[lug] my little Zaurus

[Jonathan Briggs]

I've had mine for three weeks now and I love it too.  However, I've
already determined that there's a lot of work to do on the applications
for it :-)

It needs a decent image viewer.  The included one uses too much memory
and can't display a 1920 x 1240 950 KB JPEG properly.  Since this is the
image that my digital camera produces and I thought it would be cool to
use the Zaurus as an image viewer, I was disappointed.  The Amiga used
to be able to display and scale JPEG images that big using less than 16
MB of memory.

It needs a decent email application.  The included one can't handle my
IMAP folders.  It seems to choke while handling a mere 200 messages.  My
archive folders with 7,000 messages don't stand a chance.  It tries to
download all the headers and email for local viewing.  That might be
nice, but the user should get to select what mail, and if the headers
take too much space, it shouldn't download them.  I wouldn't mind
viewing the mail 100 messages at a time.

I'm planning to try writing an AD&D 3rd edition character sheet database
for it this week.  It should be just perfect for that.  It could even
roll dice for me.

Like you, I also got the D-Link card because Best Buy had it right there
next to the Zaurus.  I've decided that I really like having wireless
connectivity.  The only problem is the D-Link.  It is too large and
blocks the headphone jack and the stylus.  It also uses 3 times as much
power as the Symbol (I think) cards, from what I've read online. 
Battery life while using wireless is about 1.5 hours.

As a music player, the Zaurus isn't bad either, if you pop in a memory
card.  I can fit a couple CDs on a 96 MB compact flash.  Which is all
you need because the battery will run down before you can finish playing
all the songs.  But the sound quality is great.

I think the Zaurus needs a belt or backpack power pack.  Does anyone
make something like that?  Do you think a belt made of linked LiIon
battery cells would be a fire hazard?

:-)

Actually just using the Zaurus as a PDA, just keeping contacts, shedules
and notes, the battery life seems fine.  It's just when you're
continuously using the screen light, playing music or using the wireless
network that it lacks power.

Looks like you got me on a roll there.  I think I nearly wrote a full
review!

On Mon, 2002-05-20 at 14:14, Brad Grissom wrote:
> There hasn't been much talk of the Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 on the list lately.  Is there much excitement from listers about this product?
> 
> I bought mine about a week ago from Best Buy, and I love it.  I recently got a D-Link CF wireless network card for it.  I had some trouble getting it working, but it was only my wireless network settings that held me back.  With the CF Linksys card, you have to update the ROM to get it to work.
> 
> Its a great little device and I still have a lot of playing to do.
> 
> ~~Brad Grissom
> Colorado School of Mines
> 
> 
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-- 
Jonathan Briggs
jbriggs at esoft.com
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