The Cheap Axim X5 for the masses.
Written: Dec 16 '02 (Updated Jan 21 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Still tons of features for an even better price
Cons: Unit size, smaller memory limits some higher end functions, minor gripes.
The Bottom Line: New to Pocket PC units? This may be the right low-cost starter. Having most of the features of the Advanced Axim model, it costs less and loses a little functionality.
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| yusakugo's Full Review: Dell Axim¿ X5 Pocket PC |
Here's the cheap version of Dell's Pocket PC hype machine... called the Axim X5 Basic. Overall, the exterior of the units are the same as well as most of the internals. There are some major differences however. The amount of memory on the Basic series is much lower than the Advanced series and the processor is a bit slower. However, for basic organizer functions and moderate power, the Basic X5 is a great bargain.
By the way, I already have the Advanced model... why the heck did I get the Basic then? I didn't... this is one of the unit bought for the medical practice to experiment with patient information keeping in the office and in the hospital. I tend to be most tech orientated in the office so I wind up doing the troubleshooting and get ample opportunities to match this against my Advanced Axim X5.
The Short Take
Since you're here, you're interested in at least the thought of owning a PDA... and likely trying to figure out the differences between various PDA and the difference between Palm OS versus Pocket PC OS. The Dell Axim is a Pocket PC PDA which means it runs Pocket PC OS... i.e. Windows specifically for Handhelds. I'll talk about a few of the OS differences in the main review.
The Dell Axim X5 Basic Series at the time of this writing is $199 after the $50 mail-in rebate. If you ordered this unit, when it first appeared on the Dell website, the unit should have started arriving on the first week of December 2002. The short and sweet comment is that the Axim X5 contains so many features that it blows away the competition in so many areas... especially in price and battery life. There is a downside to all the features however... the large size of the Axim X5 is a major sore point. With the protective cover on the unit, you would be lucky to fit it into a very large shirt pocket.
Overall, the unit is an outstanding value as long as you're used to the Pocket PC OS... there is almost nothing on the current Pocket PC PDA market that competes in this price range with the number of features that this unit has. However, if size is a priority, it's best to look elsewhere... like the Toshiba E335 and the latest low end offering by HP/Compaq.
Pros:
1) PRICE!
2) 32MB of RAM
3) 32MB of ROM
4) Intel XScale 300MHz processor
5) Compact Flash slot
6) Secure Digital/MultiMedia Card slot
7) Dual Batteries (Main and backup)
8) Removable battery
9) Decent software included
10) Cradle can charge spare battery (Spare not included, Cradle extra unlike Advanced version)
Cons:
1) Size of the unit
2) Some will find the Pocket PC OS harder to use compared to Palm OS
3) Unit still performs a little sluggishly... mostly due to the Pocket PC OS
4) New product... so reliability is still a question given Dell's recent track history.
5) Cradle is an extra accessory in the Basic model.
Is this unit the bomb or what?!
Like the Advanced unit, the Axim X5 Basic is a tremendous value. It skimps on a few features like less RAM and ROM memory as well as slower processor than the Advanced version. 32MB RAM, 32 MB ROM, and a Intel XScale 300MHz processor. Well, what does that mean? You can store less programs on the main unit and have to be more careful with the memory management of your handheld. The smaller amount of Flash ROM may affect the upgradability of the unit to newer versions of Pocket PC OS... but this is difficult to determine at this time. The Basic unit looks and feels just like the Advanced Axim X5 model. It is gunmetal gray with black and silver highlights and a black rubber edges. The unit has dimensions of 5.0 x 3.2 x 0.7 inches with a weight of 6.9 oz which is rather large for the average PDA.
You get the now standard 3.5 inch transreflective display that is capable of 65,000 colors and a resolution of 320x240 (QVGA). It's an average display for PDAs... very easy to read with the backlight on but the colors wash out a bit in sunlight without the backlight. The Axim's screen is not better than screens on units like the HP iPaq 3900s or the Sony NR/NX model Palm PDAs. Brightness and contrast are adjustable within the PocketPC OS through the Settings/Preferences icon. Dell added a quicklink toolbar that can access brightness and contrast.
The front of the unit houses a backlit power button, the standard four application buttons (that can be remapped), the 4 way circular pad (press in the center for fifth function), the microphone hole on the top, and the speaker unit in the lower left corner. The left side of the unit houses the SD/MMC card slot, the scroll wheel (also depressable for another function), a record button, and the reset button (reachable by the tip of the stylus). The top of the unit holds the CompactFlash slot and the headphone jack. The bottom of the unit is the connector for synching the unit to your PC and port to charge the unit without using the cradle. The back of the Axim holds the covers to the two batteries. The backup battery uses a small coin battery. The main battery has a large cover with a lock switch for the battery. The future high capacity battery probably requires you to change the main battery cover as I don't see any good amount of spare room in the back of the unit.
Biege Box syndrome?
As I highlighted in the Axim X5 Advanced review, the Pocket PC PDAs tend to have similar designs. Palm PDAs also went through this phase (and in some ways is still in that phase). Hopefully, the Pocket PC PDA market will start showing some more innovative designs like what the Palm PDA market (well Sony actually) is doing. Many of the Pocket PC PDAs are extremely similar with few distinguishing marks between units.
Performance?
The Basic Axim X5 model performs on par with other similar Pocket PC models. No major surprises there. The Basic model performed at about the same level as the Advanced model... with some caveats dependent on memory usage. Large movie files could cause some hiccups that wouldn't happen with the Advanced Axim X5 and most of the latest 64MB Pocket PCs. Picture viewing and MP3 playing didn't have any problems (except extremely large MP3 files of greater than 8MB in size). Most of the available games for the Pocket PC platform ran off without any major hitches. Some slowdown is noticed in intensive game applications but it was not unexpected.
Pocket Word and Excel are decent but pale against third party solutions available on both the Pocket PC and the Palm platforms. The Axim also contains a PowerPoint viewer that Microsoft conveniently forgot to add into the Pocket PC OS... Microsoft only added Pocket Word and Excel to the package.
Despite the improved hardware, the performance of the current crop of Pocket PC 2002 PDAs aren't up to snuff. The speed improvement are minor at best... which suggests that the limits are not so much with the hardware but with the software. When Microsoft decides to upgrade to the next version of Pocket PC, the Axim as well as the other Pocket PC 2002 PDAs will catch up to fairly powerful hardware in them.
Battery Life
Well, first things first... there is no cradle included with the Basic Axim X5 model. It is an additional cost to add it to the package. You get just a sync cable and the power supply. The standard battery in the Axim is rated for 10 hours by Dell. I was able to squeeze out almost 7 hours of battery life from straight MP3 playback before needing to recharge the unit. The nice thing about the Axim is the small backup battery so you don't lose the information in the memory when the main battery dies. Like the Advanced Axim X5, the Basic Axim X5 has excellent battery life for a color PDA.
Battery life quoted is with a 256MB CompactFlash card and a 64MB Secure Digital card inserted into the available slots.
Trouble in Paradise?
Apparently in the Dell forums, the Axim has been sprouting all kinds of reliability issues for many users. Failure of the touch screen, stability of the buttons and D-pad, hotsync issues (although this could be a Microsoft software issue instead), and the list goes on and on. I have been lucky so far and not experienced any of these problems to date. As I said, with Dell current track history, I wouldn't so confident in saying Dell is a sure thing! There seems to be a higher complaint rate than what I've seen with the other big Pocket PC hardware manufacters so far (HP/Compaq and Toshiba).
Note that my primary experience is with my Axim X5 Advanced Handheld... the Basic Handheld belongs to a friend who just the unit back for unresponsiveness of the touch screen of all things.
Final Thoughts
The Axim X5 Basic is pretty solid PDA for an outstanding price. It would be great if the unit were smaller and more pocketable than it is now... but that would sacrifice some of the unit's other features. For under $200 for a rather powerful PDA is an excellent deal, but the Pocket PC operating system may provide some difficulty for novice users especially impatient ones. Overall excellent functionality, long running battery power for a color PDA, and price paid for the number of features in the Axim X5 are its strongest selling points!
The biggest limiting factors on the Axim X5 Basic is the 32MB of RAM and the Pocket PC 2002 OS. The unit is not performing as fast as it should which I think is more of a software bottleneck right now. The smaller amount of RAM may hinder playback of large movie files and MP3 files... however, the smaller amount of memory is likely one of the factors that contributed to the increase in battery time over the Advanced Axim X5 model. The 32MB of ROM may also be a bottleneck in upgrading the OS of the unit but I don't feel that will be the case since most Pocket PC OS units have 32MB of ROM.
Regardless, like the Advanced Axim X5, you should buy at least a 128MB CompactFlash or Secure Digital Card unless you plan on using the unit solely as an organizer. If you plan extended MP3 and movie playback, the Advanced is the better choice of the two models.
Personally, I'm still using a Palm T615 unit since Palm PDA medical software is still more robust than that on Pocket PC OS platforms. There is also much more software for the Palm platform although quality software for the two platforms doesn't not vary so much between the two.
This Axim X5 Basic may be more helpful to you if you also read my Axim X5 Advanced review. In the Basic review, I tried to highlight differences between the models and what their importance may be to the regular consumer.
Look at my profile for other PDA reviews.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 174
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yusakugo
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Member: Rich Go
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