,
4.) technical support is outsourced. When I called for technical support, I spend over half the time trying to understand what the person was saying. Had I known technical support had been outsourced, I would have never purchased the unit!
As a final kicker, they send me a shipping address with a Zip Code (78700) that UPS would not recognize. I had to find the correct Zip Code on the U.S. Postal Service web site before UPS would accept the shipment.
A great job all around by the formerly very good Dell!
Last edited by Ramises; 02-23-05 at 10:33 AM.
Reason: corrections
Every CS dept is outsourced now it seems. I haven't called one that hasn't. If you wanna know where your calling just ask them they have to tell you I believe. It's usually some city halfway across the globe.
My x50v arrives today and I really hope it's not as bad as the experience you have had. I live in TX so I could just drive over to Roundrock and kick some dell a** if it does suck. Anyways, sorry to hear that happened. Whats your next step?
After doing what I though was careful research, I ordered an Axim X50 about two weeks ago. It arrived yesterday and was shipped back today.
Among the problems were:
1.) failure to recognize the 512MB CF card which was ordered from Dell with the unit. The Axim reported it was 90MB;
2.) wireless function did not work. The wireless router is three feet from the Axim. A Toshiba laptop was able to connect and work with the accesspoint, but now the Axim;
3.) battery would not charge. It was left on overnight and was charging for about 10 hours. It would only work with the AC power supply. It would not turn on with the just the battery; finally,
4.) technical support is outsourced. When I called for technical support, I spend over half the time trying to understand what the person was saying. Had I known technical support had been outsourced, I would have never purchased the unit!
As a final kicker, they send me a shipping address with a Zip Code (78700) that UPS would not recognize. I had to find the correct Zip Code on the U.S. Postal Service web site before UPS would accept the shipment.
A great job all around by the formerly very good Dell!
Sorry to hear about your trouble with X50. IMHO, you did not try enough to make the X50 work. I see that this is your first post, which means you never posted any of your problems at aximsite before. There are thousands of people just in this forum who have used various models of Axim very successfully and very efficiently.
You got your X50 yesterday and within 10-12 hours, you decided that it is not worth keeping it??
Did you go through the tutorial that has been posted on the main page regarding wireless setup?? For my Toshiba laptop, I had to spend nearly one day just to make the laptop connect to my wireless router. For my Dell laptop, I had to do absolutely nothing to make it connect. So the problem is not restricted to just one manufacturer, but it depends on various other conditions.
As for technical support being outsourced, you will find that nearly all the companies have their call centers, etc outsourced to India, China, Ireland, South America, etc. If you are thinking about buying products that have their support in US only, then you are going to have a tough time finding such a company. Your credit cards, banks, financial institution, insurance claims, tax preparation, computers support, electronics support, etc have their call center/technical support outsourced.
hahahahahahaha. you didn't try to do much to remedy any of these problems.. looks like you weren't ready to own the pda in the first place and looked for the first "excuse" to return the thing.
Last edited by Martin; 02-23-05 at 11:42 AM.
Reason: unnecessary name-calling
HA, HA, HA, HA
You sent it back because it told you the CF card was only 90 MB???!!!
That was your built-in storage dummy!!!!
You have to use the drop down menu to select the CF card.
As for the battery, maybe bad, maybe in backwards???
Wifi, easily fixed.
Outsourced support? "After careful research" you did not know this???
Well, I'm looking for a refurbished Axim to show up in the Outlet store with no mileage on it. What was the ID number?
Sounds like Palm-villa for you.
looked for the first "excuse" to return the thing.
I would have to agree, returning something is my last resort especially if I am in need of it. I will do everything possible to fix something first. Granted you should not have problems right away, you should still not just give up. Hope you find something you do like. Palm is a simple PDA that gets the job done if you really need one. Hopefully Palm will begin to incorporate some of the ideas that have them losing customers like me. HEAR THAT PALM, MAKE SOME NEW CRAP UP!!! RELEASE PALM 0S 6 JEEZ
It isn't his fault that he is apparently the result of poor genetics.
It isn't his fault that that he cannot read the instructions or follow directions or ask questions
I suggest that he try a product that has no need for a battery and is far less complex than one of the most advanced piece of electronic gadgetry... like an etch-a-sketch. some are even available in different colors.
It would be a shame to waste the Axim on him... he probably thought it was an iPod with a color screen
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You guys are ignorant! Not everybody has the time or patience to read through these forums to get their brand new axim to work, and they shouldnt have to.
If I spent several hundred bucks on a piece of electronics, and it won't even charge out of the box, it's garbage and needs to be sent back. I'm sure he put the battery in correctly, don't think it even fits any other way.
You guys are too accustomed to spending countless hours on these sites trying to get your Dell's to work properly.
My advice is to get anything but a Dull, and you will have a much easier time. Dull's are good if you want to save money, not time!!
Last edited by Martin; 02-23-05 at 11:48 AM.
Reason: unnecessary name-calling/language
Thanks for the responses to my X50 story. I do accept some but not all of the criticism.
Yes, I should have know that technical support was outsourced but did not research this aspect of the Axim. The other faults were, however, with the unit.
The CF card was never recognized because it was not in the list of storage devices. You can't select what the unit does not see. Even the file manager could not see the CF card. Either it or the Axim was defective.
The battery is designed to be inserted in only one way. The copper contacts on the battery were connected to the copper contacts of the Axim, but it would never charge. The unit would only work off the AC to DC converter.
It is possible that the problem with the wireless could have been fixed, but when you get someone on the phone who you cannot understand, and who is reading from a script you quickly realize that they do not know the unit, or how it operates. You can tell within about 60 seconds if a technical support person knows what they are doing.
I admit to having limited patience, but this is due to knowing how things should work and quickly recognizing when they do not. I have built dozens of PC from scratch, installed the software, configured servers, etc. I wrote my first computer program in 1965 and worked on more computer than most people can even name. I also owned and used several Palm devices over the years but thought I would try a Pocket PC for a change.
The Axim X50 was defective, and I would not waste any further time trying to fix Dell's production problems.
I admit to having limited patience, but this is due to knowing how things should work and quickly recognizing when they do not. I have built dozens of PC from scratch, installed the software, configured servers, etc. I wrote my first computer program in 1965 and worked on more computer than most people can even name. I also owned and used several Palm devices over the years but thought I would try a Pocket PC for a change.
Your statement that the Axim showed only 90 MB storage on the CF card was either incorrect or an attempt to build up justification. The internel storage is 96 MB. That is what you were seeing, not the CF card.
Perhaps a bad battery.
Wireless is outlined in a step by step configuration in the manual, on Dells web site, and here.
As to us riding you for the post, I feel you were fair game for, 1. posting that info-basically, "I took it out of the box, nothing worked, I sent it back". ; 2. why post in the first place? What did it conribute? No steps for others to use, no requests for help, just a "Nothing worked, I sent it back". 3. I was bored and that post sounded too good to pass up. Even I would have asked some questions of this site if I knew it existed.
If I spent several hundred dollars on a device, I would spend some time trying to get it to work.
ASSUMING that it is a manufacturing defect, then a single call to dell will get an advance replacement (guaranteed via a credit card of course)
ASSUMING that it is a manufacturing defect, then how can you justify the poor opinion of the product (or company), since EVERY company has a percentage of defective products... and just got the one out 14 million that is defective.
ASSUMING that Ramses said that he did not know that Dell had outsourced techsupport BUT is still knowledgable, how knowledgable could he be when the outsourcing has been common knowledge for over 2 years now...
It is not reasonable to believe or ASSUME that any product will do everything it was designed to do right out of the box, with no assistance from the operator... you do not start driving a car without training first, you do not get a license for that car without peactice and testing.
It is not reasonable to blame the Axim for failure to connect to a WAP, without knowing if a MAC filter is turned on, or the wrong WEP key is provided, or if it an A or G only router
I'll concede the point that he may have recieved a bad Axim, but that could have been damaged in shipping as well as a manufacturing defect... neither one justifies his opinion of Dell or Axims.
He is frustrated at his inability to use the device that he waited 2 weeks to get... But the issue MAY or MAY NOT be Dell's fault.
The fact that he said the Ax called his 512mb card 90mb, leads me to ASSUME that he has a bad card OR doesn't recognize the SD Card entry in the file manager (or he put it in the wrong slot :-) )
The fact that he didn't know Dell (as well as dozens of other companies) had outsourced tech support, leads me to ASSUME that he doesn't pay much attention to Dell or the industry.
the fact that he said that he left it on for 10 hours but it wouldn't charge, leads me to ASSUME that we was confusing power with backlight
All of this leads me to ASSUME that he would be best off with some real knowledge on the platform before wasting his money
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I agree totally with your frustration.
As a first time PDA buyer/user, I was appalled by the amount of work required to get reliable functionality from these things.
You have to remember people; the average buyer is used to bringing home an appliance, plugging it in, and having it work. These devices are marketed as if they are just another audio/video/mass consumtion consumer toy. They are not. They are for technogeeks/programmers/expense account types. (No offense )
A raw noob could take the better part of a week getting an Ax fully functional, and the "manual" isn't worthy of the dead trees it takes to make 'em.
These devices should come with a warning sticker: "Caution: take a pill before opening box"
It's no wonder at all that the market for PPCs is projected to continue shrinking.
Last edited by fatiredflyer; 02-23-05 at 01:34 PM.
Ramises, it's a shame you're getting so many rude responses. I would strongly encourage you to have Dell send you a new unit and give it another go. If you run into problems again, please come back and post here. I'm confident the experts here will get you up and running in no time.
Ramises, it's a shame you're getting so many rude responses. I would strongly encourage you to have Dell send you a new unit and give it another go. If you run into problems again, please come back and post here. I'm confident the experts here will get you up and running in no time.
-AJ
I second this - the things is a load of fun once you get it
going !! If you have used a PC before this is no more complex -
just a little different.
Games, Browsing, Mail, GPS, Hobbies !
Give it a go it will be fun (and maybe even useful) !
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