Looking For Information About Dell X30 and X5* Range

[rebelknight]

I am a first time buyer and like the look of the Dell range.
I have a few questions some of you guys may be able to help me with.

1) Can you charge up a Dell via the USB cable connection to
your PC like an IPOD?

2) How long can you run an X30 or X5* from battery ( just a ball park
figure )

3) Could somebody explain to me how 'Secure Digital Memory'
differs from standard memory.

4) How is data entry achieved on Dell Pocket PC's?
To enter values do you use the stylus on a 'virtual keyboard'?
I assume you can add a fold away keyboard?

5) I assume when you loose power or switch off, you loose
everything in RAM so how do you hold software such as a navigation
package? Do you have to keep the Pocket PC charge all the time
after software is loaded?

[Sven Johannsen]

I'm assuming you have no interest in a Dell X5. Since you have X5*, I figure you mean the X50 or X51 series, and of course the X30.

Yes you can charge those dells from USB. It will take longer than plugging in the AC charger, and the Dell X5* series won't charge from USB when they are on. I'll explain 'on' later. Don't recall on the X30 whether they will charge while on, but they will charge from USB.

You'll get between 4 and 8 hours of actually use. Depends a lot on the model and what you do. Your list has everything fro 200 to 600 Mhz machines, with and without WiFi and BT radios, both VGA and quarter VGA resolution screens. Better estimates come from picking specific models and your usage pattern.

SD memory is a type of Flash memory like Compact Flash and MultiMedia Cards (MMC) or even (cringe) Memory Sticks. SD has a proprietary capability to apply copy protection to data that a provider puts on it. That feature is not used in any PDA or Smartphone that I know of. So the memory is just used like a small hard drive, It is persistant..data doesn't disappear with no power.

You have a number of input options, most of which are centered around Soft Input Panels (SIP). You can display a small keyboard on the screen and tap letters one at a time, you can pop up a panel that lets you handwrite one character at a time with the stylus, or you can have it recognize your natural handwriting. That works surprisingly well, though it does depend a bit on your penmanship. There are also numbers of third party SIPs available that some people like and gain phenomenal speeds with. You can also get add-on external keyboards that just clip on, or that attach via IR or BlueTooth, assuming the model you chose supports it. In my case a great deal of 'Input' is just copying things from the PC to the PPC. I use it more to carry around and look up things than enter them.

For WM2003SE devices X30 and X50, they are never really off, just in sleep mode. This is needed because it must process and provide appointment alarms and things for you. If the device is in sleep, the battery is being used but should last for days without being recharged. There are ways that can get messed up, some ugly program running in the background keeping the processor going, but typically a charge will last a couple of days at least, sitting on your desk untouched. That's why length of use is so hard to judge. Looking up addresses a couple of time a day and maybe playing a game or two is a lot less battery draining than surfing the web over WiFi.

If you lose all power, let the battery drain completely on a WM2003SE device, everything in RAM is lost. It will be like you got it out of the box. Everything in ROM, both internal and Flash Cards is still there, but programs will not work because the registry that points to them and sets up relationships is gone. It was in RAM. So you lose configurations, but you really shouldn't lose much data, if you pay attention to where you store stuff. There also good backup programs that come with the Dells, that let you restore to the last time you backed up if you lose power.

In WM5, X51 (or upgrade X50) the architecture changed and everything is now stored in ROM and RAM is only used for execution. It is much more like a PC now. So you can lose all charge and when you re-charge nothing will have been lost. Losing all charge is still not good for the Lithium Ion batteries though, so treat the device about the same. You also lose a little performance as ROM is slower than RAM, but really nothing to worry about.

In both styles it works much like a PC. the Nav package, for instance, is generally installed to ROM, either internal or a flash memory card, along with the maps. When you run it it runs in RAM. When you close it it leaves RAM. Some programs do actually need to be installed into RAM to work correctly. As I mentioned above, the PPC is never really off, so that program is always sitting in a storage side of RAM waiting to be executed in the execution side of RAM. At least in WM2003SE. If you drain it though, you get the brand new device experience all over again.

Quick point. Yes ROM means Read Only Memory, and it is unfortunate that they didn't come up with a better name when they invented flash-able, or rewritable ROM, and then it's unfortunate that we are too lazy to put the flash-able or rewritable in front of ROM when that's what we really mean. Yes you can read from and write to some user accessible 'ROM' in the Dells.

Point on batteries. LiIon likes to be charged. If you are at your desk at home just leave the unit in the charger, keeps the battery topped off and the information sync'd. When you go out, just grab it and go. When you get home, just stick it back in the charger for the night, no matter how much or little you used it, and it'll be happy in the morning. Only you are going to be able to tell, after some use, whether you can go on a three day business trip and leave the charger home or not. Depends on your usage. If you guess wrong, with a WM2003SE device it won't be much good even if you do find a way to charge it. With a WM5 device, you just need to find a charger and you will be back in business. Dell chargers don't grow on trees, or hang on the wall at RadioShack, so you are probably out of luck till you get home anyway. (Proprietary connector)

[rebelknight]

Thanks for your incredibly helpful post.

Am I correct that ROM which comes with pocket PC's is therfore persistent storage? Even if you power down completely the loaded programs will be retained.

[rebelknight]

I'm looking for a PDA that allows me to put Tom Tom on it and allows me to hold lookup data in word documents.

The Axim X50V is sold on Ebay for £200 with the bluetooth GPS going for £192.

I assume the difference between a bluetooth and wireless GPS is that a wired solution somehow physically connects the GPS to the PDA? I also assume most people go for the bluetooth option because it's a much more convinieant solution. The Tom Tom solution is described as a 128MB sd card so i guess it is inserted on the PDA expansion slot? Are these inside thePDA like a PC's memory chip or do theystick out of the case in some way?

Many thanks for your time.