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Old 10-12-2004, 08:00 PM
Jason Dunn
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Posts: 29,160
Default Dell Axim X50: Dual Slot Goodness at a Reasonable Price



Product Category: Pocket PC
Manufacturer: Dell
Where to Buy: Direct from Dell
Price: $399 USD (mid-range X50) $299 USD (entry-level X50)
Specifications: 119mm x 73mm x 16mm, 167g (5.9oz). 3.5" QVGA screen, Intel PXA270 520 mhz CPU, 64 MB RAM, 128 MB ROM, 802.11b. Bluetooth 1.2, 1100 mAH battery. The entry level X50 has a 416 mhz CPU, 64 MB of ROM, and no WiFi, but is otherwise identical to the mid-range X50.

Pros:
  • Reasonably priced for what you get;
  • Excellent quality screen, no yellow tinting;
  • Spacious 93 MB of ROM storage;
  • Strong performer.
Cons:
  • No built-in screen cover;
  • Dell branding is a little overpowering;
  • Based on Dell's track record to date, there may or may not be an operating system upgrade for this device.
Summary:
The mid-range Dell Axim X50 is a well balanced Pocket PC that delivers a strong set of features (including WiFi and Bluetooth) at a reasonable price. The styling isn't anything to write home about, and while it's bigger than the iPAQ 4150, having dual slots is a huge benefit for some people so the size bump may be worth it. And you can't argue with the price!



Figure 1: The Dell Axim X50. Click the image above for a larger version of the photo.

First Impressions: Design & Styling
When I first took the X50 out of the box, I had mixed feelings about what I was seeing. The branding is very strong: the silver Dell logo visibly stands out on the glossy black background, as does the word "Axim" to the right of it. The "X50" logo below the screen is in italics � I couldn't help but think of Speed Racer when I saw it. Overall I find the Dell branding too aggressive and a touch cheesy. By way of comparison, the branding on the X30 was much more subtle and I would have greatly preferred to see it carried over to the X50.


Figure 2: The Dell Axim X50 compared with the X30. Click the image above for a larger version of the photo.

On the plus side, the build quality is excellent � there was no significant creaking or movement when I gave it a gentle torque. The device also feels much better in my hand then the X30 ever did � I wasn't a fan of the boxy design on the X30 because it always seemed to be poking my hand in a strange way.

The backside of the X50 is rubberized plastic, and when you hold the X50 in your hand it has a nice feel to it. While it's taller than the iPAQ 4150, a device I consider to be the most elegantly designed Pocket PC ever made, it still fits fairly comfortably in the hand. While I was hoping for it to be a bit shorter, I have to keep reminding myself that it has dual slots and shouldn't be compared directly to the iPAQ 4150.

Buttons, Slots, Etc.
Button-wise, it's a fairly straightforward affair. Four buttons plus a direction pad below the screen. The buttons are small but slightly raised, so they're easy to press. The d-pad works well for gaming � I tried a demo of SkyForce and it performed nicely. I was able to move diagonally and fire at the same time (I turned off auto-fire), so the X50 doesn't seem to have the "button press issues" that plagued earlier Pocket PCs.


Figure 3: The left side Dell Axim X50 showing the buttons. Black on black photography is tricky. ;-) Click the image above for a larger version of the photo.

On the left side of the device there's a toggle that completely locks down the device. Dell must have heard all the complaints from people who have their Pocket PCs turn on in their pockets due to random button presses. The device shipped with this toggle turned on, so I was baffled for about 30 seconds as to why I nothing would work after a soft reset. Below the lock toggle we have the wireless button - according to the manual, pressing this button once is supposed to turn on both WiFi and Bluetooth, which I've always found a bit silly. Why not one press for WiFi, and a double-press for Bluetooth? On my device, the button only turned the WiFi on, not the Bluetooth�until I manually turned on Bluetooth once, then the button started to behave normally with one press turning both on, and another press turning both off.


Figure 4: An assortment of Pocket PCs lined up for size comparisons. From left to right, an iPAQ 4350, iPAQ 4150, Axim X5, Axim X50, Axim X30. Click the image above for a larger version of the photo.

Below the wireless button there's the voice recording button. I used to use voice recording a great deal, but I stopped using it when I realized that I always forgot to check my voice recordings. Tangent: I've asked more than one third party developer to create software that would integrate with Outlook Notes and provide some sort of system to remind the user to act on the voice notes, but no one has ever taken me up on it. If you're a developer and want more information about this, feel free to contact me. ;-)

The stylus is thin � perhaps a little too thin � and it's somewhat difficult to get out of the holder on the top right of the device. The notch on the style is too small to be grasped with my fingers, so I have to resort to using my fingernail to remove the stylus. That's just bad design, plain and simple.


Figure 5: The dual slots in action � in the photo I have a 4 GB Kingston CF card and a 512 MB Simpletech SD card. Because I use a digital camera that takes CompactFlash cards, I've been waiting for a small Pocket PC with WiFi and a CF slot � the X50 fits the bill perfectly. Click the image above for a larger version of the photo.

The dual slots of the X50 are one of the more interesting features � you can pack a lot of storage in the device with two slots, and they managed to keep the thickness of the device down.


Figure 6: It might not look like much in this picture, but the X50 feels much thinner than the X5 when you're holding it in your hand. Click the image above for a larger version of the photo.

What You Get in the Box
The Axim I had was an engineering sample, so I didn't get all the goodies in the box that you will if you order one. The mid-range X50 comes with the standard Outlook 2002 and ActiveSync CD, and the only full version application is Resco Photo Viewer. It's also supposed to come with a simple slip case, the cradle (which I did get), an AC power adaptor, and a power dongle. Yes, a dongle. Unfortunately you can't connect the AC power into the X50 directly, and worse still, the X50 has a completely different connector from the X5 and X30 series � which means I'm on the hunt for another sync 'n charge cable.

Looking at the cradle, the verdict is in: the X50 cradle is nowhere near as cool as the X30 cradle. The cradle for the X30 was nicknamed the "Darth Dell" cradle because it was glossy, semi-transparent black, and the Dell logo lit up when the device was charging. It was easily the coolest cradle on the market. The X50 cradle, sadly, is a mundane affair (see below).


Figure 7: The X50 cradle. Decent looking, fairly stable (though a bit light), but nowhere near as cool as the Darth Dell design. Click the image above for a larger version of the photo.


Figure 8: The X50 cradle has a slot for recharging an extra battery, and it lies flat, making it all but invisible from most angles. Nice touch Dell! Click the image above for a larger version of the photo.

The Wireless Functionality You'd Expect
The X50 comes with what you'd expect for built-in wireless in a device that isn't also phone: it has 802.11b and Bluetooth. The Bluetooth is version 1.2, rather than the 1.1 that ships on most other devices today. Bluetooth 1.2 offers a few improvements, but nothing to write home to mom about. One thing worth noting is that the Bluetooth stack, provided by Broadcom (it's what we know as the Widcom stack), provides a broad range of profile support: File Transfer, Information Exchange, Serial Port, Personal Network Server, Dial-Up Networking Server, and Audio Gateway. Even more importantly, this profile support is the same across the entire X50 line. Dell understands that Bluetooth profile support is not meant to be used as a differentiator among models, it's a core function. HP should take note of this approach, because it's the right one. Trying to force customers into a completely different class of device just so they can use a particular Bluetooth accessory is an insult at best, and unethical at worst.

I was able to connect to my 802.11b/g network very easily, and the speed was what I was expecting. The X50v has been certified for CCX 1.0 (LEAP), Siebel, and Nortel VoIP. 802.11x support is built into the operating system, so this device should be quite compatible for all WiFi scenarios, from simple home-based usage to enterprise deployments.

Although I doubt a Pocket PC could take full advantage of 54 mbps bandwidth, I'd like to see 802.11g integrated at some point. The added overhead of 802.11g would also allow the devices to shuffle wireless data around faster, and because I'd like to put my WiFi router into G-only mode.

Memory & Storage Space
The mid-range Axim X50 comes with 64 MB of RAM, of which 62.76 MB is user-accessible when you first start up the device (which is more than average). The 128 MB of ROM has a spacious 93.39 MB left over as a user-accessible storage card, although I only had 89.61 MB of that even after manually clearing it out (and deleting the hidden files). I'd like to see Dell provide a tool to completely clear out the Flash ROM area. Now here's where we come to the part of the review where some of my readers will vehemently disagree with me: I don't believe any Pocket PC needs to come with 128 MB of RAM if there's sufficient ROM space. In every use of my Pocket PC, I've never needed that much RAM space. I've heard of GPS scenarios where maps need gobs of memory to load, even when they're stored on a memory card, but I can't help but think this is just sloppy programming.

I was going to explain why in this review, but my tests require an article all on their own, so I'll leave it at this: I installed 20 different applications, from games to utilities, into the Flash ROM area. I barely managed to use up half of the space, and every single one of those applications worked well from the Flash ROM. The only problem I noticed is that drawing the icons takes longer than it should because Flash ROM is slower than RAM. This only happens after a soft reset � once the icons are drawn they are cached and everything is snappy again. The short version is that Pocket PC owners, myself included, need to think of Flash ROM has the "hard drive" where we should be installing our applications.

Battery Life
The mid-range X50 comes with an 1100 mAH battery, which is 150mAH bigger than the battery in the X30. Unfortunately, due to the short period of time I've had the X50 for (only a few days) and the fact that Spb Benchmark doesn't seem to want to play nice with the X50, I haven't been able to get any battery benchmark numbers put together. By way of comparison, the 950mAH battery in the X30 is adequate, but not the type of battery that would allow you to use WiFi for many hours without worrying about draining the battery.

Here's a test I performed with the X30 that might give you some idea about the battery life on the X50: I turned on WiFi, put the backlight to medium (four notches above off), and set the CPU to auto. I then set Pocket Internet Explorer to a page with 128 KB total of mixed text and images that would refresh every ten seconds. This test was designed to simulate an average Web browsing experience. The X30 lasted for 2:09 hours until it complained about a low battery, 2:25 hours until the WiFi turned off (at 14% battery life), and it lasted 4:47 hours total until the unit shut off completely - that's right, two hours of idle time with the screen on and WiFi turned off. The X50's battery is roughly 14% bigger, so I'd expect the X50 to perform roughly 14% longer than the X30 (all things being equal). Assuming I can get the Spb Benchmark battery tests to work, I'll update this review with more battery information.

Performance: How Does the X50 Benchmark?
The X50 seems to be an X30 with a different shell � the benchmarking numbers are all very close with one another, and in fact, once you factor in the speed difference between the X30 (624 Mhz) and the X50 (520 Mhz), the results are almost identical.


Figure 9: The top three results match the speed of the CPU � no surprises there.


Figure 10: The overall index score reveals no surprises � the X30, with the fastest CPU, takes the crown.


Figure 11: The file system index is tied to the CPU performance, so the X50 comes in second.


Figure 12: Spb Benchmark measures the 2D performance, and in this test the Axim's dominate the playing field. The X50 comes in second place being the X30, which boasts a faster processor.

Conclusion
After spending a few days with the mid-range Dell Axim X50, I'm hooked. Despite the minor niggles I have with some of the design decisions they made, the X50 is a strong performer and a great value for the price, especially when compared to the over-priced offerings from HP. As much as I liked the speed of the X30, I never liked the way it felt in my hand and always longed to go back to the iPAQ 4150 that I gave to my wife to use. The X50, while being a big bigger than the 4150, feels good in the hand and has everything I need: WiFi, Bluetooth, gobs of ROM space for program storage, and both a CompactFlash and Secure Digital slot.

The lack of 128 MB of RAM might be a deal breaker for some, but I'd caution you to investigate whether or not you really need it. The X50 an evolution from the X5, and Dell did a great job with it. That said, once I get an X50v in my hands, I'll probably use that instead. ;-)
 
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  #2  
Old 10-12-2004, 08:18 PM
MPSmith
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 426

As always, a very nice review. Regarding the 64MB RAM; sounds like we need some polling data on that! :wink:
 
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  #3  
Old 10-12-2004, 08:30 PM
Typhoon
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Join Date: Oct 2004
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Good enough for me. I'm going to buy it. I wish the reviewer could of shown a picture of the X50v in VGA resolution...that would of been cool.
 
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  #4  
Old 10-12-2004, 08:34 PM
Jason Dunn
Executive Editor
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Posts: 29,160

Quote:
Originally Posted by Typhoon
Good enough for me. I'm going to buy it. I wish the reviewer could of shown a picture of the X50v in VGA resolution...that would of been cool.
Once I get one, I'll do exactly what. :mrgreen: Again, this was NOT a review of the X50v - I don't have one, and when I do get one, I'll likely clone the review and tweak to the content to make a new review (even though much of it will be the same).
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  #5  
Old 10-12-2004, 08:38 PM
gibson042
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Posts: 316

PPCT is my favorite PDA site for a reason. Great review Jason, and sorry for the server overload. :wink:
 
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  #6  
Old 10-12-2004, 08:41 PM
Ripper014
Oracle
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 880

Unfortunately... I think that everyone is looking at this as the x50v review... The demand for what is required on a PPC has shifted... and I am sure that although this review was appreciated... it is not the one everyone is waiting for.

I believe that the preformance and battery life will suffer greatly on the x50v compared to the v50...
 
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  #7  
Old 10-12-2004, 08:41 PM
mkheraj
Neophyte
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 7
Default Excellent Review

This has almost pushed me to the point of buying it but I'm going to wait for some of the Dell coupons before jumping the gun. For the time being, I have my Toshiba e800 to keep me company.

Can't wait for the x50v review...

Again, excellent review...

Murad
 
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  #8  
Old 10-12-2004, 08:52 PM
wbuch
Pupil
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 48

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
Tangent: I've asked more than one third party developer to create software that would integrate with Outlook Notes and provide some sort of system to remind the user to act on the voice notes, but no one has ever taken me up on it. If you're a developer and want more information about this, feel free to contact me.
Jason: Pocket Informant integrates Outlook Notes and voice notes in its Notes tab. Not sure about a system to remind you to act on them, but maybe you could just set a recurring task with an alarm to check them every day.
 
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  #9  
Old 10-12-2004, 08:53 PM
cubed
Pupil
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 32
Default Windows Media 10 Mobile

Somewhat off topic, but I would like to see it addressed...M$ is not offering WM Media 10 as a download, but requiring you to buy a new device (such as the Dell) to get the new software.

Wow, thank you to Microsoft for always thinking of the customer first!!! :roll:
 
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  #10  
Old 10-12-2004, 08:55 PM
carphead
Thinker
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 318

Good Review Jason,

Looking forward to the X50v review. But I know that neither will be my next device. For a start they've not got USB Host and only 64MB (still have trouble with that even with the large flash rom)

But I'm willing to comprimise and I'll see if I can get one cheap via my friendly Dell Enterprise Rep You know to evaluate it for work use :lol:
 
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