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Sharp Zaurus SL-5600 PDA Review

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the hardware-to-lust-after dept.

An anonymous reader sent us a link to a review of the Sharp Zaurus SL-5600 PDA. This Linux based handheld with a built in qwerty keyboard with decent connectivity. As with most PDAs, there are a lot of tradeoffs that have to be made yet. Read the review to see what they are.

3 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. I looked at one of these. by Meat+Blaster · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Kind of nifty, coming from a PalmOS standpoint. I like the idea of being able to leverage my knowledge of Linux when I'm jotting down a note or looking up an address.

    Irregardless, the usage factor is one of the things that's been getting to me lately with these handhelds and cellphones -- I know that Dick Tracy concept of having a computer on your wrist is chic, but nobody seems to notice that these things are getting pretty cramped! But one of the things I got to see lately that I'm thinking about picking up is the TabletPC.

    Really, a tablet is the logical super-portable version of a notebook -- not too expensive to lose, big enough to work with, simple enough to ink a document as quickly as you need to. So when I tried out the TabletPC, I guess I wasn't that surprised that it seemed much more natural than these handhelds. Any area much smaller than a computer monitor is unworkable these days, particularly with web applications... but I think a TabletPC with WiFi fits the bill.

  2. Re:Nice, but... by Cpt_Kirks · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You forgot the hard drive. Dammit, ipods and nomads have a HD, why can't *ANYBODY* bring out a PDA with one?

    I want a 400mhz+ XSCALE CPU, lots of RAM, a nice, big color screen and some decent storage (for a lot less than a laptop).

    Games, video and pr0n on the go!

  3. I had the 5500 and returned it... by no_such_user · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I bought the 5500 when HSN was clearing them out a few months ago... but I ended up returning it. While I really loved being able to hold linux in my hand, I quickly realized that it just wasn't a replacement for my Palm Vx.

    The most limiting factor was battery life... which the 5600 claims to improve. Any linux geek who will play with one of these things will be playing HARD... ogg decoding, game playing, etc. These things burn up battery life, and you quickly need to make a run for the nearest AC plug.

    The other thing that discouraged me was filesystem management. Installing packages wasn't smooth and required some fancy footwork to install them on CF/MMC cards. And if you drain your battery and don't recharge within 24 hours (perhaps less), you'll lose anything not in flash ROM or on a memory card. Sure it's the same with any other PDA... but my palm can go for weeks w/o a charge... and I can recharge it with a 9v battery if I'm desperate.

    There are hacks to setup backups to a CF card or whatever, and hacks for wireless connectivity, and hacks for getting X apps to run, and hacks... and hacks... but you start to realize that the entire thing is about hacks... it's not clean. It made me miss my Newton. Flexibility? No... but sure was slick!

    Two things would have made me keep it:
    1. Better battery life (fixed in 5600?)
    2. Ability to boot off the CF card and turn the device into a full-speed, fully functioning palm emulator (the ones I tried had serious limitations). A dual-boot pda!

    Just my $.02 - I look forward to trying again in a couple of years :)