Sharp Zaurus SL-C3000 Reviewed

Bill Kendrick writes "Sharp's hard-drive-packing SL-C3000 model Zaurus (available in the U.S. from Dynamism) has been reviewed by BargainPDA. They cover the differences between this one and earlier, similar models, and even go over some of the stuff interesting to Linux users."

Gotta be better than Palm

[doublem]

After all the hardware, software and support issues I've had with the Palm T2, I can't imagine a PDA that's worse.

I'm never buying another Palm Pilot again. [onlineconfessional.com]

Re:Lack of WiFi frustrating

[chris09876]

But as the article pointed out, if you're using the CF slot for something else, you'd have to constantly swap it out

And it runs Nethack

[doublem]

The sharp runs Nethack, but the Palm does not.

The project to port nethack to Palm dies. Seems no one could get it to work, since the Palm API is so limited.

QT Nethack on the Sharp Zaurus though, I hear that works.

Damn, I can't wait to have the cash to trade in this damn Palm for something that WORKS, even if it doesn't work very well.

that is one yummy machine, but i want an oqo

[f()bz]

that new zaurus is tasty, but i'm holding out for an oqo [oqo.com] with debian. that would be delicious... anyone working on porting the stylus drivers or the screen sizing with x11 (or any drivers for that matter) for the oqo to deb yet?

~fabienne

Great product

[Realistic_Dragon]

The Zaurus is a fantastic product. It's best use for me is on economy flights (no one has enough air miles to fly decently all the time) where the seat pitch is just too damn small for my powerbook.

It's got enough power and battery life for me to do a bit of coding (well code review, the keyboard is ok for edits but not writing huge chunks) and with a 4gb CF disk in it (I currently have one ripped from another device - but the new solution is nicer) more than enough movies to keep you going.

Mine manages ~10 hours or ~5 watching films, but spare batteries are pretty cheap at ~$100 each, and higher capacity than the default one on my model too.

If you do get one INSTALL VIM FOLDNIG EXTENSIONS! Or the same for emacs if you prefer. Folding editors make life easy on big screens, on a small screen they are invaluable.

Re:but does it

[Cyn]

Performance isn't the most important thing, by far, between ROMs. That said, I would say no there's not a particular performance change between ROMs. The important difference, is the usability.

An OpenZaurus installation (built by OE) would actually look pleasing and be functional. I have a c700 and a c760, and neither of them dares to touch the Sharp ROM.

Unless they've made leaps and bounds - the Sharp ROM addressbook is still beyond useless, not to mention a host of other lackings in all things. The only thing Sharp ROM has going for it above OZ is full hardware support (specifically, the ok/cancel buttons on the side of the device - and the 'jogwheel' equivalent).

However, if you just want to write text notes and read electronic books, sharprom should do you fine.

Main differences

[Cyn]

The main differences between this model and the older clamshells can be summed up as such:

* 4gb internal hard drive (3.6gb formatted, 2.9 user)
* Less internal ROM - 16 instead of 32 or 64 (or 128 for c860? - don't quote me on that)
* USB Host (poorly supported)

As most would argue, given that it's a PDA (constantly mobile) and flash memory is pretty damned cheap - AND that the hard drive isn't exactly easily upgraded . . . the hard drive is mostly a non feature. (mostly - the sd driver is a bit of arse, and binary only - so 4 gigs always in your Zaurus with the CF still open does still have advantages... but it has moving parts - so it has disadvantages....)

So, the main feature of note over the older models is USB host. If you don't need that, you're likely better off enjoying the price cut on older models (where still available).

Still - it would be nice to have 4gigs + CF open without having to touch that stupid buggy binary SD driver.

Re:Autonomy ?

[tchuladdiass]

The 5600 can more than double that if you can find one on ebay. The review says that the sl-c3000 lasted about 6 hours of article editing before getting a low-battery warning. My experience with my new zaurus 6000 unit seems to confirm this. However, using the wireless card will cut battery life in half -- or it used to on mine -- I've since adapted the diald program to automatically turn on & off the wireless card after 15 seconds of inactivity, which brings the battery life back up to normal.
Also, it all depends on how bright you make the display. I'm not sure about the c3000, but on the 6000 if I have the brightness set up all the way it hurts my eyes. I have to turn it down a couple of notches, unless I'm outdoors. Even then, the backlight is only needed if your in the shade (i.e., a lot of ambient light), but in direct sunlight the screen seems to be quiet readable.

Re:Lack of WiFi frustrating

[tchuladdiass]

In previous zaurus models this was a concern, since the most likely other use for the CF slot was for a microdrive. But with the built in drive, you most likely aren't going to need to put anything else in that slot, other than maybe a bluetooth adapter (which you probabably won't use at the same time as wifi), or a gps card (which you would want to use with wifi). However, the device does have a usb master port, so you can always use a usb wifi/storage/gps device. But then you've got portability issues...

Re:but does it

[Lumpy]

how silly.

I have SEVERAL SL5500's in use and the addressbook is not that bad, and you also gloss over the fact that you can load a different addressbook app on it, but you lose all sync functionality.

also I do things with my Z's that palm and windows based Owners only dream of doing.

finally being able to beam contact information to PALM -or- windows pda users is awesome, the salespeople here have discovered that the built in apps are more than useable, the pocket Office compatability apps are extremely useful and the very large selection of free software for all the sharp SL pda's will significantly increase your useability.

We have barcode scanner cards in the CF slot on ours. The custom software for the sharp devices was 10X easier to write and interface to the master server than any PALM device. (I know I also wrote the app here for our old Palm+barcode scanner devices.)

coupled with the fact that Z's + the CF card are 1/5th the price of the insanely overpriced PALM or windowsCE or pocket PC units with barcode scanner built in I can keep 5 units in the shelf as emergency replacements when the other units get broken or lost.

I am looking to upgrade to the C700 series (you can get them for around $300.00 now) when we roll out these devices to all 20 salespeople here in the office.

so IF 5 sales people and 1 PHB has no problems with the sharp rom apps, I would simply guess you are simply jaded against it because it does not work theway YOU want it.

and they certianly are doing much more than reading electronic books, and writing text notes.

Incomplete OS translation from Japanese to English

[DavonZ]

Please note that the Zaurus C3000 is shipped in a hybrid EnglishJapanese state to allow for the translation software to work. The ability to switch to a pure English translation is done by typing the following two commands into the terminal:

su
reconv

After which the unit will reboot and be in an English only mode (Japanese Inputs remove, Input switching removed, Larger fonts, etc...).

Typing the two commands again will revert the unit back into hybrid mode to allow for the translation software to work again.

As well, please see the following forum post at ZaurusUserGroup for more information about the C3000 and its Issues/Solutions:

http://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=8 84 6