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Combining the power of a PC with the fun of multimedia, the Zaurus SL-5500 boasts a powerful Intel StrongARM 206 MHz processor, 64 MB standard memory, an MP3 and MPEG-1 multimedia player, and a voice recorder. It also features a high-resolution color reflective LCD and an integrated keyboard with a sliding cover.
Because of its open-source Linux/Java-based platform (with Qt/Embedded GUI), applications can be easily customized to fit your personal and business needs.
Sharp's built-in QWERTY keyboard design allows easy data input without sacrificing space. In addition to the keyboard, you can use the stylus and touchscreen to navigate through applications with ease.
Incorporating Sharp's leading LCD technology, the Zaurus SL-5500 has a high-definition color reflective TFT screen with over 65,000 colors and a 240 x 320 resolution. You'll get bright, vivid color no matter what the lighting, making it simple to view a movie or pop in a video while on the move.
The two built-in slots for Secure Digital (SD) and CompactFlash (CF) cards provide dual expansion capabilities and simultaneous use of accessories such as optional modems, memory, LAN cards, and digital cameras. The Zaurus SL-5500 is compatible with a number of modem options for maximum flexibility in communication.
The Zaurus SL-5500 comes equipped with an extensive software application package including address book, calendar, calculator, text editor, to-do list, and Word and Excel viewing and editing capabilities. Its PC synchronization program for Microsoft Outlook makes it easy to keep all information up-to-date. The Zaurus also comes complete with a docking station that features an integrated USB cable and AC adapter for easy synchronization and battery recharging.
The Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 comes with an AC power adapter and cord, USB synchronization cradle, stylus, display-protection cover, and rechargeable lithium-ion battery.
What's in the box
As stated previously, this product's greatest strength is the Linux OS that lies underneath rhe hood. I've downloaded a few UNIX shell based tools that have compiled and worked without a hitch. I love using Opera with a d-link cf wireless card. It required almost no tweaking and works great. The Zaurus is made of plastic but appears to be fairly durable. The battery is a bit underpowered on 5500 (The 5600 has a battery 2X larger.)
If you plan on networking the 5500, read the security information regarding ftp weaknesses in early models.
Overall, a great value for $200!
The Zaurus is basically a mini Linux workstation with a lot of functionality you would normally find only on a desktop. With the Zaurus, you can:
* Browse the web with a scalable and full featured browser
* Read and edit MS-Office documents (Word, Excel and Powepoint)
* Write and execute scripts and programs (including Java)
* Play music and video
* Control your desktop Windows PC (using VNC software)
It is so powerful that you can actually use it as a Web or file server (using Apache and Samba). I use my Zaurus to administrate my Linux server and Oracle database server when I am away from my desk.
Plus there are tons of applications, utilities, games, etc., that you can download. Zaurus has a very active user community forum (check the links from the Sharp Zaurus official web sites) where you can get a lot of useful tips from.
Having said all that, the PIM functions that came with the Zaurus were pretty poor compared with the Palm Pilot. This lead me to hang on to my Palm Vx for dear life. I even took the drastic step of downloading and installing a Palm Pilot emulator (called QPose) onto my Zaurus. The performance hit on the Zaurus was so bad that I had to delete QPose and instead carry both my Palm Vx and Zaurus with me.
However, now that Sharp has released a new ROM (v3.10, as of May 15, 2003, see below) the PIM functions have vastly improved. So much that I am now inclined to keep my Palm at home and take only the Zaurus along.
Upon getting your Zaurus, do yourself a favor and install the terminal and file manager applications that come in the CD. The terminal application enables you to do a lot of tweaking and is mandatory if you plan to use the Zaurus to its full capabilty. It actually comes with a basic Linux shell environment and comes with such neat utilities as vi editor, ftp and telnet clients, ping, and a large number of Linux/Unix tools.
Another application I found very useful is called "rotation". It enables you to rotate the application screens by 90 degrees, making such things as web browsing, file editing and using the terminal appication a lot more pleasing and functional. You can download the "qpe-rotation" and "qt-embedded-rotation" files (ipks) from the ZaurusSoft website.
Also, an important suggestion to existing SL-5500 users:
Sharp has just released the latest ROM (v3.10, May 15, 2003) which makes the SL-5500 look and behave like the newer SL-5600. I *strongly urge* SL-5500 users with the old ROM (v2.38) to download and install this new ROM. The user interface with the new ROM is a lot cleaner and neater and has more stable applications (including a vastly improved Opera browser and much better PIM applications).
The problem, for me, lies with the software. The PIM software is cumbersome to enter data into, and it doesn't display things very nice. When you have things on the Palm, it gets more data on the screen by removing things like the gridlines on tables and the pretty borders -- after all, if you wanted that you'd use Windows, right? -- but the Zaurus has these and in my opinion clutters the screen with them.
The Zaurus is a bit frightening to use at first, as you really don't know what to do with it. The first thing I wanted to do was customise it -- change its colours and appearance. Problem being, you only have a few select colour themes to choose from.
The MP3 software is great, but the MPEG player always, without fail, locked the device up, resulting in it needing a reboot.
After a few weeks of use, the device seemed to have a memory leak or something, as switching on or off took longer than usual, and sometimes the device would not switch off at all.
Oh, and the top off my stylus has snapped. Do you think I can find a place easily that sells replacements?
On the other hand, Opera, the web browser, is amazing. Second to none. It's great being able to see fully-fledged sites on such a little device. And yes, it *is* possible...
This baby is just that -- a baby. It has a lot of growing up to do before it will become my companion. The only reason why I ditched my Palm IIIe for the Zaurus was because the Zaurus had more memory and expansion slots -- if my IIIe had these, I'd stick with it.
I just wanted to take a minute to let you know how important you are to me. I probably don't tell you this enough, but you make a big difference to me in my life.
It is strange to think that it was only a few short months ago that I first started thinking about buying you. You seemed so aloof at first, so distant. I didn't know what to expect. I mean, I was pretty sure that I wanted to be with you. But I wasn't sure we would click as well as we do now.
I really enjoy being with you. Inputing data is so easy with you. And you came with so many great applications. True, at first, your battery didn't seem to last as long. But now that I have charged you a few times, it seems as though your battery is lasting longer and longer.
You were fairly easy to sync with my Windows 2000 O.S. And I was easily able to transfer address book information from my old Palm IIIxe to you just by beaming.
How bright your colors are! How fantastic the stereo sound performs! How fast your processor runs! How expandable you are!
I have easily been able to find stuff to install on you, everything from games to mortgage calculators to task managers, etc. Many useful informational websites about you exist, and they all help me grow closer to you.
Anyway, I just hope that we can continue our great relationship together for a long time to come.
All my love,
Your owner
The software is pathetic. It looks like the PIM and Sync software were hacked together by a bunch of college students over a weekend. They really did not have to do much... all that they had to do was copy feature-for-feature the Palms which have been around for close to a decade now.
Backlighting is uneven. There is a dark area on the screen in the top right hand corner. Compare this to a screen from either the Palm Tungsten or any PocketPC and you will see what is missing.
The battery indicator is useless; and so is the battery. It lasts about an hour with the backlight. And spare batteries cost a fortune.
The fonts are poor. A lot of the screen is taken up by assorted 3-D buttons and scroll bars. The end result is that the effective resolution is more or less the same as a Palm 160x160 screen.
The image viewer cannot open large files.
Handwriting recognition is poor... on a PocketPC it recognizes all of my cursive handwriting without an issue. And Graffiti has worked for me since it first came out.
Sharp better get its act together pretty darn soon. Does not look like they are going to sell much unless they _way_ improve the GUI and reduce the price point to a more affordable level.
I tried a Toshiba e335, and returned it after a week. This PDA is great.
0. Little keyboard rocks - VERY convenient
1. It is Linux/Java - powerful combination with a lot
of free, easy to install software. (It is Linux but
installation is as simple as PlamOS/Windows based PDAs -
no difference - download file and click on it!)
2. It has both commercial and free movie(divx including)
and mp3 players - my favorite is free mplayer you can get from
the web, you can encode DVD on Linux/Mac with mencoder
and fit 3 hours of VHS quality movies on a single 256MB
CF card !!!
3. Just snap a CF wireless card and you get network!
4. It has VoIP application (need to pay extra) tkcPhone
5. Both openssh and vnc are avalaible so you can use it
as remote terminal to your desktop in text and graphical
mode. Imagine using PDA on the couch in the living
room to control your PC in the office!
6. Uses SD and CF. CF is cheap and large - great for storing
movies. You can also connect network card/modem with it.
SD can be used for more permanent storage.
I can't imagine what more I would want from a PDA ...
I can think only about TV-out and TV-in so I can play
moveis from it on TV and watch movies on it from DVD player..
But I think this is something that even most notebooks
do not have and not a single PDA ...
The principle of the device is simple: a windows manager (QTopia) that runs on a minimal amount of memory, allows for reasonable expandibility, and is updatable. Rather than just stopping with expandibility, however, Sharp decided to included anything they seemed to think of: flash ROM, an IR port, and one Compact Flash and SD card slot each. The result is an ability to expand the unit in terms of not only memory, but also peripherals through the CF port and even replace the preinstalled ROM with one from the Open Zaurus project.
Whether you choose to use the Open Zaurus (Opie) rom is up to you, of course, but with or without it there is currently a larger population of people writing software that will run on the Zaurus than there is for either Palm or CE devices. Palm's old community of experimental software programmers seem to have shifted back to their C language roots in Linux, meaning that there will be pleanty of new developments for a while to come. The only draw back is that everyone seems to be writing for this unit only, and not making their programs more universal, which will create problems when other devices come out (for example, many programs out now do not run well on the SL-C700, the big brother of the 5500, only available in Japan).
The largest complaint people have, especially if they come from Palm simplicity, is the time it takes for software to load. Depending on how heavily the unit is loaded down, this can become a problem. If things are kept light, or if a swap file is added (a few tools around for doing this automatically), this is not such a big deal. My advice would be to try it out at a local computer store if possible and seeing what you think of it. If you can live with it, or say "What delay?" you have found your PDA.
Handwriting recognition is another thing that sets the Zaurus apart. Sharp has been using handwriting recognition in their units for almost a decade and have it down to an art. A person can enter data just as fast as they can write it, with a high degree of accuracy, and without using a modified alphabet for input or spending ages getting the device to recognize your handwriting quirks.
I am giving this 5 stars right now in the absence of better models, but if the SL-C700 ever finds its way to the US, that will be taking the top.
My point, with some effort on the users' part (or previous computer knowledge) you can do things with the Z that simply cannot be done with CE or Palm. For the people that just want to use this like the other PDA's it is priced inline with the competition. The true value of this lay ahead. The software dev community will put distance between the competing OS's all the while you can sit back and try it all instead of waiting to see if someone will port insert_cool_app_here to the dying OS's. (Oh and charge me for it if they do)
Your interest in software increases the rating of this exponentially. If you don't need a PDA right now.... wait for round two of this fight. The difference will be stark. BTW Nokia is moving its cell phones to the linux/java platform. I know palm was not even an option, CE is shriveling on the vine in that market and I can already make voice-over-IP calls with the Z. Lastly, this was authored and submitted with the Zaurus.
My point, with some effort on the users' part (or previous computer knowledge) you can do things with the Z that simply cannot be done with CE or Palm. For the people that just want to use this like the other PDA's it is priced inline with the competition. The true value of this lay ahead. The software dev community will put distance between the competing OS's all the while you can sit back and try it all instead of waiting to see if someone will port insert_cool_app_here to the dying OS's. (Oh and charge me for it if they do)
Your interest in software increases the rating of this exponentially. If you don't need a PDA right now.... wait for round two of this fight. The difference will be stark. BTW Nokia is moving its cell phones to the linux/java platform. I know palm was not even an option, CE is shriveling on the vine in that market and I can already make voice-over-IP calls with the Z. Lastly, this was authored and submitted with the Zaurus.
I right now consider it an extension of the brain in taking care of mundane tasks (scheduling, tasks, contacts) and as a portable computer without the bulk and battery issues.
We are inseparable :).
I right now consider it an extension of the brain in taking care of mundane tasks (scheduling, tasks, contacts) and as a portable computer without the bulk and battery issues.
We are inseparable :).
The software is an entirely different story. It ranges from quite good to abysmal. The "OS" itself is nice and intuitive, modelled quite straight from standard KDE (if you're not familiar with KDE, it's very Windows like). And although things like a "start menu" don't translate well to the tiny size, the OS is still quite navagable and usable. The Opera web browser is great, the Jeode java virtual machine produces no complaints, media player is great, the to do list, contacts, etc are just fine.
But the calendar application is awful. It's very buggy. Trying to change an appointment from within the PDA often leads to disaster, with the calendar app left in an unstable state (hard to explain). Attempting to fix the situation usually just leads to appointments being deleted. I've been reduced to only adjusting appointments from my desktop and resyncing, which removes a significant reason for having a PDA in the first place. Just horrible, and the biggest strike against the machine as I feel the calendar app is the most important of the bunch.
The desktop syncing software is also unfortunately pretty raw. The version that ships with the Zaurus is pretty crippled and old. Newer versions lead to more features (such as the ability to install software), but they have their own unique bugs (such as sometimes the syncing process ignoring your overriding preferences and doing what it wants at times).
If you're looking for a neat gadget to have some fun with or experiment with, look no further. Unix in your pocket is pretty cool. If you want a solid PDA you can depend on, keep looking. Or at least wait, I suspect a revision or two of the core ROM should change things dramatically. After all, rather small bugs are holding the show back, easily squashed.
While it seemed that Zaurus was a nice little gadget, it's usability as a tool has not met expectations. I travel, I write, I program Java and Perl occasionally, I read email and browse, read books, listen to the music, and that's what I expected to do with this PDA.
Battery life. Battery life was perhaps the biggest disappointment. Three hours is ok to get you through the day just checking up phone numbers and going back into the hybernate mode, but when I am up for reading a good book on the road trip, the battery life is quite disappointing, especially since newer models from Dell and Compaq boast 7-8 hours for the same kind of color screen.
Keyboard. While Zaurus features quite an innovative design with built-in keyboard, if your plan is to type a journal entry, extensive email, or a 2-page paper, this PDA won't be of much use. I am a male, which besides some strong points brings in such indispensable attribute as large hands with large fingers, meaning that Zaurus experience was quite a nuisance for me. To be fair, that's probably true for all PDAs, not just this one specifically. But next time I will shop for one that has an external keyboard, Zaurus built-in one was good enough maybe to type two lines of text, not more.
Applications. There's a wealth of applications for Zaurus out there and I did not feel that I was missing anything important. I discovered that I could not play WMV videos, but that's proprietary Windows format, so it's expectable. Zaurus did a good job playing MPEGs and MP3s, which is what most of my collection is anyway.
Large documents. You would imagine that a PDA with 200 MHz, 64MB of RAM and about 512 MB total of added Flash card memory would cope with a text file of size 1-2 MB. After all, if you download a book off the Internet, that's the size that is quite common, especially if it's a PDF file with illustrations or some weird page formatting. My old laptop has a Pentium 90Mhz with 16 MB of RAM (don't laugh) and I had no problem dealing with large (larger than 1 MB) Word documents, PDF files or plain TXT documents. On Zaurus this experience proved to be quite painful. The documents sometimes would take 20 minutes (I am not kidding) to load and even then I would get an error about insufficient memory. Small documents under 50K load quickly, but then you can read them in couple of minutes anyway.
I sold my Zaurus and am on the market for a new PDA. I am OS-agnostic, thus I don't care whether it's Palm, Windows or Linux based device. Now that I have had experience with a pocket computer, I know what to look for.
The sharp zaurus really is the best kept secret among PDAs. I've had my Zaurus for almost 9 months, and have had no problems with it. It's simply the best... And here's why:
Operating System: Running on the Linux kernel, with embedex (Lineo) and sporting the QTopia desktop interface (which can be replaced by other Gnome and Opie interface), the Zaurus is a powerful mobile tool. While the Pocket PC interface (2000 and 2002) are decent, the QTopia interface out-does the Pocket PC by a long shot. The Pocket PC's interface has a more clunky feel, while the QT GUI makes use of the Zaurus' high-rez screen. Did I mention Java? It's got a built in "Jeode" JVM for Java developers. If you don't wanna take a crash course in C++, you can write programs for the Zaurus in Java.
It's open source, just like it's desktop counterpart, so if you know what you're doing, you can easilly modify it to your taste. Pocket PC just can't match this kind of open source power. It's also incredibly stable. I can count the number of times it's crashed on my hand (and when it did crash it was with unstable 3rd party apps).
IMHO, this is what the Pocket PC should've been. It's got the same task-bar/desktop look that the windows desktop OS has.
Software: I'm not trying to turn this into a Pocket PC bash-athon, it just seems to be turning out that way. As an HTML and web programming enthusiast, the Opera browser has Pocket IE beat 10 to 1. While Microsoft boasts "Pocket IE supports WAP, XHTML and most JavaScript", Opera supports all of these and then some. And it supports ALL JScript objects (Prompt boxes, alerts, arrays etc...). And Opera promises to have applet and Flash plug-ins in the near future. In short, as pdageek.com put it, "The Zaurus version [of Opera] is just like the full version: Fast, small, and to the point".
The other apps are great too. Hancom Word, Sheet and Presenter are great. I haven't used Pocket Word or Excel enough to say that Hancom is better, but I can definitally say that the Zaurus version matches the Pocket PC office suit. Pocket PC doesn't even come with a PowerPoint viewer. The media player supports both high bandwidth MP3s (352 kbps) and low bandwidth (16 kbps). It also comes with a built in MPEG-1 player. However, theKompany.com has an excellent video player that supports AVIs,MPEGs, Quicktime movies etc... that you will want to upgrade to for serious movie watching. The games are fun too ^_^.
Hardware: The Zaurus again matches the Pocket PC, with 206 MHZ intel strong ARM CPU, 64 MB RAM and a 240 x 320 screen. The only other Pocket PC that outdoes this is the Toshiba e710 with a 400 MHZ CPU, but if you want something of that caliber, check out the Zaurus SL-5600 (with 96 MB RAM and 400 MHZ). Yet another place where the Zaurus wins is support for both CompactFlash and SecureDigital built in. You can take a picture with your CF digital camera, pop out the CF from it and view the images on your Zaurus. It also has a built in QWERTY key board built in (which I'm typing on) and an IR port.
Wi-Fi and Internet: While it doesn't have a wi-fi card built in, it's very easy to add one. Just pop in a wireless LAN card or Wi-Fi compatible card, and your ready to go. No drivers to load. Nothing. I popped my D-Link 650w CF card and started using the router. Browsing FTPs and surfing the net is fast and easy. I do alot of my internet browsing on my zaurus. I surf using Opera or Konqeror, I use Opie FTP to browse servers, and I use KMerling to Instant Message. The E-Mail app is good too, supporting attachments and scripted e-mails.
Syncing: Intellisync is very good. I run it on Windows XP and I've synced it with Outlook 2000 and 2002. The Task List, Calender, and Datebook apps are good, but not as good as the Franklin Covey apps available for Pocket PC and Palm. I've had no problems syncing. You can even sync wirelessly (if you know what you're doing).
Overall, the Zaurus is a great choice for anyone. Developers, Novices,and Experts.
The Zaurus sports a nice hardware design, something you'd expect from a Japanese company. The software, while stable, is very unpolished and VERY confusing. There's also a lack of clear integration as on the Palm and also Pocket PC. Free software? You get what you pay for...
In short, not quite worth the money and the label of an anti-social.
If there had been Mac support, this would have been my Christmas gift to my hubby! Guess we're back to Palm.
I can also highly recommend the Linksys WCF12
compact flash card for use with the Zaurus.
Cheers
I really thought this was nice with the keyboard and the options, and that I didn't have to be a slave to Microsoft stuff, but I guess trying to work the two companies together isn't always easy or effective. No, I don't want to have to learn Linnux, or Unix or even DOS. That is why Windows was so successful, we didn't have to know how it worked or much programming to just use the thing. Unfortunately, with the Zaurus, you couldn't "just use the thing" in our case, anyway.
It is going back. If you want a pda to actually assist you with your data, hence the name PDA (e.g. EASILY answer e-mail, plan schedule, check internet info, maintain addresses, store and retrieve documents/photos, etc.) look around more or try this out before buying. If you want to do fancy stuff, maybe this is more for you.
I have a feeling this item will be copied (nice screen, size, little keypad, etc.) with a more widely-known operating system and I will buy it then. It may be unfortunate that the companies making the money aren't the ones thinking up the stuff, but thems the breaks. I just want the thing to work "quick and dirty" -- I know some of you will get that reference!
There were a few quirks that I experienced with loading application packages. There is an auto-reboot after you finish installing a package or a group of packages on the device. I could not get the Zaurus to recognize more packages after the first reboot. Without looking into it more, I loaded as many packages as I could at once, and then let it do the auto-reboot.
If you have a problem with the system that a software restart does not fix, you can reset the system to factory defaults quite easily, and restore from backups. The procedures are clearly documented in the manuals that accompany the device.
The sync worked as well as I could expect. I did not try the Intellisync software on my desktop because the instruction manual stated that only one of the two sync software choices can be installed on your PC system at one time.
Personally, I love using this PDA. Everything you need is built-in. The fact that you have support for both SD memory and CF memory cards opens so many doors for expansion. The onboard mini QWERTY keyboard is outstanding. There is a software keyboard and text recognition application that comes with it as well. Just the games that came loaded on the unit displays its superior graphics capabilities.
I tested my IPAQ with the Pocket PC 2k2 OS, and the Zaurus on my friends wife, who knows nothing about computers, to see which she thought was more intuitive to use for basic word editing, solitaire, etc. She was lost on the Zaurus. She didn't like the text recognizer on the Zaurus, but found the Pocket PC text recognizing software much easier to use. The text recognition software on the Zaurus is not as forgiving as the Pocket PC version, or you have to train it to your handwriting style. Overall she did much better using the Pocket PC.
Generally, I would rate the Zaurus as being more geared towards the advanced computer user, or someone that is good at reading manuals and taking the time to learn. If you want a good "no-brainer" PDA then I would recommend a Palm or Pocket PC.
-joel
Features - Quality / price, it is by far the best PDA on the market. If you compare it to the latest sony clie that comes with a keybord also, then you realise there is a clear capacity - performance advantage for the zaurus.
Beside I could take advantage of the many applications available as open source software from the linux community.
I am definitly very enthusastic about my new zaurus !!!!
First the pros...
(1) Screen is very easy to see and the colors are just gorgeous.
(2) Sound via the headphones is outstanding.
(3) Auto scaling of images is impressive.
(4) The web browser scaling is very good and the text is readable even at it's smallest setting.
(5) Keyboard is quite comfortable and I find myself using it more than handwriting.
(6) Transfer from Palm is very easy - just beam the entire category over and it takes care of the rest.
(7) Availability of software is quite good... have ssh, wap browser amd mysql running on it. Download the command tool and you get your hands on all the standard UNIX utilities, including tar, grep and vi.
Now the cons:
(1) More memory would certainly help. Given that this thing has a built in mp3 player and a mpeg player - 64MB of usable memory would be good. Of the 64, only 32 is really available.
(2) I would have prefered a regular Type II PCMCIA slot over the CF slot, but then again this is a pet peeve of mine.
(3) The built in PIM applications do need some work.
Overall impression... It's a really nice piece of engineering. The fact that it has a built in keyboard without sacrificing screen estate in my view makes it stand out from the Handspring, CE and Palm devices. That coupled with Linux makes it a winning combination in my book.
The Good:
1) This is without a doubt the ultimate programmer's PDA.
2) You can write code, compile, and execute on the Zaurus (hard to believe but it's true).
3) There is quite a bit of good free software, including neocalc, which is a great calculator.
4) Amazon.com had a stellar deal on it.
5) Contrary to some of the reviews I've seen, the screen is very nice looking.
The not so good:
1) The software to sync with a PC (Win2K in this case) stinks. It crashes, hangs, intermittently refuses to connect, and requires special knowledge not included in the manual to get it to work. I've tried both Intellisync and Qtopia Desktop. Intellisync appears to be a hopeless basket case, but I was able to get Qtopia Desktop to work as long as I didn't have too many files on my CF (too many files causes a nasty crash on the PC side). Too bad I need to sync with Outlook.
2) I've managed to fry a 128Meg SD Flash by leaving it in during a hard reset of the Zaurus. That shouldn't happen, but it did.
3) The Hancom Suite (MS compatible Word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation viewer) is weak but usable.
4) The battery life is short (especially with a Wireless LAN adapter).
5) The MP3 software wouldn't play any of my variable bit rate files. I don't believe there is anything terribly unusual about them (other than they have been encoded using LAME).
6) The MP1 video is very slow and choppy at Video CD bit rates (like ~1 frame/sec). I've found it difficult to get a bit rate the works well for me when trying to take full advantage of the screen resolution. Perhaps the DiVX decoder that is being developed will solve this problem.
Even with these serious problems, I'd still consider it a great tool for a programmer and will give it 4 stars. For non-programmer types, I'd give it 1 star.
I got one as soon as they were available, and I was immediately taken by it. The unit is sleek, light, fast (for a PDA) and does all you would expect from a PDA - and much more.
The most obvious innovation is the little keyboard available by sliding the bottom cover of the unit. Especially for the novice that has little experience with handwriting recognition that by itself is an enormous boon.
Everything else about the unit is really excellent: the cradle, the software, the screen, the performance in general.
Writing software for the Zaurus is easy, and there are a number of developers writing software and sharing it. In general, the Zaurus has been accepted very favorably by the open source community, so that you are likely to enjoy more freedom of choice in software than you would have with other PDAs.
The only real downside I found was the synchronization software developed by Trolltech and Intellisynch. I had real problems getting both to do their job, with Trolltech's Qtopia desktop personal not working at all (I was told it was a version mismatch with my setup - am I expected to fix that?) and Intellisynch's software generating lots of duplicate entries in calendar and contact list.
Unfortunately, neither software is open-sourced, so that it might take a long time to get a version that really works for me.
All in all: great unit, let's hope the desktop software is developed in the same direction.
I have developed a few Java apps aready on it...and although they are not super fast like the QT native apps, I would say they still operate faster than any comparable Palm software.
I have to admit, the pre-installed productivity software (Address book, E-mail, etc.) are lacking, but I know there are people developing more robust applications as we speak. That being said, I was able to easily synch with Outlook E-Mail and Calendar.
It ships with HancomWord, HancomPresenter, and HancomSheet, all of which open Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, and Excel respectively. In fact, I loaded a 2 meg doc into HancomWord and it did a very good job of opening what I would consider a "standard" documents. It renders the bmps and jpgs so they are smaller. Formatting errors were hardly present.
All and all, I have to say this is a great new PDA to use. I am very happy with it.
The Sharp SL-5500 does all of this and more... This is not just a PDA, but a full fledged computer with a modern browser (Opera), and MP3/MPEG player, and all the PIM apps you need. Some of the PIM applications are not as refined as on the Palm, but they are very usable and I have no complaints.
As a Palm Graffiti user, I was able to supplement the SL-5500's handwriting recognition with some of the graffiti gestures I'm used to.... and the built in keyboard is excellent.... once you read the Unofficial FAQ to find the undocumented chars: | { } [ ] etc....
The rechargeable battery is adequate, and the screen is excellent.... I can carry pictures of my son around with me!
Best part is, it's a full Linux OS underneath, complete with shell access and all the tools you'd expect to find. I can take this to a data center, plug right into the network with a CF ethernet card, and bingo.... I can ssh or telnet to a unix machine.
This is not just for the general consumer, but for serious sysadmins too!
Everything is cool, except that there are issues with Wi-Fi support with some Wireless cards. The Support people are quite clueless, and the only support they offer is send in the unit and we'll look at it, which kindda [stinks].
The news groups are filled with people's concern on this matter and there seems to be no resolution from sharp.
But again if you are not looking to use a wire less n/w card, I think you could go for it. There is plenty of stuff you can download and insall from various sites(handango, zauruszone, etc)
This is not just a cool gagdet but a very useful device, it acts just like all other current PDAs, got all the softwares that are necessary to perform the tasks for a PDA.. Although it's a new OS, but sooner than later, there will be lots of software floating around. Again, this is a good thing to encourage more people to develop software for Linux.. Secondly, keen software engineer could write codes on the move.. Thirdly, isn't this the only PDA that allows two types of external memory without those messy plug-in devices like iPAQ? Lastly, the GUI is just nicely done...
Resolution and screen size are perfect. I have been looking around at the current market such as iPAQ, Sony Clie, Palm etc and I have to say, this has the best resolution and it's so crisp.
This is my first PDA and I am a very proud owner of it!
Having said that...I found Zaurus to be the easiest and most intuitive PDA to use. The keyboard is awesome, especially if you can use your thumbs well. The PIM application are very adequate. My favorite feature is the MP3 player. the clarity is mind blowing. add a generous configuration with memory, games and applications....it does not hang your desktop (I have an P4) or lock up. battery life is good, i put it on the charger every night. i had the ipaq 3635 before and i liked it but Zaurus blows it off the water. you might have to wait a while to get an extensive software library going but the current applications out there should cover ALL your needs.....i am sure there will be better PDA's in the future..but currently this the best PDA out there...guaranteed.....
1.) There's ALWAYS room for another OS. Competition keeps the industry alive. Look at the consumer computer OS market (no competition) vs the console gaming market (TONS of competition). The consumer OS market seems stagnant compared to the lively and highly competative console gaming market.
2.) Sharp is targetting high end users (Business professionals are NOT high end users) who desire the complete customization that comes with having an open system, plus the ease of JAVA development for customized applications. IT directors who need to get into their system from anywhere at any time, businesses which need data access over a large area where terminals are impractical, etc.
3.) Yes, Java, but no, not a PDA. They never meant this Zaurus to be "just another PDA". See my previous point as to why Java on the Zaurus is a good thing, and why it's not "just another PDA".
4.) If they took any more time to develop Linux and OSX sync, the product would have been delayed even further-- a self-defeating plan. One of the advantages of appealing to the OSS community is if they didn't develop it, someone else defintely will. Yes, this is a cheesy easy way out, but it also ensures that the application will be written that is useful to those who use it.
5.) Yes, it's a first release. A ... good first release at that. There is a lack of software currently available for it, but it is growing at an astonishing rate. Even before official release, companies like The Kompany and Handango had software ready to go-- not to mention the entire OSS community who is hyped about the system creating free alternative software (and even a completely repackaged operating system) for it.
The Zaurus is fast, and I have made the transition from a paper-based organizer without any hassles. The Intellisync software sync'ed up to Windows 2000 on the first try, and I have successfully transfered files half-a-dozen times so far. I have even downloaded new applications which installed properly on the first try.
This will give Palm and Windows-based PDA's a bit of competition.
It comes with a Word application that is compatible with MS Word. So while on the bus I was able to work on my research and simply sync it back to my main document on my PC.
Also I purchased a wireless network card because my dorm is wired and Im able to surf the Internet at blazing speeds. I even cut and pasted a Map into my Word application with no problems!
Truly this is a great little 'computer' and the price is good. I look forward to more applications in the future..
Screen: First of all, the screen takes a while to get "warmed up." When you first turn it on, it does seem dark, but after 5 - 7 seconds it brightens up considerably. Actually using it on daily basis it seems fine, and I would now give it an OK rating, especially not comparing it constantly to the HP Jornada screen.
Battery: After a couple of full charges the battery seems to last considerably longer, and I can now go for a full day of really heavy use without needing a recharge. While it still could be better, it is good enough, and the extra batteries are very small so you can always bring an extra if needed.
The main problem as I still see it is the PIM apps, which seem quite basic. But I feel confident that they will be updated on regular basis with the following that the unit seems to be getting from Linux folks.
And the built-in keyboard is really great. I underestimated how much I would be using it. It allows fairly fast data entry, so the Zaurus can be treated as a nice stand-alone PC in many ways.
The other positives is how snappy the system feels, with none of the frequent slowdowns that my wife's HP suffers from.
Screen - The screen is excellent with very good visibility in various lighting conditions and accurate with the stylus.
Keyboard - Very usable, you won't write a book with it but it's faster then any handwriting recognition or pick board. I have experimented with the handwriting recognition and it appears to work ok too, but I'd rather "thumb type". You have many options for data input with this device.
Performance - Fast and stable! I was very impressed hopping around to the different apps with no wait time what so ever. As a stress test I started playing some MP3's, opened a spreadsheet, fired up a java animation demo and the CPU handled it fine not even breaking a sweat at 30% utilization.
Expandability - The compact flash support is excellent. Just throw in a CF card with data and your set to go. A CF with MP3's works great! I haven't tried any of the CF wireless network cards, Proxim wireless cards, or modems but it appears ready to go.
Applications - It's loaded with a lot of nice applications out of the box... Spreadsheet App, PowerPoint presenter, Word Processor, MP3/MPG Player, Email, Web Browser, Games, etc. Not to mention the growing list of applications on the internet...
Design - Very nice and solid. It feels extremely light, and has a nice size to it. The pull out keyboard is ingenious.
If you have no interest or knowledge with Linux, you'll be fine using it there is little learning curve. It's very intuitive and easy to get around. If your a Linux guru, you'll know what to do. PROS: - mostly nice software, with a lot of applications built-in CONS: - battery power... or lack of it. The HP lasts over twice as long on one charge, with using 100% backlight. The Sharp seems to be actually worse than the old iPAQs... - it is pretty heavy and feels a bit odd in a hand. Like a small brick. The HP has a much nicer feel. - the casing has a cheap finish to it. - The software is still not very polished, with many very small buttons that are hard to hit, and cluttered. On a scale of 1 - 10 as far as interfaces go, the Sharp is a 6, HP is a 8 and Palm is a 9. It would be wonderfull if you could combine all into one... All in all, a nice first try, but I'm shipping mine back.
Don't get me wrong, I love the form/function.. the dual expansion.. the keyboard..BUT the Linux OS just doesn't cut it. Why? 1) There really isn't a need for another OS. Pocket PC is gaining momentum and as a Pocket PC owner, I'm really happy with it.. so I don't see an opening for a new PDA OS. 2) Who is Sharp targetting? The low end is taken by Palm, the high end.. taken by Pocket PCs such as iPaq, HP and Casio... Symbian is somewhere out there. Judging by the price, they're going after the high end. But then again, there's no speaker or mic, which basically takes the Zaurus down a notch in the eyes of business professionals who want to use it to record and playback "voice notes"... and gamers who want to hear sounds from games. (It has recording/playback capability.. but you need an external headphone and mic to use it). 3) This part might not be fair.. as I've got a developer version.. not the one sold on Amazon. But the Linux OS is just not tuned enough for use as a PDA OS. For example, you cannot adjust memory allocated for programs and data space.. so when memory allocated for programs run out, the programs you run get terminated (Even if you have memory left over for data!). This does not happen on the PocketPC. Second, the User Interface just isn't very intuitive. For example, I'd expect a little menu to pop up when I hold down my stylus over a sentence to allow me to copy/paste.. but for most of the applications, it does nothing. And then the Opera browser crashes, hangs, does not work well with javascript heavy sites. 4) The "Suspend" button is also the "kill" button.. in order to Suspend, you hold the Cancel button until the screen goes blank. But what if you let it go early? It kills the current running application.. D'oh!! 5) Java runs better on the Zaurus.. Now come on.. Java? Please! What are you going to do with Java on a PDA? The Sharp folks at JavaOne were extremely nice and bright, however I think this strategy of going with an unproven OS is going to be an unfruitful venture. I hope to be proven wrong, and at least I hope Sharp finds some niche it can hang onto until a the market for Linux based PDAs develops.. but until then I'm keeping my Zaurus for the sake of technological novelty :)
C'mon we've been wating for a device like this (Apple hasn't given us one!) Mac/Handspring users stuck with out-of-date Palm OS may be ready to ditch and cross over -- so give us the support. If this is a Linux based machine as it says, then it shouldn't even be nearly as difficult as all the work Sharp had to do to make it Windows compatible.
My unit has served as an eBook, an address book, an mp3 player, a photo album, an alarm clock, video player and a pocket video game machine. The linux shell has also allowed me to use the same tools available on a desktop machine and has also proved to be highly configurable. Pros: Cons: Sum it up: Great work horse, but room for improvement.
The Zaurus's fast CPU, high quality full-color LCD, and excellent headphone sound output makes for an impressive photo viewer, MP3 and MOD music player, and video-clip displayer. The slide-out keyboard has completely weaned me from using the handwriting system, which is unfortunate, because a lot of work was obviously put into it. Not only does the handwriting system have a help mode where you can practice strokes, but you can actually train it new, or alternate strokes for each character. But when you can type so quickly, why bother writing? The dual expansion slots are great, allowing me to use an SD card for software installation, and still have my CF slot free for a RAM card full of MP3s or a network adapter. Honestly, I was impressed by the capabilities of the Java system. In my opinion, Java has always been too slow and cumbersome to use, and the thought of running it on a 206MHz PDA seemed ridiculous. But from what I've seen of Java applications (even games!) running on the Zaurus, I'm beginning to realize there's a lot of potential in Java. As a desktop Linux user, I'm also tickled to have the power and stability of my favorite OS underneath the hood. For the extremely geeky, you can get Java, C and C++ compilers that run ON the Zaurus! The "Qtopia" environment and applications are as intuitive as they are nice to look at. The PIM applications have all the functionality I'm used to from my Palm device, and then some. Until I can afford a wireless modem to stick in one of my Zaurus' two expansion slots, I've been using a Compact Flash ethernet dongle to get online while watching TV. After using offline browsers on the Palm, I was shocked to find a full-fledge, desktop-quality browser built right into my Zaurus: Opera. Opera's zoom-out feature can't be lived without. Frustratingly, most websites assume you have a screen capable of at least 800x600. On a small PDA screen, this would mean constantly scrolling left and right as you try to read. Under Opera, you can zoom out to get a better overview of the page, and still be able to read all of the text! I've only used the Sync software (Qtopiadesktop - I used the Linux version) a few times, since my pattern for PDA usage is to use them as stand-alone devices. It was quite intuitive, though, as it looked and felt just like a larger version of the PIM software built-into the Zaurus. Finally, while there's obviously very little 3rd party software for the Zaurus so far, since it just came out, there's been what seems to be exponential growth. I've already installed almost 20 new applications, including games, a streaming Internet radio player, and an embedded version of the popular Linux browser, "Konqueror." Software installation is usually a snap, too. Just as with Palm, all that's usually needed is one file downloaded off a website. Run the graphical installer, wait a few seconds, and the new app. is there, ready to run! All in all, it's a great system. Powerful and slick hardware, in a beautiful form-factor, running powerful and slick software.
First, the keyboard is usable. I used to use a Psion Revo Plus, and the keyboard on the Zaurus is not nearly as usable as the Revo's, but it's still better than nothing. And it's hidden when it's not in use. There are other input methods available (a pickboard, an onscreen keyboard, and a graffiti like system), but the keyboard beats them all. The display is very nice, better than the IPAQs I've played with, and the backlight is strong. There's no built in speaker, so any MP3 playback will have to be done through headphones. The unit seems able to handle all sorts of media (MP3, Mpeg Video, and there is a divx :-) player). The bundled PIM apps aren't quite as good as the apps built into the IPAQ, but the browser and email applications are excellent. Opera provides the browser, and the email is full featured, with IMAP capabilities. All in all, not a bad PDA. A definite alternative to the IPAQ, and not a purchase you'd regret.
68 So close and yet so far...
I really wanted to like the new Zaurus. When I finally got it from Amazon, I must say that I was trully dissapointed. My wife has the HP Jornada 568 and I have a Palm m505, so I'll compare the the Sharp to both.
- hidden keyboard
- screen :( It is very unevenly lit, actually has a bad dark spot in the upper right corner. Mine also has a dead pixel. The screen isn't very bright, and definitely lacks contrast. The Palm is darker, but has better contrast. I can use both the HP 568 and m505 at work without the backlight under the office lights. The Sharp becomes very dark. I basically have to run it at 100% backlight all the time, whereas the HP is on at 40%. Also, the Sharp screen seems a bit muddy.
69 There's just no need for another PDA OS.
I got a "developer" version at this year's JavaOne.
In short, I don't think this platform (Linux/Qtopia) is going to make it.
70 Linux & Java OS -- where's the Linux /*nix compatibility?
This looks like a very impressive device -- the "open" Linux and Java platform should also attract Linux users and Mac OSX (a Unix FreeBSD-based OS). So why no Linux and Mac OSX support? There is market of unix-savvy Mac users and developers out there waiting for a PDA with an OS they already comprehend. Not to mention Mac OSX is one of the world's best Java platforms and this is supposedly a great Java PDA.
71 Nifty Machine
I've tried a Palm an Ipaq and the Zaurus and have decided to stick with the Zaurus. From a hardware standpoint the Zaurus beats all other competitors with its built in keyboard, expansion slots, industry leading LCD screen and replaceable li-ion battery. Curiously the Zaurus lacks an internal microphone like its Pocket PC competitors, but instead has an input/output phone jack.
- keyboard, blackberry-like, much more efficient than writing
- plethora of open source software available
- highly configurable, even allows custom kernels
- casing scratches easily
- short battery life (but replaceable)
- Sync Software is not as refined as Palm's
- packaged Media Player cannot fast forward or rewind
- does not save application state on suspend
72 Nice Product!
Sharp has done a great job with this PDA. I love the fact that it has both an SD/MMC slot and a CF slot. I can use the SD for storage and the CF for wireless connectivity. And with Linux as the OS, there are lots of free / low-cost applications and games around already. I was a little disappointed with the image viewer on large JPEGs (1600x1200), but other than that it's great.
73 Incredibly Powerful and Flexible
The Sharp Zaurus Linux-based PDA is both extremely powerful, and easy to use.
74 Zaurus Developer Review
I've had a development version of the Zaurus for a few months now and have to say I really like it. Not that it's perfect, far from it, but it seems like a very well put together PDA.
The astronomer Francesco Sizi, a contemporary of Galileo, argues that
Jupiter can have no satellites:
There are seven windows in the head, two nostrils, two ears, two
eyes, and a mouth; so in the heavens there are two favorable stars, two
unpropitious, two luminaries, and Mercury alone undecided and indifferent.
From which and many other similar phenomena of nature such as the seven
metals, etc., which it were tedious to enumerate, we gather that the number
of planets is necessarily seven. [...]
Moreover, the satellites are invisible to the naked eye and
therefore can have no influence on the earth and therefore would be useless
and therefore do not exist.
Today's scientific question is: What in the world is electricity?
And where does it go after it leaves the toaster?
-- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?"
