Windows Phone Thoughts: Dell Axim X50: Dual Slot Goodness at a Reasonable Price

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Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Dell Axim X50: Dual Slot Goodness at a Reasonable Price

Posted by Jason Dunn in "HARDWARE" @ 12:00 PM


What You Get in the Box
The Axim I had was an engineering sample, so I didn't get all the goodies in the box that you will if you order one. The mid-range X50 comes with the standard Outlook 2002 and ActiveSync CD, and the only full version application is Resco Photo Viewer. It's also supposed to come with a simple slip case, the cradle (which I did get), an AC power adaptor, and a power dongle. Yes, a dongle. Unfortunately you can't connect the AC power into the X50 directly, and worse still, the X50 has a completely different connector from the X5 and X30 series – which means I'm on the hunt for another sync 'n charge cable.

Looking at the cradle, the verdict is in: the X50 cradle is nowhere near as cool as the X30 cradle. The cradle for the X30 was nicknamed the "Darth Dell" cradle because it was glossy, semi-transparent black, and the Dell logo lit up when the device was charging. It was easily the coolest cradle on the market. The X50 cradle, sadly, is a mundane affair (see below).


Figure 7: The X50 cradle. Decent looking, fairly stable (though a bit light), but nowhere near as cool as the Darth Dell design. Click the image above for a larger version of the photo.


Figure 8: The X50 cradle has a slot for recharging an extra battery, and it lies flat, making it all but invisible from most angles. Nice touch Dell! Click the image above for a larger version of the photo.

The Wireless Functionality You'd Expect
The X50 comes with what you'd expect for built-in wireless in a device that isn't also phone: it has 802.11b and Bluetooth. The Bluetooth is version 1.2, rather than the 1.1 that ships on most other devices today. Bluetooth 1.2 offers a few improvements, but nothing to write home to mom about. One thing worth noting is that the Bluetooth stack, provided by Broadcom (it's what we know as the Widcom stack), provides a broad range of profile support: File Transfer, Information Exchange, Serial Port, Personal Network Server, Dial-Up Networking Server, and Audio Gateway. Even more importantly, this profile support is the same across the entire X50 line. Dell understands that Bluetooth profile support is not meant to be used as a differentiator among models, it's a core function. HP should take note of this approach, because it's the right one. Trying to force customers into a completely different class of device just so they can use a particular Bluetooth accessory is an insult at best, and unethical at worst.

I was able to connect to my 802.11b/g network very easily, and the speed was what I was expecting. The X50v has been certified for CCX 1.0 (LEAP), Siebel, and Nortel VoIP. 802.11x support is built into the operating system, so this device should be quite compatible for all WiFi scenarios, from simple home-based usage to enterprise deployments.

Although I doubt a Pocket PC could take full advantage of 54 mbps bandwidth, I'd like to see 802.11g integrated at some point. The added overhead of 802.11g would also allow the devices to shuffle wireless data around faster, and because I'd like to put my WiFi router into G-only mode.

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