So now how do you like your Dell? [Archive]

crispeto

01-04-2003, 02:42 AM

gwizard

01-04-2003, 02:45 AM

Mine shall be arriving before the week ends...I will let you know then :wink:

jerryd

01-04-2003, 02:56 AM

I figure many of us have had our new Axims for a little while now. Just wondering what your overall impression of it is. Are you happy with it? I love mine. Especially the two slots, screen, battery life, and price!

I love it! No problems at all, agree about the screen, 2 slots and outstanding btty life. Also easy to use, no problem running a number of pgms at once. Glad I waited for this to come out. :D

fargonaz

01-04-2003, 03:08 AM

I love it, compared to the old ipaq 3650 w/ dual sleeve, it is svelte.
I believe the applications that make better use of the Xscale, and the video processor will forthcoming. I can wait.
The only thing I really miss is the speed of the network card, for syncing and file transfers. I can wait for this also.
And the screen, it is almost painful to look at the ipaq.
For 299 I couldn't pass it up.

kellys26

01-04-2003, 03:55 AM

I love mine! It's my first pocket PC, and I am glad Dell offered something that I was comfortable with the price and features. I was very concerned about battery life, and I'm so happy with Dell in that regard. I am using it all day, and I'm so impressed!
Kelly

The Big Jay

01-04-2003, 05:20 AM

I like it a lot. However, the d-pad is enough of a bother that I don't use it very much.

Job

01-04-2003, 06:37 AM

I am very pleased w/ my Dell. Of course, I have a few minor gripes, but nothing to compare to the benefits. A small question tho . . . I have not been impressed w/ the battery life, I see two possible reasons why . . .

A) I am coming from a Palm.
B) I charged it exactly 4 hours if not a few minutes less, could that have had a major impact?

Kati Compton

01-04-2003, 06:42 AM

Rirath

01-04-2003, 06:56 AM

I am very pleased w/ my Dell. Of course, I have a few minor gripes, but nothing to compare to the benefits. A small question tho . . . I have not been impressed w/ the battery life, I see two possible reasons why . . .

Well I don't know what kind of life Palms get... but coming from a palm to a 400mhz xscale is quite the jump. Still, I'd say if you're not impressed, there's either something wrong with your unit's battery or you're just really apathetic. :wink:

dartman

01-04-2003, 04:24 PM

Oveall I'm very pleased with the Axim. I didn't realize how poor the battery in my Ipaq 3650 had become.

The screen colors are much richer. It seems like I've had to do a few more soft resets than before but maybe it's just because I'm installing everything at once. So far all programs have worked with no problems.

I use a dlink wireless CF card which worked immediately but it seems to draw down the battery. It was almost useless with the Ipaq.

BTW, Anybody have any expericence with the Socket CF card? It's supposed to have low power consumption. Is it that much better than the other cards?

dart

grobin

01-04-2003, 06:58 PM

I got my Axim yesterday and unfortunately had to let it charge for 4 hours (which it needed anyway) while I took care of other business. 8 pm last night I finally got a chance to play with it.

I played with it until 2:30 am ....

And I am tickled pink! It is my first handheld and I am in love with it. My Linksys CF wireless card was easy to setup and works great. Battery life seems real good, too. I also added a 128mb SD Memory card and it works very well.

I layed in bed until 2:20 am reading an e-book and surfing the web -- all without disturbing the wife (who hates when I read late AND have a light on. The Axim's screen is great and doesn't bother her.

The only thing I haven't got to work that is important to me is -- audiobooks from audible.com. Every audible manager I download -- I get an error saying it is NOT a PPC application.

Either I need to do something else OR audible.com's program is not compatable with the Axim or it's O.S.

Still lots to explore and learn BUT I am really pleased with my Axim!

shawnc

01-04-2003, 07:13 PM

The "D" pad really sucks, but other than that this is one great machine. I replaced my Ipaq 3650 and this machine is GRREEAAATTTT! I'm not really a techie so I will be exploring new things for the next couple of months, but I feel very comfortable with my decision.

I had ordered the V35 from Amazon and got tired of their constant pushing back of the delivery date. Then I considered the H1910 for the form factor, but CF/Microdrive is much cheaper than SD and I have many MP3's. Also, I keep hearing that the Axim will be upgradable where the H1910 probably will not. I don't plan on using wireless connectivity so the dual slots was not critical to me. But you never know what the future holds and it is better to have it and not need than vice-versa.

All in all, I think the Axim is the BEST deal going. Now, if they would only ship my keyboard :twisted: !

Rirath

01-04-2003, 07:15 PM

Job

01-04-2003, 10:14 PM

Concerning my battery life: I need to recharge every night, that said, I really can't specify how much I use it.

Hope this info helps tho:

a) I listen to MP3s at least once a day, often for 1/2 hour to an hour, screen dimmed.

b) Normal POutlook programs fairly frequently.

c) Gaming, not much lately.

d) Brightness set at the lowest viewable setting.

e) Sync at least once or twice a day, usually large files . . . does that drain the battery much?

f) Using Avantgo or reading eBooks. Time: 1 hour?

For example, my battery is currently at 90%. It is 4:00, it has been in the cradle (not connected to power) for about an 1/2 hour, while I have been surfing PPCThoughts. Synced once, transferred about 30mb of info to a CF card. Fiddled around w/ tasks this morning for 15 min. Read "Alice in Wonderland" for 15 min. As I write this, my battery now reads 93%. The backup reads 80%. That's it . . . I would say battery is below 50% by midnight usually. Any help is much appreciated.

Rirath: "apathetic," what do you mean? I use my PPC quite frequently, so . . . maybe you meant to use a different word?

Kati Compton

01-04-2003, 10:21 PM

a) I listen to MP3s at least once a day, often for 1/2 hour to an hour, screen dimmed.

b) Normal POutlook programs fairly frequently.

c) Gaming, not much lately.

d) Brightness set at the lowest viewable setting.

e) Sync at least once or twice a day, usually large files . . . does that drain the battery much?

f) Using Avantgo or reading eBooks. Time: 1 hour?

Hmmm... My gut feeling is that something is wrong, as I really think I get more time out of mine than that. I haven't had it go as far down as 40% in a day, even on days when I've been doing lots with it (playing games while mp3'ing for a half hour, plus doing other stuff during the day at various points). It's hard to say, though, as the battery life you seem to be getting still sounds pretty good for PPC, just not the fantastic battery life other Axim users are reporting. Syncing shouldn't drain the battery much if at all if the axim is plugged into the cradle and the cradle has the AC power plugged in.

Brightness is lower than I use it at... How high do you have the sound set?

Rirath

01-04-2003, 11:40 PM

Wonderland" for 15 min. As I write this, my battery now reads 93%. The backup reads 80%. That's it . . . I would say battery is below 50% by midnight usually. Any help is much appreciated.

I don't see what's wrong with this figure. You're telling me one charge a day or two seems like low battery life to you? And for that matter... if you're syncing it twice daily why not charge it at the same time and be done with it? Seems A-ok to me.

Rirath: "apathetic," what do you mean? I use my PPC quite frequently, so . . . maybe you meant to use a different word?

No, I don't believe I did. :) I meant if you're not impressed you're just generally not impressed by anything. :wink: You didn't seem particually depressed about it either... hence, apathetic.

ap·a·thet·ic (²p”…-thµt“¹k) also ap·a·thet·i·cal (-¹-k…l) --adj. 1. Feeling or showing a lack of interest or concern; indifferent. 2. Feeling or showing little or no emotion; unresponsive. [From apathy, on the model of pathetic.] --ap”a·thet“i·cal·ly adv.

ultimate_ed

01-05-2003, 04:02 AM

Finally got mine last night. Quite agonizing waiting for that thing to do it's first charge up.

Anyway, I was up till midnight playing with it. Overall, it's quite cool. DPAD works flawlessly and the screen is very responsive to the stylus, much more so than any Palm I've owned or used.

The only issue I'm having so far is Windows Media playback. I rendered a couple of videos of my daughter from Adobe Premiere at 320x240 resolution using both the V7 and V8 codecs. In both cases, when playing back full screen, it just hangs the video at the start of the clip. The audio plays just fine.

I'm sure there's just something I'm doing wrong to figure out. Otherwise, it's a fantastic little machine. And I do mean little. I dunno what all this talk has been about that this thing is too big. It's basically the same size as the Palm III's that I've used before.

Roosterman

01-05-2003, 04:21 AM

I am very happy also with mine. Job, as far as the battery life goes, the best thing to do is keep real good track of the usage time and don't charge until it goes to at least the first warning, 20%. See how much time you have in at that point. I am amazed at how much time there is left once you hit 20%. Using my linksys cf wireless card I can get 4 plus hours of constant surfing and I am at 10% battery left. I would think from the type of use you discribe you would get 8-9 hours of use. Good luck with it and let us know how it works out.

Job

01-05-2003, 05:15 AM

Thanks for the replies . . . Rirath, I am well aware of the definition of apathetic, but thanks for the explanation . . . I am not particularly unhappy about the battery life, it just seemed as if others were getting more. . . Roosterman, I was roaming Dale Coffing's Pocket PC Passion site the other day and came across a FAQ with some interesting information, specifically that you should not run you Li-on battery down heavily . . . have you ever heard that before? Thanks, Kati, for your response as well, I have the AC adapter separated from my cradle, so it doesn't charge while syncing.

Roosterman

01-05-2003, 05:58 AM

Roosterman, I was roaming Dale Coffing's Pocket PC Passion site the other day and came across a FAQ with some interesting information, specifically that you should not run you Li-on battery down heavily . . . have you ever heard that before?
Can't say that I have. What was the reasoning given? Haven't seen any ill effects on my laptop from doing this or the Axim so far.

Computer Ninja

01-05-2003, 09:09 AM

I've had mine since Christmas, and have since bought a 256MB SD card and the Linksys 802.11b card. I have to say that I am 100% thrilled with this thing. I'm still learning the ins and outs of PocketPC 2002. I came from having a Handspring Visor Deluxe for about two years, and then abandoned it after it broke and wouldn't sync anymore. I have to say, the Axim X5 is KICK ASS!

I love it so much that I started a site, www.aximusers.com. Feel free to check it out.

I, too, have to complain a little about the d-pad. It's not as slick as you'd want it to be. I wish it was a little stiffer. It seems to be a little loose, causing some of my d-pad actions to fail miserably. Maybe it takes a little getting used to, but after trying it periodically over the past week, it's not living up to what I thought it would be like.