The Pocket PC as a mobile web browser. Help!

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:26 pm

I've been wanting a pocket PC for a while now. I have a really old PDA my mom gave me, and I was dinking around with it, and found it quite useful. However, now I'm looking for a bit more. MP3 and SD slots are standard, of course. I mainly want to use this as a mobile web browser, but I also want at least the basic PDA functions, and the ability to use it as a separate storage device. Reading basic wordpad files and PDF's would also be nice, and maybe some image viewing functions. Any suggestions? I also want this relatively cheap, like nothing over $150. I know that severely reduces the number of products, but if it's a really nice one, I may be willing to push a bit. I've been looking at the iPAQ 1910, the iPAQ RZ1715, and the Dell Axim X5. Would any of these be good? Again, the stress here is mobile web browser, so keep that in mind. Any other good ones would be very helpful. Thanks!

CTFan

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:40 pm

I would say not the x5, my friend has one and it seems like it wasn't meant for human hands, and the stylus is flat (drives me crazy). The other two look good (iPAQ RZ1715 looks best to me, even though the x5 is twice as fast). You do know that none of them have built in wireless, don't you? I would say to get a palm os handheld, but the ones with internet browsers cost more than you have, and I think you would need it to have built in Wi-Fi.

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 8:09 pm

vskid wrote: You do know that none of them have built in wireless, don't you? I would say to get a palm os handheld, but the ones with internet browsers cost more than you have, and I think you would need it to have built in Wi-Fi.

That's what I was wondering about. I figured it was just a given, but when I didn't see specs, I got curious. So, can anyone recommend some that DO have built-in Wi-Fi?

CTFan

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 8:33 pm

CronoTriggerfan wrote:
vskid wrote: You do know that none of them have built in wireless, don't you? I would say to get a palm os handheld, but the ones with internet browsers cost more than you have, and I think you would need it to have built in Wi-Fi.
That's what I was wondering about. I figured it was just a given, but when I didn't see specs, I got curious. So, can anyone recommend some that DO have built-in Wi-Fi?

CTFan

If you got a pocket pc with a sd slot for $110 you could use the other $40 for a sd wifi card (they were $40 shipped on ebay). I don't know of any (not that I've checked) that are less than $150 and have built in wifi.

Post by **Triton** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 8:57 pm

or if SD and super blazin fastness arent a must i would check out a HP jornada they have keyboard!

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 10:19 pm

Triton wrote:or if SD and super blazin fastness arent a must i would check out a HP jornada they have keyboard!

Now you could do that, I think they're around $100 buy it now, and then just get a compatible PCM-CIA wifi card for ~$20 and use CF cards for more storage. I was going to do that, but lack of funds stopped me. You can even install linux on some of them.

elementxmaster · Post by **elementxmaster** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 1:11 am

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:43 pm

Triton wrote:or if SD and super blazin fastness arent a must i would check out a HP jornada they have keyboard!

Hey, that sounds like a good idea! Especially since I can use them as basic word processors for notes at school! Okay, I've found a few now that'll fit my budget. What one would you guys suggest, assuming price is no object? There's the HP Jornada 720, the NEC Mobile Pro 790, and there was one more, I'll look for it. Now, I'm leaning toward the HP, but what do you guys think?

EDIT: From the specs, I can't tell if either of these have a USB port...can anyone shed some light on the situation?

CTFan

Sir Games-A-Lot · Post by **Sir Games-A-Lot** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:59 pm

I recommend the X5, it has a CF slot which makes buying a wifi adapter far less expensive, and gives you a much larger selection.

Having owned an X50v (got it last July when Dell was having big a sale) here's how I see it:

1. Unless you intend to run some exotic ultra-highpower application with the PPC on external power, don't bother worrying about CPU speed, anything over 200Mhz is all you ever need, even for games and web browsing.

2. If your gonna browse wirelessly, get a higher capacity battery if one is available, or get a second battery. An alternate method is to build yourself a powerbrick for it, documented for the X50v, intend to do this myself. This is pretty essential.

3. Even for the chunkier X5, buy a hard case (one with a lid to protect the screen, and make you look uber cool when you flip it open) for it from the get go, pretty much a necessity.

4. Unless you are extremely hard on stuff or you intend to play twitch games on the touch screen, screen protectors are rip, don't bother with 'em, I have had the X50v without one for a year and not a scratch yet.

5. QVGA is very nice but probably not worth it when trading off for the CF slot.

6. Get a decent storage card for it if you don't have one, it's been a year and I'm still procrastinating.

7. If it makes any difference to you, Windows Mobile is still Windows. It will still freeze and require resetting every now and again. (personal experience)

Well that's my wisdom from having owned one any way. Learn from my mistake, I would have been better off with the last gen X5 and around $200 or more in my pocket, than the X50v, it is seriously overpowered, and that power is under supported. Also the X5 is has quite a bit more casing on it so it helps pretect the internals, unlile the X50v which really thin skinned.

And remember if the hand held doesn't come with PIE (pocket IE) there is a Mozilla based browser for PPC, works good and has tabs.

hagensieker · Post by **hagensieker** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 4:00 pm

The Jornada has a usb docking cradle but i'm not sure about the NEC Mobile Pro.

I say go with the Jornada.

Super Cameraman · Post by **Super Cameraman** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 4:15 pm

I have a Toshiba e750 and it has Wifi. And it comes with Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, and Windows Media Player. It's got an SD slot, too.

-Super

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Fri Sep 29, 2006 2:18 pm

Super Cameraman wrote:I have a Toshiba e750 and it has Wifi. And it comes with Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, and Windows Media Player. It's got an SD slot, too.

-Super

Are you still selling that thing?

CTFan

Super Cameraman · Post by **Super Cameraman** » Fri Sep 29, 2006 2:26 pm

No.

But just out of curiosity, how much you got?

-Super