I've been reading up on the slowness problem quite a bit on the X500+. Can you tell us what it means when you say it's slow? Don't compare it to any other pda. Just tell us if this renders the device unusable or what. Do the menus take 1-2 seconds to pop-up? Do applications take a long time to load? Does multi-tasking slow it way down? Is the graphics choppy?
I've been reading up on the slowness problem quite a bit on the X500+. Can you tell us what it means when you say it's slow?
What this means is that a menu may take a fraction of a second longer to appear, and applications may take a little while longer to load. You can still multi-task. There are less FPS while watching a video in native VGA as opposed to native QVGA, but no surprises there. There is always a performance hit when dealing with a quadrupled number of pixels.
So, what's fueling all the fuss in forums elsewhere? I'm going to take a stab in the dark and assume that most users complaining about the slowness of the X500+ have never used a VGA device before. They're analyzing the X500+ from the perspective of the X500, and so their expectations are high given that the X500 is a very snappy device. In all honesty, of the three VGA devices that I own, the X500+ comes out on top in overall performance.
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That's great news to hear. I've honestly been getting worried, reading a few of the posts from people on the eTen forums. But, it appears these are largely unfounded.
The PDA I've been using to date is the VGA Axim X51V. Have you used this device, and can you comment on how it would compare to this other device? If not, it still sounds like the X500+ is usable.
What are the other VGA devices you've used and are referring to?
As far as losing a few FPS on video, would you say the video is choppy or is it still watchable and smooth?
The PDA I've been using to date is the VGA Axim X51V. Have you used this device, and can you comment on how it would compare to this other device? If not, it still sounds like the X500+ is usable.
I've put the X500+ head-to-head with the JASJAR, X51v and X50v (all running the latest publicly-available ROMs), and the X500+ does feel faster overall. For what it's worth, the X500+ scored 357.3, the X51v scored 340.9, the JASJAR scored 285.7, and the X50v scored 207.6 in overall benchmark tests. Of course, benchmark figures aren't conclusive evidence, but you may still find them valuable.
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Originally Posted by myuser
What are the other VGA devices you've used and are referring to?
The JASJAR and X50v are the VGA devices I own. The X51v I mentioned previously is a friend's.
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Originally Posted by myuser
As far as losing a few FPS on video, would you say the video is choppy or is it still watchable and smooth?
It's a bit choppy. "Watchable" is subjective. Most videos I tested averaged 15-25 FPS; truthfully, I'm an FPS junkie, so 15-25 FPS makes me cringe. What hurts the X500+ most is its lack of a dedicated GPU. As you know, the Intel 2700G is the X51v's biggest strength when it comes to video performance, so there's no real contest between the two. The X51v is a clear winner.
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Wow. So, it's actually faster than the X51V, but just not in video performance, which makes sense, since the X51V has a 16mb GPU.
Have you tried other video playing software such as TCPMP for improved FPS? I'm sort of FPS junkie, too, but I guess I honestly don't really watch movies on my PDA very often. Even on my X51V, which I just sold, I didn't really watch movies on it more than once or twice, ever.
why bother with testing - 64 MB of RAM so it has to be slow. If I chose to run one application at time I would go for Palm OS
That's just a goofy statement - most devices shipping today have 64 MB of RAM and they're perfectly usable. I know some people here run into trouble when they have a GPS program open while streaming video and uploading 100 MB files over FTP...but that's a very small number of people. ;-) 128 MB would be better, sure, but there's also increased battery drain with more RAM.
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why bother with testing - 64 MB of RAM so it has to be slow. If I chose to run one application at time I would go for Palm OS
That's just a goofy statement - most devices shipping today have 64 MB of RAM and they're perfectly usable. I know some people here run into trouble when they have a GPS program open while streaming video and uploading 100 MB files over FTP...but that's a very small number of people. ;-) 128 MB would be better, sure, but there's also increased battery drain with more RAM.
Exactly! Even my top of the line Axim X51V I just sold had only 64mb of RAM.
Have you tried other video playing software such as TCPMP for improved FPS?
Actually, I've been using TCPMP all this time. Windows Media tends not to handle video too well.
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Originally Posted by myuser
I'm sort of FPS junkie, too, but I guess I honestly don't really watch movies on my PDA very often. Even on my X51V, which I just sold, I didn't really watch movies on it more than once or twice, ever.
Ditto. These days, I use an iPod and Zune for media.
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Ditto. These days, I use an iPod and Zune for media.
I'm hoping to use just the X500+ for music/video. My goal is one device for everything. I think the X500+ is about as close as I'm going to get right now, and the price is still quite steep.
Thanks for answering all these questions, by the way. This is great info. for my purchase. I've pre-ordered the X500+ and just want to make sure it's worth the $625.
One more question for you: have you used Voice Commander? How well does it work? This isn't MS Voice Command, right? It's something different?
Practically, what does "slow" mean?
Linear Mode
