Zaurus 3100 Review @ The Gadgeteer.com

[Remedy]

Did anyone checkout the The-Gadgeteer.com? Would you agree or disagree with Con's left @ the conclusion?

[icruise]

Well, I would agree, but that's because I wrote it.  Did you have an issue with any of them?

[GadgetGuy]

Great article!

I think icruise really well summarized the pros and cons!

[jfv]

On the whole was a very good review, but one thing that I think is not right is to say that there is better software for palm and wince than for the Zaurus. Depends. For instance, for web browsers and pdf viewers the Z wins hands down and these are important apps nowadays.

Felipe

[dhns]

Well, I would agree, but that's because I wrote it.  Did you have an issue with any of them?
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Yes, I disagree slightly with

Only available through importers and must be converted to English if you don't understand Japanese

Sharp Europe would also be just an importer from Sharp Japan. So, what is the drawback?

And some of the importers do a really good job in conversion to English. I think the conversion you show on your screen dumps is by far not the best one you can get to and might be misleading.

-- hns

[icruise]

Sharp Europe would also be just an importer from Sharp Japan. So, what is the drawback?

The drawback is that you can't buy them in regular stores (they used to be available in Best Buy), you can't get official support from Sharp, etc etc.

And some of the importers do a really good job in conversion to English. I think the conversion you show on your screen dumps is by far not the best one you can get to and might be misleading.

-- hns
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Umm, I didn't use a conversion at all. The screenshots are in Japanese, except for things like Opera that are English only.

[Meanie]

I think the review got it just right. Only nag I could find was that the picture comparing the Zaurus to the iPod looked more like a C3000 than a C3100

[dhns]

Sharp Europe would also be just an importer from Sharp Japan. So, what is the drawback?

The drawback is that you can't buy them in regular stores (they used to be available in Best Buy), you can't get official support from Sharp, etc etc.

Ok, that is based on the marketing muscles (i.e. budgets) put into by a large company like Sharp Europe or Sharp USA which the importers can't do. Yes, Sharp could do that better.

Official support by Sharp wasn't that good (besides some individuals within Sharp). You remember that they unplugged the fora and developer servers without notice and all the stuff that is available here on oesf was rescued by users?

-- hns

[icruise]

I'm just saying that for most people, having an official corporate presence behind a product is reassuring. Many businesses will not allow their employees to buy something from an importer, but might if it were commonly available from mainstream sources. That, combined with the "converting to English" business can make a lot of people who might consider the Zaurus otherwise write it off from the very beginning, and that's too bad.

It's not a deal breaker for me, obviously, since I bought one, and I understand what you're saying. But it would be a serious negative in many people's minds, and I think it's worth noting as a negative aspect.

[chiark]

Can't really fault that - it's a good review.  Excellent work.

[Merardon]

A good review. The only thing I disagreed with were the "lack of applications". I've never found the amount of software to be lacking -- indeed there is quite a bit of software that works great on the Zaurus. Sure, there's technically more software for, say, the Palm, but 70% of it is rubbish anyways.

I much prefer using the command line for everything, but yes, more GUI editing utilities would be helpful for those who don't feel similarly.