Dell's Axim X30 is the most powerful Windows powered-PDA to date. Its design is hardly cutting edge, and the screen only offers a resolution of 240x320 pixels, but it's excellent value if you want a utilitarian and lightweight design, dual wireless capabilities and good connectivity options. Despite its boxy looks, the long-winded process of rotating the screen, and the low-wattage speaker that's impracticably positioned at the rear of the handheld, the Axim X30 is sure to be a popular choice with both corporates and individuals.

Pros: Fast; Wi-Fi and Bluetooth; portrait and landscape modes
Cons: Low-res screen; basic design; clumsy screen rotation


The Axim X30 is Dell's new line of high-end Windows-powered PDAs. Building on the Axim X5, the three models in the new Axim X30 range (all models conveniently have the same name) run Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition (SE), making them the first handhelds to run the latest revision of Microsoft's handheld operating system. The top-of-the-range model reviewed here also includes a speedy 624MHz Intel XScale processor, making it the fastest Windows-powered PDA to date.

The three Axim X30 PDAs share the same square body design that measures 116x14.9x77mm (122mm high for the wireless models) and weighs 139g (135g for the non-wireless model). They also come with a 3.5in. transflective TFT display that has a disappointing resolution of just 240x320 pixels (16-bit colour), as well as an SDIO-compatible Secure Digital/MMC card slot and an infrared port. All three models include a microphone, mono speaker and 950mAh Lithium-Ion battery, and also come with a soft carrying case, stylish USB docking station with integrated battery charger, and a synchronisation cable (in case you don't want to use the docking station). If you need more power autonomy, Dell offers an optional 1,800mAh battery (£38).

The entry-level Axim X30 (£129) is powered by a 312MHz Intel XScale PXA270 processor, 32MB of SDRAM (split between active and storage memory) and 32MB of ROM. Unlike the two more expensive models, the entry-level version doesn't include any wireless networking technology. The midrange Axim X30 (£180) runs the same 312MHz processor as the basic version but comes with 64MB of SDRAM and 64MB of ROM.

The top-of-the-range Axim X30 reviewed here (£228) offers all of the features of the midrange model expect that you get a super-speedy 624MHz Intel XScale processor, which is currently the fastest processor of its type available. The processor can also scale from 208MHz to 614MHz, depending on the needs of the program or the manual settings of the user.

In terms of design, the Axim X30 is a little disappointing. While it's relatively compact and light (carry case adds more bulk), its silver plastic chassis and toy-like stylus give the handheld a low-cost feel. The scroll dial is also a little noisy when rolled, further suggesting that Dell has made design compromises in order to pack so much power and functionality into such a relatively low-cost handheld. These points aside, the device is comfortable to use, its screen is nice and bright and it's easy to use thanks to the six programmable buttons and 5-way jog dial.

On the left-hand side of the PDA is the scroll dial and headphone jack (looking from front). At the top of the handheld is the infrared sensor, SD/MMC slot, multi-coloured wireless antenna and recess for housing the stylus. The power button is located centrally just above the screen, and a reset button and mono speaker are positioned at the rear of the handheld. Positioning the speaker at the rear of the Axim X30 is a poor move because it's obscured when you dock the handheld or place it on a surface.

Finally, the 5-way D-pad (which is a little small) and four round application buttons (Calendar, Contacts, Messaging and Home) are found towards the bottom of the device, which are flanked by two small square buttons that let you launch the supplied voice recorder software and toggle wireless settings, respectively. The bottom of the handheld includes the usual serial port. As expected, there are also plenty of indicator lights, and the wireless antenna includes a steady blue LED to indicate that the Bluetooth radio is active as well as a green LED that flashes to indicate 802.11b activity.

The Axim X30 is the first handheld to run Microsoft's latest operating system for handhelds, Windows Mobile 2003 SE. The OS adds a range of new functionality, most of which centre around display capabilities. For instance, the OS now supports square screens and a VGA (640x480 pixels) resolution, in addition to the standard QVGA (240x320 pixels) resolution used by most current Pocket PCs - including the Axim X30. It also offers portrait and landscape orientations, although you have to long-windedly go into the system's Settings to change the screen orientation. Other key additions include an improved Start Menu, which remembers recently used applications, more control over font sizes, improved screen wrapping in Internet Explorer, Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and improvements for the Phone Edition variant, including voice tags.

As well as the usual Windows Mobile 2003 SE software, such as Pocket Internet Explorer, Word and Excel, Dell pre-installs a utility called Switcher Bar. This is a handy utility that sits at the top of the screen and lets you close applications - a feature that's missing from Microsoft's operating system. In case you didn't know, tapping the 'X' in the upper-right-hand corner of Windows Mobile 2003 SE doesn't actually close an application, as it does in Windows. Instead, it simply minimises an application which continues to run in the background, using up system resources.

Links:
Axim X30 Web site

BIOS, Jul 05, 04 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In PDA