Sharp Zaurus SL-C750 (P)reviewed

Bill Kendrick writes "Dynamism loaned the Japan-only 'C750' clamshell model Zaurus Linux PDA to the folks over at BargainPDA.com, and they've put up a mini-review, with the promise of a more in-depth review to come soon. The funniest part is they needed to scale down the screenshots to fit on their site."

Comments

When...

[Sir Haxalot]

do palms become laptops? If I got a palm, I'd get one because of its size, if I wanted something more powerful, I'd get a laptop. This just seems to me a cross between a palm and a laptop that has none of the benefits of either.

Re:When...

[Michael Spencer Jr.]

I think there's another way to think about this.

How much computing power does a device have? How much computing power does it take to enable some range of tasks?

How portable is a device? How big/small does it have to be for it to be useful in various parts of your life?

I have been carrying around a Zaurus SL-C700 for the past four months. (The SL-C700, 750, and 760 all use the same form factor but have different hardware features.) The size helps a lot. Every time my car keys go in my pocket, the Zaurus goes in my pocket. It's *always there*. When I sit down I can barely feel the rounded corners, but they don't poke. The hinge isn't flimsy or weak at all. The screen is closed up inside the case, so there's no danger of damage that way. (Caveat: it's possible for a coin to wedge itself up in there between the screen and keyboard, but that's very rare. It's only happened to me twice, and I haven't noticed any scratches on the screen.)

The size is small enough that I have been allowed to use it on math tests at college. I showed the professor Maple on it, explained that I was using the 802.11b card to remotely control my home computer...even showed that I could switch from Maple to an internet browser. I was still allowed to use the machine on tests. It isn't big and bulky like a laptop -- it doesn't sprawl out and take up the whole desk.

The battery life, for me, is inconvenient but not insurmountable. With a power-hungry CF card in there you do only get about 90 minutes of runtime. That sounds kinda bad, but think about your own lifestyle and your own use of this device. How long are you away from a power outlet for 90 minutes in a stretch, if you just go between home and work?

I built a custom battery pack for my unit, and you should too. (We're slashdot readers -- this isn't mass market land.) http://mspencer.net/battery/ It's eight 9000 mAh capacity D cells (NiMH) in two four-D-cell holders, wired in parallel. In theory the numbers say I should have about 20 times the battery life of the internal battery pack. In practice I know I have to recharge the pack about every two to three weeks. It's about as heavy as a thick schoolbook, and sits in my backpack just fine, in a separate compartment that's too small for a full-size textbook but larger than the tiny pocket in back.

OK, that's the size. It's pretty much go-anywhere, once you realize the limitations of the battery size. If you want that kind of computing power (see below) available anywhere (for 1 to 4 hour stretches) or available any time you're with your backpack (for weeks of power), it might be worth hacking together a battery pack for yourself.

What computing power? The biggest feature is that beautiful screen and keyboard. The keyboard is better than most that size, but of course nowhere near the convenience of a full size keyboard. The screen is clean and bright -- on full battery-sucking brightness, it's brighter than my monitor. I can see some smudges when the screen is off, but they're completely invisible with the screen on. Slightly visible in direct sunlight (because it emits light, doesn't reflect) but it's useful as a flashlight in the dark. It's capable of truly tiny print. To see if you can tolerate text that small, take a screenshot, scale it to the correct size and print it out. Hold the paper out at various distances.

RAM is very limited, but you can use a swapfile. It's good for a few things at once. For school I've run mysql for database classes (and wished I had postgresql). ALL of my unix C programs were written, compiled, tested and emailed in from the C700. And then there's VNC in to the desktop, running Maple.

It's basically like a fiddly old resurrected linux PC, in your pocket. It has severe limitations, but they CAN be surmounted. Mount a swapfile. Close some programs. Stop that httpd you left running. It can do very impressive things, slowly and one at a time. It can do lots of little workstation things very w

Troll post

[Anonymous Coward]

The URL posted by the poster above is just a page that tries to crash those with the bug in Internet Explorer (I'm running Mozilla and can see it no problem though).

What could be better?

[kinzillah]

I'm a big fan of the Zaurus. While I love my Palm III to death, you're kind of limited by the available software. It seems to me that the Zaurus is perfect for the admin on the go. What else gives you ssh in such a small package? :)

Users in Japan like this a lot

[Bushcat]

The SL-C750 and C760 are selling well in Japan, especially the C760. 760 has 128MB flash RAM vs 64MB, 1700mAH battery vs 900mAH. Both support VPN over services such as YahooBB Mobile (Yahoo's hotspot adjunct to home ADSL service). With support for wireless and cellular data cards (up to 128k for cellular), it's probably much more of a connected mobile device in its home market that in the US.

Street price of theC750 is about $375, and $500 for the C760.

Re:Users in Japan like this a lot

[Bushcat]

On many of the Japanese-originated PDAs, you'll notice CF and SD slots. In the US reviewers tend to mistakenly assume this is simply giving users a choice. In Japan, as I'm assuming you know given your location, typically the memory card goes in the SD slot and the feature card goes in the CF slot: wireless, Docomo P-In, Air H" or whatever.

I agree that PDA penetration in the market is less than in the US; you suggest this is because everyone has a laptop instead. Actually, for the casual user, I think it's because everyone has a cellphone instead: most newcomers to the internet in Japan enter via cellphone.

But I see a lot of PDAs in business and tech: visiting a large electronics company last year, everyone at the meeting had company-issued PDA swhich were kept updated over an internal PHS network.

Mirror here - Site /.ed

[nacs]

The review site looks to be /.ed so I've uploaded a mirror here:

Mirror

Looking Sharp

[dark-br]

TrollTech has done a fantastic job with the Qt embedded GUI lib. It's superfast.

That said, I don't like these small widgets. Try typing

c.t[j] 1) ? sft[i-1] : sft[i]

on it.

It hurts.

Psion

[solanum]

Why do you people complain about the clamshell design and compare it to a laptop? Psion practically invented the PDA and many Psion 5's/Revo's (including mine) are still in use because no one has yet made a better PDA. Possibly excepting this Zaurus (can't afford one so not about to find out).
It's not like a laptop it's virtually the same size as a palm. But more useful because you can type on it.
I can't believe how people were brainwashed into thinking that the Palm design IS a PDA. Even the article talks about generic PDA when they mean a palm type design.

Re:Psion

[podperson]

Surely Apple not only virtually but actually invented the PDA including coining the term.

And frankly, the Newton MP2000 / 2100 kicks the ass of any PDA ever shipped (so far) except for its size.

Review at www.newmobilecomputing.com

[davejenkins]

You are welcome to read my review a couple weeks ago posted over at www.newmobilecomputing.com

Re:They've had this at Yodobashi for a while

[kanner]

You held it in your hands and failed to see anything special about it? You must have failed to notice that it has twice the resolution of any other PDA out there, including the recently announced devices from Sony. This means you can put a copy of the Tokyo subway map on it and be able to read it. You can also buy an electronic train schedule for about $10 (good for when you're out drinking near time for the last train). The high res display means the Zaurus is also good for keeping those little store maps that show you how to get to the shop from the nearest station. This device really can replace all those scraps of paper you bring with you and then loose.

You probably haven't noticed that the new DoCoMo and J-Phone releases by Sharp, with equally stunning displays. They all have "CG Silicon" somewhere near the display. These displays are very bright and crisp, with very high resolution. Btw, you can zap contact information from those phones to the Zaurus using the IR ports built into both devices.

About the keyboard: when I first saw it, I wondered what the point of it was; now I can tell you. The point isn't to compete with a full sized keyboard, it's to compete with grafiti or other handwriting recognition techniques, and I'm grateful to have it.

So the Zaurus doesn't have the Bluetooth (does anybody actually use this?) or wifi stuff built in (a touch unfortunate), nor a camera (but you already have one in your phone, don't you?). On the plus side, DoCoMo is coming out with a PHS/WiFi card so you can use WiFi at the office and get wireless PHS access from anywhere else (well, almost anywhere). It also doesn't have a built in mike (I think all the Pocket PC devices do have one), the speaker is not very good (but there's a headphone jack of course), the PIM software is not as good as the Palm PIM software is (IMHO).

Of course there are three models out there - the older SL-C700, the SL-C750, and the SL-C760. The SL-C760 is the one to buy - comes with everything, including a large enough battery to feed the power hungry display. I haven't had any trouble running out of power, but I plug it in every day, and only use it away from power for a few hours each day. The power adapter is very small and light (like mobile phone power adapters), so it's not a problem to throw it in a bag and take it with you.

About the price, yes, you can almost buy a cheap laptop or desktop, but for $500 neither one will be worth writing home about.

If you are into computers, then you really need three devices. The Sharp Zaurus SL-C760 for pocket computing, the Sony Vaio TR-1 for mobile computing (has bluetooth and wifi), and your desktop machine.