What's the best PDA (Palm or PPC) on which to run PlecoDict

J

John

举人
I'm the happy user of a Palm T3 running PlecoDict. However, the battery is failing and and whilst I will replace the battery, I will probably look into getting a new PDA. Apart from generic applications available on both Palm and PPC platforms, PlecoDict is probably the only specialised application I use. As such, I was wondering what are peoples' views on the best PDA - on either platform - to run PlecoDict ?

The factors which are important to me woud be:

* battery life
* clarity and size of the display
* speed of response (although that on the T3 seems fine so I expect every other PDA will be)

Thanks in advance for any sugestions.
 
S

sui.generis

探花
As for battery life, a lot of T3 users have found a way to give their unit extraordinary battery life--go herefor details.

I imagine the TX's screen would be a little bit prettier, but a lot of people who use their palms for video have the T3 and are happy with it. The TX does sport a slower processor than the T3 (adds to battery life to make up for brightness and WiFi).

The TX, T5, and lifedrive may actually have a decrease in response time because they don't just use flash memory anymore. The LD has a hard disk, and the TX and T5 use a different type of file system that isn't as speedy as the old flash memory (so I've been told), but don't lose all information if the battery runs down.

Hardware-wise, PPC's are usually superior, like Dell's line. Several years ago they were being shunned for their poor battery life, but I bet that that is no longer a problem, plus PPCs usually have user replaceable batteries (meaning you don't have to crack open the case to replace it and you can have a fully charged backup battery in tow). However, I doubt they have the selection of freeware that is availible for Palm.
 
mikelove

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Not a whole lot for me to add to this - I still find I get better battery life on Palms than on PPCs, but the batteries themselves are small enough that it's really no big deal to carry around an extra one for your Axim or iPaq. And yes, the response time can be slower on the newer NVFS-based models like the T5/E2/TX and especially the LifeDrive (which is rapidly getting out-of-date now that 2 GB SD cards can be found for $100).

The T3 is my all-time favorite Palm, but of the new models I like the TX better than any of Palm's other non-smartphone handhelds (in spite of the recent bug problem, which now appears to be resolved). On PPC I would try to find a system running Windows Mobile 2003 rather than the new (and very buggy) Windows Mobile 5 - my PPC of choice at the moment is the iPaq 4150, it's small, fast, has WiFi, and can be found on eBay in the $200-$250 range. The battery life is less than stellar, though, so on that front you might have better luck with a larger model. And I'd personally steer clear of the VGA-screen Pocket PCs; they may look amazing, but the VGA really does slow things down (particularly when rendering hundreds of Chinese characters).
 
M

mikehs

Member
Pleco + Chinese Podcast

Somewhat similar to John's start on this topic but with a small difference. I have no PDA and plan to purchase one. Money is not an object. Its for me! Purpose will be almost strictly to assist me on the go in learning Chinese. ( I now live in Taiwan) . So I plan to use it for Pleco especially when I am walking around and see a character I do not know. Imput Handwriting of the character.

And secondly and as important to listen to and see the pdf files of chinesepod.com. ( I subscribe and find them veyr useful)

So is there any issue with any of the above on Palm or or HP PDA. Has anyone tried the chinesepod pdf's on a either of the platforms ? If money is no object any reason for TX vs LifeDrive vs HP 4700?
 
L

lmcjipo

榜眼
If price is not an object, have you given any thoughts to the Treo 650? I'm not sure if Taiwan uses the GSM standard but if I were you and Taiwan supports the GSM standard, I would get an unlocked Treo 650.

My co-worker informed me that most of the earlier bugs have been worked out. I will probably upgrade my Treo 600 to a Treo 650 just to get the higher resolution screen once the Treo 700p is released so that I can get a good deal on the older Treo.
 
M

mikehs

Member
Thanks for the idea of the Treo. I thought about it before for about a second but I am not a phone guy. My cell phone is on, only when I want to call out. So the phone functions are wasted on me.
 
L

lmcjipo

榜眼
Treo might still be good choice

Even if you only use your cellphone occasionally, you might still find a Treo useful. I have a Treo 600 and I woud be completely lost without it. Once my Treo 600 no longer functions or sometime after the Treo 700P is finally released, I will get a Treo 650. The only reason why I wouldn't get the Treo 650 right now is my Treo 600 works perfectly and I'm not the type of person to buy the latest thing just for the sake of it when my older item works perfectly.

I use my Treo 600 for phone calls (obviously), listening to MP3s, doing the regular PDA stuff (agenda/calendar, etc.), playing games while I'm standing in line or waiting for something, reading e-mails (rarely send because I don't really like using the keyboard), short browsing of the web, taking pictures to show people, checking stock quotes, instant messaging, and now I use it in my Mandarin class to look up words using PlecoDict.

By carrying my Treo 600 around with me, I don't have to have a separate PDA, phone, MP3 player, pocket game system, and camera. Of course my Treo 600 doesn't replace my MP3 player or my digital camera but it does allow me to listen to MP3's without having to remember to bring my MP3 player with me and it also allows me to take a picture when I don't normally have a camera with me.

The only negative thing about my Treo 600 is the resolution (160x160). Reading the majority of Chinese characters on the regular PlecoDict screen is almost impossible. Without PlecoDict's magnifier feature, I wouldn't even have bought a Mandarin-English dictionary for my Treo 600.

The Treo 650's higher resolution (320x320) would allow me to see the characters in the normal PlecoDict screen instead of having to use the magnifier feature for all but the simplest of Chinese charcters.
 
mikelove

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
I'd definitely avoid the LifeDrive, even if money is no object - it has a reputation for being one of Palm's buggiest devices, and with 2GB and 4GB SD cards widely available you'd be much better off buying a more pocket-friendly PDA and bringing it up to the LifeDrive's storage capacity with a card.

There are perfectly good audio players for both Palm and PPC, but for PDFs I'd probably go with the 4700 - in general I'm not a big fan of the large-screen devices, but this is one situation where it really might help. There's also the matter of Pocket PC having a native-format version of Acrobat Reader, while on Palm you need to run the PDF through a converter first - there are programs available for Palm that will read native PDFs, but Adobe's own software doesn't. The TX, however, is considerably more pocketable, and should run PlecoDict at least a little faster than the 4700 (in spite of having a much slower processor) because it doesn't have to deal with rendering Chinese fonts on a giant screen.
 
mikelove

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Well on that particular debate I'd favor the TX - the X51v runs the thoroughly noxious new Windows Mobile 5 operating system. You might be better off looking for a slightly-older model that runs Windows Mobile 2003 - it's significantly better designed and more user-friendly. But if WM5 is your only option and you need something on PPC that you can't get on Palm, PlecoDict should certainly run well enough on an X51v - we have one here ourselves which we use for testing.
 
L

lmcjipo

榜眼
I would go with a PalmOS product. I've had a PalmOS based system for about 5 years and I've never looked back.

Palm III -> Visor Deluxe -> Visor Prism -> Treo 600

Since I've used a PalmOS product for such a long time, I've built up a large collection of software which is one of the reasons I'm not considering switching to a Windows portable device anytime soon. Of course some of my older PalmOS products which I purchased for my Palm III don't work properly on my Treo 600 (or my Visor Prism for that matter) because of the difference in graphics.

I've also heard that the PalmOS operating system is more stable than a Windows pocket device operating system (crashes less) but since I've never used/tested a Windows pocket device operating system, this is just what I've heard. Of course my Treo 600 reboots occasionally by itself but this is due more to the many programs that I have installed on it.

Currently, I would pick a PalmOS PDA over a Windows-based PDA.

It is just my preference.

I doubt that I can convert any Windows pocket device user/fan just like I doubt that I can covert any Mac user to Windows.
 
S

ssaito

探花
I agree with lmcjipo about the advantage of having a 320x320 screen. In fact, I have a Palm Zire 71 and a Dell Axim X30 (review at brighthand http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=10606). The Zire has 320x320 tft screen and the Axim has 320x240 tft (qvga). Even though it doesn't seem like a big difference, when you see Pleco simsum characters on both screens there is a striking difference - and it's not just when the screens are side-by-side.

Despite the superior Zire screen, I decided to exclusively use the axim b/c of the ppc O/S, which has better support for Chinese characters (thanks to a little registry adjustment that Mike let everyone know about) and b/c of the ppc handles native Windows application files.

Apparently Mike's comment about avoiding the 640x480 screens back in January is still valid now. CNET also attributes the sluggishness to WM5, which demands more processing power than WM 2003, running on the same old processors. (http://reviews.cnet.com/Dell_Axim_X51v/4505-3127_7-31503978.html?tag=pop)
 
S

ssaito

探花
Pleco on T-mobile MDA, Cingular 8125, or Verizon XV6700

Does anyone have experience using Pleco with the T-mobile MDA, Cingular 8125, or Verizon XV6700 (I understand that these are all variations of the HTC Wizard). The form factor of this phone/pda is pretty good, it has WM5 (which I know Mike doesn't like), and a nice qvga screen. Other than the WM5, it seems a lot nicer for Plecodict use.

I'd like to know how Plecodict works when the keyboard is slid out. In that mode the screen shifts into a horizontal mode and you rotate the pda 90 degrees.

Also, does anyone have any experience using Plecodict with the new wm5 700-series treos? They're sweet, but the screens are small. The Palm-based Treo 650 has the nice 320x320 screens, but I'm probably going to want to use the push email features from the new AKU2 update for WM5 for corporate email. So Palm OS is not going to work.

There was a brief discussion on the impact of smaller screen size here http://www.plecoforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=615 but it was hypothetical. No one responded with actual experiences.

Any experiences would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Steve
 
G

goulniky

榜眼
I had a chance to try the VGA/WM5 aka QTEK 9000 mentioned above recently though I didn't have time to install Plecodict. I commented on it in another post : great screen, heavy box, won't fit in your pockets. Incidentally, that machine had a funny PDF viewer installed that did a very poor job of rendering GB or pinyin (I tried ChinesePod transcripts.)
I have also started using a Samsung i320 smartphone recently and I can say those WM5 devices seem to use up a lot more CPU horsepower than Palm-based ones. The other thing is you have to make sure you manually close down all other running applications - no such multitasking issue on the Palm.
 
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