11. Battery Runtime: More Energy-saving Or Not? Continued

If you activate the backlight and set the brightness to the default value of 50 candelas per square meter used by THG for the battery benchmark, the X30 did not exactly prove to be one of the long-running models.

Finally, we still want to show how much continuous operation of the integrated WLAN or alternatively PAN module affects the battery runtime.

The results speak for themselves: The wireless modules should only be switched on if they really have to be used. Otherwise, running them continuously reduces the battery runtime considerably.

Conclusion: Not Perfect, But Outrageously Cheap

Admittedly, the Dell mid-tier Axim X30 PDA with a 312 MHz CPU is not a perfect success. At just under four hours, the battery runtime is not the only thing that comes up short. Also, a display with VGA resolution would go well with a modern PDA that has had the multimedia ability more or less thrown in with the wireless MMX-compatible PXA270 processor.

However, this device has configuration features such as integrated WLAN and Bluetooth that competing devices either don't have at all or are only available for a steep surcharge. For a price of $279/€312, you get a lot of PDA for very little money, which no other manufacturer can offer at this time. This fact alone justifies awarding the "Recommended Buy Award" to the Dell Axim X30 312 MHz.