Poll For Potential V35 Buyers

[Ed Hansberry]

Given the <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=45166">new information</a> on the ViewSonic having 36MB of usable memory versus the 64MB shown on their web site, I am interested to hear from those that either have it (and can keep or return it), have ordered it or were seriously considering the ViewSonic V35 over the h1910 or Dell Axims.

[szamot]

The masses have spoken loudly. Interesting to see how ViewSonic will turn this around.

ViewSonic's memory marketing blunder excuse list:

• To err is human – sorry guys it was an honest mistake
• Times are tough and we needed a marketing gimmick
• Sorry unbeknownst to us we hired some Palm marketing talent
• 36 mb 64 mb whoever will need that much space anyway

[garrans]

I love the polls on PocketPC thoughts, but is there a way to view the results without contributing (I did for this one).

Maybe a "Not Relevant" button ?

Steve.

[szamot]

at 3:27 p.m. there were 55 votes at 3:40 there were 80 doesn't any one work anymore at work :wink: ?

[feo]

I was going to get one. I was going to upgrade my iPaq, I am going to go check out the Dell kiosk now. I am a happy Viewsonic lcd monitor customer, but deceiving people is not my idea of marketing.

[Kati Compton]

I love the polls on PocketPC thoughts, but is there a way to view the results without contributing (I did for this one).


Click "view results" under the poll. Not quite like setting it once that you don't want to answer but you want to see the results, but it works.

[Jonathan1]

No chance of me buying one. Gotta have 64MB minimum. Heck at this point I have to ask why we aren't seeing 128MB as the standard. Does the OS not support this or something? I know pocketpctechs have found a way of upgrading certain systems to 128MB internally but is that a driver they have retooled or is it native support.

*shrugs*

At any rate 36MB is BS for anyone who is even slightly defined as a power user.


And the search for a new PDA continutes.

[Boxster S]

No chance of me buying one. Gotta have 64MB minimum. Heck at this point I have to ask why we aren't seeing 128MB as the standard. Does the OS not support this or something? I know pocketpctechs have found a way of upgrading certain systems to 128MB internally but is that a driver they have retooled or is it native support.

*shrugs*

At any rate 36MB is BS for anyone who is even slightly defined as a power user.


And the search for a new PDA continutes.

Well, I definitely consider myself a power user. But I keep the bulk of my programs on my 256MB SD card. Only small, crucial apps are stored in my main memory (Resco Zipper/PictureViewer/Explorer, Money 2003, Mazingo), with everything else going on the storage card. With all of the PocketPC's that I have had (iPAQ 3650, Maestro, Jornada 567, e550G), I have NEVER used more than 7MB total storage memory.

While I feel that I got jipped with my V35 with regards to stated memory, it's not enough for me to ditch it all together.

[Rob Alexander]

at 3:27 p.m. there were 55 votes at 3:40 there were 80 doesn't any one work anymore at work :wink: ?

Hey, it's an international community, Dude. When it's 3:30 pm in Edmonton, it's 10:30pm in London, 11:30 in Paris and 12:30am in Johannesburg. As for me, I tend to read Thoughts during my lunch hour, so I tend to post between 12:00 and 2:00pm (depending on when I start lunch) New Zealand time, which would be about 4:00-6:00pm (the previous day) your time. Of course, there may just be a bunch of slackers out there too!!! :lol:

[Equilibrium]

I am really interested in getting the V35. The RAM doesnt bother me because i intend on getting an SD Memory card for expansion anyway.

What I am still not sure of, however, is battery life. I really want a device with great battery life. That's the reason I am getting rid of my Maestro. Even with battery extenders (they get to be a hassle) my battery life doesnt seem to last long enough. I would like to know what the battery is like on this. Something like 8 or 10 hours would be nice, but I haven't heard. Its a smaller device, but that bright screen might suck up a lot of battery power...

[Paul]

I think Viewsonic lost some customers today.
While I think having 64MB is definitly better than 36MB, I can live with that. Still, at this pricepoint, it's hard not to consider the Axim X5.

[jeasher]

So which PPC has more effective memory, the V35 or the H1910? It figures because my V35 should be delivered by Friday. I've never had a PocketPC so I don't know how much memory I will need? How many excel files can be stored with 30Mb? Anyone? Anyone? Sorry, watching Ferris Bueller right now...At least i can hang my hat on the extra 100mhz I get (even though it won't matter in real time).

[Certified Optimist]

Just like buying a Palm...

"Yes... this unit does come with a 5'' display... Oh... Sorry... did we miss out to mention that a huge portion of it will be used for Grafitti, so you won't be able to use it for anything else...." :roll:

Kudos to HP for stating things the way they are... Will work out better in the long run...

Wonder how many people will be cursing ViewSonic 5 minutes after they've opened the package....

And... as usuall we have the sales people saying "Oh... it's not really my fault *big drooooopy eyes*" - right... so who's fault is it then....? The consumer who vested their money in the product and brand...? I think not.

[Xaximus]

I'm very much a matter-of-principle kind of guy, and I'm a hard customer to win back after being given a reason to turn away. The only issue I need to look at here is the ethics of Viewsonic's marketing... the question of whether or not I could've used the extra memory is irrelevant. Viewsonic just went from my short list to my black list. :?

[Zither]

I wouldn't buy one now...

How can you trust them to provide a level of support, if they start misleading people on stuff like this?

Z

[Sven Johannsen]

Just like Kudos to HP for stating things the way they are... Will work out better in the long run...

Weren't around for the 12 bit, 16 bit color fiasco were you ? Amazing the marketing guys still think they can get away with this.

Will be interesting to see Viewsonics position. HPs was, Sorry, You can get a full refund if you wish, no questions.

[Kirkaiya]

How many excel files can be stored with 30Mb? Anyone? Anyone? Sorry, watching Ferris Bueller right now...At least i can hang my hat on the extra 100mhz I get (even though it won't matter in real time).

LOL - I was watching Ferris Bueler last night also - and I never realized before (it's been like, 10 years since I saw it) that the teacher is Ben Stein, of "Win Ben Stein's Money", and the Clear Eyes commercials (and sometimes on "The Man Show" as a guest).

He was sooooo much thinner... (sorry, all that was waaayyy off-topic).

About the Excel files, etc - Jeasher, 36.5 MB is almost certainly plenty of space for you. I used my iPaq 3650 for 2 years, and the tactic I took was close to what Boxster took:

I load the programs that I *always* must have into the main device RAM, such as MS Money, WisBar, Missile Command, Pac-man (hey, i have my priorities), FTPViewer, PeaceMaker Pro, the drivers for my Stowaway keyboard and Socket CF card & Phone Card.

Those applications, along with the 600 KB or so of AvantGo content, and all my Outlook items (Contacts, Calendar, Emails, selected vacation pics) and a few other minor utilities took a total of about 14 MB of space. Given that my iPaq had 32, and there was always a couple (~2 MB) of space that I didn't know *what* was using, that left me with about 16 MB of space, most of which was designated as "program" memory (meaning that a lot of apps could run at once). Pocket Excel and Pocket Word files don't take up much space.

Now, I kept ALL my appointments in my iPaq that I had in PDAs since 1997 (Casio Zoomer... then transferred to Casio E-11 CE2.11, then to iPaq). I also kept about 400 contacts. I did keep my "email sync" settings to only sync email from the past week, and I limited attachment sizes (or generally just turned off syncing attachments).

Then - for all your BIG media files (MP3/WMA songs, MPEG videos, etc, you can keep them on a storage card.

Now, that was Pocket PC 2000, not 2002 (I never bothered with the upgrade), but I'm guessing that having the extra 4.5 MB of space will still be an improvement, and no stupid D$%M CF Sleeve - the addition of an SD slot is a huge improvement.

Now don't get me wrong - I'm still pissed about the deception (and that's what it was, really), and I'm sure that if I had 64 MB, well... Nature abhors a vacuum, and abhors vacant RAM even more :wink:

So, I'm keeping my V35, I think (now that I've spent an hour writing 3 emails to Amazon, and spending 20 minutes on the phone, while they couldn't figure out WHY MY DA/\/\N Viewsonic hasn't shipped!!!

[pruhawk]

ViewSonic and every mfg needs to be upfront and consistent in how they report product performance. That said, I am looking at the V35 as my backup PDA. Its primary use will be on weekends (probably to keep score/stats at baseball and basketball games). The memory will be more than adequate for a weekend PDA. I am more interested in how it works. Heck, I still want Turbostats to make their palm program for pocketpc but thats another issue. Every PDA has warts, find the one that best works for your needs.

[jeasher]

Great post Kirk.

[PPCRules]

If somebody likes the rest of the device just fine, this is no reason to not get it unless they know they cannot live with the available RAM (a requirement, not just an inconvenience). This is perfect lawyer-fodder (it should be a slamdunk in the court room), so you will get something out of it (maybe a mail-in rebate on a Viewsonic branded case). Now if you don't like feeding the lawyers, maybe you'll want to stay away...

[Certified Optimist]

Weren't around for the 12 bit, 16 bit color fiasco were you ? Amazing the marketing guys still think they can get away with this.

...aha... forgot about that one... :oops:

But then again... for the new model they seem to have learned that it's better to be honest to start off with...

...or... someone else is in charge of the marketing campaign this time...

[James]

It's made The Register:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/28446.html