Is the 5600 the best PDA for the price?

[Joeboo]

Hey,

I\'ve been window shopping the Dell X5 for a couple months now and I am waiting for its grand reappearence on the market next month.  I like the dual expansion, price, and the battery life (If it wasn\'t for these, I\'d get an X3i)  I want to use my new PDA for e-books, note taking, scheduling, mp3s, games, wifi, vnc, and editing word/excel documents, etc.  The X5, in my mind, is perfect... until I found out about the Zaurus 5600.  It\'s Linux +, open source software ++, smaller memory -, and built in keyboard +++ really got my attention.  

So what\'s the catch?  

Does this thing have any major or minor unfixable problems (it seems like everything software related can be fixed if you are willing to tinker or wait since its linux)?  Does the case have any design flaws?  Does Sharp have good CS/warrenties?  Any bad experiences/complaints besides noobs not being able to figure it out, or that it doesn\'t have one insignificant feature that their iPaq did?

And most important, how\'s the battery life? I know it depends on what you do, but comparisons can still be made (general impressions?).

I know about the 250/255 processor problems (X5 uses the same one) and of course I am gunning for the 255.

Thanks for all the help, I thought I had it all figured out.
Joeboo

[Joeboo]

101 views and no takers?   should I xpost to a different category?

[tumnus]

At it\'s new lower price, the 5600 is probably quite good value for money. The battery life is wonderful, especially compared to the 5500. It easily lasts me the whole day at the office with heavy usage. I can play OGGs for about 4 or 5 hours before the battery meter even goes below 100% (and the 5600 battery meter is quite accurate as opposed to the 5500 battery meter).

I don\'t think it really matters too much about the PXA250/255 issue. There are kernels that give you the full speed with the PXA250 and it seems 5600s shipping with the PXA255 are nobled because they use the same kernel (with the bug workaround on, which slows it down). The only problem with the special kernels and the PXA250 is the VNC Server appears to cause a memory corruption.

The 5600\'s 32MB of RAM is possibly a bit limiting if you want to run things like Apache or have lots of apps set to Fast Load (They stay in memory), but with just my Calendar and Addressbook set to Fast Load, I don\'t have much of a problem and it doesn\'t crash simply because it\'s running low on memory.

The Zaurii seem to have a bit of a problem with MMC/SD cards, which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, but it seems most PDAs have similar problems.

The hardware in general is excellent though. I\'ve owned a 5500 for nearly two years and the sliding keyboard cover shows no sign of breakage. About the only thing they could improve is to make it a bit smaller and use more robust paint.

[ScottYelich]

I dunno... I get tired of saying it.... to me, the clamshell is the only device I\'d consider, unless
the 5500/5600 came dirt cheap (and I got extremely lucky that way).

Yes, I do have a 5600.  I do use it, for test/dev/flashing...  I only use my 760 for \"real\" work.

Scott
ps: yes, this answered a different question.

[Joeboo]

Awsome, thanks for the reply.  Does the VNC problem occur when controling the Z from a PC or the other way around?  I want to access and control my PC wirelessly for things like controling media players, dialing up the internet, streaming mp3s (maybe), etc.

Amazon has the 5600 for $289 right now...  How much is the 760 and where can you get it?

[tumnus]

The C760 was replaced by the C860 and is REALLY expensive. I couldn\'t justify the amount personally no matter how much I would like a VGA screen.

The VNC problem is with the VNC Server running on the Zaurus and VNC client running on a PC, so it is when you are controlling your Z from the PC. The VNC clients on the Z still run fine AFAIK. Besides which there\'s a lot you can do via ssh

[khim]

The C760 was replaced by the C860 and is REALLY expensive. I couldn\'t justify the amount personally no matter how much I would like a VGA screen.

Huh ? Is there such a big difference ? To me it looks more like $100 difference or so - more then Ok for VGA resolution and clamshell design. Compare for yourself: B500 and C860.

[tumnus]

The price of that B500 is a bit steep ($367) and it\'s expensive to get hold of the C860 outside of Japan ($495 in Japan).

5600 at Amazon: $289
C860 at Conics.net: $725

Slight difference outside of Japan I think you\'ll agree.

[DrWowe]

Wow, the C860 is less than $500 in Japan?  I would have thought it was more based on the US prices.  Those import resellers must be making huge markups.

BTW, anyone know why amazon.co.jp won\'t ship to a non-Japan address?

[tumnus]

It\'s the general policy of Amazon not to ship electronics to another country. Amazon.com won\'t ship electronics to the UK. Don\'t know why. It\'s just silly if you ask me, because they\'re quite happy to ship region locked DVDs to other DVD regions.