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View Full Version : PC World's Top 10 PDAs


Jason Dunn
06-22-2004, 11:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,116027,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://pcworld.com/reviews/article/...d,116027,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div>It seems like just yesterday Pocket PCs were getting bad reviews, Windows CE was declared "dead", and Palm owned the market. July 2004, we have PC World's Top 10 PDAs with the top four being Pocket PCs! Woo hoo! :mrgreen:

PPCRules
06-22-2004, 11:02 PM
And, this is running against the best Palm OS devices ever, which have recently come a long ways themselves.

dh
06-22-2004, 11:21 PM
I have to disagree with their rankings.
How on earth can an e405 be ranked higher than an e800? It makes no sense at all.
And where's the Zaurus which probably is the best device of all?
What about the T3? What's with all those lesser Palms? Do they even still make the Tunsten C? How about the Treo 600?
Very boring list, a waste of time.

billbuckner
06-22-2004, 11:23 PM
Boogity Boogity Boogity!!! :D Go PPC!

rzanology
06-22-2004, 11:26 PM
i dont see the 2215 up there any way....this list is bootie!

jngold_me
06-22-2004, 11:37 PM
i dont see the 2215 up there any way....this list is bootie!

Nope, it's the bomb - since the 4150 is at the top! Come on HP, I wan't a 4150 sized device with 624mhz, vga, wifi (b/g), and BT 1.2!

Vidge
06-22-2004, 11:37 PM
Have to agree with dh here, especially on the Palm side. Where is the T3? This list is bogus.

Macguy59
06-22-2004, 11:48 PM
Happy to see my E405 in 4th but what the heck are they talking about when they say "but its process for installing software would benefit from being made a lot smoother." ??????? Apps install the same on all PPC devices . . . DUH

Chris Leckness
06-23-2004, 12:06 AM
hehe... Got to add something that was at the bottom of the article paragraph: "Dell's Axim X30--the successor to the Axim 3i, our last Best Buy--hadn't been released at press time. Look for a review of it in next month's New Products."

Darren Behan
06-23-2004, 01:19 AM
No list is going to appeal to everyone and this one is no exception. It is nothing more than the opinions of a few people so it's not surprising that your favorite device is not on it or rated high enough. It is neither bogus or does it rock - it just is, Grasshoppers. Move on, let it go and buy your next PDA based on what is important to you like you always do.

db

maximus
06-23-2004, 01:36 AM
I have to disagree with their rankings.
How on earth can an e405 be ranked higher than an e800? It makes no sense at all.


Yeah. I was curious about that too. Perhaps one of the factor is price ?

Very boring list, a waste of time.

:mrgreen:

corphack
06-23-2004, 02:57 AM
Did anyone notice any products that don't advertise in the PC World family of magazines, mentioned?

ruarch5
06-23-2004, 03:19 AM
The e800 has a 240-by-320-pixel color screen??????

Well there goes the credibility of this list....

kosmicki
06-23-2004, 04:20 AM
I also must comment bogus on this list, no 2215? It's an affordable dual slot PPC! Come ON! :mrgreen:

Janak Parekh
06-23-2004, 04:29 AM
The e800 has a 240-by-320-pixel color screen??????
Well, when it shipped with First Edition, it only officially supported 240x320 for most applications. But yeah, it's a bit inaccurate.

Well there goes the credibility of this list....
I don't think anyone is implying this list means anything much per se... just an interesting observation of sorts. :)

--janak

WyattEarp
06-23-2004, 06:52 AM
Bogus doesn't sufficiently discribe that list. An e405 over an e805, and iPAQ 4150 over the 4350 come on now :? .

The real crime is that they are suppose to know what they are talking about; personal opinions aside. Someone looking for a PDA might take that list seriously if they don't know any better.

ruarch5
06-23-2004, 07:46 AM
Bogus doesn't sufficiently discribe that list. An e405 over an e805, and iPAQ 4150 over the 4350 come on now .

I wonder if there is a list out there which is more bogus than this one...Given the lack of information available to non geeks about PDAs, this list does more harm than the ubiquitous "PDA is dead" talk. If I was a person who knew nothing about PDAs, I'd have gone for the iPAQ without ever considering the VGA Tosh I have in my hands now. PAH!

Now how about a PT top ten so we can get some real and useful information on PDAs?

Well, when it shipped with First Edition, it only officially supported 240x320 for most applications. But yeah, it's a bit inaccurate.

Yes...but there was always the built in Clearview apps to show you what VGA looked like. Wasn't that the reason u bought yours?

gibb-a
06-23-2004, 02:40 PM
Now how about a PT top ten so we can get some real and useful information on PDAs?

And you don't think there will be disagreements there as well? This is the beauty of PPC Thoughts - everyone has one.

clbsvi
06-23-2004, 03:21 PM
Since there is so much disagreement about the list in the magazine, why don't we (PPCThoughts) have a voting list for what we collectively think are the best PPC's. Maybe even revisit the votes every 6 months or so. To avoid stepping on too many toes, maybe even have a set of voting lists, organized either along price vs. performance, or manufacturer, or whatever.
Me??: Running an old IPAQ 3675 with a sleeve, with second battery,
carrying a 256Mbyte CF card. The sleeve will also handle PCMIA size cards.
Gonna buy soon: A new but obsolescent IPAQ 2215.

Janak Parekh
06-23-2004, 04:09 PM
Yes...but there was always the built in Clearview apps to show you what VGA looked like. Wasn't that the reason u bought yours?
Nope - I jumped once I saw the screenshots that ResFix (and now MyVGA) made possible. :)

Since there is so much disagreement about the list in the magazine, why don't we (PPCThoughts) have a voting list for what we collectively think are the best PPC's.
As gibb-a implies, this is very hard to do. As it is, we have debates between HP, Dell, Toshiba, etc. How are we going to figure out a top 10? One way would be to set up a "rank" vote... but the voting function in phpBB, unfortunately, doesn't allow rankings. :cry:

Moreover, people will be naturally inclined to vote their PDA as best, most of the time. This was part of the reason I said lists generally don't mean anything per se -- except, possibly, for the one fact that the "mass media" has noticed Pocket PCs more and more over the years, not less.

--janak

JimPAQ
06-23-2004, 06:18 PM
No 2215. It has CF support. How can in not be on the top.

--Jim

bjornkeizers
06-23-2004, 07:25 PM
Ha ha! My TH55 is in 5th place, just above Toshiba's E 800!

Jonathon Watkins
06-23-2004, 08:54 PM
Moreover, people will be naturally inclined to vote their PDA as best, most of the time.

True, but if we were voting for current machines, I would happily vote for the e805, rather than the X5 I currently own. At least, until that HP explorer is released and we can see what the touchpad is like. :wink:

rzanology
06-24-2004, 03:59 AM
like i said....this list is bootie. Who ever writes those cnet must have lists, must be writing this madness. How about we get some one that actualy walk around with these things all day to write these lists. Maybe then the masses wont be going to best buy asking for palms.

epdm
07-01-2004, 08:38 AM
rzanology: Do you have a problem with Palms?

I've heard they're pretty good though I owned a Jornada 568 and a Tosh E805 myself.

As for PC world. Someone mentioned it already. Isn't it weird that best places go to the PPC's from companies who advertise in the magazine? In that respect its clear that Dell gets the first place although the machine that got 1st place wasn't even been out at that time????

You might consider that it are perhaps these companies whom are willing to supply a PPC for review/testing while companies like Toshiba are usually very reluctant to supply stuff to magazines (except maybe their laptops).

The problem with paper magazines is that they have a great influence on the ppl who don't use the internet for information gathering regarding the potential purchase of new hardware. And therefore should be completely unbiased and objective. I doubt that a poll in PPT would have as much influence as PC World. Especially since most ppl become aware of sites like this AFTER their initial purchase.

Regards,

Manu T

Hemi
07-06-2004, 06:54 PM
PC World's relationship between their advertisers and their product selection aside, it's worth considering the test criteria found in the fine print:

How We Test

Overall Rating:

Overall rating is based on price (30 percent), features (40 percent), ease of use (20 percent), and support policies (10 percent). The best possible overall rating is 100.

http://pcworld.com/reviews/chart_definition.asp


Star Rating:
(pulled from their FAQ's)

Will the star rating for a particular product change? In most cases, no. A star rating reflects our opinion of a product at the time we reviewed it. Typically, we won't change a product's star rating unless bug fixes or major updates compel us to take a second look, or unless we do a more extensive follow-up review.

What's the difference between a product's overall score in the Top 10 and its star rating? A product's overall score in a Top 10 chart is created out of a precise and detailed methodology. Price, features, performance, support, and other variables contribute to the overall score, based on set percentages. Overall scores commonly change from month to month, mostly due to price changes, but also as newer, faster, and better products come onto the charts. In contrast, star rating scores do not change and they tend to be more subjective.

Does the star rating take a product's price into account? Yes, but only if the price is well out of the expected range--either unusually high or surprisingly low--when compared with competing products.


http://pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,54589,pg,2,00.asp