What Pocket PC

[bteamfox]

I have a Dell Axim X5 standard and want to buy a new Pocket PC. I was thinking of a ipaq hx4700 or a Dell x50v. Both have Graphics chips in Ati in ipaq and Intel in Dell. As a games developer can you give me your thoughts on which would be the better for gaming on? Do you know of any games coming that make use of the onboard display chips, which display chip is faster for games. I hope you can point me in the write direction. If not I would just like to know your thoughts on both units.

[Howard]

More important than CPU power or Graphics chip for gaming, are:

How good are the controls ? (Is there a good D-Pad and buttons, or are they hard to use)
What is the screen quality like ? (Does it fade out in light, so that you can't see anything when playing outside)
How good is the battery life ? (Gaming tends to suck battery power, because the CPU is kept active. You don't want to stop playing after just an hour, do you! ;) )

The first one - controls - can only really be judged for yourself - if you can try devices out at a CompUSA / PC World etc. Screen quality is subjective also, but at least you should be able to find battery life statistics on the net!

Hope this helps ;) (Well, it doesn't answer your question, but I hope it helps you to make a better choice ;) )

Howard.

[bteamfox]

Well there is no computer shops near me that stock PDA's so am have read all I can. So far the battery life and screen on the ipaq 4700 seems better then the Dell X50v. People don't seem to like the touch pad if they have never used one. So I guess I am leaning towards the ipaq as I could never get on with the d-pad on my dell x5 anyway. Post of the game I play are puzzle,(eg Cubis), RPG, RTS. So I dont think the touch pad will be a problem. I only have two arcade games one being GTS Racing Challenge.

Thanks for your reply though.

One other thing I signed the NDA and posted last week but not had it back yet, how long does it normally take.

Can't wait to start testing with my ipaq 4700 when I buy it end of the month,(pay day). :D

[Kieren]

Hi bteamfox,

One of our beta testers recently bought himself an hx4700 as well, and he's not had any major problems with adapting to the touch pad that he's mentioned, but we'd love to hear how you get on with it too!

On a side note, I myself am looking at the X50 :) While I never liked the d-pad on the X5s, the X50 looks to have one very similar to the X3's pad, which was far more useable to my mind (not as "spongy").

I normally deal with all the receive NDAs, but having just come back from holiday I haven't had chance to clear everything on my desk yet - I do have a number of NDAs here, and taking a quick look through them, I think I see yours among them :) Hopefully it will be back with you in a couple of days at most!

Warmest regards,
Kieren
Technical Support

[Cheryl]

I was thinking of going with the x50 as well due to the cost difference between that and the 4700. But not too sure about that d-Pad. The admin over at Aximsite gave it a 7 out of 10 for gaming. Kind of makes me want to wait to get some feedback from users once they actually start shipping.

The Toshiba e800 is starting to look really good costwise, but not sure if I want to sacrifice the fast processor of the newer releases.

[bteamfox]

A soon as I can get my hands on a hx4700 I will try some games and report back to let you know how I get on. No ones getting stock until 1st nov in the UK the first batch sold out.

[Entomorph]

Get a real PDA from PalmOne

[Howard]

Get a real PDA from PalmOne

It all depends on what it'll be used for!

Many people prefer Pocket PCs, for the different builds available, different features, etc.

If I wanted a VGA resolution device with WiFi as my primary features, I'd struggle to get a good choice from PalmOne's current range.

We enjoy the Palm Vs. Pocket PC debate in the Astraware office too, but this isn't the place for it, as I don't want any of the threads on the Astraware board descending into flames. I'll delete any flame posts, and depending if I've not had enough coffee yet, trolling posts too :)

Howard.