My iPhone replaced my Dell Axim X51

A little sad to see anyone's personal choices treated with such closed-minded derision. You might just as well suggest that because a Ford Fusion is a good all-round car, that's what everyone should buy regardless of personal preference, individual needs or freedom of choice.

The fact is that an Axim x51 is NOT all things to all people. There are those who want to have a device with multiple roles converged and for whom the Axim simply won't work, or represents an inefficient solution. It's not a perfect device - indeed, no more so than an iPhone. As for the 'iHype', that's simply childish and reactionary. If the thing was hyped, the people who fell for it enough to buy one would have returned them in their droves when they discovered the reality of it.

Just for the record, by the way, I own and use an x51v - in fact two of them. As a PDA with wifi it's an excellent device, and with a couple of minor irritants in terms of quirky behavior, both have served me very well. But that isn't to say they are perfectly suited to my needs, or indeed would be perfectly suited to everyone else's.

The iPhone isn't perfectly suited either. It lacks a feature the x51v did very well - keep my task lists accessible. In all other respects however, the iPhone actually outperforms the Axim in the specific things I need. What's more, while a voice and data plan for my previous provider would have cost $79 a month, the same plan for an iPhone actually costs $59. The result is that regardless of whether in range of an accessible wifi or not, the iPhone allows me to access critical email accounts, monitor websites, and (thanks to Ta Da Lists) even keep my task lists, plus dispense with a separate cellphone, give me a voicemail system that is actually pleasant and efficient to use, play any of my iTunes library content, integrate with the handsfree system in my car, and need nothing but a finger to operate, while being physically similar in size to each of the three devices it replaces.

Does that mean I would recommend it to those who need a fully-functional PDA? No of course not, any more than it would make any sense to recommend a fully functional PDA to someone who actually needs a phone and internet access while mobile.

Those who think there's only room on this planet for one device and that anyone who wants something different must be a fool are, well and truly, missing the whole point.

Oh, and on edit: I still use, and will continue to use the x51v (though I might sell the second one) because it has a couple of features that are useful to me in the office. However, it's main strength is also it's main weakness - that while MS is ubiquitous and thusly the Axim is mainstream, it is still MS, meaning both Windows Mobile and the PIM software are neither particularly well written, nor all that close to what users really want.

Nice post Andy - I agree wholeheartedly. Some people aren't quite as mature though. If you like the iPhone, great. If not, that's OK too... it's just a piece of hardware - grow up and get over it.

[frenchie]

The Samsung i760. My new handheld computer :) If only Verizon can release the damned thing!

[Fox5]

Just to play the devil's advocate, there is 1 thing the iPHONE has that the axim does not

FULL LINUX INSTALL!!!

Yes, if they'll unlock the app loader, you could install any linux application you want on an iphone, that was one of the major sources of hype when it came out, that it wasn't a crippled OS (apple just HAD to find a way to solve that "problem"...) That also means that, dep on the architecture, you could install WINE or softwindoes and run any true windows application you wanted (provided the iphone's hardware coudl handle the strain --- anyone have the acctual iPHONE specs? I cant find the processor speed...)

In reality, though, the iphone is, as somone already said ihype. It's the same idea as any of the mp3-player phones, it just has internet rolled in too. It's an ADHD toy, unlike the axim which is a productivity tool. I own a smartphone, wanting a PDAphone, and even then I wont be giving up my Axim, though I may not be using it as much if my phone can do 2/3 of what the axim can --- there's still tha 1/3 it cant do!

Eh, wot?

No, you could not install linux on it unless they release the full hardware specs, which they won't. OSX is not linux (BSD based actually), though it's likely a much better mobile OS than Windows Mobile.

Are you talking about recompiling Linux program source code for mobile OSX? I doubt you'll be able to do that. You'd need a dev environment that supports osx mobile, and it'd likely be some work porting from x86 to arm.

I do think the iphone is pretty nice though. Great thing that it got the interface right, wish someone would make an interface as smooth and nice as that for the pocketpc. If it just had gps, it'd be a dream. Oh, and if it wasn't absurdly expensive and requiring of a new plan.

Then again, I really only use my axim for movies (very occasionally) and gps. Every once in a while I'll whip it out for mobile internet browsing or calculator (spacetime 2.0 baby!) use.