Log in

View Full Version : another newbie question


ckufta
11-29-2004, 08:53 PM
sorry guys, I have another newbie question:
about the CF and SD cards, do you have to buy the same brand that manufactures your ppc, or can you, for example, use hp cards in a dell machine and vice versa?
also, when you have it connected to your computer, can you drag and drop files as if it was a floppy, or do you have to go through a program?
finally, does anyone know what the best ppc is for battery life? I have been looking at Dells, but I'm intereted to hear what other people have to say. Thanks
Cheers

bigkingfun
11-29-2004, 09:11 PM
You can use any brand of CF and SD cards in any brand of PPC. In most cases, the memory branded by HP or Dell is actually made for them by one of the other memory companies anyway.

You can explorer your PPC through Activesync and it will open a standard Windows Explorer screen where you can browse through the various folders and memory cards on your PPC. You can drag and drop files to and from the memory cards from here.

Ripper014
11-29-2004, 09:17 PM
sorry guys, I have another newbie question:
about the CF and SD cards, do you have to buy the same brand that manufactures your ppc, or can you, for example, use hp cards in a dell machine and vice versa?
also, when you have it connected to your computer, can you drag and drop files as if it was a floppy, or do you have to go through a program?
finally, does anyone know what the best ppc is for battery life? I have been looking at Dells, but I'm intereted to hear what other people have to say. Thanks
Cheers

CF and SD cards are generic... and you should be able to use them on any device that supports them.

When connected to your computer via active-sync you can use it like any other connected hard-drive... drag and drop... however for large files you would be better off getting a card reader... It is much faster than transferring through Active-sync.

Battery life varies... but in general the larger the battery the more battery life you get. Imagine that huh... The largest battery... off a floor model PocketPC is the Hx4700.. but this means it is also the largest and heaviest one available... Other options are getting thrid party batteries... in most cases this not the most attractive solution since in a lot of cases it includes a new battery cover to accept the battery, leaving you with a bulge. I believe that Toshiba has an extend battery that just makes your unit thicker. The best overall unit... in this regard is probably the Loox 720... it offers great battery life and maintains a relatively small footprint and stays lightweight.

uzetaab
11-30-2004, 02:09 AM
As a general rule, when a company says "only use our branded accessory", they just want to make more money off you for the accessories When another brand works just as well, if not better. for example, a canon printer works fine on a HP computer.

The only thing you have to be careful off is that the specifications have to match up. Like a canon power supply wont work on a HP printer because the voltage etc is not the same. If however, canon started making power supplies for HP printers, then you would be fine.

Darius Wey
11-30-2004, 01:34 PM
about the CF and SD cards, do you have to buy the same brand that manufactures your ppc, or can you, for example, use hp cards in a dell machine and vice versa?

You can use any brand with your Pocket PC. Remember though, that different makes of the card are set at varying speeds, so you can find some high-end cards which support faster data transfer rates - e.g. Sandisk Ultra II.

also, when you have it connected to your computer, can you drag and drop files as if it was a floppy, or do you have to go through a program?

You would need to use ActiveSync. The Pocket PC does not yet have the functionality to natively appear as a mass storage device in Windows. Alternatively, if you establish a network connection with the PC, you could browse the content of the device from there, but it can be a bit messy sometimes.