Dell Axim X5 400 MHz Pocket PC

To start out, the Dell Axim X 5 is fantastic! 90% of the negative reviews for it have to be from people who shouldn’t have gotten a pocket pc in the first place. I ordered my X5 on a Thursday, and received it the following Tuesday with regular ground shipping. After charging it for the required four hours before turning it on, I had it up and running and synced with my desktop without any problems. I’ve been using it for a week now and am loving it.
The display is bright and easy to read, the battery life is everything it’s supposed to be and I’ve been perfectly happy with the included software. I’m actually writing this review on my X5 using pocket word!
The touchscreen feels sturdy, yet requires only a gentle tap to make an entry. I find the screen easy to look at, and usually keep the brightness level set at 50%. In direct sunlight the colors on the screen do appear washed out though.
I can’t say whether or not Dell customer service is any good or not, but then I don’t know that I’ve ever had a good experience with any companies customer service. I was impressed with how quickly I received my ppc, and how quick and easy it was to start working with it.
I’ve run several high-end multimedia programs on it without any hitches, and highly recommend downloading the free divxmvp program for running videos.
In CNET’s review, they complained about the protector case which comes with it being too large to fit in your pocket. The thing is, it’s not made to be put in your pocket while in the case, it’s a hip case with a sturdy, removable belt clip that holds my Axim securely and protects it from even moderate bumps, as I’m an engineer who has to do a lot of climbing in and around a lot of equipment.
The X5′s shape makes it a pleasure to hold, being slightly tapered at the bottom makes it feel more natural in my hand than a unit which is completely squared off. The rubber grips along the sides of the unit makes it feel very secure while holding it.
On the downside though, I can say that the X5′s navigator button is mushy as others have reported, making it nearly useless for gaming. The sound quality from the single speaker on the face of the unit is only adequate, but what can you expect from a mono speaker? The unit does include a standard 1/4 inch stereo headphone jack which provides excellent sound even with a pair of cheap headphones.
The record button on the left side of the Axim is very tiny, and has to be pushed in with the corner of my thumbnail, which is very hard to do, especially while moving or driving. I suppose on the plus side it does make it virtually impossible to accidentally press the record button.
I’ve found it a little difficult to slip the unit into the syncing/charging cradle, the receptacle on the bottom of the unit doesn’t quite line up as well as it should with it’s male counterpart in the cradle, making me nervous that I could accidentally damage it.
The included documentation, while adequate does seem sparse, mostly consisting of warnings about what not to do with the unit. More tips about what could be done with it would have been nice.
Overall though, the X5 is a great value for the price, which was $269 including shipping and handling direct from Dell. I wouldn’t get rid of it for anything and can’t wait to start getting some of the great accessories available for it. I highly recommend this pocket-pc to anyone in search of powerful windows computing in a compact package.

Peek Pronto Mobile Messaging Device with Lifetime Service Included (Grey)

My Peek and the fine folks at Peek-they call themselves Peeksters-have introduced a whole new side of the Internet to me which is revealing and disturbing all at the same time. I, as well as everyone else on the planet, have long suspected what highway robbers the major wireless carriers are and this was only truly understood by me when I first started to work with my Peek.

A text message is just an e-mail that is limited to 140 characters. You can send a text to your daughter or your husband or anyone by simply typing in their 10 digit telephone number in the to: box of your gmail or yahoo or hotmail account and pressing send. Chances are that you are now sitting at your computer: try it right now to your own cell phone. If your carrier is in compliance (and most but not all are) you will at this moment be freed from the hokey, shadowy, slimy world that are the wireless companies.

This is the premise that the folks at Peek have based their business model upon. They are the counter culture mobile e-mail and text message based company. But there is a price that you as a consumer must pay. If you own an iPhone or a Blackberry then you must play the Internet game under their rules and pay them money to do so at a hefty price.

With Peek the price to play the Internet is minimal but the learning curve to use text based e-mail can be a bit steep. Need to know movie showtimes, or traffic issues, or directions, or the weather picture off the satellite, or sports scores, or breaking news? You can do all of that in e-mail. You can even, in a very limited but useful way, surf the internet with e-mail, but you need to learn the language. You need to know what words to send to what addresses and once you accomplish that the Peek can do the absolute critical things that you really need in a mobile device.

The folks at Peek pride themselves in the fact that their gadget is bone simple, and it is. Your grandma can use a Peek in about two minutes. But you, the clever, savvy consumer, can take that simple gadget and turn it into a highly sophisticated information and communication device. All you need to do is learn the language of e-mail.

Buy this lifetime deal. It will start to pay you back in less than a year. You will be freed. You will never go back.

Peek Pronto Mobile Messaging Device (Grey)

I’ve owned my Peek for eleven days so far, and I like it so much that yesterday I picked up another one at Target for $15 to give to my girlfriend.

So far, my user experience has been excellent. I purchased an upgrade cable directly from Peek and upgraded both of my cheaper, “Classic” devices to the speedier “Pronto” firmware right away. The interface is generally snappy, the email delivery is quick in both directions, and the long battery life has surprised me on multiple occasions. (Two whole days of medium-heavy usage without a charge!)

In my opinion, while the low monthly cost is a very attractive aspect to the Peek, its greatest asset is the fact that it focuses on doing mobile email right. Email is the oldest and most mature Internet technology in wide use today, but people often overlook what it’s capable of.

1) Obviously, emailing back and forth with individuals is very valuable for staying in touch – especially when you have your inbox in your pocket.
2) Peek’s automatic Email<->SMS bridging can be incredibly useful for getting in touch with people who are stuck with SMS.
3) In my case, my phone service (an unbrand VoIP provider) automatically emails me all of my voicemails, so with my Peek I receive instant voicemail notification in my pocket. (Now all we need is a software upgrade to listen to the WAV attachment!)
4) I use Google Calendar, which provides event notification via email. Now, with my Peek, I can be reminded of my upcoming calendar events no matter where I am.
5) With email and a little bit of set-up, you can post to Twitter, your blog, and just about anywhere else. And with a Peek, sending that email has never been so convenient.
6) The Peek maintains a basic contacts list in its database, meaning you can easily store critical contact information (email and phone) for any or all of your contacts.
7) Note taking is quite convenient too, as you can email yourself a note or just save it as a draft.
Peek Pronto now comes with a number of AskPeek.com email services which allow you to request a map, perform a local search, see the weather forecast or traffic alerts for your area, and even request news headlines – all directly from your email only Peek!
9) … And more. (System notifications, information system integration, whatever. Email makes it easy.)

So before you overlook this simple device because it’s only capable of Email, remember just how powerful Email is.

Other miscellaneous points:

1) Peek’s customer service has been astounding so far. They have been prompt, helpful, and courteous. I have bugged them a LOT to help me set up connectivity with my personal domains and my work’s Exchange server, and they have been able to help every time.

2) Peek is incredibly progressive from an openness perspective. The device itself comes with a serial debugging/reflashing port, and Peek offers the special cable for $15 on their site. Much of the inner workings of the device are clearly visible and Peek actively encourages people to play around with them! In fact, they just posted a blog entry two days ago asking if anybody could help port Linux to the Peek hardware platform: http://www.geekypeek.com/?p=344

That spirit of progressiveness can also be seen in the number of firmware upgrades and feature enhancements they’ve released in such a short time, it can be seen in their approach to sharing uptime and infrastructure struggles with the public at large, and it can clearly be seen in their excellent customer support.

3) Over the past 11 days, my email connectivity with Peek has been very good. It’s been reliable and prompt. Today, however, it’s been slow and a little glitchy. Everything has made it through eventually, but I’ve observed some pretty crazy waits. (2+ hours at times.) Customer service admits that they’ve been having server slowdowns due to maintenance last night which apparently did not go exactly as planned. Presumably these service brownouts will not be the norm.

In all, I give the Peek five stars, primarily due to the quality of the hardware, the usefulness of the service, and the customer-oriented attitude of the company. There are (of course) minor glitches, but my enjoyment of the Peek has not been impacted by them so far.

PalmOne m515 Color Handheld

Just like all of my other reviews, I am as honest as possible. I owned a Palm V (the 2 meg version, not Vx) for almost 4 years now, and decided it was about time to upgrade. I had originally purchased the palm V for its ruggedness and small size. I, like many of you need a small PDA else it will not be used. The Palm V is still in perfect condition, but I’ve always wanted a color PDA since I first saw the Palm IIIc (which was big and bulky and had an awkward looking screen).

After much research, I spent the extra bucks on an m515 because of the horrid reviews of the m505. This palm is truly amazing. It has three levels of brightness, off, low and high. To start, I’m a college student and have found that no backlighting (the off setting) due to the reflective screen that palm used works rather well under the flourescent lighting. Incandescent lights? — backlighting on low works best. High is too bright, although works great as a flashlight.

Like the Palm V, the m515 is rugged, sleek and perhaps even better built. It comes with PalmOS 4.1 including notepad and memopad – so now you can scribble quick notes on the screen for “translation” later . Some large perks were the vibration alerts and blinking light alert for reminders HOWEVER the vibration is dull at best. Granted, I can feel it in my pocket, but it doesn’t compare to some cell phone vibrators out there.

I instantly outfitted my m515 with a hardcase from iconcepts (because it was smaller/sleeker than the palm brand case — and VERY sturdy, and WriteRights. Get those two items, and your palm will last years like my old V did .

The screen is gorgeous, and I don’t care about hires 320×320 vs 160×160 (which this palm has) because all I wanted was a splash of color in my life, and here it is! Silverscreen (a launcher) works/looks great, and I have no complaints whatsoever. Anyone thinking of upgrading from a V, its truly worth it. Finally, as a side note, it is a tiny bit heavier than the V, but within the first week I have become acustomed to it. Hopefully this review will help your decision, happy Palming!

Dell Axim X50 Handheld Pocket PC 416MHz

After having my Palm go completely un-synchable, I was determined to find an easy to use, up to date PDA. Though my needs are generally for addresses and appointments, the Axim was so easy to set up and use that I will explore its other uses. The software offers continuous synching while it is attached to my computer, and simple drag-and-drop for moving files from the computer. In short, the Axim suits my needs perfectly and promises easy exploration of other, more entertaining functions.

Palm Z22 Handheld

Please note that I have given the Z22 five stars taking into account the relative value of the price and features. Obviously this is a low-end device, so it is rated accordingly.

I bought one of these for my mother, who is still using a heavily erased and crossed-out address book and paper calendar. She has been reticent to move to electronic organizers, and I eventually decided to get this one for her partly because of the following features:
1) it has NVFS, which means that when my mother invariably forgets to charge it she will not lose all of her information.
2) it is small, light, easy to use and has a color screen.
3) it is a palm, which i’ve used for years and can easily show her some helpful usage tips.

One feature that I didn’t know the Z22 had, and have found to be the real ‘hook’ as far as my mother is concerned is the ability to add images to contacts. Now my mother has pictures of each of her children and grandchildren, which are linked to their contact info. For her, that was the clincher. I think she will finally now give up her address book.

The Z22 has a great form factor, and it resembles the ipod in appearance and size – but the Palm is lighter. The screen isn’t hi res, so don’t expect hi definition with your photos – but it gets the job done. And the processor is certainly speedy enough.

One other nice touch is that a screen protector is included in the package – which I put on first thing. The software is pretty basic, and it includes a silly game called Crazy Daisy which will not likely get any usage.

There is one thing that I found frustrating, but it has to do with the packaging. They must be using a heavier gauge plastic for these packages, because it took me ten minutes to carefully cut through and open it without damaging the contents. Be sure you have a heavy duty exacto knife handy or a very large pair of shears.

Palm TX Handheld

This is, quite simply, the best gadget I have ever owned, and a miracle of technology. Who needs a laptop, an ipod, and a PSP when you can do it all with one device??
NOW WAIT – Before you think I’m just advertising for Palm or something, let me tell you this: After I bought the thing, I got so frustrated I almost returned it. Strange things would happen: programs would be corrupted, icons would disappear, and it would constantly go into an infinite reset loop, which is a common complaint around here. After checking with Palm, and searching around, the consensus seemed to be that it was a software conflict (Unlike most older Palms, the TX uses non-volatile memory, so info is not lost if the unit loses all power. But the creates conflicts with some older software). But I didn’t think it could be a software conflict, because the problems happened even when I wasn’t using any software.

Finally, I found a website that saved my sanity. It has a list of software which conflicts with the TX (something Palm should have put out). Previously, I put the link in my review, but Amazon erased it. I guess I’m not allowed to put hyperlinks here. Anyway, do a web search, it is worth it. In my case, it turned out the problem was my AOL palm software. Incredibly, AOL worked fine but was causing conflicts with everything else, even when I wasn’t using it! I deleted the AOL and everything has been just fine ever since!

Some comparisons:
I am currently in Iraq and wanted a portable device to keep me entertained. I almost bought a PSP, but I’m glad I didn’t. Yes, the TX costs $100 more, but it is still cheaper in the long run because many great games for the Palm are free, and even the ones you pay for don’t cost as much as PSP games. Some of my friends who got PSPs are jealous of my TX, since it is far more versatile, smaller, batteries last just as long, I can wirelessly surf the web, and it also has a bright beautiful screen. But unlike a gaming unit, I can also do office work on it.
I also considered the Lifedrive, but it is more bulky than the TX. Plus, with 4gb and higher SD cards now becoming available, the extra memory on the Lifedrive is not quite so much of an advantage anymore. The only real thing the Lifedrive has over the TX is the voice recorder, something I had no use for myself.

Some essential software that’s free:
TCPMP (The core pocket media player) will play movies much better than the Media player included with the bundled software. To use it, you will need software to convert your DVDs. If you google, you will find dozens out there, but VEMode is the best of the free ones. If you pay a little, you will find ones that are better at copying encrypted DVDs, and some other tasks.

Blackborder by Canuck – This simply puts a 2 pixel black border around the screen (as opposed to the default white border). Suprisingly, this small change greatly improves the look of the screen and makes the colors stand out better.

FileZ – A file management program, that works like windows explorer. It is much better at managing files than the file manager built into the Palm. Its absolutely necessary for seeing everything on your memory card.

HP iPAQ 211 Enterprise Handheld (210 Series)

I’ve been using Windows Mobile and Windows CE products for almost 10 years. I’ve owned the 4700, 2595 and now the 211. My wife has the 110. I use these devices extensively and have an entire workflow planned around it. It goes everywhere with me. My requirements are such that a converged device doesn’t provide much use to me: processor usually too weak, memory too little, and definitely the screen too small.

I bought the 211 about a month ago. Here are my impressions:

- My first reaction was “BIG!”. It is bigger than all my other devices. It’s thick, more so than the 4700. The weight is ok, though. I don’t think about the size any more. I’ve gotten used to it.
- The screen does require more pressure to operate, but again, I’m used to it now and it’s forgotten. I haven’t noticed different pressure reactions on different screen locations.
- The screen is perfect. To address previous comments about being able to see more stuff: I scan all my documents and commit to PDF. Everything. Then I sync to the 211′s SD card. I have a lightweight PDF reader, and I can read PDFs easily without scrolling horizontally. I can’t come close to doing that with my wife’s 110, or my 2495. Yes, you can fit much more on the screen, and it’s much much sharper than any other device. Yes, the unit takes advantage of the higher resolution: it’s not just bigger pictures on a bigger screen, honestly. Having said that, it’s up to the application to do that. Most do.
- I have *not* noticed any negative performance difference between this and my previous devices. It’s as fast as my 2495 and my wife’s 110.
- I have approximately 30 applications(!) on it. None have had compatibility issues. And because of the impressive amount of memory, I still have approxiamtely 55% of storage memory left.
- Yes, there’s a proprietary cable for sync and power. However, there’s also a mini-USB port, so the proprietary cables aren’t necessary at all. I don’t travel with them. I only use a retractable mini-USB for charging and synchronization. It’s really not an issue.
- Battery life is better than the 4700 and the 2495.
- I love the buttons. I honestly don’t understand the criticisms I have read about them. I’m happy.
- Bluetooth and WiFi have worked without any issues. My only complaint here is for WM6: it can’t connect to my work WiFi network because WM6 doesn’t support WPA enterprise.

Sorry for the rambling review. Just wanted to give my opinion on issues raised here. It’s the perfect device for my requirements: no converged phone/PDA, and I don’t need a camera. BTW, my employer gave me a 8525. I don’t use it at all. It simply can’t do what the 211 does.

Palm Tungsten E2 Handheld

This is my first organizer ever. I’m totally impressed. After reading some of the reviews here I was scared to put my money on any of these things. Seems like someone had complained about every model out there. This one had at least above average reviews, and I liked the fact that fewer people complain about the soft boot issue.
Now it’s two months later and I can’t imagine living without it. I’m a college teacher, with lots of faculty meetings to track, plus a freelance business, and the usual dentist and car appointments. I used to keep a paper “to do” list in my shirt pocket, but it doesn’t ring if I forget to scan it several times a day. In short, my life is so busy that I was beginning to drop appointments.

I’m happy to report that this tungsten e2 syncs perfectly with Microsoft Outlook 2002. There are a few minor anomalies, but nothing that is a deal breaker. I was disturbed at first to discover that the thing is never really off. I would have liked to be able to totally turn it off when I had no appointments coming up, to save juice. However I’ve found that this is a none issue. It runs for at least 4 days, sometimes a week and a half before needing a charge.

The operating system seems quite solid. It locks up maybe once every 2 to 3 weeks, but that requires just a tap of a pen on the reset button on the back, and it comes back all happy in a couple seconds. When I was installing third party software every couple days it would lock up more frequently, but I’ve got everything I need now, and things have settled down.

I don’t use it for email, or for surfing the net. I have a laptop for that, and I didn’t want to pay an extra hundred for the wifi card.

The coolest thing about this e2 is the calendar and alarm, the tasks list, and the contacts. With the hot buttons on the front to access these vital functions, this thing never leaves my person. I even take it climbing in my backpack. Never know when I might want to make a note about something, or meet a new friend and exchange phone numbers.
After I bought it and realized how useful it was, I was tempted to exchange it for the treo, which has all this, plus a phone…until I found out that you have to pay at least $50 a month to the phone service to make the internet stuff work. Scratch that! I love this thing. It’s perfect for my needs. I did buy the 2 year replacement policy from circuit city. $30 seemed like a small price to pay for peace of mind.

The software you can get for Palms is amazing. Here is my list of essential software:
Uninstall Manager – Northglide
BDicty 5.9 Pro – dictionary, thesaurus and conjugator
Pocket Tunes from Normsoft (it is compatible with the “plays for sure” windows media player files. I can play free downloadable audio books from the library.)
Tide Tool 2.2 – toolworks dot com (if you live near saltwater, a must have)
MessageEase V.5 – faster than graffiti for entering text, and it’s free!
AvantGo – captures websites off the net when synced, view them on the commute later. – free!

PalmOne m500 Handheld

The Palm m500 is very similar to the very versatile Palm Vx in many ways. Palm has added some features that make this model even better. The interface with the PC and hotsync tasking is flawless.

The response time and speed of this unit is very much improved as is it’s overall functionality given the software package. Coming with Documents to go, AOL and Power One, the software just keeps getting better. Now I can take my important documents and spreadsheets with me.

It has a nice greyscale screen and is much lighter than the Vx model. Eight MB of RAM might not be enough, but it can be expanded through the use of memory cards. I’ve backed up all of my data, e-books, databses and applications on one card which [are fairly inexpensive].

I highly recommend the Palm m500 for professional uses. It’s wide variety of supplementary accessories also makes this model a plus. My only criticism is that the power button does protrude more than the Vx model. In the Palm hard case, the power button does turn on inadvertently at times. Hopefully better hard cases will become available for those, who like me insist on such accessories. Overall, a very responsive, high quality unit.