As a Missing Sync for Clie user – I am greatly looking forward to the Missing Sync for pocketpc. I have emailed Markspace’s mailing list asking about supported devices, but of course got no reply. Markspace does make great software, but from my experiences I’m not suprised they didn’t answer. Email support isn’t their strong point.

As for Pocketmac, I cannot recommend them. If you do some investigating, you’ll find many many users with various PocketPCs all having the same problems. When I asked Pocketmac about support for the Axim, I was told to buy the $70 software since it _might_ work. How shady is that?

So for me, Pocketmac is a write-off. We’ll all find out in July how far along Markspace is to solving the problem.

-bjm58

Second, to the user who complained about PPC Notes, I’ve had my Axim for only a month, after over 5 years of Palm usage and about 400 Memos on my Palm, and even I figured out how to use Notes on the PPC. You set up a Notes__xxx file for each Memo catagory you had on your Palm. Move all your PPC Notes to the appropriate Notes__xxx file, and, voila, you’re in business.

I still can’t figure out why, after I drag an album of MP3 files over, the songs are always listed last to first, instead of first to last, causing me to manually re-order them in the playlist to get them in the proper order. Hmmm…

Anyhow, a decent effort, nonetheless…

Markspace shows that the ppc product os due real soon now. But, it is not currently shipping and there is no real information on what the product will be.

Pocketmac has a list of supported PPC products and the Axim is not on that list. Has anyone used the Axim with Pocketmac? Pocketmac looks like a workable solution (even though I currently have no idea how I will get the palm data into the information manager in officeX) if it will work.

So, back to the original question, has anyone made it work with a Mac under osX?

FWIW, I have looked at the Axim, and found it to be a well made unit, if not a little funny feeling while holding it. Good features for the money, and should be pretty decent support and driver updates from Dell.

Please, take it easy and see the PDA user community as it is. Many, many PDA users and would-be users, need to hear the unrehearsed and yes, sometimes unresearched experiences of first time PPC users. PPC O/S and hardware developers need to hear these fresh experiences too, without having to unravel the discussion boards for examples of the unconverted Palm users.

Please see my conversion ‘diary’ at the link above. Perhaps it can highlight to potential PPC owners, what they have to gain in PPC in the view of a traditional Palm owner. Viewpoints are my own, emphasizing the functional differences I find appealing in PPC over Palm, rather than the sensationalized aspects of full motion video and games.

I’m not sure why newbies and palmies keep telling others to write their own review…seems very immature to me. “blah blah…if you don’t like it, go write your own.” Sheesh.

Obvious some people will like this sort of reviews. Others won’t. My point was that this review should have been correctly titled from the beginning. That’s all. After the article was retitled, NO ONE should have any reason to complain about the article – I mean after knowing the Dell Axim was reviewed by a longtime Palm user, would you actually expect any useful information? If you did, then you should be ashamed of yourself.

Originally posted by drac
[B]Insults.

How telling.

I already noted that the retitling was appropriate, and there seems to be no disagreement there. Why the need for insults?

Actually, there were several other complaints, which persisted after the article was retitled, so I think that your assertion is false.

And if you want the thread to die, insults and seemingly-false statements are not a good way to reach your goal.

Further, if this is not your kind of review, why not comment on another review which *is* your speed- or, even better, go write a stellar review of the kind you prefer! I’m sure that you could get it published.

I look forward to civil, mature commentary in future. [/B]

Again, the newbies (and Palm users) seem to be looking at things from only their simple-minded perspective.

Insults.

How telling.

You preach about how this review is a god-send for palm users looking to switch to a PPC. The issue most complainers (including myself have had) was that the review was originally titled as a “Dell Axim Review”. Only after the numerous complaints was the titled to change to a more accurate first-time perspective review. Which is fine, but the original complaints were made because the original review title was misleading.

I already noted that the retitling was appropriate, and there seems to be no disagreement there. Why the need for insults?

If the review was titled “from a Palm user perspective” from the beginning, I don’t think anyone would be complaining. So stop dragging this out.

Actually, there were several other complaints, which persisted after the article was retitled, so I think that your assertion is false.

And if you want the thread to die, insults and seemingly-false statements are not a good way to reach your goal.

Further, if this is not your kind of review, why not comment on another review which *is* your speed- or, even better, go write a stellar review of the kind you prefer! I’m sure that you could get it published.

I look forward to civil, mature commentary in future.

If the review was titled “from a Palm user perspective” from the beginning, I don’t think anyone would be complaining. So stop dragging this out.

PPC people tend to be preoccupied with numbers and specs- specs are often a major reason that they bought a PPC.

PalmOS people tend to be more focussed on how easily the Palm can be integrated into their plans for functionality- thus they tend not to focus as much on specs- sometimes to their detriment.

I also am more likely to buy an Axim on the basis of the review.

I also found the “reviews” (spec sheets really) linked by the “helpful” PPC aficionado to be near-useless. I can get specs from the Dell Website, can’t I?

To each their own…

As a palm user who participates on several Palm forums and lurks on several PPC forums, I must say that this nasty superior attitude towards people with different points of view is all too common in either camp, but seems more common in the PPC camp. Please stop it- it helps no-one. In fact, the attitudes displayed form a very real blockade to the adoption of the platform by some who may be put off by the sneering.

Warm and fuzzy description is fun to read, but sometimes that alone is not enough. Hard numbers, numerical comparison, pictures and strick descriptions are essentials.

In ideal world everybody would write this perfectly concise, fun to read and convey the reviwed object perfectly. But until that day come, all are needed. Not just warm fuzzy words.

This comment simply seems irrelevant, given that I don’t see any “warm, fuzzy” words being applied here. This comment just seems like (yet) another attempt to dismiss by labelling. Did you miss the commentary, description and copious pictures that the review *did* include?

I appreciate the corrections and agree with the renaming of the article, but I abhor the attitude that several comments have displayed. Mike- thanks for the review, and good luck growing that thick skin. It seems that you’ll need it if you’re going to post a review here ever again!

Originally posted by Green1
Warm and fuzzy description is fun to read, but sometimes that alone is not enough. Hard numbers, numerical comparison, pictures and strick descriptions are essentials.

That’s great to hear, but it’s impossible — this review served the purpose of being written by and for people who are inexperienced with PocketPCs. Two ENTIRELY different purposes for a review; and entirely contradictory.

No, this review was excellent, and will open this PocketPC to a new market: people uncertain about going from Palm to WINCE. Once their uncertainty is assuaged, thanks to this review, they will be ready to read the other reviews — which haven’t disappeared from the net. But they will generally start here; the other reviews won’t generally be enough.

-Billy

In ideal world everybody would write this perfectly concise, fun to read and convey the reviwed object perfectly. But until that day come, all are needed. Not just warm fuzzy words.

Originally posted by shahed_ameer
[B]Having said that, however, reviews like this are really only useful to say Microsoft or Dell – to gauge what people’s first impressions are about their products so they can improve them.

BTW, in my previous posting I did link to a few well-researched reviews of the Axim for anyone interested in more info on this PDA. [/B]

Thank you for clarifying your criticisms. I need, however, to speak for myself: I found this review very useful. Yes, it didn’t have a bloodless mile-long feature-list; in fact, it looked like it was written by a human rather than a marketing committee. In spite of this it gave solid information about how someone who was used to a Palm would explore and use a nice, cheap PocketPC.

I appreciate the other reviews you linked to, but they were NOT useful except as a summary of features, with an occasional screenshot. Since I’ve never used those features before, I found the reviews somewhat useless — now, mind you, I wouldn’t BUY the device without reading and understanding at least one of those other reviews, but I wouldn’t even _consider_ the device without reading this review or one like it.

The Gadgeteer has the best reviews. One reason for this is that they, all of them, put in a bit about what it FEELS like to use the gadgets. Yes, most of them have more of a bullet-list of features, but that’s okay — as you pointed out, we can get that list anywhere.

-Billy

The criticisms are about the review, not the reviewer.

Plus, the intent of the criticisms is to ensure the high quality of rviews posted in this web site in the future. The reputation of this web site is based on the high quality of its reviews, and this one just didn’t match it.

Like a previous poster said, if we start getting more and more reviews like this in this web site, people will just move on to other sites that post more accurate and informative reviews. As simple as that. I LIKE the-gadgeteer.com and don’t want that to happen. I appreciate VERY much the work that goes into each review.

BTW, I myself have a old Casio E-125 PocketPC. I’ve had it for around 3 years, after using Palms for about 2-3 years. I don’t have the big bucks either to get the latest and greatest out there.

Since some of you think PocketPC folks are a bunch of whiners that don’t offer help, I thought I’d list some of my notes and tips on the PocketPC platform…

I use my PDA for basically these things:

1. Calendar – syncs great with Outlook on my pc. Folks with Macs can use 3rd party software to sync with Entourage. There are also replacement Calendar programs but I’m happy with the built-in app.

2. Contacts – same comments. BTW, I’ve been looking for a way to include photos in my contacts. There is a way that I’ve learnt about — you can copy and paste an image on your pc — to the notes section of a contact. But the image gets removed if you make any edits to the notes.

3. Read off-line web pages – I use Mazingo and some home-grown scripts (using url2file, awk and packandgo). I don’t like Avantgo because I don’t like to download every time I sync. Plus I want to load extra apps. With my scripts I can grab just the web pages that interest me, even grab the images too, and format them just the way I like it and fit on my PDA screen. I love MultiIE because I can view web pages in full-screen mode.

4. Notes – I used to use Notes a lot when I had a Palm V. The Notes feature is very poorly implemented on the PocketPC and eventually I stopped using it completely. My biggest gripe I think is that the Notes all have to reside in your “My Documents” folder – you can’t put them into subfolders and categorize them. At least not easily as far as I know. Instead, what I do know is I use Resco Explorer to navigate my PocketPC and create folders for my Notes and create text files. I have a “blank note.txt” file that I just copy and paste where I want to create a note.

I use Calligrapher as my preferred input method. It works great for me. It can recognize my cursive handwriting. EVERYONE who’s seen my entering text on my PocketPC has been amazed at how accurate it is. You can also use Transcriber which comes free on the cd that you get with the PocketPC.

5. Listen to music:
I usually have some songs loaded in my CF card. I use mp3 format right now, but I’ve been researching about the ogg format which. It’s open source and the quality is supposed to be really good – I can half the sizes of my music files and they’ll still sound better. I’m using the built-in Media Player to play the mp3 files but to play the ogg files you need 3rd party software. The freeware PocketDivx player and the PocketMVP player are supposed to play ogg format.

6. Watch videos:
I use PocketTV to watch mpeg1 formatted video files.
I get video files automatically from the Mazingo DVP service (Digital Video Program). stuff you can get include weather forecasts, news, short films, trailers, etc. You can download movies specially formatted for viewing on the PocketPC at places like http://www.pocketmovies.net, or you can encode them yourself. PocketTV’s web site shows what resolution and bitrates you should use for the different PocketPC’s.

You can also encode vidoe in Divx format and watch it on the PocketPC using PocketDivx. It’s supposed to work great but I haven’t played with it.

Other software that I use and recommend:

- Calc98 – freeware scientific calculator that can also do unit conversions

- eWallet – excellent wallet program

- PocketTV – to view mpeg1 formatted video files. Works great!!! Plus it’s freeware

- CityTime – to view times around the world. I also use the very pretty (color) world map displayed in this program to show people where I’m from or other stuff.

- Dockware – I use this program as a “screensaver” when my PocketPC is docked and charging next to my pc. It shows an analog or digital clock as well with date if you want.

Here’s a tip – if you go to webshots.com, you can view tons and tons of photos. The “peview” pictures you see are sized almost perfectly for the PocketPC … 280×210. The PocketPC screen is 320×240. so the pictures show up at the top of the screen and the clock shows up at the bottom using Dockware. Very nice!!

- I also have some games installed although I don’t play them too much. I’ve got Pacman, Tetris, Bubblets, JimmyArk (Arkanoid), Turjah (very fast paced Galaga type of game) and G-Prime (Galaga clone).

http://www.pocketgamer.org is a very good web site for info on PocketPC games.

Finally, here are some links to good PocketPC resources:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com
http://www.brighthand.com
windowsce.infosyncworld.com
http://www.ppcsg.org

I’m sure others have their faves too but these are the ones that I check semi-regularly to keep up.

BTW, the Casio E-125 is a great PDA if you can get over its bulk. I went from a Palm V to this and it was hard. But the screen is so gorgeous and the CF card really helps – I store all kinds of web pages, videos and music files there. I’ve got a laptop with a CF -> PCMCIA adapter so it’s very easy to pop that CF card in the laptop and copy files over. I’ve even written batch files to do the copying of updated web pages sitting on the laptop hard drive to the CF card.

I’ll get a new slimmer PocketPC sometime (the HP 1910 looks really nice – even smaller than the Palm V formfactor and packs in a wonderful screen!)

Originally posted by jblodgett
Geeez… what a bunch of a-holes!

Now, now.. let’s not be nasty…

I made the initial post making the point that the review was “horrible”. That was a knee-jerk reaction because I felt the review was nowhere near the normal standards of the other reviews on this website.

I agree that it is perfectly valid to have a “review” from the point-of-view of someone new to the unit — to give an idea of what people’s first-impressions might be.

But, this needs to be clearly stated and I think Julie did the right thing by changing the title of the review.

Having said that, however, reviews like this are really only useful to say Microsoft or Dell – to gauge what people’s first impressions are about their products so they can improve them.

Other users like you and me (newbies or experienced users) really benefit very little. Reviews aimed at consumers should be accurate and thorough. Some effort should be made to do some amount of research to see whether there are common issues to the product, if there are innovative uses for them (eg. hacks), etc.

I agree 100% that writing reviews is not easy, and I appreciate the amount of work that needs to be done. I don’t write reviews myself, but I do give advice to my friends on what they should or shouldn’t buy. I base that advice on my experience and what I’ve researched from the net or other sources. I actually like doing this stuff for others believe it or not… In fact, just recently I did quite a bit of research on the Axim because my brother was thinking of purchasing one. That’s why I knew the Axim quite well already although I don’t own one. I was especially interested in this Axim review on the-gadgeteer web site because I know this web site always puts out high-quality reviews. That’s probably I was EXTRA disappointed with the review once I read it and felt compelled to post my feelings in the forum as well (this is the first time I’ve ever responded to any review like this btw)

Anyway, bottom-line, I apologize to the review-writer if my choice of words seemed nasty but I thought the review was lacking in accurate information and research. But at least Julie has changed the title of the review to reflect that it’s written from someone new to PocketPC’s.

No hard feelings…

BTW, in my previous posting I did link to a few well-researched reviews of the Axim for anyone interested in more info on this PDA.

http://www.mobigeeks.net/e/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=457

And, I don’t see any of you so-called Pocket PC experts stepping up to the plate and offering to write a review. Geeez… what a bunch of a-holes!

Originally posted by cj3209
[B]BUT: he shouldn’t have been the reviewer for the product! I think people are questioning why you would use a PALM user to review a Pocket PC; would you use a longtime IPAQ user to review a $600 SONY CLIE?
[/B]

Why wouldn’t I want to read an IPAQ user reviewing a top-end Clie? They paid the same for their device; they’d logically be the one to compare.

In this case, a longtime Palm user reviewed a new device which is in the price and size range of Palms — and he did so by comparing it to a Palm. He then went out and tried to do some obvious things with it which he couldn’t do on his Palm.

Now, an IPAQ user isn’t going to care about any of this. But you know what? An IPAQ user isn’t going to buy this, either! One major market is Palm users looking for an upgrade, and he just demonstrated very nicely that it IS an upgrade!

I have to say, as a Palm user, that I’m very impressed with what I see of the X5. I hope this is a trend — when my Handera wears out, I want to have a machine this powerful and cheap waiting to replace it. And this review was a MAJOR boost to my positive opinion of the device.

So, naysayers — you’re wasting your time, and you’re creating a VERY bad impression. You may not like the review; but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad review. In this case, it’s simply by a different type of person, FOR a different audience. And in that context, it is an EXCELLENT review, and I’m glad I read it.

-Billy

My point is this. A lot of us here who voraciously read each new PDA review, are used to a certain standard and testing method. Due to the thoroughness and detail of these reviews, we all come back for more.

But…if you change the criteria/source/experience of the review/reviewer it has an effect on the readers. For example, there are about 10 major car magazines out there. I only subscribe/read 2 of them. This is because I relate to their authors, agree with their testing methods, and the qualities that are important to that magazine, and most importantly TRUST their opinion. If they had random people off the street reviewing cars and writing about them, it wouldn’t be very useful to me because the above mentioned factors have changed.

Same rules apply here. Maybe we are all spoiled by Julie and Judy’s excellent reviews, but I hope to keep all the reviews especially important PDA reviews to the same standards as previous reviews.

But I think people will be ticked off for eg. about the D-pad fix, battery, price etc. All those are main items. That’s like reviewing NX and says the tumb pads are just impractical, and the CF hump on the back are total design flaw hence not worth owning while ignoring the fact it has the biggest screen on the market..etc etc..

I don’t even think anybody will complain if somebody says Dell design is a clunker and bordering ugly… but saying the video is iffy after being fed with desktop .wmf? ehrrrrr…… try doing that to an NX.

(ok I am done ranting now. )