Log in

View Full Version : My Review of the X51v


Joelacrane
08-02-2006, 03:09 AM
My last pda was an HP iPAQ RX3115. I started looking for something new when WM5 came out, as HP did not provide me with an upgrade.

After much thought, I decided to purchase an Axim X51v.

I thought the Axim was ugly in the pictures, but in person, it is very pleasing to the eye. It doesn't look nearly as tall. The back is curved, so it rests very comfortably in my hand. The back is also slightly rubbery, making it easier to grip. The SD card "clicks" in, while the CF card slides in and out.

The screen is beautiful. I could never go back to QVGA. Even on the lowest setting, it is bright. Programs not designed for VGA look a little pixelly, but the OS does a good job of making everything look fine. For example, the background picture (And all icons) in Skype looks pixellated, but all text looks sharp and clear. Speaking of Skype, the speaker is under the d-pad, and the mic to the left of the Dell logo on the top front of the unit. It works well for Skype, with crystal clear calls.

The unit includes two games, Toy Golf and Georally EX. Toy Golf is a very amusing 3d game that involves hitting a golf ball around on tabletops full of books and various items depending on what room you are in. The rooms are actually well detailed for such a simple game. It looks very nice and only stutters when the cup of steaming coffee in the kitchen comes into view.

Georally is a little rally game with some very large and nice looking 3d enviroments. It doesnt have the racing depth of games like the Gran Turismo series, but it does have some different cars. You cant manually shift, and you can only race a ghost car. Its more of an arcade racer, and it is entertaining. There are some neat details, for example; you can see the driver and passenger in the car, and you can even see the driver steer.

Both games take avantage of the 3d videocard and look great. Worms world party runs fine, although it looks a little pixellated and amazingly drops framerates during heavy action, just like my old 300mhz iPAQ! Weird.

One other program included is a battery/memory today plugin. I hated it. It discards the date and time today plugin! Ridiculous!

I've heard people complain the WM5 is sluggish.

Whatever.

The cradle will not charge on USB, but it does have an extra charge slot for a spare battery. A little light on the front of the cradle shows orange during the charging of the spare, and green upon completion. The Pda does the same thing with its own light in the power button. The cradle is a little heavy, but not heavy enough to lift the unit out with one hand. Snug enough that a bump wont tip it out, and heavy enough that a bump wont send it off the edge of the desk. Ok, that works.

Buttons... 4 on the front, 2 on the side. I wish it had 6 on the front for softkeys. Oh well. The buttons aren't nearly as clicky, much better for games! The side buttons are not close to the top, making the Rec button a little hard to reach when playing games in landscape mode. They are usable though.

My all time favorite program, Kasuei Hitchhiker, works fine, but it does not shut off WLAN. Dangit. PocketNester runs well, PocketSNES and PocketGBA do not, even the OpenGL accelerated versions. I must be doing something wrong.

Sound is good, WiFi range seems fine, battry life has been ok so far. With ROM version A12, I have had no memory card, power, or ActiveSync problems.

Did I mention that I am writing this on my Axim right now?

EDIT: Added some stuff about the two included games and Today plugin.

Nurhisham Hussein
08-02-2006, 06:41 AM
Nice review!


Worms world party runs fine, although it looks a little pixellated and amazingly drops framerates during heavy action, just like my old 300mhz iPAQ! Weird.

That's because the CPU has to work overtime because of pixel-doubling (though by rights it's fourpling :lol: ) and because the program is not using the GPU - non-VGA optimised programs actually use up more battery than VGA-optimised versions.

The cradle will not charge on Usb....

A common problem with all VGA devices - the power draw is too much to charge the battery AND run the PDA at the same time on the 500mA that a typical USB port provides.

Menneisyys
08-05-2006, 04:21 PM
Nice review!


Worms world party runs fine, although it looks a little pixellated and amazingly drops framerates during heavy action, just like my old 300mhz iPAQ! Weird.

That's because the CPU has to work overtime because of pixel-doubling (though by rights it's fourpling :lol: ) and because the program is not using the GPU - non-VGA optimised programs actually use up more battery than VGA-optimised versions.

The cradle will not charge on Usb....

A common problem with all VGA devices - the power draw is too much to charge the battery AND run the PDA at the same time on the 500mA that a typical USB port provides.

Yup. In this case, however, the Axim cradle doesn't even let for USB charging (it's not cabled in), as opposed to, say, the hx4700 or the Pocket Loox 720 cradle and similar to, say, old (36xx, 37xx, 2210) iPAQ cradles.

Menneisyys
08-05-2006, 04:27 PM
The unit includes two games, Toy Golf and Georally EX.

I also recommend the demo of Enigmo. It also comes on the CD. You may also want to read my review of the game (along with all the other available 2700G-enabled games.)


Georally is a little rally game with some very large and nice looking 3d enviroments. It doesnt have the racing depth of games like the Gran Turismo series, but it does have some different cars. You cant manually shift, and you can only race a ghost car. Its more of an arcade racer, and it is entertaining. There are some neat details, for example; you can see the driver and passenger in the car, and you can even see the driver steer.

I also recommend the 2700G version of Stuntcar Extreme, particularly if you want to see much better visuals than in Georally EX. I’ve just posted its review to the Dell forum here at PPCT.

I've heard people complain the WM5 is sluggish.

But not on the A12 x51v. x51v is REALLY fast. I have two other WM5 devices so I have something to compare to.

Buttons... 4 on the front, 2 on the side. I wish it had 6 on the front for softkeys.

Agreed. Dell didn’t want to re-engineer the front with real hardware WM5 soft buttons. It was a big mistake – they would be very useful.

PocketNester runs well, PocketSNES and PocketGBA do not, even the OpenGL accelerated versions. I must be doing something wrong.

Yup. Read the PocketGBA tutorials over at sunbug.net. Note that I’ve also posted my PocketGBA reviews and tutorials here at PPCT; do a forum search.

Joelacrane
11-14-2006, 07:47 AM
Never did get those emulators working, but I am looking forward to the release of Call of Duty 2.