What to buy?

[J2theIZZO]

Hey Guys & Gals,

Hoping you can help me out as i'm looking at buying my first Pocket PC, currently a crazy Symbian user (SE P800, 7650's etc...) <read Addict>, but I fancy seeing what a PPC is like too, well that's the only excuse I can come up with at the moment, I could have a 'gadget' addiction, but i'm sure passing it off as something to do with work/appointments/business use will do for now.

Here is my shortlist that I have got so far:

Dell X5 (The 400Mhz version)
Toshiba e570 or e740 (Most likely e740)
Fujitsu Siemens LOOX (Bit of a wildcard)

Basicly i've looked at Ipaq's and thought they are like the prefered brand to people, so they are over priced compared with the likes of the Dell and Toshiba....People please feel free to set me straight if there are any major differences, but they just seem to really over priced in my eyes.

The main features I want from a PPC are Type II CF slot (For microdrives) or at least an SD slot, I've heard you can get pretty good Divx playback from one of these, and i'm sure the software ain't half bad either.

I figured a 400Mhz cpu is a must?, so that is pretty high on the list, but I guess there is little difference between that and a 300Mhz?...bah! this is so confusing :lol:

Basicly, is there anything I should steer clear off?...and will the same software run on all of the listed machines, as one is also a 'Smartphone' so I assume it uses some other guise of Pocket PC 2002?.....but not the Smartphone OS right?....I don't want to touch that OS with someone elses! :lol:

Anywho, i'm starting to waffle, if someone would be kind enough to steer me in the right direction I would be very happy camper.

Jordan :)

[ntractv]

My 2 cents:

I'm like you on waffling on what to buy. I currently have an iPAQ 3835 and I'm in the market to upgrade. Rumor and speculation have it that the new 128mb devices, 400mhz and PocketPC 2003 OS are coming out around June. It's up to you but I would hold out until then. Even if it really does come out as anticipated, if so, it would surely a price drop affect on the devices you mentioned.

[J2theIZZO]

Thanks for the super quick reply. 8O

While all of the new upgrades sound great, i'm itching for some PPC action, so I doubt I can wait much longer...I aim to have the device in less than a week, maybe because my P800 is away for repairs and i'm missing it. But now is as good a time as ever to jump in head first I think.

Having a quick read of another thread, seems the X5 has great battery life, but is fairly bulky....it's damn cheap though...thinking of going ahead and ordering straight off the Dell site.

Either that, or there are some cheap e740's going on Ebay at the moment, seems like a worthy device.....see....i'm waffling again :lol:

:roll:

[Sslixtis]

Personally, i'd stay away from the Toshiba e740 myself. Aside from having heard of some problems with the e740's they don't have the Transflective screen and since you are interested in video I'd think you'd want the best screen. The e750's have the Transflective screen and it is 3.8" as opposed to the 3.5" screen in the e740. Not to mention the e740 has the Xscale PXA250 400Mhz CPU which has a 100Mhz bus while the e750 has the Xscale PXA255 400Mhz CPU with a 200Mhz bus which from some reports gives you up to a 40% speed improvement! 8O

All that said, I have an Axim X5 400Mhz and I love it but I too would wait for the next generation devices which should start hitting the market in the next month or so. There is the new iPaq 2200 which will supposedly have dual slots both CF and SD. And then there is the New Mitac 558, Asus a620 and a710, and the Viewsonic v37's coming soon! :lol:

Anyway that's my http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/icon_penny.gif

HTH, Cheers!

[Pony99CA]

Here is my shortlist that I have got so far:

Dell X5 (The 400Mhz version)
Toshiba e570 or e740 (Most likely e740)
Fujitsu Siemens LOOX (Bit of a wildcard)

[...]

Basicly, is there anything I should steer clear off?...and will the same software run on all of the listed machines, as one is also a 'Smartphone' so I assume it uses some other guise of Pocket PC 2002?.....but not the Smartphone OS right?....I don't want to touch that OS with someone elses!

I don't believe any of those devices you listed is a "smart phone". At one time, it was rumored that the Loox would ship with Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition, but I don't believe that it did. They were going to ship a wireless module for the Loox, but it seems they now just sell a CompactFlash phone card.

As Sslixtis (what kind of name is that :lol:) said, I'd replace the Toshiba e740 with the e750 in that list. If I had to choose, it would be between the Dell and the Toshiba, with the deciding factors being price and whether you wanted WiFi built-in.

Steve

[dMores]

loox all the way, baby !

rumors have it that you'll be able to upgrade the OS to ppc2003 once it's released.

it's just so pretty !

hey, i'll trade my loox for your p800 !

;)

[Sheynk]

Go with the e755

it has the fastest proc. available, more memory, and better wifi.



....PS...im selling a barely used one...look for my topic in the Buy/Sell forum or email me

[Pony99CA]

Isn't it ironic that dMores recommends the Loox, but wants to trade his, and Sheynk recommends the Toshiba e755, but wants to sell his (which is only about two weeks old)? What's up with that, guys? :?:

Also, if you want to sell something, why not at least post a link to your ad (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11965)? :-)

Steve

[J2theIZZO]

Thanks for the replys.

Sheynk, the Toshiba e750/755 sounds like my perfect device, but as this is just going to be a 'see if I like it' type thing, I don't fancy spending a huge amount on one, plus your in the US and postage would just add more cost.

I've been biding on ebay for the most part, trying to pick up a cheapish one, but I could easily afford a new Dell X5.

dMores, thanks for the offer..but I wouldn't trade my P800 for anything, don't get me wrong...I'm still one of the biggest Symbian nuts around, but I like to keep an open mind. The P800 is one of the best integrated GSM/Smartphone around IMO....it eats SPV's for breakfast.

With the e740 and it's refelctive screen, couldn't this mearly be solved with a non reflective screen protector? What other problems has this device had?

The Dell is seeming to come out on top at the moment, size isn't a great issue, and there isn't a 802.11b network within 30miles of here i'd like to bet, so that is certainly not on my list of prioritys but would be nice all the same.

As I said, I know with all these 'next generation' devices coming out soon, things are set to get better, but I assume on release these aren't going to be cheap. So if I like what I get this time round there is nothing stopping me from getting a brand new top of the range model next time.

I just want to get the right impression from this device, the way I see it there is no point going full out and getting the $700 PPC when chances are there is not much of a great difference between that and a reasonably priced 2nd hand one of the X5....in the same way i'm not going to get a $50 Monochrome device from 1997. (Altough that's something I thing new Palm users should consider, is it me or has the UI never changed from the III?)

Anyway, i've got some thinking to do, still open to suggestions....but is a 206Mhz 3xxx series Ipaq, going to out perform a 400Mhz Dell or Toshiba, as they seem to priced the same, if not more in some cases.

<insert waffle here>

Cheers, Jordan

[Pony99CA]

With the e740 and it's refelctive screen, couldn't this mearly be solved with a non reflective screen protector? What other problems has this device had?
"Reflective screen" does not mean that you get too many reflections from the screen; it means the e740 uses reflective LCD technology. No screen protector can fix that.

The new Toshibas and the Dells (and most other newer Pocket PCs) use transflective technology, which gives a much brighter image.

Steve

[J2theIZZO]

Doh!, I see what you mean now :oops:

Anyway, I bought a Loox last night for £200, it'll be here tommorow...seemed like a very good price (around $300us) so I thought why not.

I needed Bluetooth for I can use my P800 for Internet/MSN access too, so that would have been an extra £50 on top of the Axim. And after reading some of the problems with the Toshiba I decided against it.

Thanks for everyones help :mrgreen:

Jordan