Sharp Zaurus SL-5600 PDA Review

An anonymous reader sent us a link to a review of the Sharp Zaurus SL-5600 PDA. This Linux based handheld with a built in qwerty keyboard with decent connectivity. As with most PDAs, there are a lot of tradeoffs that have to be made yet. Read the review to see what they are.

I looked at one of these.

[Meat Blaster]

Kind of nifty, coming from a PalmOS standpoint. I like the idea of being able to leverage my knowledge of Linux when I'm jotting down a note or looking up an address.

Irregardless, the usage factor is one of the things that's been getting to me lately with these handhelds and cellphones -- I know that Dick Tracy concept of having a computer on your wrist is chic, but nobody seems to notice that these things are getting pretty cramped! But one of the things I got to see lately that I'm thinking about picking up is the TabletPC.

Really, a tablet is the logical super-portable version of a notebook -- not too expensive to lose, big enough to work with, simple enough to ink a document as quickly as you need to. So when I tried out the TabletPC, I guess I wasn't that surprised that it seemed much more natural than these handhelds. Any area much smaller than a computer monitor is unworkable these days, particularly with web applications... but I think a TabletPC with WiFi fits the bill.

Re:Cool

[Jad LaFields]

You bring up a good point about the linux install... the article blurb made it seem that the PDA comes w/ Linux pre-installed, but the first page of the article seems to say it comes w/ a Windows CD. I can't seem to see the second page of the article, it appears to be /.'ed. Anyone else know how it turned out?

Re:Nice, but...

[Cpt_Kirks]

You forgot the hard drive. Dammit, ipods and nomads have a HD, why can't *ANYBODY* bring out a PDA with one?

I want a 400mhz+ XSCALE CPU, lots of RAM, a nice, big color screen and some decent storage (for a lot less than a laptop).

Games, video and pr0n on the go!

Re:Same tired post.....

[grimner]

There is some truth to that but as you said it's "comparing apples and oranges". You can't carry a laptop around with you like a PDA. While it is true, what most people use PDA's/handhelds for could be accomplished with a $100 Palm or (cringe) an pad and pencil, PDA's/handhelds are just becoming powerfull enough to run seriously useful apps. I recently wrote a flower recognition/classification app for the Zaurus which extracts data from an image captured from the Zaurus and runs it through a db all on the Zaurus. An enhanced app like this could be useful for many people from hobbyist to law enforcement (for face recognition). Can't run these on a traditional PDA and carrying around a laptop "in the field" would be impossible. Just an example where handheld computing may be heading, not just for address books. Your point about the price is well taken, they need to come down but keep in mind, realistically this is very early stage technology. These are not PDA's they are handheld computers. I think there is a major difference.

Re:Zaurus eBook support

[dbowden]

I've been using Opie Reader [uklinux.net]on the 5500, and I've been very happy with it. It doesn't read all the formats, but I haven't found anything yet that I can't read either in its original format or by using a conversion utility.

Opie Reader supports: (from the above web site)

• "Doc" format - also known as the original Aportis or AportisDoc format.
• Weasel or ztxt format.
• Plucker format.
• gzipped text.
• ppms text.
• Plain text with special handling of PML or HTML marked-up text.

It doesn't support:

• iSilo
• TealDoc (afaik)
• PalmReader/Peanut - although the early versions of these files were based on "Doc" format and Opie-Reader can manage some of the free files.
• EZReader.

The newest version even has a nifty new scroll function where it "paints" over text instead of scrolling it. It's a lot more like reading a book, in that the text doesn't actually move -- the text you've already read is gradually replaced by the next page, while you finish reading the previous page. Very nifty.

I had the 5500 and returned it...

[no_such_user]

I bought the 5500 when HSN was clearing them out a few months ago... but I ended up returning it. While I really loved being able to hold linux in my hand, I quickly realized that it just wasn't a replacement for my Palm Vx.

The most limiting factor was battery life... which the 5600 claims to improve. Any linux geek who will play with one of these things will be playing HARD... ogg decoding, game playing, etc. These things burn up battery life, and you quickly need to make a run for the nearest AC plug.

The other thing that discouraged me was filesystem management. Installing packages wasn't smooth and required some fancy footwork to install them on CF/MMC cards. And if you drain your battery and don't recharge within 24 hours (perhaps less), you'll lose anything not in flash ROM or on a memory card. Sure it's the same with any other PDA... but my palm can go for weeks w/o a charge... and I can recharge it with a 9v battery if I'm desperate.

There are hacks to setup backups to a CF card or whatever, and hacks for wireless connectivity, and hacks for getting X apps to run, and hacks... and hacks... but you start to realize that the entire thing is about hacks... it's not clean. It made me miss my Newton. Flexibility? No... but sure was slick!

Two things would have made me keep it:
1. Better battery life (fixed in 5600?)
2. Ability to boot off the CF card and turn the device into a full-speed, fully functioning palm emulator (the ones I tried had serious limitations). A dual-boot pda!

Just my $.02 - I look forward to trying again in a couple of years :)

I depend on my Zaurus

[allrong]

I spend about 4 hours travelling on trains everyday and my Zaurus has made a big difference to my productivity. I used to lug a laptop around with me, but it is heavy and slow to boot up (suspend not really working under Linux).

I sit in the train or lie in bed and use tckEditor to write PHP applications. It's extra hours of productivity that I would otherwise not have available to use when I need it (like right now).

When I want to test something I can run (an old version of) Apache, PHP and MySQL. I started teaching myself Python on the Zaurus.

I listen to Oggs on it.

Okay it's battery life may not be the best and perhaps some of the "productivity" apps could be improved. I hardly use them. But I don't think of the Zaurus as a tool for the paper shuffling executive. They have enough wanky gadgets already. I consider the Zaurus a very useful tool for the Linux developer. And I don't mind playing the odd game on it either!

Umm, no. It's a shite PDA

[Moderation abuser]

I have it's predecessor and that's a shite PDA too.

Nice big colour screen and can play MP3s which is all very cool and impressive for 5 minutes, but a truly crap user interface, buggy software and excruciatingly limited feature set make it almost useless as a day to day Personal Digital Assistant.

Yeah, and I'm a unix admin and Linux advocate too.

If you're coming from a Palm/Wince, you'll think it's the best thing since sliced bread, if you're coming from a Psion, you'll be beating your head against the nearest brick wall with the badly integrated clunkyness of it.

Seriously, save your dosh, it isn't worth it. Unless you get it in a sale with a big discount.