TOTALLY AMAZED!!!

[Patrick Y.]

Hi everyone,

I've been complaining about the issue on x50v with WM5 a lot to dell. Anyway, I directly demand a refund for x50v because of the false advertisement for Windows Mobile 5 last weekend, hoping to get my money back and purchase n311. So, I stormed at online customer chat representatives and they decided to give me $100 concession coupon and have the higher support agents to call back. However, based on my previous experience with Dell, I wasn't expecting them to really call back. So, I was TOTALLY AMAZED when I got the phone call from Dell today, from a person who can actually speak proper English without heavy accent!!!! After complaining to that person, he agree to try to replace my x50v with x51v. Again, he said "tried" so I wasn't really expecting anything. But later today, the following showed up on my order status.


Assembly,Base,X51,624MHZ ENG

8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O
8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O

Am I dreaming?? Please tell me that they didn't mess again. Also, am I making the worst decision in my life to let them "upgrade" me to x51v, which means I will be stucked with WM5 forever!!!


8O 8O 8O 8O

[darkdestroyer]

Looks like your getting yourself an X51v. Have fun with the bluetooth :D

[Patrick Y.]

yeah, I know. The PAIN!!! Fortunately, the Widcomm project (http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=114983) is going quite well now. :D

[Darius Wey]

Am I dreaming?? Please tell me that they didn't mess again. Also, am I making the worst decision in my life to let them "upgrade" me to x51v, which means I will be stucked with WM5 forever!!!

From experience, I've found the X51v to be more stable than the X50v + Windows Mobile 5.0 combo. The constant X51v ROM updates also help.

Nice to hear about your positive tech support experience. I guess you'll be putting off that Acer purchase for a while. :)

[ADBrown]

You're making the right decision. I love my X51v. I haven't tried the X50v with WM5, but I regard the X51v as being far superior to the X50v with 2003 SE.

[pivaska]

I switched from a 50 to a 51 (because my job lets me do things like that) and at first I did everything but kick the thing down the hall and out the door. But after all the vendors got on line with apps (like SBP backup) and doing a couple of hard resets for rom upgrades I wouldn't change it for anything else out there right now. But I am suprised that there are people associated with Dell that do speak english without an accent even though their name is Eric!

Good luck!

[Robb Bates]

I dunno. It doesn't say x51v. It says X51 BASE. Does that mean it's not VGA? Is there even a non-VGA x51 model?

You'd better check!

Robb

[Darius Wey]

I dunno. It doesn't say x51v. It says X51 BASE. Does that mean it's not VGA? Is there even a non-VGA x51 model?

Patrick's order states 624MHz. The only 624MHz model of the X51 series is the X51v (with VGA). There is no non-VGA 624MHz X51. Instead, they sport 416MHz and 520MHz processors.

[Sven Johannsen]

My guess is Base means the unit itself, not the cradle, cables, etc as well.

[stevenator65]

You're making the right decision. I love my X51v. I haven't tried the X50v with WM5, but I regard the X51v as being far superior to the X50v with 2003 SE.

Why do you find the x51v superior to the x50v with 2003se?
Thanks for your opinion,
Steve

[emuelle1]

My friend upgraded his x50v to WM2005, and reported that his battery drains a lot faster. He told me one day that he left work with the battery fully charged, and the next morning it was down to 1%

[JesterMania]

You're making the right decision. I love my X51v. I haven't tried the X50v with WM5, but I regard the X51v as being far superior to the X50v with 2003 SE.

Why do you find the x51v superior to the x50v with 2003se?
Thanks for your opinion,
Steve

I don't know what the original author of that statement had in mind, but my opinion is because WM5 is the future, whether people like it or not. Future software are more likely to support WM5 and less likely to support 2003SE, therefore if you're looking ahead the x51v > x50v. If you never plan to upgrade your software then it's up to personal preference. That's for x51v with WM5 and x50v with 2003SE.

But if you're thinking that sure...you can do the WM5 ROM upgrade for the x50v too to support future software, then x51v REALLY > x50v for sure.

[Darius Wey]

My friend upgraded his x50v to WM2005, and reported that his battery drains a lot faster. He told me one day that he left work with the battery fully charged, and the next morning it was down to 1%

That relates to Dell's shoddy implementation of Windows Mobile 5.0 on the X50v, which as of now, still remains an issue.

It doesn't speak for the capability and stability of Windows Mobile 5.0 as a whole. Granted, it does have issues, but it's still a functional platform. I've seen a lot of devices, both converged and non-converged, with solid implementation of the platform. In my opinion, the Axim X51v with the latest ROM (A06) is worth two thumbs up.

[Mister HP]

My friend upgraded his x50v to WM2005, and reported that his battery drains a lot faster. He told me one day that he left work with the battery fully charged, and the next morning it was down to 1%

Speaking of which, my upgraded HP hx2415 running WM5 (with which I am quite pleased with overall) has had some issues with battery life. One night I would turn it off and leave it on my desk and the next morning discover the battery to be at 0%. I remember reading an article about some type of issue with leaving the WiFi radio on while turning off the device- that the device seems to turn on by itself for no reason, but I don't think that is the issue because I would always remember to turn off the WiFi radio. Is this a common problem? And if so, is there a fix of some sort or a "ritual" one must go through to prevent such battery drainage from happening? It is very frustrating to have to leave my Pocket PC in the cradle charging instead of taking it with me to wherever I need to go and use it.

[Darius Wey]

And if so, is there a fix of some sort or a "ritual" one must go through to prevent such battery drainage from happening? It is very frustrating to have to leave my Pocket PC in the cradle charging instead of taking it with me to wherever I need to go and use it.

A few things to check:

(1) It's advisable to turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth prior to putting the device in standby mode. If you already do this, then great. :)

(2) Do you have any special SD or CF accessories inserted into your Pocket PC? That is, anything other than flash memory cards.

(3) Do you have any applications or plug-ins running in the background? Some services attempt to auto-update every X minutes and it may cause your device to power on and off periodically, thus draining the battery.

[Patrick Y.]

Hi guys,

Forgot to check this thread for a while. :oops: Thank you guys for all your comments.

Anyway, IT's HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :shocked!: :shocked!: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: I'm going crazy right now just looking at the x51v!

And yes, I won't be switching to n311 now... :lol:

[Patrick Y.]

And if so, is there a fix of some sort or a "ritual" one must go through to prevent such battery drainage from happening? It is very frustrating to have to leave my Pocket PC in the cradle charging instead of taking it with me to wherever I need to go and use it.

In addition to what Darius said, also apply the "fake server hack." Here is the instruction and background of the issue I copied from Aximsite.

This is due to Activesync launching itself on your Axim when it is not docked with your PC. You may ask why Activesync isn't intelligent enough to see that your Axim is not docked...

For an unknown reason Microsoft thought it would be a great idea to make Activesync load itself automatically and attempt to sync even when your Axim is not docked. Even if you manually close it, or go into Start > Memory > Running Programs > Stop on your Axim, it will simply re-launch itself 5 minutes later. It will then attempt to connect to your PC Activesync connection every 5 minutes by default, again even though your Axim is not docked. It does this no matter what you do. You could be in the middle of a critical Axim gaming moment on a processor intensive 3D game where all your memory counts, and suddenly everything becomes choppy and bang, you crash and burn... Activesync is eating your memory. Or your Axim could be on standby and Activesync will load and bring your Axim out of standby... How annoying! And what is worse, by default there is no option to stop it behaving in this odd manner.

Activesync - Microsoft's crazy logic
Nothing is more important to Activesync than synchronising your data... The only thing that ever goes through Activesync's tiny little program loop are the words "Must Sync, Must Sync, Must Sync". In Commodore 64 Basic (which it may well be written in) it's source code would look like this:

10 Print "Must Sync"
20 goto 10

Ok, now that we know Activesync is trying to sync constantly, why is this causing so many power-related problems? The answer is nobody knows for sure. We can only surmise that Activesync launching itself while your Axim is on standby is causing some kind of software error that means it will not switch on from standby. If it's in this state and you plug it into it's PC docking station you will most likely also see a WSOD (White Screen Of Death). Activesync switching your Axim on while unattended may also be the cause of WiFi suddenly coming to life, battery discharging itself overnight and finding your Axim very hot when picking up to use.

The all important Solution
This 'server trick' was discovered by another Aximsite forum member known as Invid a little while ago. This information is courtesy of him originally, and copied many times throughout the Aximsite forum, but I am re-writing in easy to follow laymans terms to hopefully make this a sticky, and stop the multiple posting regarding the same old problems. Here we go!

1. Turn on your Axim
2. Go to Start > Programs > Activesync. This will open the Activesync program.
3. Tap Menu at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. This will bring up the Options Menu. Notice the option Schedule... is greyed out? This is the all-critical option we need to get access to. But as it's disabled we can't change Activesync's default synchronisation schedule.

Ok, so how do we enable the Schedule option? Easy!!! Fool Activesync into thinking there is an Exchange Server to sync with:

1. From Activesync's Menu tap on Add Server Source.
2. In the following screens you can enter any old garbage. It does not matter, but just in case your unsure, just type the following in the indicated boxes:

Server Address: fake
Tap Next
User name: fake
Password: fake
Domain: fake
(Ticking save password or going into the Advanced menu makes no difference, so no need to bother).
Tap Next
Untick all of the 'Data you want to synchronise' options
Tap Finish

3. Ok, we're done creating the server. You should now see in Activesync's main screen your normal Activesync connection(s), and a new connection called Exchange Server.
4. Go back into the Menu, and lo and behold the Schedule option is now enabled! Go ahead and tap it!
5. You will see that both options in the Schedule screen are set to Every 5 Minutes (A01 Rom), or Every 10 Minutes (A06 Rom). This simply will not do! ( * Advanced users - please see my note below * )
6. Using the drop downs, change both the Peak times and Off-peak times boxes to Manually.
7. Press the OK button at the top right of the screen.