Lifedrive vs dell axim 50v

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> Anyone have a feeling of whic would be preferred. Need wifi.

From what I can see, and I haven't seen the LifeDrive in person, is a that
it had a larger screen and much greater initial storage capability (thanks
to the hard drive built in). Now, thanks to those two items, it is also
larger than the Dell Axim 50v, but it also replaces that other harddrive MP3
device you may have, so..

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

RPR wrote:
> Anyone have a feeling of whic would be preferred. Need wifi.
>
> RPR

I retuned an X50v after desparately trying to "bond" with it. To be
fair, I had previous to the axim purchase returned two Tungsten Es for
quality and hardware problems. My *opinion* is that the PPC has all of
the elements to make it a great wireless PDA/Internet appliance, but
with Windows Mobile 2003 (WM) that is not likely to happen soon.
Windows as a PC OS can be difficult, but WM has the feel of a PC OS
crammed into a box far too small to hold it. The user is *required* to
become intimately familiar with the inner workings of the OS as a
prerequisite to using the device effectively. I returned my X50v before
getting involved with photos, mp3, and video since my patience with the
OS was at an end.

The X50v screen has VGA capabilitie that can be invoked with third-party
hacks (ozVGA) and a soft reset. VGA is very good with the exceptions
that menus, icons, the keyboard all become too small with active stylus
areas the size of the stylus tip. The WM 2003 OS does not support VGA
object sizes and there is no way around the effects. VGA has limited
utility as a result.

Otherwise, the X50v is simply a better QVGA PDA except that many QVGA
apps do not yet honor "font doubling" for the screen and look terrible,
i.e., unusable. It's internet apps are all uniformly not ready and not
suitable for internet use. It is designed to use a connected PC as the
internet proxy, not as an independent network device. Perhaps WM 2005
will offer better, but I don't have much hope that MS is interested. MS
has had years to make the OS better...

The other part of my negative experience with PPC is tapping. What can
be accomplished in the PalmOS with one or two taps requires many more on
the PPC. Tapping became annoying; it stands in the way of a smooth user
experience. Once I realized that the excessive tapping was fundamental
to the OS and that meant that MS failed to design for the user, my
returning the X50v was inevitable.

Battery life is miserable with wireless running and not much better
without it. The battery is only 1100mah, about half the capacity of a
modern AA cell. A backup battery is essential for any measure of
portability.

Wireless connectivity is very good. Wireless syncing requires magic as
a continual fix. Wireless setup offers several gratuitous pits of doom
that the inexperienced might never solve without external help. I
managed to make it work with WEP on my home network. WPA is supposedly
supported in WM 2005.

PalmSource has problems with the PalmOS, no doubt. But, let there be no
mistake, MS has similar and I think more serious problems with WM 2003
since the box begs for more RAM, a better file system, easier data
management, and a serious reworking of the user interface. WM 2005
might make the difference. Dell has said that WM 2005 will be a paid
update for the X50v series.

If you review the postings on the newsgroups
microsoft.public.pocketpc.*, where * is blank, multimedia, wireless,
activesync, you can get an idea of what problems in useability face the
PPC and its owner. www.aximsite.com is also a good source for
information. I recognize that I'm in the minority of PPC users who, in
general, have high praise for the X50v and overlook its faults. All this
being said, I do want recognize Dell with whom all of my dealings were
first quality - in keeping with all of my previous purchases from the
company.

Q