Preparing my new X50 for long overseas trip

[msa6]

Refurbished X50 will arrive this week. It will accompany me and my family on a six week trip through Asia this summer...I thought it would be useful to have for a number of purposes, including softphone and web access, and we definitely don't want to carry a laptop. We won't be able to sync up during the trip, and I also don't have a ton of time between now and our departure to read through all the great stuff on the board with regard to getting an X50 "ready" for a long overseas trip.

So...I'm looking for recommendations on "must haves" and "must do's" before I leave. What upgrades, software, memoray adds, patches, etc. should I load on? Anything particularly useful given the length of time without a sync, and for travel in Asia (China, India)? Other "must have" software? For softphone, was thinking Stanaphone, but other ideas welcome here. Also, is it a real pain to encode a few dvd's to let the kids have a "break" every now and then?

Thanks. Oh...did I make a mistake in going "cheap" and getting the X50 rather than the X50v? I'm not likely to need the Axim beyond this trip (my office gives my a Blackberry), so I figured I could "make do" without the VGA. Should I exchange for one?

[mmelgar]

If you're not going to be able to synch for a while you definitely want to get Sprite backup so you can backup to a memory card. That could be a lifesaver if you're away for six weeks. Obviously you should get a memory card or two. Especially if you want to bring along some encoded DVD's or TV shows ( By the way there are a couple of nice tutorials on this site about how to do that. It's not hard to do once you download the free software, but it will take several hours to decrypt and encode each DVD - but you can lety the computer do it overnight while you sleep.). I've never seen the X50 and the X50V ( I have the X50V)side by side to compare the screens, but the general theme I've run across on this board seems to be that the VGA is worth the small diffence in price. MAybe not if you're only going to use it for a few weeks, but I think you will become addicted once you have yours - I doubt it will go in a drawer and be forgotten.

[mmelgar]

You are probably more of a world traveler than I am ( I don't think I would have the courage to take my kids to India and China )and already know about adapters for your charger, but you're definitely going to need a way to recharge while you're away. It probably would be a good idea to have at least one extra battery as well if you're planning to use wifi or watch movies since the axim is a bit of a power hog.

[clammydog]

I also plan on going overseas this summer with my x50v. I was thinking of getting this battery adapter to power and recharge the Axim. Apparently four AA batteries will fully recharge the unit 5 times.

http://www.boxwave.com/products/batt...pter/index.htm

I also plan on going overseas this summer with my x50v. I was thinking of getting this battery adapter to power and recharge the Axim. Apparently four AA batteries will fully recharge the unit 5 times.

http://www.boxwave.com/products/batt...pter/index.htm

If you got more then 1 electronic "toy" (i.e MP3 player). Get Semsons USB Battery Extender instead. This will allow you to use the same USB battery charger for different toys.

Anyway, if your going to China a USB Battery extender is definitely a must unless you got an international charger set that will work with the china outlets.

Actually depending on where you go in China you don't need a converter. I spent several weeks in Quingdao and was able to plug directly into the outlets there. They do have a very FUNKY looking outlet that allows for a variety of "plugs" to be inserted. Same with my laptop. I was able to plug in directly. I am not sure about all parts of China but I know my German friends had problems getting their converters to work correctly.
Spare battery or a power conection that can plug into the Plane power supply is a must for that long flight to China. Take a SD card with plenty of e-books. It gets old not having anything to read and English language magazines and books get scarce once you get away from the airports.

[Atomb]

if you're flying around asia (in particular with Star Alliance) then pick up their timetable software for the PPC (http://www.staralliance.com/star_all..._pocketPC.html)

it will give you schedules for every airline in the star alliance. I've also found similar products for Northwest/KLM, Delta, etc. Just google the airline name + schedule + pocketpc and you'll find them all. They're well worth it and I've used the software on many occasions while travelling to give me details on alternative flights, etc.

Now thats a great tip. I will do that myself. Thanks.

Link appears to be boroken. I will google it.

Heres the correct link.
http://www.star-alliance.com/star_al...e/main_10.html

This takes you to the tool bar where you can download whichever format you wish.

on a side note....buy a big CF or SD card and start getting ur movies/cartoons on it...if u got kids then it'll help keep them quiet when ur waiting for ur transportation. if you dont have kids it'll be good to keep urself company with it :)

yeah, music sounds like a good idea, but i donno about movies. not that it's not great to enjoy a movie on the little gadget, but it definiltey won't last you 6 weeks of time spent on the trip; on the other hand, music on SD cards (assuming u get a high capacity one, 512+mb on both SD/CF) u'd have a good time enjoying music.

it's also a great idea to keep some spaces, if you use a digital camera that uses sd/cf cards, to dump the pictures on the card so as to leave your camera free during the trip after heavy snapshooting. using the internal picture viewer might not be your best choice (slowness); i recommend xnview xnpocket if you want a freeware, otherwise, resco picture viewer (on your companion cd, free).

if u do have a little bit of time, check out the top few threads on this forum - they are actually great for recommending best software that u perhaps need on the trip, even tho might be a little long.

yeah, music sounds like a good idea, but i donno about movies. not that it's not great to enjoy a movie on the little gadget, but it definiltey won't last you 6 weeks of time spent on the trip; on the other hand, music on SD cards (assuming u get a high capacity one, 512+mb on both SD/CF) u'd have a good time enjoying music.

matter of opinion on this :) i said big card not small card...big = 2gb cards or something :) assuming u code around 200mb per movie you get 9-10 movies on a 2gb card...which means it should be somewhat enough. i dont really picture him watching movie all the time. afterall he is on a vaca so i do assume alot of sightseeing.

[mgupta]

For calling back US over internet, I'd recommend SkypeOut.

Check rates at http://www.skype.com/products/skypeo...=USD#listing-U

I'm from India (though currently in the UK). I would say, coming few months are probably not the best part of a year to go to India. The summer months May / June / July are going to be very hot. Expect temperatures around 45-48 degrees celcius. Sun is going to be very strong.

Power sockets in India will spit 220 volts unlike 110 volts in US (I assume you're from US!). So, you may need a step-down transformer (a power adapter from 220 volts to 110 volts) for any gadget that may need continuous power or need recharging batteries.

Ofcourse as others have suggested, make sure you're loaded with big capacity storage cards. If you have a digital camera that uses memory cards, I believe the laptop (if you change your mind and decide to carry it) would really serve a great purpose to copy pictures to and empty the cards for more. Also, in India you may not find a lot of places with wireless access, but cabled broadband / dial up access to Internet shouldn't be too hard to find.

Wish you a safe and great journey.

Take care.

[pkcarlton]

pocket weather - you can costum the city, radar pic and forecast for most world cities.

big cf or sd card for movies/mp3/programs.

free games

betaplayer - for all video needs