Zaurus SL-6000 Prototype Revealed

Gudlyf writes "The Zaurus User Group has a short piece (with pictures) on the newly revealed prototype of the Sharp Zaurus SL-6000. Among the many new features are integrated wi-fi, integrated bluetooth, a larger screen and possibly more RAM. Word is that this unit *will* appear in U.S. markets."

Comments

Integrated Bluetooth...

[heironymouscoward]

Simple wireless ssh terminal when combined with my Nokia Bluetooth phone. Oh yes, this is nice.

Already getting slow

[holygoat]

Wow, and there's only one comment!

I'll be very interested (as a former Zaurus user) to see how this competes against the Axims of this world. It's amazing how prices have fallen since I got my iPAQ 3630 - you can now get a WiFi-enabled Axim for less than $200 (equivalent prices here). That's crazy!

PocketPCs (largely because of Dell) are swamping the markets at several price points. It will take a very competitive pricing strategy to compete.

I want one.

Re:I've never owned a PDA

[PurpleWizard]

I have an SL5500. It's great but in terms of usefulness it's low. As a PDA that is. I'm not a PDA person though. I previously had a Psion Revo but the hassles of using that with Linux and the geek factor made me go for the Zaurus.

I might use it more if I had it integrated to my phone but my old mobile doesn't have the facilites to connect and I don't use that enough to justify a new one really.

I'd prefer the Revo still because of its keyboard.

The question on usefulness can only be answered if you have a clear idea of what you would use it for. The Revo for example with its ace keyboard made writing up ideas, notes, diary comments etc... really quick, easy and pleasant. Once I switched fully from Windows to Linux though connections became an issue.

Summary:
If you have a clear use as useful as any PDA just maybe not as good. But you can have a terminal:-). If you don't have a clear use then save your money.

Golly I ramble.

Re:I've never owned a PDA

[RevAaron]

I've had two Zaurus models, the SL-5500 and the new and flashy SL-C760. Both have been very disapointing, mostly from the standpoint of software, although the SL-5500 had a lot of problems in the way of hardware.

The SL-5500's hardware was pretty mediocre. It was a good deal when I got it, as it was less than $200. The worst part was the screen, very very dim and not sharp. Worst screen on a PDA in its class (320x240 color). And it's not like Sharp doesn't make good screens- the screen in the Dell Axim X5 is the best screen I've seen in that class, and both screens were made by Sharp.

The keyboard on the SL-5500 was more or less worthless to me. I had to use it for a little while, until I found a better input method for the SL-5500, QwikScript. I was able to enter text quite a bit faster using real HWR on a Newton or CalliGrapher on WinCE/PPC. The character/stroke recognition on the SL-5500 was *really* slow, but in the newer (3.10) ROM, it's speed up a lot, although it is still very innacurate, no matter how much I train it.

A lot of people blab on about the Zaurus because of the things you can do with it- ssh, vnc, etc. All things you can do on Windows CE or PocketPC, so meh. Hell, I've found the Unix-ported/adapted tools for WinCE to be work a lot more on a PDA than what you can get for the Zaurus. It seems to me that people are too lazy to create a proper interface for a PDA, so they just recompile it and put it in an ipk. (Zaurus installer package)

As for the built-in software, it's ... well, I'd go so far as to say it's darn near shitty. The PIM apps are a disaster, Linux support for syncing is non-extant (in the newer ROM), and there are few 3rd party apps that are worth using. Oh, you can find a lot of packages listed at the Zaurus Software Index, but most are 2nd rate, worst than what you deal with even on the Linux desktop, and far below what is available for WinCE, PalmOS, or even the Newton.

Why do I still have a Zaurus C760? Because it's incredible hardware to run my own PDA OE on.