Re: Heh.. SL-5500 mini-review - Thanks, lookin fwd to it

Have decided that Win2002 MSIE is pure sh** - Just hope am not expecting too much from Oprea on the Zaurus but every review of it is a rave.

Have been very tolerant of MSIE in win2002 but find it bloody hard to navigate with & it seems to behave very erratically (or am missing something). The images don't always get downloaded - even my mickey mouse PALM powered Handspring Visor displays the graphics consistently & acceptably allowing for its res compared to the iPAQ 3870.

The YOPY is nothing short of a big dissapointment - the support is next to non-existant & although have access to their developer site & have done a couple of upgrades to Linux & the filesys - am finding the device to be next to useless.

The SONY PEG-NR70 is a delight but am hampered as to exploring all its extra features due to limited ability to read Japanese characters (can manage the Katakana but the Kanji beats me).

One device that looks very attractive (almost won over the choice to buy the iPAQ) is the new NEC device. It appears to have the ability for direct connection of USB devices but (has a mini-USB port on the side in addition to the USB cradle connection). But, the NEC only had 32MB RAM, no bluetooth (as the iPAQ3870 has) & thus was too expensive for what ya got. It is far nicer looking than the iPAQ 3870 & has 2 expansion slots inaddition to the USB ability. (actually I see it is priced at $599 in US (see prices link below) - bloody ridiculous - maybe they have come down a bit).

[link|http://popularmechanics.com/technology/computers/2001/11/nec_pda_mobilepro_p300/|NEC's attractive PDA]
[link|http://www.nextag.com/NEC_Mobilepro_P300_H~3626197z3znz300314zz1z300314zzmainz2-htm|US Price comparisons]

Cheers

Doug M

This is one nice little unit. Has every thing a PDA user wants but the hand writing reco software could be improved (on iPAQ there are multiple options (as on the YOPY)) that allow you to choose your fav way of entry (PALM style, Conventional chars, mini keyboard, (on iPAQ also free scrip)t, etc). The keyboard is probably the best of them all (iPAQ has to use a clumsy addon). Zaurus, failed to reco the two SD cards that work in my iPAQ, but did reco the CF card (256MB). Zaurus PC software doesn't seem to have the power of all the others in allowing you to browse the PDA directly from the PC (even YOPY supports this in a limited fashion).

Zaurus has no mic or speaker, no big deal but all the others do have & it is useful.

Like Ashton mentioned, I too fumbled around trying to power it on until it twigged that the battery is not in until you install it.

I will do a more detailed comparison report on it cpmpared to the others. Already I can see it has some goods & bads but at last I feel that there is a serious Linux PDA that has the capability to take on Win2002 & achieve an impact (YOPY wasn't likely to do so).

I want to try the Opera browser tonight as that is the weakest item on all other forms of PDA - MSIE on Win2002 is the pits. Browsing is my most important requirement.

But if Opera is no better I will have no hesitation in saying so. Thus far, the iPAQ 3780 has an all round edge because of the wealth of well established extras & add-ons. If Sharp can build on their initial success they might catch Compaq up.

The Zaurus is same size as iPAQ3780 & Sony PEG-NR70. YOPY is the tiniest & would have been a winner if they hadn't stuffed up the screen back-light issue.

Cheers

Doug Marker

(PS thanks for handling this for me Ash)

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