12-08-2003, 09:38 PM
|
|
Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
|
|
Take Your Pick: Palm OS or Pocket PC?
"PDAs these days come across more like little bitty laptops than the portable to-do lists and calendar carriers they started out as. As more power and more features get heaped on, choosing the right handheld for your business style has gotten more complicated. We took a whole stack of Palm OS and Pocket PC devices out for a walk to see what�s appealing�and what could use a little tweaking.
One basic question that greets every handheld buyer is, Palm OS or Pocket PC? The chasm between the two isn�t all that wide. With the right software for either system, you can pretty much do anything, from reading Word documents to getting e-mail. Many buyers simply prefer the OS they�re already familiar with. The Palm OS interface is still as user- and battery-friendly as ever, while Pocket PC effectively mimics its big brother, Windows."
Ok, you Palm-users correct me if I'm wrong, but is a modern Palm unit with a colour screen and fast processor any more "battery friendly" than a Pocket PC? All the reviews I've read have led me to believe that modern Palm-based units give roughly the same amount of battery life as most Pocket PCs. Is this just more inaccurate journalistic hype, or is there something to it?
|
| |
|
|
|
12-08-2003, 09:48 PM
|
|
Sage
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 740
|
|
Re: Take Your Pick: Palm OS or Pocket PC?
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
"Is this just more inaccurate journalistic hype, or is there something to it?
|
I have a Tungsten|T3 that I picked up not too long ago. Compared to my 5455, this unit is way better on the battery. Compared to my 1945, this unit is about the same on the battery.
I would think that, on a level playing field (native hardware and OS on both. No upgraded units...like my 5455), battery life is going to be very similar.
The only thing that I wish I could do on my T3 is take better advantage of the hardware and memory. It has a 400mHz xScale processor with 64MB of RAM, and I really don't think that PalmOS 5.2.1 comes close to making appropriate use of the hardware in this unit.
However, it does do landscape natively, without resetting, which is an amazing thing...
Kind Regards,
Christopher Spera
__________________
Kind Regards,
Christopher Spera
Gear Diary Review Team
|
| |
|
|
|
12-08-2003, 10:03 PM
|
|
Theorist
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 258
|
|
Battery life is around 20 minutes longer on my T3 when compared to my old h2210...and it does have to cope with a larger screen higher resolution screen though. Both has 900mAh battery. Standby time is even better - my T3's battery drop 10% a day when left off while my h2210 dropped 20%.
Watching widescreen movies on my T3 is even more enjoyable than the h2210 and it is �40 cheaper in the UK...
Thats not to say I won't own any more PPC devices in the future but currently for me the T3's performance is value for money.
|
| |
|
|
|
12-08-2003, 10:10 PM
|
|
Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 734
|
|
Re: Take Your Pick: Palm OS or Pocket PC?
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
Ok, you Palm-users correct me if I'm wrong, but is a modern Palm unit with a colour screen and fast processor any more "battery friendly" than a Pocket PC? All the reviews I've read have led me to believe that modern Palm-based units give roughly the same amount of battery life as most Pocket PCs. Is this just more inaccurate journalistic hype, or is there something to it?
|
Battery life of a modern unit is the same as a modern PPC's - generally 8 hours or so. In the old days of the IIIE I used to be able to run my Palm on 2 AAA batterys for two months!
I got about 2 weeks out of my IIIC, a week out of my M130 and my Clie SL10 gets about 2 days! And that's not even color! Things like memory cards and color really drain your battery in no time.
|
| |
|
|
|
12-08-2003, 10:12 PM
|
|
Intellectual
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 115
|
|
Back before the Palm's could handle real multimedia.... I would have said their battery life was better but I think now, they are about even - just depending on what you do with them.
Back when I had a Palm Pilot Pro, I could go for months before a battery change! 8O Again, monochrome and no multimedia.
Even though I have seen/read complaints about the XDA battery life, I have had no real problems... :roll:
I do put it on the cradle at least every other day and if I notice it down to half, I will hook up the car charger while driving to/from work - and that works for me.
|
| |
|
|
|
12-08-2003, 10:18 PM
|
|
Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 68
|
|
I have to agree with the others. I bet I get about 8 hours from a Palm T3.
I recently bought a new Ipaq 4350 to see if I might wanna switch to that but I found the palm to be excellent at setting up a BT connection with almost nothing to do on the part of the user...it just worked. I had a terrible time getting BT and wifi to work on the 4350 and ended up returning it. There is something to be said for simplicity I guess.
Rick T.
|
| |
|
|
|
12-08-2003, 10:53 PM
|
|
Oracle
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 830
|
|
my 4155 is great, but if palmos 6 winds up being as good as they say it is, then ill have an ipaq 1xxx with wm2004 and a palm tungsten x with palm os 6.
|
| |
|
|
|
12-08-2003, 10:56 PM
|
|
Pontificator
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,398
|
|
Once again, the world forgets about the Dell Axim. :cry: And what is the Sharp Zaurus doing in there?
|
| |
|
|
|
12-08-2003, 10:58 PM
|
|
Theorist
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 258
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ricktakagi
I have to agree with the others. I bet I get about 8 hours from a Palm T3.
I recently bought a new Ipaq 4350 to see if I might wanna switch to that but I found the palm to be excellent at setting up a BT connection with almost nothing to do on the part of the user...it just worked. I had a terrible time getting BT and wifi to work on the 4350 and ended up returning it. There is something to be said for simplicity I guess.
Rick T.
|
My friend just bout a h2210 and returned it because it was difficult to setup Bluetooth. I showed him how to setup Bluetooth on my T3 in under 1 minute. In less than 3 minutes he was up and running downloading e-mails on VersaMail. I had to pry my T3 from him. Is it no wonder that this site (which is dedicated to PPC) is the one of the few sites proclaiming Bluetooth is dead when it is so easy to setup on Palm. I hope Microsoft improves Bluetooth implementation on both PPC and Windows PC.
|
| |
|
|
|
12-08-2003, 11:21 PM
|
|
Sage
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 797
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by jonathanchoo
Is it no wonder that this site (which is dedicated to PPC) is the one of the few sites proclaiming Bluetooth is dead when it is so easy to setup on Palm.
|
Who said that? If anything people (like me) love and use Bluetooth on a very regular basis. There are needs for improvement with the technology and wider support would be nice, but I can't remember a time when Bluetooth was ever proclaimed dead on PPC Thoughts. You can criticize something without pronouncing it dead.
And Dave, I think you and I are two of a very small breed of Axim preachers left on here since everyone who used to own one moved on to some form of the Ipaq :lol:
As for Battery life, well, it's no contest. The Tungsten T3 was nowhere near the battery life of my DELL AXIM X5 with a CF WiFi card in and browsing the internet for a couple of hours at a time.
I think these people who say the batteries in Palms are better are pining away for the monochrome-two-triple-a-batteries-will-last-you-forever days of yore.
They're gone, and depending on the PPC you pick, you may even see better life on the darkside :twisted:
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
