worried...

[solus]

http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=ad0f69e9f2dd7a08235813a3c9dd5e41&threadid=65974

http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=ad0f69e9f2dd7a08235813a3c9dd5e41&threadid=66350

8O 8O 8O 8O ...

I'm getting a bit worried... anyone who has gotten their axim confirm those claims? Or hopefully do not have the same problems. Hope this is just the loud minority...

comfort me... :cry:

[Rirath]

Nitpicking... tis all it is. Pay them no heed. All devices, big or small, cheap or expensive have their flaws, no exceptions. There will always be a very vocal group who greatly dislike a device, so they'll exaggerate the known flaws and make the rest up based on personal problems with the machine.

[ThomasC22]

I'm getting a bit worried... anyone who has gotten their axim confirm those claims? Or hopefully do not have the same problems. Hope this is just the loud minority...

comfort me... :cry:

I have five of them and haven't seen any of the issues that intelsux outlined with any of them (and I also have a Maestro as a test unit so I ran some quick tests just to make sure)

[BigCanoe]

I upgraded from a two year old iPAQ and I am very happy. It seems snappy enough to me, and I love having the dual slots. The screen is awsome and the battery is amazing. No regrets, I paid about half of what the iPAQ cost me.

[Kati Compton]

Well, I'm one of the posters that you've linked to. I've said, though, that the problems aren't enough to make me regret my choice. Plus, apparently if you complain to tech support, Dell will send you a new one, and you use the box from the new one (AFTER it arrives) to send your current one back. So I wouldn't worry.

There are a number of people that have had problems with the D-pad being too "mushy" for their tastes, or like me, having to press slightly harder to the right than the other directions. There are also people that have had no problems, and a very few that had the right direction not work at all (can't blame them for being vocal about it really).

No one has talked about having display lines or refresh problems on their own units - those were only demo units that might have still had some bugs, or kiosk units that who knows if they'd been dropped.

I'm the only one that has complained about electronic snap/crackle/pop (Rice Krispies!) noises, but that's only when I hold my ear up to the speaker or the CF slot, really. Can't hear it at all from a "normal" distance. Since this is my first PPC, for all I know that's normal.

The buttons are rather close together for gaming, but I can see that as being a problem on a number of different PPCs. Hard to make a device as small as possible while spreading out the buttons... Could be better, but really it's just fine. Unless you've got really big hands maybe. But you can usually use button reassignment, can't you?

I have had mine switch itself on about 2 minutes after I've turned it off. It's happened twice. I'll keep an eye on it - maybe it won't happen again.

I don't like that the form of the stylus is so different from other PPCs - that means an aftermarket stylus that fits the silo has to be designed specifically for the Axim.

These are all the negative things I can think of. I kinda like the rocker joy-scroll scroll-stick thing. The screen is nice, the unit feels good in the hand.

I've had some problems with software not working, but I think that's more my problem than the Axim's. I'll work on it more, and then ask for help in a few days if I can't get it. :)

[Rirath]

I think the stylus design is great... I've always preferred the flat ones over the pen shaped. As for the buttons, the closeness is actually a good thing. It's not so close you'd hit a button by mistake, but any further and you couldn't comfortably press both buttons with one thumb. The location of the rocker just takes a little adjusting to using the underside of your thumb's knuckle. And the unit turning on is often an activesync problem set to auto connect every 5 minutes. I changed my settings, soft reset, and it hasn't done so since.

[Kati Compton]

I think the stylus design is great... I've always preferred the flat ones over the pen shaped. As for the buttons, the closeness is actually a good thing. It's not so close you'd hit a button by mistake, but any further and you couldn't comfortably press both buttons with one thumb. The location of the rocker just takes a little adjusting to using the underside of your thumb's knuckle. And the unit turning on is often an activesync problem set to auto connect every 5 minutes. I changed my settings, soft reset, and it hasn't done so since.

I find it uncomfortable to use the D-Pad and the leftmost of the right 2 buttons at the same time (ie, Super Mario Bros to get fireballs... I assigned jump to be the further button).

I said I liked the rocker - but I have accidentally triggered it by the way I hold the Axim. Maybe my hands are too small or I'm just clumsy.

The turning on - I had it happen once in the cradle, once out of the cradle (although shortly after taking it out). I'll look into the settings.

[Janak Parekh]

The turning on - I had it happen once in the cradle, once out of the cradle (although shortly after taking it out). I'll look into the settings.
It's in the server tab, under options, in ActiveSync on the PPC. You definitely want to turn it off (in fact, you can turn them all off). It will keep on happening otherwise. In fact, it might be happening more frequently and you don't notice, as it turns itself back off afterwards.

--bdj

[rein]

There never seems to be a definite answer. Is the direction pad 4-way, 5-way, or 8 way? I ordered the 400 mhz Axim for a friends Christmas present and was concerned they may not be able to play games very well. So can anyone answer if they will have diagonal movement in games? If not, is it a big problem?

[Rirath]

There never seems to be a definite answer. Is the direction pad 4-way, 5-way, or 8 way? I ordered the 400 mhz Axim for a friends Christmas present and was concerned they may not be able to play games very well. So can anyone answer if they will have diagonal movement in games? If not, is it a big problem?

Yes, this has been answered several times. it's technically 5 way (up, down, left, right, plus push in button) but can accept diagonal movements through combos of up left, down right, etc. And yes, you can push buttons at the same time as moving, even diagonally. Look for a thread named "buttons work 100%" or something like that.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Since this is my first PPC, for all I know that's norm.
That was a bit shocking to read considering that you're at 300+ posts.

Nothing wrong with that of course... I had just assumed were among the PPC community all this time...

EDIT: ...and now I realize you've been with us for all of about 1 month... :o 8O :o 8O I guess it does make sense...

[Kati Compton]

Since this is my first PPC, for all I know that's norm.
That was a bit shocking to read considering that you're at 300+ posts.

Nothing wrong with that of course... I had just assumed were among the PPC community all this time...

EDIT: ...and now I realize you've been with us for all of about 1 month... :o 8O :o 8O I guess it does make sense...

I just type really fast. ;)

[Kati Compton]

There never seems to be a definite answer. Is the direction pad 4-way, 5-way, or 8 way? I ordered the 400 mhz Axim for a friends Christmas present and was concerned they may not be able to play games very well. So can anyone answer if they will have diagonal movement in games? If not, is it a big problem?

Mine doesn't do anything when I push the D-pad. Pushing the scrollstick does the action.

[Janak Parekh]

I just type really fast. ;)
Must be all that thesis-typing skillZ put to work... :D I type pretty fast too, according to my friends; we'll have to compete sometime head-to-head.

Even better, the Pocket PC will exercise your hand. ;)

--bdj

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Must be all that thesis-typing skillZ put to work... :D I type pretty fast too, according to my friends; we'll have to compete sometime head-to-head.

Even better, the Pocket PC will exercise your hand. ;)

--bdj

OK. Hold up. BigDaddy, you are pretty high up there at 500+ posts, but I've always felt Ed was an outright circus freak for his close-to-2000 posts now.

He hit 2000 posts over a 10 month time period which averages to 200 a month, but Kati is shattering that pace!! Of course, Kati, you need to show you can sustain that over a long period of time to be truly compared to Ed. :wink:

In any case... :werenotworthy:

[Janak Parekh]

OK. Hold up. BigDaddy, you are pretty high up there at 500+ posts, but I've always felt Ed was an outright circus freak for his close-to-2000 posts now.
He is. :lol:

He hit 2000 posts over a 10 month time period which averages to 200 a month, but Kati is shattering that pace!! Of course, Kati, you need to show you can sustain that over a long period of time to be truly compared to Ed. :wink:
(going massively offtopic here) So, if you go to the total posts and sort by descending, you can look at the profile of each member. Here's three of interest:

Jason Dunn - 11.68/day
kati42 - 9.11/day
Ed Hansberry - 6.48/day

So kati is definitely being prodigious, but she has a LOONG way to go to pass Ed. And let's not forget about Jason.

Also, some of these are misleading. Look at Thomas, Pony or myself. We are averaging ~ 2 posts/day, but as of the last month when the PPCThoughts forums exploded we've been averaging ~ 10/day.

So the competition is quite intense. ;) Still, Kati wins the award for most posts before she got a PPC.

In any case... :werenotworthy:
Amen. :werenotworthy:

--bdj

[Sslixtis]

BigDaddyJQuote:
In any case... :werenotworthy:

Amen. :werenotworthy:

--bdj

Not to mention that Kati always has something interesting to say and in a positive manner! I really enjoy reading her posts. So let me add my own :werenotworthy:

Now back to the topic at hand :wink:

I Love my Axim, It is much more responsive than my iPaq 3955, not that my iPaq was bad or anything. Plus the option to actually scale the CPU like it was designed to is awesome.

The screen on the Axim is .28" smaller than the iPaq and the iPaq does have a higher brightness and I believe refresh rate, on the other hand my iPaq had two stuck Pixels, one blue and one white that while not life shattering was annoying in a $650 device right out of the box! Not to mention Compaq support said tough nuts it's not bad enough for us to fix! :evil:

Also No More Sleeves!!! I think I may have mentioned this before but it can't be said enough :wink: I am something of a power user and am quite happy to have the dual slots and removable battery, with my iPaq I had to use the CF Plus Sleeve to achieve the same options and that doubled the size of the unit :cry: While everyone seems to be running around yelling about how big the Axim is, since I no longer have to use the sleeve I feel like my PPC just became anorexic! :D

All in all, the Axim is a very solid device, and it is only the 2nd device that I have purchased that I didn't feel was overpriced. But like anything it is a matter of preference. Anyway, that's my take on it :wink:

Cheers!

[othell]

There never seems to be a definite answer. Is the direction pad 4-way, 5-way, or 8 way? I ordered the 400 mhz Axim for a friends Christmas present and was concerned they may not be able to play games very well. So can anyone answer if they will have diagonal movement in games? If not, is it a big problem?

This is something I have yet to understand. Playing games on a PDA is all good and stuff, but why let that make the decision for you? I mean, they're not designed for gaming are they? I'll play games and stuff on mine once I get it... but if it doesn't work very well with them that's not something that should be blamed on the Axim itself since it was not designed for such things.

Maybe I'm wrong tho....

[Kati Compton]

Must be all that thesis-typing skillZ put to work... I type pretty fast too, according to my friends; we'll have to compete sometime head-to-head.

Know of a freeware typing speed test? Of course, the one I'm fastest on is "Backspace"...

He hit 2000 posts over a 10 month time period which averages to 200 a month, but Kati is shattering that pace!! Of course, Kati, you need to show you can sustain that over a long period of time to be truly compared to Ed. :wink:

That'll be a toughy... Posting takes away from using/programming for the PPC. ;) Not to mention that pesky dissertation and job applications...

Not to mention that Kati always has something interesting to say and in a positive manner! I really enjoy reading her posts. So let me add my own :werenotworthy:

:oops: Thanks. :)

[Janak Parekh]

Know of a freeware typing speed test? Of course, the one I'm fastest on is "Backspace"...
Google, as always, has the answer. I literally typed the words you mentioned above. Worship it, for it is god. ;)

Amen on Backspace. However, I've gotten so good with it I can beat my friends even when I have to. I hit Backspace completely unconsciously at this point.

--bdj

[Sven Johannsen]

I just type really fast. ;)
Must be all that thesis-typing skillZ put to work... :D I type pretty fast too, according to my friends; we'll have to compete sometime head-to-head.

Even better, the Pocket PC will exercise your hand. ;)

--bdj

I gotta ask... are skillZ developed by typing plagerized thesis :wink:

[Janak Parekh]

I gotta ask... are skillZ developed by typing plagerized thesis :wink:
:D No, that would be l33t "cut-n-paste" skillZ. :lol:

--bdj

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

This is something I have yet to understand. Playing games on a PDA is all good and stuff, but why let that make the decision for you? I mean, they're not designed for gaming are they? I'll play games and stuff on mine once I get it... but if it doesn't work very well with them that's not something that should be blamed on the Axim itself since it was not designed for such things.
Everyone has their reasons for owning one.

Dell and all other PPC manufacterers would be smart to make sure their D-pad does support 8 directions. I agree that this is not the primary purpose of a PPC. In fact, I rarely (if ever) play games on mine but as a portable handheld device, it is becoming more and more of a prime-time portable gaming platform. Just look at the games that are now available... SimCity, EverQuest, Tomb Raider, Argentum, etc.

Those kinds of games don't appear without some strong demand from the gaming community.

So while a PPC is not a Gameboy, many would prefer to have an all-in-one PIM and Gaming device than carry around multiple devices.

[rein]

Yes, this has been answered several times. it's technically 5 way (up, down, left, right, plus push in button) but can accept diagonal movements through combos of up left, down right, etc. And yes, you can push buttons at the same time as moving, even diagonally. Look for a thread named "buttons work 100%" or something like that.

Well, I had read that thread and then all of the posts about the direction pad not working properly must have confused me. Thanks for answering and letting me know exactly what to expect.

This is something I have yet to understand. Playing games on a PDA is all good and stuff, but why let that make the decision for you? I mean, they're not designed for gaming are they? I'll play games and stuff on mine once I get it... but if it doesn't work very well with them that's not something that should be blamed on the Axim itself since it was not designed for such things.

Maybe I'm wrong tho....

This isn't the primary use of the unit. She will probably hardly ever play games in it but it is an option I wanted her to have. Games like Simcity & Snails will probably give her some use on trips. As far as it being the deciding factor. Well, I've considered everything and that was one of the considerations. My question would be why not consider it? I mean, if you are buying one any how, why not get one that will perform the functions it is "designed" for as well as play a few games?

[Kati Compton]

The turning on - I had it happen once in the cradle, once out of the cradle (although shortly after taking it out). I'll look into the settings.
It's in the server tab, under options, in ActiveSync on the PPC. You definitely want to turn it off (in fact, you can turn them all off). It will keep on happening otherwise. In fact, it might be happening more frequently and you don't notice, as it turns itself back off afterwards.


FYI - I'm lazy and am only now doing this. Under the Server tab I don't see what option it could be. When I go to the *Schedule* tab there's the "When connected to my PC, synchronize every" setting. I've now turned that off. I assume that's the one causing problems?

[Janak Parekh]

FYI - I'm lazy and am only now doing this. Under the Server tab I don't see what option it could be. When I go to the *Schedule* tab there's the "When connected to my PC, synchronize every" setting. I've now turned that off. I assume that's the one causing problems?
Yes, sorry for the confusion :oops:. You can safely uncheck every item on the Schedule tab.

--bdj

[Kati Compton]

Yes, sorry for the confusion :oops:. You can safely uncheck every item on the Schedule tab.


Not a problem. I thought that was right, but wanted to check to be sure.

[mookie123]

Yes, sorry for the confusion :oops:. You can safely uncheck every item on the Schedule tab.


Not a problem. I thought that was right, but wanted to check to be sure.

Just a reminder do not uncheck these two boxes

Turn off light at the end of tunnel.
Sync reality with external universe every morning.

[Rirath]

Just a reminder do not uncheck these two boxes

Turn off light at the end of tunnel.
Sync reality with external universe every morning.

Lol... though, a little self contained reality might be good for perspective.

[Kati Compton]

Know of a freeware typing speed test? Of course, the one I'm fastest on is "Backspace"...
Google, as always, has the answer. I literally typed the words you mentioned above. Worship it, for it is god. ;)


FYI - I don't type nearly as fast as I thought, but still a *quite* respectable 75 WPM on the two tests I tried.

http://www.typingtest.com/

This is an online test.

[Janak Parekh]

FYI - I don't type nearly as fast as I thought, but still a *quite* respectable 75 WPM on the two tests I tried.
125 (121 error-corrected) on Huckleberry Finn, 1 min. Dunno about 3, I'd get pretty fed up trying to type incorrect grammar :) However, after about 100 thesis pages I probably won't want to type anymore...

Also, the user interface on that one is a bit weak. I like being able to see a caret, etc.

If we ever do head-to-head, we'll do it with code. :-P

--bdj

[Kati Compton]

125 (121 error-corrected) on Huckleberry Finn, 1 min. Dunno about 3, I'd get pretty fed up trying to type incorrect grammar :) However, after about 100 thesis pages I probably won't want to type anymore...

Also, the user interface on that one is a bit weak. I like being able to see a caret, etc.

If we ever do head-to-head, we'll do it with code. :-P


It was the first one I saw that let you type more than a single sentence.

Given that your speed is twice that of mine, I think I'll pass. ;) Did you get your name up on the top score list?

[Janak Parekh]

Given that your speed is twice that of mine, I think I'll pass. ;) Did you get your name up on the top score list?
My point was, that, once I'm writing my thesis, I'll be crippled and only able to type 60 WPM. :P

Re top score: I didn't even check. There are freakishly fast people out there, I'd assume I wouldn't come close.

--janak

[Kati Compton]

My point was, that, once I'm writing my thesis, I'll be crippled and only able to type 60 WPM.


Yeah - while you're writing your thesis with the other hand!


Re top score: I didn't even check. There are freakishly fast people out there, I'd assume I wouldn't come close.


I believe "freakishly fast" describes you. Most people think my typing (at half the speed of yours) is pretty darn fast. You would have made the list - The highest I saw was something like 135.

[takotchi]

My results were...

Huck Finn
Gross 84
Errors 6
Net 78
Accuracy 92%

I'm not really used to typing dashes and hick-talk, but I did okay.

[Janak Parekh]

Yeah - while you're writing your thesis with the other hand!
I wish. If I could write my thesis with one hand at 60WPM, I could buy a second computer, surf, eat lunch, etc. with the other. Would be oh so useful. :-P

I believe "freakishly fast" describes you. Most people think my typing (at half the speed of yours) is pretty darn fast. You would have made the list - The highest I saw was something like 135.
Thanks for the compliment ;) ... but, honestly, 120wpm is nowhere near the fastest typists. http://sominfo.syr.edu/facstaff/dvorak/blackburn.html has some info on who might be the current fastest typist. She can easily hit over 200wpm, and can do 150wpm sustained. I hit 120+ by going absolutely nuts for 1 minute - if I were to do that for 3 minutes I'd be exhausted :D

--janak

[takotchi]

Is everyone here using the QWERTY layout or are some of you using the Dvorak layout? I tried switching to Dvorak but some things (like thumb keyboards) you can't change so I gave up on that little idea. :?

[ThomasC22]

Is everyone here using the QWERTY layout or are some of you using the Dvorak layout? I tried switching to Dvorak but some things (like thumb keyboards) you can't change so I gave up on that little idea. :?

I tried Dvorak but what it comes down to is you can't carry a keyboard around with you everywhere and if you use you're home/work PC the most you'll get trained in Dvorak and then start to lose the ability to type quickly on a normal keyboard.

Bottom line: if the world switches, I'll switch. Otherwise, it's QWERTY for me.

[VidGameKing]

I can type 31 wpm wow thats a whole lot fastert than I could before.

[solus]

talk about straying from the original post, lol :lol:

--------------

btw, I type 110-120 wpm. :wink:

[Kati Compton]

Okay - here's another test - how fast is everybody (not including the French) on FRENCH keyboards?

I get down to the 2 index finger typing on those. "AZERTY". Ugh. Fine for the French I'm sure, but very difficult to type on for me.

[Janak Parekh]

Okay - here's another test - how fast is everybody (not including the French) on FRENCH keyboards?

I get down to the 2 index finger typing on those. "AZERTY". Ugh. Fine for the French I'm sure, but very difficult to type on for me.
Those drive me NUTS. I was doing some consulting in Morocco (seriously, I was! :D), and I was losing my head until the last day (it was about a week), at which point the key layout started sinking in. Of course, once I came back I kept on messing up those few keys that are different.

Unfortunately, I wasn't using the machine for extended periods of time, otherwise I would just have gone into Control Panel and changed the language/layout.

--janak

[Kati Compton]

I was at a conference in France where they had maybe 3 computers hooked up to the internet that we could use. On one of them, someone changed it to the US layout and then wrote the "correct" letters on the keys in pen. I agree with changing the layout, but defacing the keyboard seemed a bit much... It was especially bad after someone changed it back to the French layout, but the keyboard was still marked up as US.

[mookie123]

at least they didn't remap the keyboard to Dvorak configuration. Linux has a patch for that heh heh.