Media, Games, Memory, Rumours !

[alex_smithson]

This is my first post!
I have saved up all my pennies and am ready to take the leap into the axim world! But before I do there is a few things I need to know about (I say a few I mean loads :exc: )
Right are you ready ?

1. Media - I would like to use Windows media player for music and videos as I would like everything in one place and simple .wma and .wmv, but i hear the great betaplayer is a cusgwillion times better. I wouldn't expect dvd quality as the benchmarks show but I am not willing to skimp either like really poor mono sound etc as I want to use the x50v (the one I have saved up for since christmas) to its full potential. Anyway what I am getting at is would windows media player be able to handle for example 1.1mbps video or is betaplayer the only way to go ?
IS WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER REALLY THAT POOR?

2. Games - I would love to play old favourites like Sonic and Psycho Fox (great times - spent 2 years of my life on that! :approve: ) , I have heard of morphgear and the GAPI tweak but I was wondering what FPS do you get on the different emulators like the GBA, SNES, NES, GENESIS with the x50v ?

3. Memory - What about memory to save all of those music, movies and games. What are peoples experieces with CF nd microdrives, as I am going to use this as my music player I need alot of memory. Do microdrives really zap that much power, if so like how many minutes are we talking :rolling: !

I would appreciate any answers that you guys might have to get me on my feet, I have my toes in the water, I am almost convinced I just need the extra knowlage to take the DUNK!

ALSO i heard some rumours on brighthand that this fall there will be a new dell device with audio, video and gaming capabilities and a hard drive! Also the X50v will be around for another year (which would imply an uppgrade to MAGNETO) when it will be replaced by a dell pocketpc phone !

A look into the future of Dell 2005 - 2006

Thanks again in advance !

[Smirnov]

First of all, don't bother waiting for the new device. When it comes out it'll surely be expensive as hell, and there will be very little games/programs that will actually take advantage of the capability. You don't believe me, it's taken since August for some VGA/OpenGL games to finally start out to utilize the Dell Axim X50v.

Even now I can't really recommend any *good* VGA games except maybe the WarCraft 2 port called Wargus, SimCity 2000, and OpenTTD. All of the other ones, well they're *meh.* I want real 640x480 games that were out 10 years ago on the PC, that's what I want.

Anyways, to answer your #2
I use MorphGear for most of my emulation, and the PocketSNES /w OpenGL for SNES emulation (it runs SNES games faster than MorphGear). Doing some random tests I got 60 fps on Zelda Oracle of Ages (GBC) and about 40 fps in Super Mario All-Stars. Umm, yeah, then I tried Chrono Trigger and I got about 40 fps out of battle, 10 fps in a battle.. heh.. of course RPGs aren't really twitchy so it doesn't matter thankfully. That's emulators for you. Native pocketPc games are usually way smoother. Oh yeah, I ran everything with sound, and full screen + image smoothing.

[PDAAddict]

This is my first post!
I have saved up all my pennies and am ready to take the leap into the axim world! But before I do there is a few things I need to know about (I say a few I mean loads :exc: )
Right are you ready ?

1. Media - I would like to use Windows media player for music and videos as I would like everything in one place and simple .wma and .wmv, but i hear the great betaplayer is a cusgwillion times better. I wouldn't expect dvd quality as the benchmarks show but I am not willing to skimp either like really poor mono sound etc as I want to use the x50v (the one I have saved up for since christmas) to its full potential. Anyway what I am getting at is would windows media player be able to handle for example 1.1mbps video or is betaplayer the only way to go ?
IS WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER REALLY THAT POOR?

2. Games - I would love to play old favourites like Sonic and Psycho Fox (great times - spent 2 years of my life on that! :approve: ) , I have heard of morphgear and the GAPI tweak but I was wondering what FPS do you get on the different emulators like the GBA, SNES, NES, GENESIS with the x50v ?

3. Memory - What about memory to save all of those music, movies and games. What are peoples experieces with CF nd microdrives, as I am going to use this as my music player I need alot of memory. Do microdrives really zap that much power, if so like how many minutes are we talking :rolling: !

I would appreciate any answers that you guys might have to get me on my feet, I have my toes in the water, I am almost convinced I just need the extra knowlage to take the DUNK!

ALSO i heard some rumours on brighthand that this fall there will be a new dell device with audio, video and gaming capabilities and a hard drive! Also the X50v will be around for another year (which would imply an uppgrade to MAGNETO) when it will be replaced by a dell pocketpc phone !

A look into the future of Dell 2005 - 2006

Thanks again in advance !

Hello There,

1- I must admin I went to Betaplayer without even trying WMP. Why? a) Betaplayer is free, so no additional cost to see if what everyone's talking about is really that great. b) Yes is it that great. It handles more formats AND it is optimized for the Axim's video chip.

2- can't give you any number, but the few times I tried Morphgear, It ran great. I must admit that the X50 is not the best for playing games, though. The controls are not optimized for that. If somebody can make any king of gamepad, the X50 V will definitely be among the best pocket gaming gear out there.

3- I have a 512 Mo SD card for all my applications, and a 2.2 Gb microdrive for the media files. It works great. I would not recommend this particular microdrive, but I highly recommend getting a microdrive. It is relatively cheap, provides high capacity storage, and is not that power hungry. I did not notive any ,major power drop since I've started using it.

I have read that report over at Brighthand. It is a well-respected site, as well-respected for the Palm as AximSite is for the Dell Axim. however, a rumour remains a rumor until proven true. You can alway wait for the next best thing to come out, but the thing is, There is always something better about to come out on the market. If you don't mind waiting, it's okay, but if you're willing to take the plunge, the X50v is a great PDA that has a lot of staying power, especially if we can get an upgrade for Magneto. But if we don't, I will still like my Axim very much, and I intend to keep it at least 3 years.

Wow, kind of a long answer. Sorry for the rambling on... :rolling:

[crash613]

First of all, don't bother waiting for the new device. When it comes out it'll surely be expensive as hell, and there will be very little games/programs that will actually take advantage of the capability.

Don't listen to him..... buy an X50v right now, and sell it to me for a fraction of the price the day the next generation of Axim comes out.

[alex_smithson]

Thanks for your help guys, I must say I was expecting more replies.
Wooo post number 2 !
Look forward to seeing you around.

[alex_smithson]

ANYONW !?!