Do not consider me wordy, but a review of the new Pocket PC, Toshiba e550G I can not begin with the words, addressed to the now legendary series iPAQ. Here itself begs a comparison. And now you'll understand why. We are already accustomed to that iPAQ'i - consistently the best-selling family of Pocket PC machines. And this, despite the rather high price in similar settings with other, cheaper models. However, if you look closely, it becomes clear that these characteristics are not entirely similar. iPAQ'i, indeed, endowed with a balanced set of features. And there are many willing to "emulate" them. Laurels winner haunt rivals. That's right on the PDA market has to happen a local revolution: the market will be a clutch of low-cost Pocket PC (including those from HP), optimal ratio of price-performance. " iPAQ'am somehow have to make room.
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On another flank, attacking well-known manufacturers that handhelds hi-end class. Among them - Toshiba, the second most sales in the host Pocket PC. Her latest PDA Genio e550G, though the speakerphone was not a novelty, but for a long time and consistently sold in Japan. In the U.S., the device appeared just and immediately forced to talk about yourself. What is the reason for this attention, it turned out let me just say, Japanese iPAQ'u, we'll see below.
At first glance,
The first thing that catches your eye when looking at the handheld - is the screen. To date, Toshiba Genio e550G has the largest screen among the Pocket PC-devices - a little over 10 cm diagonally. Many prefer iPAQ 1939 Series is due to the big screen. Now, apparently, it makes sense to think about. However, it did not affect whether such an increase "muzzle" detrimental to the dimensions of the handheld device? Judge for yourself:
| Model | Toshiba Genio e550G | Hewlett-Packard iPAQ H3950 | Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket LOOX 600 | Toshiba Genio e740 |
| Dimensions | 125 x 76,5 x 15,9 mm | 135 x 84 x 16 mm | 135 x 84 x 18 mm | 117 x 75 x 15 mm |
| Weight | 170 g | 190 g | 169 g | 173 g |
As can be seen from the table, e550G looks very worthy, even against such strong competitors. In this case, the CCP can not be called understated, except that a few edgy. However, judging from the pictures, which are still not very much on the Internet - the case in any way ungrateful. But personally, I have to call a trusted stylish buttons and mushroom joystick. In addition, reviews the first users to hold and use for its intended purpose device conveniently.
Ergonomics
According to eyewitnesses, the handheld button pressed easily, but you can not fear that this will happen every time they are accidental contact with any surfaces. Played on e550G not very convenient: the buttons are not designed for this, but in their daily work they are very ergonomic. Navigation joystick, because of its mushroom shape, suitable for all applications, including entertainment.
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The only serious point to ergonomics - the lack of e550G scroll wheel. This is undoubtedly a useful element is present in most Pocket PC-computers today and why it does not exist in our news is not entirely clear. Now with regard to working with expansion slots. It is known that the program for Pocket PC, as well as the media does not take up little space, so the ease of extracting and inserting a memory card is not the last role in the overall impression of his work with the CPC. This handheld, and Compact Flash type II, and Secure Digital slots are arranged as they should be, top, next to the headphone jack. Removing the card from the "nest" has fingernails, or what some improvised accommodate.However, the cap for the CF-slot wonderfully thought out and perhaps that, the best of its kind.
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We conclude Glaucus positive observation. In e550G have a USB interface. It is used not only for its timing, but also as a port for connecting USB-devices. Our machine was tested with the corresponding mouse and keyboard. Everything worked without any problems whatsoever. However, before using them to install the drivers, but the result is still far exceed your expectations. Now you can turn the handheld into a real laptop and to work on it, such as a word processor or chat on ICQ. It should be noted that the idea is not new - Toshiba spied her from Casio, in products which USB-port is used for a long time. In any case, the consumer can only gain from this.
Inside
Genio e550G runs on Intel XScale PXA250 processor with 400 MHz, which is already the standard for hi-end Pocket PC. In addition, soft-set machine is a systemic applet that allows you to smoothly adjust the frequency of "stones". Made it to extend the already short-lived stand-alone battery life. Thus, if the standard rate of the latter (400 MHz) handheld lives 9 hours, then at 100 MHz, battery life increases to 15 hours. As you know, sense of 400 MHz XScale today is not much, and therefore such softinkoy not useless addition. Memory of the PDA are the standard 64MB RAM and 32MB ROM. Of course, such a little amount for daily needs, and therefore the handheld is equipped with two expansion slots - Compact Flash and Secure Digital. Both slots have been tested with the following cards: IBM Microdrive 340 MB, Compact Flash Kingston 128 MB Secure Digital Lexar 64 MB. Everything worked like clockwork and on reasonable rates, so that we can assume that with cards from other manufacturers problems also arise should not. Multimedia capabilities - an integral part of any Pocket PC-PDA. Toshiba Genio e550G was no exception. Its screen has a native resolution of 320x240 pixels and can display 65,536 colors everything. Built this model on display reflective technology: shows good results outdoors, while under artificial light, compared with the same iPAQ 1939 Series, losing in quality. At first on the screen were quite a few gripes: a pink tint in low brightness, opacity and inertia, finally, a dull image, finally the most convenient cover. But all the above, rather small subjective nitpicking. In general, Toshiba Genio e550G display can be called one of the best in its class. But the media - is not only the screen but the audio portion. Our PDA sounds incredibly, he is particularly good at bass (certainly in comparison with other handheld computers, rather than stereo).
Check for communication
Since the PDA is not equipped with built-in means of communication had to take advantage of additional accessories that there is no shortage in the market. By e550G connect multiple cards from companies Socket: Low Power Ethernet-card standard, Compact Flash, Digital Phone Card and Bluetooth in CF. In addition, the CCP has been tested and Compact Flash-modems, and with common CF-cards from different manufacturers, as well as Wi-Fi module is also on the CF of the company's Symbol. All kits showed excellent work which once again proved delicious compatible slots Toshiba Genio e550G with components from other manufacturers.
Total
Toshiba Genio e550G uniquely successful. At a price almost equal to the iPAQ 3950 PDA has both advantages and disadvantages compared to the last. The advantages include a large screen, USB-port, small size and weight. Cons same e550G relative to the same iPAQ 3950 are also evident - the screen of inferior quality, not the richest selection of accessories. The success of the basic model series - Genio e550G - prove once again the variations on its theme "- released after her e550GS, e550GX and e550GX/MD. All of these PDAs are running the processor Intel XScale PXA250 400 MHz based on Pocket PC 2002. In fact new items are nothing like good old e550G (GS) or the same version with increased memory (modification GX and GX / MD). Prices in Japan: e550GS - $ 499, e550GX - $ 549, e550GX/MD (e550GX with 1GB IBM Microdrive) - $ 799. Genio e550G itself can be purchased for $ 520. The authors, translation:
Dmitry Ryabinin
