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Handhelds Hardware

Zaurus 5600 Announced 292

Posted by Hemos from the coming-at-you dept.
numatrix writes "Sharp just announced the release of the SL-5600 Zaurus today, the followup to the SL-5500 linux pda. Features include an xscale 400mhz processor, 96mb total flash, higher capacity battery, 2.4.18 kernel, built in speaker and mic, and all of the best bits of goodness from the 5500. Infosync has an article as well."
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Zaurus 5600 Announced More

Zaurus 5600 Announced

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  • 400mhz processor, 96mb? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @11:09AM (#4650734)
    millihertz? millibit? Gee, these are specs for the brain of a motorized barbie, not a pda!
    • From the Sharp announcement:
      Noting the importance of battery life, the Zaurus SL-5600 includes a 1700 mAh high capacity battery, the largest standard rechargeable battery capacity currently on the market.

      Perhaps they meant "Mega" here as well?
      • Mysterously, 36 computer employees were killed late Monday night and early Tuesday morning around the country while setting up a display for a new pocket PC. Fellow employees witnessed an arch of electricity hitting the victims and surrounding electronics. One witness commented "it was like a scene out of Command and Conquer." The manufacturer of the pocket PC, Sharp, refused to comment officially on the incidents, saying only "we have the most powerful line of pocket PCs on the face of the planet".
      • >>includes a 1700 mAh high capacity battery
        >Perhaps they meant "Mega" here as well?
        We're talking about a PDA, not a portable Fermi proton-antiproton collider. It's "milli-amp hour," I'm certain. ;)
    • 400/1000 = 0.4 Hz = 2.5 seconds

      Wow! 2.5 seconds a cycle! Can it play mp3s?

  • 64 meg flash, 32mb RAM (Score:5, Informative)

    by perlow ( 451482 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @11:10AM (#4650742) Homepage
    correction guys, its 64MB flash, 32MB RAM.

  • lots of pretty pictures (Score:4, Informative)

    by perlow ( 451482 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @11:12AM (#4650756) Homepage
    http://www.zauruszone.com/files/sl5600pics.zip

  • Press releases (Score:5, Informative)

    by IceFox ( 18179 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @11:17AM (#4650778) Homepage
    http://www.infosync.no/news/2002/n/2593.html [infosync.no]
    http://www.sharpusa.com/products/ModelLanding/0,10 58,1016,00.html [sharpusa.com]
    http://www.sharpusa.com/products/FunctionPressRele aseSingle/0,1080,304-32,00.html [sharpusa.com]

    14MB of Photos: http://www.zauruszone.com/files/sl5600pics.zip

    Pretty much:
    Linux 2.4.18
    64MB of Flash
    32 RAM
    1700 Battery
    Speaker and Mic added
    Will be out around end of december and early January
    Probaly we have the same price as the 5500 when it came out (~$500)
    The mini laptop that came out that everyone saw also was anounced today, but that is for Sharp Japan.

    Benjamin Meyer

  • Texte from infoSync (Score:5, Informative)

    by denisbergeron ( 197036 ) <DenisBergeron@@@yahoo...com> on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @11:17AM (#4650781)
    Since everything is /.ed this is the text I have in my cache !

    Next generation Zauruses announced
    By: Larry Garfield, Tuesday, 12.11.02 13:52 GMT

    Is it Zauruses or Zaurii? Either way, Sharp has officially announced two new models, one for the US and Japan and one for just the Japanese market. Guess who has exclusive pictures?

    Sharp has released details on their upcoming next generation Zaurus Linux-based handhelds. One model will be marketed in the US as the Zaurus SL-5600 and in Japan as the Zaurus B500, while the other, the Zaurus C300, will be available exclusively in Japan for now.

    On the outside, the SL-5600 is the same as the Sl-5500. But it's what's inside that counts.
    The SL-5600 will use the same general form factor as the current SL-5500 model. However, it will run on a 400 MHz Intel XScale PXA-250 CPU. Rather than using a split-RAM architecture like the Sl-5500 and Pocket PCs do, the SL-5600 will have 32 MB of RAM that is dedicated to just active memory. For user storage, it will include 64 MB of NAND Flash ROM for both the OS and user applications, compressed for increased capacity. The user will have at least 32 MB of uncompressed space available to install additional programs. How much actual space the user will have available will vary depending on the files installed, as different files compress better than others. The writeable ROM also means that the SL-5600 won't suffer from the double-symlink problem of the SL-5500, making it easier to install programs to SD or CF cards. It also means that user data cannot be lost even in the case of complete battery loss.

    The SL-5600 includes sliding keyboard of the SL-5500. It also has a built-in microphone and polyphonic speaker. The screen is the same 16-bit TFT QVGA 240x320 display as the previous model. One of the main complaints about the SL-5500 was its battery life, so Sharp has responded by including a 1700 ma Lithium-Ion removable/rechargable battery, the largest of any handheld to date, that causes a slight hump in back. As with the Sl-5500, it supports both Compact Flash and Secure Digital cards, but does not yet support SDIO due to licensing problems with the closed-source SD drivers.

    The more ambitious Zaurus C300 will only be available in Japan. (Ill: MobileNews)
    On the software side, the SL-5600 runs an updated version of the Lineo Embeddix GNU/Linux distribution used on the rest of the recent Zaurus line. The new version runs version 2.4.18 of the Linux kernel, and supports both TCP/IP networking and standard USB I/O for synchronization. (The SL-5500 used a TCP/IP-over-USB setup for synchronization that was sometimes unstable.) It comes packaged with Hancom Office as well as Opera 6 for web browsing. The browser will support both Flash and Adobe Acrobat files via plugins. It also includes the Jeode Java Virtual Machine, which will tie into Opera for web pages that support the PersonalJava specification. The Qtopia UI environment also includes several enhancements already present in the Japanese-only Zaurus SL-A300.

    The SL-5600 will also be marketed in Japan under the name SL-B500, and have extra Japanese language support.

    Sharp's other new model is the SL-C300, previewed recently at CEATAC. The C300 has the same internal hardware and software as the SL-5600, but is slightly larger in each direction The device opens width-wise to reveal a landscape-mode full-VGA 640x480 color display, the same size as the display on the SL-5600, and a mini-sized QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard has larger, finger-friendly keys and separate numeric and alphabetic keys, as wel as traditional directional buttons. It has a smaller, 950 ma battery, as Sharp expects it to be used more as a laptop alternative than a handheld. Unfortunately, the C300 is not slated for release outside of Japan.

    The SL-5600, SL-B500, and SL-C300 will be avaiable Quarter 1 of 2003. Prices have not been set, but the SL-5600 is expected to retail in the $500-$600 range.

    Until then, high-resolution pictures of the Zaurus SL-5600 are available on the following pages.
    • The SL-5600 includes ... the same 16-bit TFT QVGA 240x320 display as the previous model [SL-5500].

      <snip>

      the SL-C300 ... opens width-wise to reveal a landscape-mode full-VGA 640x480 color display, the same size as the display on the SL-5600
      Well? Which is it?

      If the 5600 is the same size as the 5500, then it's likely 240x320, but then I can't explain the second part...

      • Re:Screen size? (Score:3, Informative)

        by numatrix ( 242325 )
        Story made a mistake. It's 240x320. Also, they made another mistake; the name was changed to SL-C700 to avoid confusion with the already released in japan A300.

  • performance (Score:5, Interesting)

    by iamthemoog ( 410374 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @11:18AM (#4650795) Homepage
    Are there any tweaks/optimizations in the kernel for the xscale processor? It appears [tomshardware.com] pocketpc 2002 from microsoft can't take advantage of the extra power; here's hoping linux can....

    • Re:performance (Score:3, Insightful)

      by js7a ( 579872 )
      The only important difference is that the 400 MHz CPU is coupled to a 100 MHz memory bus, instead of the previous 206/103 MHz. So all the assumptions about wait states change. Lots of loops with such assumptions get a lot slower when they are run on the 'faster' platform.

      Xscale also has a bunch of hardware support for playing mpeg video, but I don't understand the details.

    • As I understand it, the reason why Xscale doesn't perform as well on code not compiled for it is that some instructions have been eliminated and are now emulated, including one instruction commonly used during procedure call. If code is compiled using those instructions, it will be pretty slow. Since Linux applications come in source form, I suspect it just takes gcc support and a simple recompile.

    • Re:performance (Score:3, Informative)

      by MonMotha ( 514624 )
      There has been some buzz regarding this recently from the handhelds.org [handhelds.org] crew as they port Linux to the H39xx series iPAQ. From what I gather, PocketPC is StrongARM optimized (and since you don't have the source, there's not much you can do about that).

      The X-Scale (armv5) is completely backwards compatible with the StrongARM (armv4), but some instructions are faster than others. I believe the conclusion was that compiler optimizing for xscale would be beneficial to both platforms as the armv4 should run at about the same speed while the armv5 runs faster than before.

      Note however that part of the reason you don't see huge performance increases is that (at least on the early xscales, possibly current ones too) the write-back cache is disabled due to some flaw in the chip. Oops :)

  • This makes me sad (Score:5, Funny)

    by Surye ( 580125 ) <surye80@nOspAM.gmail.com> on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @11:19AM (#4650798) Homepage
    xscale 400mhz processor


    *cries* First my friend's video card is better then my P200, and now this?

    • Re:This makes me sad (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Wayfarer ( 10793 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @01:33PM (#4651967) Homepage
      First my friend's video card is better then my P200, and now this?

      Don't feel too bad; consider the following info, posted to the tkc mailing list by Shawn Gordon, president of theKompany.com:

      Also the XScale chips are flawed, Intel confirmed this to me personally in conversations regarding testing some of our software, for all intents and purposes they are running at about half speed because of the flaw, so this chip is really slower than the 206Mhz StrongARM in the current device.

      • Re:This makes me sad (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Locutus ( 9039 )
        So did Intel put a transistor or two into the Xscale and run it at 2x clock so they can put a 400MHz label on the part?

        I found it very interesting when they came out with the P4. They couldn't product much over 750MHz in the P3 and then all of a sudden they have 1.5GHz chips that benched around as fast as the 750MHz P3's. Like Microsoft has used moving API's to keep ahead of every one else, Intel seem to be using moving instruction sets to keep Intel-inside ahead of AMD-inside...

        I was hoping that the Z on XScale would be different than WinCE on XScale. Never heard it was a hardware problem.

        I'd mod ya if I could.

        LoB
        • No, this isn't some deliberate scam on the part of Intel.

          The XScale is new design, seperate from the StrongARM. They're in the same archetecture family, but the XScale is a new chip, not just a renamed and reclocked SA-1100.

          Part of this new design is increased power efficiency. The 400 MHz XScale achieves about the same MIPS, the same performance as a 206 MHz StrongARM, but using a lot less power. The XScale is about better MIPS per watt. I don't know off the top of my head what the ratios are, but a PDA based on the XScale at 400 MHz gets a lot better battery life than a PDA based on a 206 MHz StrongARM, at least theoretically, and assuming the same battery and non-cpu power consumers.

          It's not about getting a higher sounding number, it's just a new design. Not all CPUs have the same performance/megahertz ratio- for example, the PowerPC has a pretty high performance/MHz ratio and the XScale a very low performance/MHz ratio, with the Athlon somewhere in between.
  • Its the C700, not the C300 for the japanese mini-laptop.

  • Optimizations? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The PocketPC Windows runs relatively slowly on the xScale because it's not tweaked for the ARM version it uses; any ideas if the Zaurus' Linux is properly optimized?

  • That's great but... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by SablKnight ( 205665 )
    when is the C300 going to be released in the US? The original Zaurus is nice (don't have one, but played with one in stores) but the keyboard is difficult at best when you've got giant gorilla hands like I do. I don't expect the C300 to be a lot better, but it should be an improvement. Besides, the mini-laptop design looks pretty cool.

    -SablKnight

  • Description from Sharp (Score:3, Informative)

    by denisbergeron ( 197036 ) <DenisBergeron@@@yahoo...com> on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @11:24AM (#4650841)
    Since everything is /.ed voici la description from http://www.sharpusa.com/products/ModelLanding/0,10 58,1016,00.html

    SL-5600 | Handhelds

    Powerful, Flexible, Mobile.
    The Sharp Zaurus SL-5600 combines state-of-the-art Sharp technology and Sharp innovation to deliver a unique and compelling PDA solution. The Sharp Zaurus SL-5600 offers everything from mobile communications to mobile multimedia; keyboard integration and dual expansion delivering one of the most versatile and flexible PDA solutions on the market today.

    To join our mailing list Click here.

    Zaurus developers please Click here.

    Features
    Wireless Communications
    With optional Compact Flash(TM) modems and Sharp Mobile Services you can have wireless connectivity virtually anytime, anywhere.+
    Integrated Keyboard and Sliding Cover
    Sharp's clever integrated keyboard design allows easy data input without sacrificing space. Edit text or e-mail effortlessly with a standard QWERTY keyboard.
    Rechargeable, Replaceable Long Life Battery
    With its replaceable 1700mAH Li-ION battery, larger than any other battery in a smart handheld device, the Zaurus provides extra long battery life so you can be mobile longer.
    CompactFlash(TM) and SD/MMC Expansion Slots
    Sharp combines the best of both worlds by offering two expansion slots. Two slots allow you to add two peripherals simultaneously such as a CompactFlash(TM) modem card and SD memory card. This seamless design makes upgrading easy and simple
    Mobile Multimedia
    Sharp's color LCD technology and high powered processor deliver top quality multimedia for all corporate and personal needs. The SL-5600 has a 3.5" 65,536 Color Reflective TFT Front-Lit Screen with 240 x 320 resolution for outstanding graphics and clarity, indoors or out.
    Speaker & Microphone with a Stereo Headphone Jack
    Listen to your favorite music or movie clips anytime, anywhere.
    Stylus and Touch Screen
    In addition to the SL-5600 built-in QWERTY keyboard, the stylus and touch screen allows you to navigate through applications with ease.
    Customizable One-Touch Access
    Instantly view calendar, address book, menu and e-mail with just one press of a button. Or customize the button settings to suit your personal needs.
    Linux / Java Based Platform
    Linux® and Java(TM) based architecture provides a powerful and open operating environment - allowing many Linux and Java developers to write applications for the SL-5600, and integrated into various enterprise environments.

    Specifications
    CPU Intel® 400MHz XScale(TM) processor1
    Platform Linux2 based embedded OS (Embedix3) QT Palmtop Environment, Personal Java4
    Display Reflective TFT LCD with Front Light (touch sensitive panel supported), 3.5" with 240x320 pixel, 65,536 colors.
    Memory 96MB Total
    32MB SDRAM
    64MB Protected Flash - secure memory for storing PIM info and applications.
    Input Device Touch Panel, QWERTY keyboard with a sliding cover
    Card Slot 1 compact Flash Card5 slot, 1 SD/MMC card slot (no copyright protection feature)
    I/O Port Serial/USB (via docking station port, IR port)
    Sound Stereo headphone jack included, mic and mono speaker included.
    +For wireless communications, additional accessories and an available service plan are required. Wirelss services is subject to network availability.
    1 XScale is a registered trademark of Intel Corp.
    2Linux is a registered trademark owned by Linus Torvalds
    3Embedix is a trademark of Lineo, Inc.
    5CompactFlash is a trademark of SanDisk corporation

    Product specifications and design subject to change without notice.

    © 2002 Sharp Electronics Corp.

  • Battery life ? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mirko ( 198274 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @11:25AM (#4650854) Journal
    I own an SL_5500 which gives me satisfaction, except when it comes to its batetry life : 2 hours with full backlight, maybe 3 with half...
    Will Sharp finally sell an extra-capacity battery for the Z ?
    I think this'd be much more appreciable than a puny 96MB (I can't fill its 64, anyway) on a 400MHz Xscale.

  • Yeap, geeks definetly coded this page (Score:5, Funny)

    by TitusC3v5 ( 608284 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @11:32AM (#4650910) Homepage
    Couldnt' help but laugh when I checked the page source....
    <!--rel newsbit slutt -->

    <!-- slutt related -->

    <!-- top story slutt -->

    Etc.

    That's a lot of slutts.
  • I looked at a 5500 a few months ago. The display was a bit dim and fuzzy, not especially good. The iPaq and the Toshiba (model?) display were considerably brighter and sharper; the Sharp, sadly, had about one of the worst color displays of the units on display.

  • Latest trend: sliding thingies (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Winterblink ( 575267 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @11:40AM (#4650950) Homepage
    I can't agree with the concept, nor the notion that it's a good idea. Sure, it's neat that it hides the keyboard and all, but this sliding design featured on one of the Palm Tungsten models, and now the Zaurus, is just a bad idea overall. It's a moving part you're going to use all the time, and it'll be the first thing to break. See exhibit A: cell phones with flip covers, or ones with an opening clamshell design. Very slick, very small, but very breakable and are normally the first part of the phone to show its age.

    Now, with cell phones it's not so bad because they're not that costly, but with a PDA like the Zaurus or the Tungsten we're talking hundreds of dollars to fix or replace the thing. What was wrong with "software" based keyboards -- the onscreen ones used with current Palms and PocketPC handhelds?

    • Re:Latest trend: sliding thingies (Score:5, Informative)

      by bflong ( 107195 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @11:59AM (#4651131)
      I've owned a Zaurus since they were realeased. It's a LOT tougher then it looks. My keyboard did become loose, but only after I dropped it six feet onto a concrete sidewalk. It still works fine, btw. Overall it's a very solid device.
    • The slide-out keyboard makes sense if it means a larger display area, but I'm disappointed that there's (apparently) no graffiti-style data entry. I guess graffiti is destined to be a temporary kludge from the early years of PDAs, replaced eventually by tiny, unusable keyboards with illogical QWERTY layouts. I wonder if you can at least reprogram it to dvorak.

    • Re:Latest trend: sliding thingies (Score:5, Informative)

      by TomHandy ( 578620 ) <<tomhandy> <at> <gmail.com>> on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @12:08PM (#4651223)
      Let me guess, you think that the engineers at Palm who designed the Tungsten just added the sliding mechanism without any thought to this very issue?

      No, in fact, check out this detail from Palm Infocenter's Review of the Tungsten T [palminfocenter.com]:

      "Palm realizes that this design decision is a potential source of failure (and therefore costly warranty issues) and has taken pains to ensure that it will be very reliable. Part of their design criteria included passing a 100,000 open/close test cycle. (To put that in practical terms, even if you open and close the device 3 times an hour, 16 hours a day, the slider should provide at least 6 years of faithful service.)"

      I'm not sure about the Sharp Zaurus but I wouldn't be surprised if they did something similar. I think some people like to think they are smarter than the engineers who design this hardware, but it is baffling to me to think that you would really believe that the people at Palm would design that sliding mechanism on the Tungsten T without even thinking about the issue of how much stress it would handle.

      -Tom

      • What you're saying makes sense, and yet objects are designed and every day that contain serious flaws. Take, as a random example, the Palm III series. The glass display is extremely fragile and cracks if you look at it wrong. I've had two break on me, one from a fall of about 12 inches from my shirt pocket to a carpet-on-concrete type of floor. I wonder if plastic or a slightly thicker and stronger glass would have solved this.

        Needless to say, I have little faith in Palm's engineering when it comes to durability, though I admire the elegance of the product otherwise.

    • Re:Latest trend: sliding thingies (Score:4, Informative)

      by delta407 ( 518868 ) <slashdot@l[ ]jhax.com ['erf' in gap]> on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @12:10PM (#4651243) Homepage
      The Zaurus includes a "software" keyboard (actually, several different types) if you so prefer.

      See page 34 of the Zaurus SL-5500 user guide [216.239.37.100] (sharp-usa.com is now offline, hence the Google translation).

  • Serial cable? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by FistFuck ( 48079 )
    Sheesh, they haven't revamped that pointless serial cable yet.

    Which genius thought it was a good idea to block the keyboard access with the serial cable?!?!

    • Re:Serial cable? (Score:3, Informative)

      by IceFox ( 18179 )
      Yes, sharp hasn't but a third party has. serialio.com [serialio.com] A very nice product.

      -Benjamin Meyer

    • Re:Serial cable? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Locutus ( 9039 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @02:53PM (#4652748)
      I've mod'ed my cable the hard way using these instructions:

      rs232 cable mod [pellicosystems.com]

      I think you might be able to do it easier by just snapping the power connector off and trimming that side of the PCB down. Then, instead of putting the case back on, just use RTV or potting compound to seal it up.

      Paying more( +$5 +S/H ) for the serialio.com product looks pretty attractive though.

      LoB

  • Is it a PDA yet? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Trinition ( 114758 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @11:42AM (#4650965) Homepage
    Last I saw a Sharp linux-based PDA, it wasn't a PDA, but a pocket-based computer. You still had to partition the RAM between execution and storage, funny ways of launching apps, etc.

    Palm has a very elegant PDA solution. And its very difficult to bend it to do non-PDA things (i.e. play MP3s, movies, etc.) SOny is doing a good job, and PalmOS 5 shoudl make things even easier. Then there is this other way where you try to mimick a PDA out of a computer. You lose the simplicity of the PDA but gain the power of a computer.

    Is there a ahppy medium, or should we just stop trying to cram the two into one package?

    • Re:Is it a PDA yet? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 )
      You still had to partition the RAM between execution and storage, funny ways of launching apps, etc.

      same way the windows CE and pocket PC has worked.. Hell Palm does this, you just dont have the ability to adjust the ratio.

      what pocket computing OS do you use that doesnt do this fancy ram tricks to keep the users from wearing out the flash ram by installing and uninstalling apps every 5 minutes?
    • Uh - Based on your description, you more likely saw a Sharp NON-LINUX-based PDA. (e.g., one of the older Japanese models)
      • No, the thing ran Linux. A friend of mine got it at JavaOne at a discount price, and it came with some Java stuff on it. But the Java stuff was was just a gimick for the convention. It was an honest-to-god Linux computer sitting in his hand. My Sony Clie ran circles around it in PDA functions, but I'm sure he could've whipped out a C compiler and made me shut up. He eventually sold the thing because he had no use for it and the cash he got for it exceeded the price he paid (discounted at the convention).

  • Zaurii? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @11:42AM (#4650970)

    Is it Zauruses or Zaurii?

    Zauruses: 1. Zaurus is not a Latin word (and Z is almost never used in Latin); 2. if it were a Latin word, it would be Zauri, not Zaurii.

  • RAM Decision (Score:4, Interesting)

    by zsazsa ( 141679 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @11:50AM (#4651047) Homepage
    I think they made a bad decision on the ram:

    Rather than using a split-RAM architecture like the Sl-5500 and Pocket PCs do, the SL-5600 will have 32 MB of RAM that is dedicated to just active memory.

    While the Sharp rom on the SL-5500 leaves your hands tied and dedicates the 64MB built-in ram 50/50 to ramdisk and available RAM, various custom ROM images like the Crow rom [schwag.org] and OpenZaurus [openzaurus.org] let you move the ramdisk to an SD flash card while freeing up all 64MB for usable RAM.

    Having only 32MB for main memory REALLY ties your hands. Is SDRAM really so expensive that Sharp couldn't have used 64MB for main memory?

  • Rom update for 5500 users? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by TrekCycling ( 468080 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @12:00PM (#4651139) Homepage
    I just wanted to give a shout-out to all the current 5500 users... Uh, seriously, though, we should all email Sharp and let them know that it would be nice if they'd kick a ROM update down to us. There are known problems with the current Zaurus software (especially the PIM) that have been fixed in Opie. I know, I know, run OpenZaurus. OpenZaurus has problems too. So it would be nice if we could get an official Sharp ROM update that included the newer Qtopia. Who's with me?

  • Most interesting thing... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Psiren ( 6145 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @12:01PM (#4651147)
    The most intesreting thing about this is that they are releasing another model. This must mean that they've made enough mondey from the previous model to justify it. Which must be a first for a Linux-based PDA. I have an Agenda, and while it was fun to play with for a while, it was way too slow to be useful. Obviously enough people think otherwise about the Zaurus.
  • Sharp's other new model is the SL-C300, previewed recently at CEATAC. The C300 has the same internal hardware and software as the SL-5600, but is slightly larger in each direction The device opens width-wise to reveal a landscape-mode full-VGA 640x480 color display, the same size as the display on the SL-5600, and a mini-sized QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard has larger, finger-friendly keys and separate numeric and alphabetic keys, as wel as traditional directional buttons. It has a smaller, 950 ma battery, as Sharp expects it to be used more as a laptop alternative than a handheld. Unfortunately,
    the C300 is not slated for release outside of Japan.


    I want C300! Hell, I would love to get the regural Zaurus, but they are not available here (Finland) :(!

  • The zaurus rocks and here's why... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by leeet ( 543121 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @01:58PM (#4652178) Homepage
    I own a Palm Vx and a Z5500 and I haven't touched my palm since then. Looking back at my palm, I wonder "how could it ever be sold??". The palm is sooo limited in functionality compared to the Zaurus. First of all, you get a shell, which is (to me) worth every penny of the Zaurus. It allows you to do whatever you want and tweak everything in the OS. OpenZaurus allows you to go a step beyond by installing what you want and freeing up some valuable memory.

    The *only* disadvantage I found so far is battery life. With a wireless CF card, you can use it for about 1 - 1.5 hours. Now that's bad. Of course, new 802.11b CF cards (type 2) are out and use less power, but I don't feel like shelling another 80$.

    Even if you are not a Linux guru, I recommended it for it's basic features. It runs Opera, you can get any kind of instant message, basic office-type tools, etc. It kicks Palm's ass big time.

    The slide in keyboard is just amazing. I have no words to express my happiness :)

    Now like someone said earlier, try running apache and mysql on your palm...Now that's customization!

    If you want better words to compare Palm and Zaurus, let's say that the Palm is a nice agenda with very limited computer functions while the Zaurus is in fact a small computer with nice agenda features. That's how I see it. It's kinda like comparing a typewriter with a computer.

  • Battery life, add-ons, etc. (Score:3, Informative)

    by dadman ( 576569 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @02:03PM (#4652212)

    According to the press release [sharp.co.jp] from the Japan official site, the battery last 18 hours with Backlight turned off and a static screen.

    Another interesting add-on is a Compact Flash XGA adaptor from I.O.Data for video output, now all we need is some nice games.

    Oh, there is also the camera CE-AG06 (640x480 color)

    Other interesting parameters:
    w x d x h: 74mm x 138mm x 18mm (w/o LCD cover)
    weight: 205g (w/o LCD cover)
    display: 240x320 3.5" 64k color TFT (Front light) (i.e. you can read clearly under direct sun light)

    No Bluetooth? Look up Bluetooth support from their developer site.

  • Dumping my Treo to get a Zaurus... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Freedom Bug ( 86180 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @02:20PM (#4652397) Homepage
    As a long-time Palm user, I used to think that PalmOS was the way to go for an Organizer: tons of apps available, all optimized to be simple, as few clicks as possible to do what you want. With a black and white model, your battery lasts forever, which is more important than colour anyways.

    Then I got a Handspring Treo. At first it was awesome. Now I was only carrying around a single device, which was smaller the cell phone it replaced, not to mention the Palm. One device, and it fit in my pocket. Added bonus was the integration of my contacts list. Of course, all the apps were originally designed to work with a pen rather than a keyboard, so they were no longer optimally designed, but I still prefered the keyboard to Graffiti.

    Then I hooked up GPRS Internet. Suddenly PalmOS didn not seem so hot anymore. When you're on the internet, you want a real computer, period. PalmOS has about 8 different email programs. They all suck for one reason or another, and they all cost real money. SSH sucks. There are a couple of good web browsers, considering, but they're slow and can't do a lot of things.

    It really reminds me of 1993 when I was running Linux with SLiRP and it's predecessors giving me real internet access and the windows users were using ProComm or something and only got a single command prompt.

    Bryan
  • Anybody? Please? :)

  • I won't be upgrading (Score:3, Informative)

    by g4dget ( 579145 ) on Tuesday November 12, 2002 @04:07PM (#4653455)
    I have the SL-5500, and I won't be upgrading it to another Zaurus.

    First, it's big--even PocketPC machines have gotten much smaller. Sharp sells a Zaurus in Japan that's much smaller (no keyboard, no CF), and they should bring that to the US.

    Second, while they have managed to create some decent apps in it, the use of Qt/Embedded causes problems. Qt/Embedded eats up lots of memory (much more than X11+XLib+FLTK) and it makes porting software to the Zaurus a lot of work. Also, it has some annoying bugs, for example, locking up the GUI with focus problems. I thought I could live with Qt/Embedded, but I can't. Having a standard Linux command line environment on the handheld has turned out to be great, and I want the same convenience for the GUI, not some oddball hack.

    The main reason for getting a Linux PDA for me is to have something that it's easy to port software to, and something I can carry with me, and the Zaurus just falls short on both accounts. I think the iPaq running Handhelds.org [handhelds.org] or a Yopy [yopy.com] may be a better choice.

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