well as they say in tech, "if it aint broken, dont fix it..."
WM2003SE (x50-series) runs perfectly okay - while WM5, the new kid on the block, introduces quite lots of problems... and up until M$ get its act of fixing things, or up until the 2nd-generation of WM5s come out; it would still be my x50v with WM2003SE...
btw, what can a fully-loaded/fully-customized/fully-tuned x50v cannot do that a WM5 x51v can??
Hi AW, you're correct, WM5 support for some apps is a bit sketchy at the moment. If I would have been an x50v owner previously I probably would never have upgraded to my X51v, but I jumped from an hx4700 so it made sense to go for the x51v. I am slowly getting my head round the differences between WM5 and 2003SE. Now I have all of my main apps loaded and working, my Think Outside bluetooth keyboard & mouse are working great and I like to be on the bleeding edge so I'll live/work-around any other minor problems I face. WM5 developer support will pick-up fast now that the OS is out there, but I don't see any major reason for x50v owners to upgrade unless they particularly want the double BIS and WM5 now. :approve:
Agreed, WM5 suits my purposes. Hey CT does your VGA hack work in T2K2 for programs such as Acrobat reader. I'm a registered user but wanted to check WM5 support for your program before I install it. Can you advise? thanks. :approve:
I'm going to be bold and daring and install the WM5 upgrade if and when it comes. The only program I use that I know doesn't work right now is NetFront 3.2. But Access (netfront) has plans to get out a WM5 compatible version shortly. The bluetooth issue is no real concern for me. But I'm sure tha with enough complaints M$ will address the issue. Wififofum doesn't work, but I hear it's no longer necessary. I'll still be looking for the makers of wififofum to come out with a WM5 version.
What's the harm anyway? 2 lost 1/2 days if you have to roll back? Longer batt life and persistent mem more or less have me sold.
Unfortunately, many "Commercial" reviews are a bit focussed on the positive aspects of these things. They have tended to play up the reduced number battery charges required, and I didn't see any that really cleared up the slow performance from ROM that many of us are concerned about. Just some wooly comments about how the benchmarking software wasn't compatible, so we should ignore the results...
Your information about other limitations is a revelation.
Anyone who has tried running Avantgo from Built in Storage will know how ROM struggles with programmes which write to the memory a lot.
And it's not just reviews of WM5 or the X51. When Tomtom Navigator 5.0 was released it was found to be completely unusable by anyone with a VGA PDA (despite Tomtom listing them as compatible), and very buggy for everyone else. It had significantly reduced functionality compared to the prior release as they dumbed it down to reduce costs of development and support across all platforms.
I read the review at pocketgpsworld.com which gave it 97.5% and then bought it. The only way VGA users could get it to run at all, was to switch off the VGA functionality using a hack.
I'll not be caught out again by any reviewers who have some attachment to the vendor.
Anyway, rant over - thanks for a helpful review.
I already had doubts, but now I'm certain I'll not be rushing towards a WM5 upgrade for my X50v.
Just great.. While I've already ordered the upgrade, I too will probably wait to install it. I can live with all of the problems except for the Outlook problem. While I use Outlook for calendar and contacts, I don't use it for email (corrupts too easily). So I won't be able to sync calendar & contacts if I use another email program??? Great... just great.
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.... but I don't see any major reason for x50v owners to upgrade unless they particularly want the double BIS and WM5 now. :approve:
you're right at that...
my x50v is fully loaded - has about 43MB of RAM allocated to memory (18.75MB allocated to storage) having 26MB free after a soft reset... i still have 47.70MB free in my BIS, plus along a high-speed 1GB SD card, and a standard speed 2GB CF card... what more can i ask for?
barring the improvements in WM5 Mobile Office, well i have both TextMaker, and PlanMaker (as well as Repligo)... the default apps? i use PocketInformant, and WebIS... launchers? SpbPocketPlus, PocketBreeze/ContactBreeze... web-browser? the default PIE plus skweezer... improved battery life in the x51v? i have an extra standard battery...
x51v and WM5!?! nah... no thanks!!! have everything i need - at least for the next couple of years *crossing my fingers*
and i still have access to WiFi ActiveSync (i just hate cables lying around)...
:approve:
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I just got an X51 to replace my week old X50. While there are a few things I like better about the X51, when compared to my X50, I'm quite disappointed in the X51. I am not a PocketPC expert, so if I'm missing something, please clue me in, but this has been my experience so far.
1. Stock X51 (no programs) is about half the speed of my fully loaded X50. There's a significant delay in opening menus and apps. Once you do any skinning (WisBar, etc.), then the delay is excruciating. What gives?
2. X51 comes with only 2 discoverable BT profiles (OBEX and Serial port), whereas the X50 comes with 5 (OBEX, Serial, File transfer, DUN, Network access). EDIT: The X51 does have DUN, but only when activated through the Connections settings. DUN is not discoverable. Where's File Transfer???????
3. X51 doesn't have the Bluetooth Manager making BT setups very difficult unless you have a PhD in Bluetooth (of course, there's only 2 profiles to setup anyways!).
4. What's up with the HUGE and very ugly Calendar and Contacts buttons (and other app specific buttons) at the bottom of the screen. And there doesn't seem to be a way to remove or style them. Why have them there if the Calendar and Contacts are ALREADY on your Today screen anyway? IE now requires you to select the HUGE MENU button to do anything, whereas before Home, Refresh, Favorites, View, Tools, and Back occupied the same space and could be accessed in one click instead of 2 or 3. Word offers two very deep menus whereas the X50 offered 5 very easy menus. In the calendar, you must cycle through the views, instead of just clicking the one you want. I foresee a class action lawsuit against MS for causing repetetive stress injury from all of us Axim users having to click so much. ;-)
5. ActiveSync 4 required Outlook to be the default e-mail program. If you use Thunderbird, etc., then you cannot sync notes, calendar, e-mail, or tasks.
6. OK and X still don't close apps (easily fixed with a task manager). Half of the time the options are confirmed with the OK button (top right) and half the time with the big ugly buttons at the bottom and some of the time this is done with buttons that appear just above the bottom bar (unless your keyboard is open and then they are covered). How about some consistency here?
7. When docked and connected, the X51 insists on starting up every few minutes.
8. No internet through BT when connected to ActiveSync. This means no BT internet -period- because the Network Access BT Profile isn't supported.
9. No WIFI syncing.
10. No file transfer through BT except through ActiveSync (which times out after 1 minute of inactivity). Again, where's the File Transfer BT profile?
11. The WiFi signal meter never reports a signal. It occasionally shows one bar when I set it between the antenna of my router.
Unless I can get at least a handful of these things resolved, I'll probably be returning my new X51 instead of my X50, instead of the opposite as I had anticipated.
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Wow. sorry to hear all this. I have been saving up for my new X51v. I have been aprehensive about upgrading as i believe my X30high is a better machine. the ONLY reason i would like to upgrade is the screen. I wish they made an x30high w vga, but it ain't gonna happen.
The X50 has too many problems on its own, let alone all the new ones introduced with WM5. I admit, i have been watching this upgrade thing closely and with much anticipation, but the x50's battery, wi-fi range, lack of wi-fi support in AS4.0, the horribilly small buttons, and speed (compared to X30h) all have me reconsidering.
At this point i am not moving from my X30h.
As i said, the only thing the X50 has on the X30 is the screen. but it isn't worth all the headaches. not now anyway.
Mike
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Actually,there is Widcom (Broadcomm) software compatible with WM5. The new iPAQ hx2000 series models released with WM5 have it (hx2190, hx2490, hx2790). I imagine the ROM upgrade for the old hx2000 series models include it as well.I just reviewed the iPAQ hx2490 for our site and used it. Much better than the MS WM5 stack and UI- lots of profiles clearly listed and supported. I suspect that Dell, like several other manufacturers just went with the included WM5 BT software to keep costs down.
Originally Posted by ctitanic
jared, the X51v is using Microsoft BT driver, keep in mind that if you update your X50 to WM5 you will have the same problem. It seems like Dell does not have any other BT driver compatible with WM5 at this moment. I´m sure that later on a patch is going to be available with a new BT driver WM5 compatible and a new BT Manager. Take in consideration that other companies like HP has not released the update waiting for drivers WM5 compatible.
Actually,there is Widcom (Broadcomm) software compatible with WM5. The new iPAQ hx2000 series models released with WM5 have it (hx2190, hx2490, hx2790). I imagine the ROM upgrade for the old hx2000 series models include it as well.I just reviewed the iPAQ hx2490 for our site and used it. Much better than the MS WM5 stack and UI- lots of profiles clearly listed and supported. I suspect that Dell, like several other manufacturers just went with the included WM5 BT software to keep costs down.
Is there any hope of third-party Bluetooth software/drivers being available (or at least working, if not "officially" available) for the X51v any time soon? Some of the things people are reporting as not working, are things that I wanted to do at some point with my X51v that should be here on Monday...
should be able to go back to 2003se - just make sure you have a backup and your original rom image, ie a05.
from the many previews/videos from the guys at M$ , it seems their focus is not on a pocket PC, but %99 focused on Mobile phones, so i would say, WM5 is not designed to support mus in the way of pocketpc functionalitiy, but is eas of use for a mobile phone.
I think thats the way M$ are heading with WindowsMobile, 'mobile' meaning mobile phone, not mobile operating system.
I will buy Wm5.0 upgrade, but if i don't like it I will probably sell my x50v and by a micro portable pc, that will be not much bigger that an x50, but atleast it will have windowsXP on it.
just my take, but will check out wm5 when it's available here in aussie land.
I really did not want to participate fully in this thread because I did not see the gain of doing that. But... I changed my mind and I want to clarify a few things.
Originally Posted by apollosmith
1. Stock X51 (no programs) is about half the speed of my fully loaded X50. There's a significant delay in opening menus and apps. Once you do any skinning (WisBar, etc.), then the delay is excruciating. What gives?
And you did not know that? If you move that whole OS including the "stock" programs to ROM, it's clear that they will perform a little bit slower, specially during the load process when the program is copied to RAM to be executed and during those processes where the program write data. I don't know why this point is taking by surprise to some when this has been said 1000 times.
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2. X51 comes with only 2 discoverable BT profiles (OBEX and Serial port), whereas the X50 comes with 5 (OBEX, Serial, File transfer, DUN, Network access). EDIT: The X51 does have DUN, but only when activated through the Connections settings. DUN is not discoverable. Where's File Transfer???????
I agree. Let's hope that the BT Drivers compatible for WM5 where the Axim x51v was approved to be released to the public.
Quote:
3. X51 doesn't have the Bluetooth Manager making BT setups very difficult unless you have a PhD in Bluetooth (of course, there's only 2 profiles to setup anyways!).
You answered to the question yourself. There is nothing to set. You pair your PPC to your phone, when you create the Modem connection you select BT, then your phone and that's all. So I don't see the need of a BT Manager for that. ;)
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4. What's up with the HUGE and very ugly Calendar and Contacts buttons (and other app specific buttons) at the bottom of the screen. And there doesn't seem to be a way to remove or style them. Why have them there if the Calendar and Contacts are ALREADY on your Today screen anyway? IE now requires you to select the HUGE MENU button to do anything, whereas before Home, Refresh, Favorites, View, Tools, and Back occupied the same space and could be accessed in one click instead of 2 or 3. Word offers two very deep menus whereas the X50 offered 5 very easy menus. In the calendar, you must cycle through the views, instead of just clicking the one you want. I foresee a class action lawsuit against MS for causing repetetive stress injury from all of us Axim users having to click so much. ;-)
There have been a lot of reviews about WM5 out there. In this same page, Chris published a good photo review about this OS. So... What's your point? If you did not like the screen shots of the new OS why did you buy the x51v. WM5 has arrived and soon you wont find 2003 devices in the market. That's life. So you better get use to it ;)
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5. ActiveSync 4 required Outlook to be the default e-mail program. If you use Thunderbird, etc., then you cannot sync notes, calendar, e-mail, or tasks.
This is not correct. I use Thunderbird and I have Outlook installed. At the begining of the sychronization you get a warning telling you that Outlook need to be your default email program. You hit OK, and that's all. Your notes, calendars and tasks are synchronized but not your emails, but emails nevers where sychronized before with Thunderbird as far as I know.
Quote:
6. OK and X still don't close apps (easily fixed with a task manager). Half of the time the options are confirmed with the OK button (top right) and half the time with the big ugly buttons at the bottom and some of the time this is done with buttons that appear just above the bottom bar (unless your keyboard is open and then they are covered). How about some consistency here?
Again... This point is MS and WM5. You will find the same thing in all devices that are and will become available in the market with WM5. No big deal. Install SPB Pocket Plus and you will have CLOSE instead of MINIMIZE.
Quote:
7. When docked and connected, the X51 insists on starting up every few minutes.
do you mean synchronize? If that what you mean, this is another feature relative to MS ActiveSync, no to the Axim x51v. it does not bother me at all. What is the problem here?
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8. No internet through BT when connected to ActiveSync. This means no BT internet -period- because the Network Access BT Profile isn't supported.
That's not correct again. Even if you had that profile you wont be able to go to internet using the Pass Throught feature of ActiveSync, because ActiveSync 4 does not have that feature any more. It was disabled by Microsoft due to security issues. So again... we will have to live with that in ALL WM5 DEVICES until MS release a fix for these security issues.
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9. No WIFI syncing.
The same here, read the above answer. Something relative to all WM5 machines.
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10. No file transfer through BT except through ActiveSync (which times out after 1 minute of inactivity). Again, where's the File Transfer BT profile?
BT is slow to begin with. If I'm going to transfer files I'll do it connected to my network via WiFi. A lot faster and not need for ActiveSync. I have found also my connection using USB2 a lot faster too than when I connect via BT and transfer files. So, I wont miss this point at all.
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11. The WiFi signal meter never reports a signal. It occasionally shows one bar when I set it between the antenna of my router.
You have a problem there. I'm around 30 feets from my router and my signal meter reports signal. All bars.
Quote:
Unless I can get at least a handful of these things resolved, I'll probably be returning my new X51 instead of my X50, instead of the opposite as I had anticipated.
You better go back to your X50 and forget about to have no just the X51v but any WM5 machine because the major problems that you are having is in general with the OS not with this machine. As far as I know, MS is planning to release the first patch for WM5 in the 1 Quater of 2006 and I don't thinks that you are going to see in there any fixes for points: 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 y 9. As you can see. Dude, you got a serious problem with WM5 and Microsoft. :rolling:
We'll have to wait until more reviews come out, but it looks like WM2003SE is equivalent to Windows 98 second edition and WM5.0 is equivalent to Windows ME!!. I hope the Jan '06 patch will solve some of these issues. But it seems that some of the fundemental ones will have to wait until MS releases the "XP" version of Windows Mobile. Again, thanks for your honest review.
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