eMarkLee

In 2002, I purchased my 2nd PDA. The Dell Axim X5.

It was a brand new PDA under the Microsoft Pocket PC platform. I had become a fan after playing around with my brother’s PDA and decided that I wanted one for a number of reasons:

1. Buy a new toy
2. Read news on the MUNI/BART in San Francisco on my commute
3. Play games
4. Watch videos
5. Have a powerful platform that will allow me to adapt to changing needs.

All this was achieved by the Axim for 2002-2004. Ultimately, however, I started commuting to work and then I started using a laptop at work so there was not a great deal of need to play with the Pocket PC anymore. Hence, it collected dust on my desk for the next 2 years.

Fast forward 2 more years to 2007 and here I am again…same situation but slightly different needs:

1. Read news on the Tube.
2. Play games on flights
3. Watch videos on flights
4. Get on the Internet while traveling.

That last point is the most important. I had purchased the Axim a while back purely as a standalone device that I would sync to my computer before I leave the house for the day. Ultimately I would get back to my computer and I would sync it again. That’s old school thinking. With wifi all over the place these days, it is feasible to jump online and surf the web.

So how does a device purchased in 2002 fare today?
Surprisingly well. I have installed a set of all new software for the device (running on Windows Mobile 2003) that include:

1. Madden NFL 2006. Yeah, Madden for the Pocket PC.
2. TCMP DivX/xvid player – Allows you to play vids on the Pocket PC
3. Pocket Informant – Upgrades the Outlook piece to be more Outlook like.
4. WisBar Advance – Gives the Pocket PC a “Windows feel” with drop down Start menu.
5. Opera Browser – Adds tabbed browsing and generally good browsing to the Pocket PC
6. IM+ – IM on all platforms (Yahoo, MSN, AIM, etc)
7. SPB Weather – Gives you the local weather for the next week.
8. SPB Traveler – Gives you info about cities you enter

In the past 2 years or so, the applications for the Pocket PC have gotten considerably better where I have upgraded a lot of the old software I had been running. Most of the new software today runs fine on the Axim still, which is great. I have played around with overclocking the Axim, but it was just to try it. I’m above all that geekiness.

Of course, the looks have not gotten considerably better since the Axim was introduced and so people still ask what that thing is…some kind of a Tablet PC? I usually just say yes rather than explaining how this is the first generation Pocket PC that do not have QWERTY keyboards but do have touch screens. Damn young’uns.