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View Full Version : Zayo reviews coming in - looking very good!


Ed Hansberry
09-23-2002, 10:00 AM
<a href="http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/zayo-review.html">http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/zayo-review.html</a><br /><br />Julie and Judie from The Gadgeteer review the Zayo A600 Pocket PC.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2002/20020918-zayo.jpg" /><br /><br />Suffice it to say, they seemed thrilled with the device. It compared very favorably to the Toshiba e740 and iPAQ 3900, but it is much smaller and lighter than either of those devices. Folks, this thing is approaching Palm M500 territory but with all the power of a Pocket PC.<br /><br /><b>Update:</b> Dale Coffing is finishing up his review with tons of pics at Pocket PC Passion in <a href="http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum/showthread.php?s=2261233b97af427d5121bd1f0ef25116&threadid=18316&perpage=15&pagenumber=1">this Zayo/Loox thread</a>. Even if you've already seen that thread, reread the first two posts by Dale. They have a lot more information and a link to the 2nd part of the review. The text is there and the images are being uploaded as I type this.

Take1
09-23-2002, 10:57 AM
Sounds great, but reflective screen?! Not transflecive (back-lit).

Othewise a really interesting device. Wonder what it REALLY sounds like -- hopefully not like the e310 and more like the iPAQ.

kiwi
09-23-2002, 12:53 PM
Sounds great, but reflective screen?! Not transflecive (back-lit).

Othewise a really interesting device. Wonder what it REALLY sounds like -- hopefully not like the e310 and more like the iPAQ.

as long as the screen is viewable outside I think I would be quite happy :)

Timothy Rapson
09-23-2002, 01:01 PM
Julie does such wonderful reviews. The way she stacks the PDAs up so you can compare them to each other is genius.

She may be the most sensible reviewer on earth. He test are so practical. Her views on screen qualtity and how cases work are just right on the money.

The Zayo looks very good. It really takes away the size argument from other PDAs for good. Zayo claims 30% greater battery life than any other PPC. That would be the Jornada wouldn't it? It appears they have some more tweaking to do or they are just blowing smoke with that. Anyway, even the battery life at least comparable to full-sized PPCs. About the only ARM based competition in the size department for the Zayo currently would be the Japanese Zaurus. Look out Ipaq.

vetteguy
09-23-2002, 01:38 PM
Sounds great, but reflective screen?! Not transflecive (back-lit).

Othewise a really interesting device. Wonder what it REALLY sounds like -- hopefully not like the e310 and more like the iPAQ.
I'm not as concerned about that as I am the lack of a CF slot for a network card. Being able to access a wireless network is a make-or-break feature for me. I know you can get the "executive" pack with the "sled" that has a CF slot in it, but I don't want to get back to the expansion pack mentality.

Fattizzi
09-23-2002, 02:13 PM
The Gadgeteers reviews are some of the best ones out there. But the one on the Zayo Razor is not complete. They seem to forget about the IPAQ 3900 series. They keep comparing the Zayo to the 3800. That isnt fair. The 3900 series is a lot better. Screen wise, battery wise, and speed wise.

Jason Dunn
09-23-2002, 05:07 PM
They seem to forget about the IPAQ 3900 series. They keep comparing the Zayo to the 3800. That isnt fair. The 3900 series is a lot better. Screen wise, battery wise, and speed wise.

Unless you want to buy her a 3900, cut her some slack. :wink: I think you'll find, if you were to start up your own Pocket PC site, that it's almost impossible to own every device out there. Most of the OEMs completely ignore the Pocket PC sites, and give us no support - let alone actual devices. I've never even had an OEM loan me a new device...they truly have no concept of how to engage with the community.

Ok, rant over. :lol:

dbrahms
09-23-2002, 05:21 PM
Is it just me...or is the PPC world of new gadgets and software dying down. Is the market for new ideas/concepts for the PPC exhausted? I used to get excited about these tid-bits of news (and the thoughts page is prob the best at keeping everyone up-to-date). It's to the point where I now look at my iPAQ 3975 and no longer think of it as my little pocket-sized multi-media dazzler! These days, it's just my device for keeping appointments and tel#'s. I've mastered the art of encoding video for my PPC (mpeg, divx and wmv) and still, with tons of movies for it, I never watch them...in fact, all I used to do is show people the flicks for the "cool" factor. As for the mp3 player, I've decided a dedicated MP3 player is better...easier to carry, more storage and no need to hit an LCD screen to change the tunes. As for gaming, the PPC was never great for intense gaming...with Tomb Raider and other neat-looking games installed, Solitaire is still the most freq. played. I think every PPC owner goes/will go through this once the "wow" factor goes away... I am confident that I'll redicsover the "cool-factor" if/when software makers release XScale apps...which will (in my eyes) give me a whole new device with new capabilities. Anyone else have PPC boredom.....depression?

Scott R
09-23-2002, 05:24 PM
I just read their review. Very well done as always. The thing that jumped out at me was the horrible battery life. Under 2 hours in turbo mode. Turbo mode sounds more like overclocking to me. They seemed happy with performance in this mode (though they certainly didn't describe it as dramatically faster), but I can't see how anyone could keep it in this mode full-time if you were only going to get 2 hours of battery life out of it.

Scott

JonnoB
09-23-2002, 05:57 PM
The Zayo looks like a nifty device, but I won't buy one. Am I the only one that sees that the lack of dual slots (like iPaq) without a sleave is a mistake?

helios
09-23-2002, 06:00 PM
The thing that jumped out at me was the horrible battery life. Under 2 hours in turbo mode. Turbo mode sounds more like overclocking to me.

The battery test was done under worst-case conditions, that is with the brightness set at full and running processor intensive tasks (mp3 playing, games, etc). They also ended the test when the battery level hit 10%, when it could no longer play mp3s (but could possibly do other less demanding tasks).

Judie herself mentions that any other Pocket PC would probably perform about the same under the same conditions.

The other reports I've heard of its battery life say its pretty comparable to any other Pocket PC, which is actually fairly impressive if you think about it, since the unit is smaller and much lighter than any other Pocket PC out there, you'd expect that they would've used a smaller/lower capacity battery in it to keep the weight down.

Gadgeteer
09-23-2002, 07:43 PM
Timothy Rapson:
Glad you enjoyed the review. Just wanted to point out that it wasn't MY review... Judie and I both wrote it. :D

Fattizzi:
I wish we had had a 3900 to compare it to. This was our first XScale device. Jason's right, we can't afford to buy every device. However, I'll probably spring for the next iPAQ when they become available.

Scott R:
We're going to update the review with more battery test info tonight and tomorrow. Judie has been conducting a test in Power Saving mode, and I'm doing one in standard mode.

Julie
http://www.the-gadgeteer.com

Fattizzi
09-23-2002, 07:53 PM
I feel a bit misunderstood. I was not critisizing your way of doing reviews nor was I suggesting that you should have every PDA out there to test against. As always your reviews were excellent, but there was no mention at all that the 3900 IPAQ even existed.

There is always room for improvement and I was merely suggesting you mention the 3900 series. If you dont have the product, mention that.

Jason Dunn
09-23-2002, 08:07 PM
...but there was no mention at all that the 3900 IPAQ even existed

What would be the point in mentioning every Pocket PC on the market?

Your point is making less and less sense the more you try to explain it. :wink:

Fattizzi
09-23-2002, 08:15 PM
I didnt say mention every PPC on the market. The IPAQ is a big player and usually what people compare them too. When I read the review I wondered if the Gadgeteers even new the 3900 existed and was a competitor.

Forget I mentioned....Jeesh

Gadgeteer
09-23-2002, 09:03 PM
Fattizzi:

Actually we did mention the 3900 in the benchmarks table of info. :D

Julie