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This site is no longer maintained.
My current weblog.
Thursday, April 04, 2002Technology may soon ensure that your beer glass is never empty.
YAZR
Yet Another Zaurus Review, this one strikingly negative, from the WSJ. Most of the reviewer's complaints seem like those of a Palm user, and glancing at the archive would seem to confirm that. The Zaurus's interface is quite similar to Pocket PC 2002, though the applications lack the polish of Microsoft's offerings.
Syncronization problems have been abundant on the SL-5000D mailing lists. Perhaps I have been lucky. It is worth noting that the Zaurus will not be recognized by the OS if it is placed in the dock while powered off, and pressing the sync button on the dock will not cause it to power on (ala Palm devices).
Turning the Zaurus on, while docked, and pressing the sync button works fine for me with IntelliSync. I suspect that Qtopia Desktop would not function this way, as the Zaurus's desktop networking connection does not become active unless the Zaurus is inserted into the dock while powered on.
I think that the time has come to consolidate my various issues with the Zaurus into a comprehensive story...
There's a review of the Compaq GSM/GPRS wireless sleeve at pocketnow.com [via PocketPCHow2Log]
The software has some warts and presently the GPRS functionality is not compatible with US networks, so if you're thinking of importing one from Europe you may want to wait. The reviewer doesn't like the concept of connecting PDAs to Cellular Phones over Bluetooth. Besides the classic "two devices" argument, to which I respond that one huge PDA isn't any better, he states:
I like to keep my keys in my pocket, and I don't want those banging against an iPAQ and a cell phone.
I used to keep my Nokia 8890 in one pocket, and anything that might scratch it in another pocket. These days I keep my phone in a Jensen horizontal belt case that I found at Best Buy. It's stealthy, sturdy, and more protective than holster-style cases. And it doesn't poke my "love handles" nor the leather seats in my car.
Celine Dion's newest album, "A New Day Has Come", is crashing computers. I want to rant, but it's Celine Dion for Christ's sake. Wake me up when they screw up an album from an artist whose voice doesn't make me want to pierce my eardrums with a pointy object.
When that day does come, my Discman + TOSlink cable + SBLive = Digital Ripping. When I get tired of that, the better CD jukeboxes have serial ports that allow them to be controlled by a PC. Bulk Digital Ripping, who cares if it's at 1x speeds if you don't have to be there?
Frank McPherson just received his Zaurus SL-5500 and has begun recording his thoughts.
The keys are too close together are too small. In short, this keyboard is no where near as good as RIM's.
There have been a number of similar comments on the SL-5000D mailing lists. Being big-thumbed myself, I wondered why the keyboard hasn't been a problem for me. I think that it's because I rotate my thumbs about 45 degrees forward and keep them bent, resulting in a very small "corner" of my thumbs actually coming into contact with the keys. Using the middle portion of my thumb-tips makes it much more difficult to type accurately.
Other than the keyboard, we are in complete agreement.
Off-topic rant: I've been noticing many sites lately that use Tahoma as the default font. Tahoma is great for small text (10px or less), but at "normal" sizes it hurts my eyes just to glance at page full of Tahoma text. Verdana is basically the same typeface with better spacing, providing a huge improvement in on-screen readability.
The Un-Switch: Tempted by visions of the forthcoming Sony Clie NR-70 and assertions that WordSmith really is better than Pocket Word, I tried to switch back to PalmOS for my "daily use" PDA. Here's why I ended up running back to the Pocket PC.
Symmetry: PC software that works with Microsoft® Outlook on your desktop computer, and your Microsoft Exchange corporate e-mail account to send e-mail, calendar events, meeting reminders, and task lists to your wireless phone, PDA, or pager.
Sweet. I want something exactly like this for stand-alone Outlook.
