Well my Ax is finally back from its holiday in Hong Kong!
The round trip took just over a week, so no complaints there.
After ripping it out of the packing, I proceeded to open just about every program I had to note the difference in speed.
As others have said, the general feel is not one of blistering quickness, but there is definitely an overall sense of silky smoothness that is instantly noticeable.
As you may have seen in one of my other posts, I was keen to see the effect that increasing the Page pool size from 5MB to 16MB would have.
Before doing this though, I thought I would do a few quick benchmarks.
A major priority of the upgrade for me was to get my Ax to the point that it could be a reasonable replacement for my laptop. I have been using Softmaker Office for some time and it is excellent for natively handling MSWord and Excel, but its claims of being able to edit and run PowerPoint presentations is somewhat exagerated.
Frankly, on my stock Ax was not able to effectively run any of the presentations I tried it out with (typically in the 20-30 slide range with fairly sophisticated graphics and text entrance animation). Even longer and more complex formatting (large images, tables, text boxes) would cause major grief in dealing with MSWord docs.
Well, after the 128 upgrade (but before the PP change) things are vastly improved. Presentations I could never get to run, are now loading fine (e.g. 12 slide presentation with multiple images and text entrance animation - See screen) though it still takes about 30+ seconds to open the file, and roughly 10 secs to start the slideshow from the editing screens. Still this is a major improvement, and I am confident that by creating the slides in the Presentation Maker application using their templates I can finally imagine doing decent Powerpoint shows off my Ax!
Hefty Word docs were similarly improved.
Very happy indeed with this improvement.
Next I had a go at my old nemesis, Opera 9.5. I love the features of this prog but it is so painfully slow on my Ax.
The 128 makes a noticeable difference, but it is still bloody slow! Before, the upgrade, fully loading wikipedia (a good benchmark as it is a minefield of images/fonts/columns) was an ordeal. Even after it was still taking ~50 seconds for the page to full load (complete bar).
Well finally I took the plunge on the Page pool change. (see screen)
Actually it was really painless. Using the editor (see my other thread) it took only minutes to edit the ROM. I did a full backup with SPB Backup 2. Flashed the ROM then immediately did the restore. Less than an hour all told.
Once again, there the general impression is that everything just seems to function as it should. Smooth and with no hesitation. A really nice feeling.
I ran the benchmarks on the hefty Word and Powerpoint files and noted very little difference in the opening times. A couple of seconds improvement at most, though I had the impression that scrolling, slide transitions were a bit smoother.
The kicker though was with Opera.
The load times for Wikipedia with a 16MB PP were roughly a third (average just under 20 seconds) than for the 5MB tests!!
:rolling:
I was really surprised at the difference.
As I suspected, some programs will definitely benefit more from making the change.
Another place I have noticed the difference is in viewing and zooming large images. I didnt do any test times on this but the difference is dramatic.
All in all I am extremely satisfied with the upgrade and PagePool change. I wish I had done it 2 years ago!
I would also highly recommend PDA-Center and Alex Fong in Hong. Fast, cheap, and good communication. He did the job, fixed a sticky button for no charge, and even gave me a free screen protector.
No complaints.
Thanks for the post and update. Good to hear; I've very much liked the SoftMaker TextMaker and PlanMaker programs, too, but have been stymied by the Presentations and its inability to run within the memory of my Axim. Your experience has me thinking....
Thank you for the informative report. Once I get a RAM upgrade, I will change the PP accordingly.
__________________
Currently running LennySh L11 ROM on my x51v.
Currently running LennySh A09 ROM on my x50v.
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I got the RAM upgrade from PPCTechs about a year ago or so. It has been nice.....but nothing compared to what I have now with the pagepool set to 16 MB! Large programs like Skype and Opera mobile are about 3x faster. Using Opera to browse the internet is pretty close to using a PC at this point. I can't believe that I didn't do this before. I am of the firm opinion now that all Axim users should follow suit and get the upgrade, and make sure to change the pagepool.
Things are changing and with the advent of new and demanding OS' and applications it might as well be done!
I see some limitations when I multitask. It's what I do on the computers I use and find myself doing on my Ax. I think the boost in RAM and the PP would be something I would do soon!
It's on my list of "Stuff to get done- SOON."
:D
__________________
UT Starcom Arc
Kyocera Cricket
Axim x51v
IBM Thinkpad R51e (Home) & R52 (Travel)
Wondering if I did this wrong. My memory shows that I have 84.57 megs free after the installed modded rom. I selected 16 mb in the drop down menue of the PPeditor. Was i supposed to go higher? If not, do the higher settings (I think it went to 32 meg) increase performance that much more?
Originally Posted by gurachn
Well my Ax is finally back from its holiday in Hong Kong!
The round trip took just over a week, so no complaints there.
After ripping it out of the packing, I proceeded to open just about every program I had to note the difference in speed.
As others have said, the general feel is not one of blistering quickness, but there is definitely an overall sense of silky smoothness that is instantly noticeable.
As you may have seen in one of my other posts, I was keen to see the effect that increasing the Page pool size from 5MB to 16MB would have.
Before doing this though, I thought I would do a few quick benchmarks.
A major priority of the upgrade for me was to get my Ax to the point that it could be a reasonable replacement for my laptop. I have been using Softmaker Office for some time and it is excellent for natively handling MSWord and Excel, but its claims of being able to edit and run PowerPoint presentations is somewhat exagerated.
Frankly, on my stock Ax was not able to effectively run any of the presentations I tried it out with (typically in the 20-30 slide range with fairly sophisticated graphics and text entrance animation). Even longer and more complex formatting (large images, tables, text boxes) would cause major grief in dealing with MSWord docs.
Well, after the 128 upgrade (but before the PP change) things are vastly improved. Presentations I could never get to run, are now loading fine (e.g. 12 slide presentation with multiple images and text entrance animation - See screen) though it still takes about 30+ seconds to open the file, and roughly 10 secs to start the slideshow from the editing screens. Still this is a major improvement, and I am confident that by creating the slides in the Presentation Maker application using their templates I can finally imagine doing decent Powerpoint shows off my Ax!
Hefty Word docs were similarly improved.
Very happy indeed with this improvement.
Next I had a go at my old nemesis, Opera 9.5. I love the features of this prog but it is so painfully slow on my Ax.
The 128 makes a noticeable difference, but it is still bloody slow! Before, the upgrade, fully loading wikipedia (a good benchmark as it is a minefield of images/fonts/columns) was an ordeal. Even after it was still taking ~50 seconds for the page to full load (complete bar).
Well finally I took the plunge on the Page pool change. (see screen)
Actually it was really painless. Using the editor (see my other thread) it took only minutes to edit the ROM. I did a full backup with SPB Backup 2. Flashed the ROM then immediately did the restore. Less than an hour all told.
Once again, there the general impression is that everything just seems to function as it should. Smooth and with no hesitation. A really nice feeling.
I ran the benchmarks on the hefty Word and Powerpoint files and noted very little difference in the opening times. A couple of seconds improvement at most, though I had the impression that scrolling, slide transitions were a bit smoother.
The kicker though was with Opera.
The load times for Wikipedia with a 16MB PP were roughly a third (average just under 20 seconds) than for the 5MB tests!!
:rolling:
I was really surprised at the difference.
As I suspected, some programs will definitely benefit more from making the change.
Another place I have noticed the difference is in viewing and zooming large images. I didnt do any test times on this but the difference is dramatic.
All in all I am extremely satisfied with the upgrade and PagePool change. I wish I had done it 2 years ago!
I would also highly recommend PDA-Center and Alex Fong in Hong. Fast, cheap, and good communication. He did the job, fixed a sticky button for no charge, and even gave me a free screen protector.
No complaints.
I love the upgrade so far, Skyfire is awesome, everything loads up faster, web browsing is great. I love being able to load up 4 or 5 programs and still have 50mb of ram free
All in all took 9 days from the time I mailed it and under $100 shipped, Alex has a great service and is very good communication, definately recommend. Now I can give my wife her x30 back lol.
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This upgrade WORKS. I have more stability, and a bit more speed for apps that used to take a frustrating amount of time to complete their tasks. I am very glad I finally did this.
I love the upgrade so far, Skyfire is awesome, everything loads up faster, web browsing is great. I love being able to load up 4 or 5 programs and still have 50mb of ram free
All in all took 9 days from the time I mailed it and under $100 shipped, Alex has a great service and is very good communication, definately recommend. Now I can give my wife her x30 back lol.
This is good to hear KimChee. I sent my X51v off to Hong Kong last Friday via USPS Priority mail (7/16/09). I keep wondering if it has made it there or not. No email from Alex yet. Suppose it may be a few days or so before it shows up. Glad to hear yours made it there and back without any problems. :) Thanks
The upgrade is working very good. I did it wit PPCTechs. This guys are professionals. Great job guys. Now the PDA is faster and the apps are not freezing anymore. I am very glad I did it.
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