Use for Dell Axim x51v

Joined
Jan 14, 2002
Messages
1,877
Location
44.8, -91.5
Anybody have thoughts about possible uses for an old Dell Axim x51v? Since I got my iPhone it's just been sitting idle.
 
I use my ASUS a696 for three things, ebook reader, MP3 player (8gb SDHC) and it has GPS so I use it in cars a lot on business.

I like the remote idea but I hear PDA's don't have a strong IR transmitter.

I am sort of resistant to the whole apple ipod empire.
 
I agree when comparing the unlimited plans that AT&T is more expensive. I'm using the lowest 450 minute, unlimited data, and 1500 text messages and I'm paying ~$75/month and still banking plenty of rollover minutes which I'll probably never use. I have not gone over any of my amounts, so it works fine for me. The 900 minute plan is far more than I ever talk on the phone any way. AT&T's text message increments and rates are ridiculous.
 
One thing I've noticed is now that I have e-mail on my phone, my taking minutes have been cut by at least 75%. Getting clients to e-mail instead of phone has increased my productivity considerably as well (I don't need to stop what I'm doing or change projects immediately based on the information they give, and it is easier to organize/file e-mails than voicemails).
 
My phone is fast and I can be productive without feeling the pain of a slow Win Mobile UI. I'm not at all frustrated when using my phone which is a huge plus. The little extra I spend is worth it to me. In your $1200 do you get any text messages with that? I'm not an Apple fanatic, but I'm really happy with their phone. There isn't much I'd need to change with it. Maybe having a removable battery would be nice and not needing iTunes, but those weren't deal breakers for me.

The HTC HD2 you linked looks pretty large for a phone. Does it fit into a normal pants pocket?
 
My phone is fast and I can be productive without feeling the pain of a slow Win Mobile UI. I'm not at all frustrated when using my phone which is a huge plus. The little extra I spend is worth it to me. In your $1200 do you get any text messages with that?
The HTC HD2 you linked looks pretty large for a phone. Does it fit into a normal pants pocket?

I don't want text capability. Why would I? I get regular IMAP/POP mail on my phone. If I did, It'd be $5 extra a month, but as it stands, why should I pay for a service when a vastly superior free alternative exists?

The UI on my phone is not subjectively slower than that of an iPhone. My apps load and run just fine. I will say that my phone has crashed two times since I got it, but that's acceptable for a two year time span.

The HD2 will presumably sit in a belt holster, just like the phone I have now. Since I predominantly use my phone for email and web browsing rather than talking, I think the larger (and much higher resolution than the iPhone) screen will be far more useful in trade for the slightly larger size.

Also, for what it's worth, I suspect the HD2 will be slightly thinner than the iPhone is. The HTC Touch Diamond 2 is.
 
I can't answer why you would want text messaging, but I know why I want text capability (besides it being the primary way I chat with my GF). Not everyone I know who has a cell phone has email access but all of them can get SMS and MMS on their phone. It's also faster to send messages because people don't have to wait for push or pull on their email and then open up their client and log in, etc. When I find something fun and want to take a picture and send it...it takes all of maybe 10-15 seconds to go from turning on the camera, snapping a picture, and having it send. If I were to use email it wouldn't be as fast.

The few WinMobile phones I've played with and the few of my friends that have them don't seem to respond as well as the iPhone for a good UI experience. I relate it to something similar with how people felt when going from XP to Vista for UI interaction. Browsing the web is actually pleasant with using the pinch, stretch and double tap. It just works fluidly. I haven't had my phone crash (yet), but occasionally a shoddy application might die.
 
So I take it you're an HTC + WinMobile fan, Merc? Several of my co-workers are also. When I was in the U.S. for 3 months earlier this year, I was given a loaner Sprint WinMobile phone, and I quite liked it, especially the smooth integration with MS Exchange. The main suck about it was battery life, which seems to be a common problem with WinMobile phones.

Perhaps my next phone will be a WinMobile 6.5 one. Nokia's N900 has gotten rave reviews; I would be interested in checking that one out too.
 
Now that I'm in our corporate pool, my Sprint line costs about $30 a month for unlimited everything - voice, data, messaging. But that's not a fair comparison as it's a pool of probably at least 800 lines. I'm not a heavy voice user so my prior plan was 450 minutes + unlimited data/messaging for $70 - 17% corp discount. Add taxes back in and it was about $70 a month.

When my wife graduated from a dumb phone to one that could text she thought it was useless. Then she started texting with a few friends and me. She now hits 500-700+ texts a month. Something similar happened with data after she got her Centro. She didn't really see a use for data but was getting hit with the massive ad hoc charges for picture mail once her friend had a baby. So she got a data plan and now she browses, updates facebook, etc.

Given the ability, there's a chance you'll find a use for it.

mubs, I think you'll find battery life to be a concern with many data-centric devices. Especially more modern ones where they go with smaller batteries to reduce the size/weight of the phone. I'd have preferred my Pre to weigh a half ounce or ounce more with triple the battery life but I adapted to more frequent charging and see it as the trade off for the functionality. Having a Touchstone makes charging more often a breeze.
 
So I take it you're an HTC + WinMobile fan, Merc?

There's a form factor I like. I'm not giving up screen real estate to buttons and HTC phones typically have resistive (stylus-capable) touch screens.
There's a certain level of application compatibility that I occasionally appreciate in having Word on my phone as well.

I use a mix of IE Mobile and Skyfire (a Firefox derivative) for internet access. It looks like most phones that will ship with WM6.5 will include a copy of Opera instead, which I've found to be flaky (crashy), but at this point pretty much everyone understands IE Mobile to be inadequate for browsing.

I think pretty much all Smartphones have lousy battery life. Mine will run in standby for maybe two and a half days, but I'm in the habit of just plugging it in every evening when I get home from work.

I don't particularly care about Activesync, but any Windows Mobile phone can work with Google Sync to provide push email service, for people who are for some reason convinced they need it.
 
Back
Top