Reviews
Dell
Axim X50 and X50v
Top model of the X50 line brings VGA display to the Pocket
PC mainstream
It
used to be that you could look at a new iPAQ and know it was an
iPAQ, and the same for a new Pocket PC from Casio when they were
still in the game, or one from Toshiba. Family resemblance has
been a big thing in brands and product lines. Apparently, no more.
The Dell Axim X3 and X30 looked nothing like the initial Axim
X5, and the new Axim X50 line doesn't look anything like either.
In fact, the new X50s look more like iPAQs than the new iPAQs
do. And the major design influence, if any, seems to have come
from Dell's notebooks. Put a new X50 next to an Inspiron 700 and
you see a lot of common design DNA.
Like
earlier Axim Pocket PCs, the X50 consists of several models. There's
a basic one that starts at just $299, then a middle of the road
$399 model, and then there is the top of the line $499 X50v. The
little ãvä presumably stands for ãVGA,ä as that is the new flagship's
main attraction÷a full 480x640 pixel display.
However,
unlike the VGA models from HP and Toshiba with their noticeably
larger 4.0-inch displays, you can barely tell the VGA Axim from
its more pedestrian siblings. The VGA display measures 3.7 inches
diagonally versus the standard 3.5 inches for the 240x320 LCDs.
And
while both the HP iPAQ 4700 and the Toshiba 800 Series look and
feel much bigger than the non-VGA models, Dell somehow managed
to incorporate the full VGA screen into a device that's as small
and handy as we've come to expect for contemporary PDAs. Side
by side, the X50 is no larger than the X30 line, and visually
it looks smaller. It's a little thicker and weighs a bit more
(6.3 ounces for the VGA model), but Dell did a super packaging
job on this one. The whole device seems to follow a totally different
design philosophy than the X30 models. While those were almost
whimsical with their interesting combination of ice cream sandwich
housing, industrial design, and array of colorful blinking lights,
the X50 is smooth, glossy, and rounded. The rounded backside is
all matte black plastic, the front uses the opaque glossy black
plastic popularized in numerous iPAQs, surrounded by a U-shaped
silvery plastic bezel. It really looks more like a notebook peripheral
than a Pocket PC.
Things
have changed in the controls department as well. The standard
arrangement of a five way navigation disc flanked by two application
buttons on each side is still there, but both the disc and the
buttons are considerably smaller. The disc still works fine, but
its oval size means it doesn't feel the same in portrait as in
landscape mode, and gamers may find it just too small to boot.
On the left side is the familiar rocker, except that it isn't.
What looks like a rocker has actually been replaced by two separate
buttons. One to start the voice recorder and one to turn wireless
on and off. Above them sits an entirely new ãlockä slider. Move
it up and the device stops responding to button or touchscreen
input. That's probably for when you kick back to listen to some
tunes and don't want the device to do things every time you inadvertently
touch the screen.
Those
who really liked those cool translucent, illuminated docks Axims
used to come with may be disappointed by the much more utilitarian
new dock. It's a simple affair made of black plastic, a solid
design that can accommodate and charge a spare battery. Those
older Axim docks used to be veritable conversation pieces. This
one just does the job. Speaking of batteries, you'll notice two
changes here as well. Whereas the X30's battery was actually part
of the device's backside, the X50 uses a conventional power pack
that sits under an exceedingly flimsy cover. The battery itself
packs 1100 mAh instead of the X30's 850, a switch that's much
appreciated, as the X50 has a lot of power-hungry circuitry under
the hood. Like most recent Pocket PC designs, the X50 doesn't
have a separate power jack. You either charge it in the dock,
or you use one of those easy-to-lose adapters that let you charge
the device director from the very compact power brick via the
docking connector.
A
final word about the dock and docking connector: those who have
an older Axim and look forward to sharing docks are out of luck.
Neither the new dock nor the new docking connector fit any of
the other Axims. It would be nice if at least within a product
line you could use the same power connectors. Most recent iPAQs
can use the same power adapter and it'd be nice if Dell followed
that example.
What
differentiates the three X50 models priced at $300, $400, and
$500? That would be processor speed, memory, communications, and
display. In all other respects, all X50s are the same. They all
have both a SDIO slot and a Compact Flash slot, and all models
come with the USB cradle. A nice touch. The differences are as
follows:
The basic X50 comes with a 416MHz version of Intel's XScale PXA270
chip. 64MB of RAM and 64MB of Flash ROM, of which 30MB is available
for file storage, Bluetooth, and a transflective 3.5-inch 240x320
display.
The
middle of the road model has a 520MHz version of the PXA270 chip,
64MB RAM and 128MB of Flash ROM (about 90MB available for file
storage), Bluetooth and 802.11b, and the same 3.5-inch 240x320
display. We definitely would have liked to see 128MB RAM here,
but that's the only complaint.
The
top-of-the-line X50v uses the currently fastest CPU in the PXA
270 line, the 624mHZ version. It also comes with 64MB of RAM and
128 MB of Flash ROM (about 90MB available for storage) and has
both Bluetooth and 802.11b. The most interesting difference is
the 3.7-inch 480 x 640 pixel display that's powered by Intel's
2700G ãMarathonä mobile graphics accelerator chip. The 2700G is
a 2D/3D graphics powerhouse that can process 150 million pixels
per second and almost a million polygons per second in 3D mode.
It can play back full 30 frames per second 640x480 video.
We've
been advocating VGA displays in Pocket PCs for a while now, and
so we consider the new display the biggest news. How does it work
and how does it compare to the VGA displays in the Toshiba 800
Series and the HP iPAQ 4700?
For
some reason, turning on the X50v didn't yield the same ãWow!!ä
reaction we had with the Toshiba and HP. Maybe it's the noticeably
smaller screen or maybe we're already taking the new, higher resolution
for granted. I know that ever since I used the iPAQ 4700, every
device with a 240x320 display looks crude and unacceptably low
res. Fact is that due to its smaller screen the X50v's display
has an even higher resolution than the 4-inch devices. Whereas
those approached 200 dots per inch, the new Axim sports an incredible
215 dots per inch. High res notebooks have barely over 100 dots
per inch. We're talking very high resolution here, and a very,
very sharp display. Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition does a
very good job taking advantage of the high resolution and all
the standard apps have been adapted. Third party apps may or may
not support the higher resolution. Those that don't use pixel
doubling, the same technique many Palm OS applications used when
Palm hardware switched from 160x160 to 320x320.
Perhaps
the most dramatic demonstration of the higher resolution is in
text size. It can be adjusted in five steps from smallest to largest.
When set to ãsmallest,ä text is tiny but so razor sharp that it
remains perfectly legible. This makes a huge difference in web
browsing and in working with documents. There are no jaggies at
all. All text looks as crisp as if it were printed on a white
sheet of paper.
That
said, there are many areas where even the Second Edition isn't
a perfect match yet with these higher resolution devices. Many
menus, icons and scroll bars are much too big, taking away far
too much screen real estate from the actual data. This, of course,
is a Microsoft issue and not a Dell issue.
An
additional feature of the VGA-equipped X50v model is that you
can output video to a projector or monitor via an optional $79
ãpresentation bundle.ä Also optional, unfortunately, is a case.
The X50 doesn't come with one. Instead, you can pick from a variety
of Belkin and Rhinoskin offerings in Dell's time-honored a la
carte ordering system. Personally, I would have liked to see a
display lid.
In
terms of software, the new Axims come with the standard complement
of Windows Mobile apps, which means the devices are well equipped
to do just about anything right out of the box. The VGA model
also comes with two extra games to show off the graphics accelerator
and 3D capabilities. One is ãEnigmo,ä an aptly named Rube Goldberg-style
3D puzzle. The other is StuntCar Extreme, a 3D racing game that
we had previously seen on the Palm-based Zodiac. Both nicely show
off the powerful graphics engine. Sound is adequate out of the
Dell's little mono speaker, and that much better when using stereo
headsets.
An
interesting advance in the X50's audio design is that the audio
jack can be used not only for a headset, but also for a headset/microphone
combo. This opens up interesting possibilities for voice commands
and Voice over IP.
All
in all, there is a lot to like in Dell's new line of Pocket PCs.
Those in the market for a mid-prize model may have a hard time
deciding between a high end X30 and a low end X50, as both offer
roughly the same features. It may come down to style and design
where the X30 remains a very strong contender. Those interested
in a high end device will find the X50v a very attractive alternative
to HP's iPAQ 4700. The HP's gold standard display is larger and
it comes with more software plus some other innovations, but other
than that the Dell matches it almost feature by feature, and it
is a smaller, handier device than the big iPAQ. What Dell has
done with the X50v is incorporate a new and long awaited technology,
a VGA display, into what otherwise is just a standard, competent,
workhorse Pocket PC. By doing so, Dell did what Dell does best,
making existing designs ever better.
öKirk
Linsky
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