Does anyone that reads this site use 30Boxes.com? I’ve never been really big on online calendars, but this one is pretty awesome. Throw in a decent to-do list, and some killer web aggregation and sharing action, and I’m hooked. The only thing that would make it better would be if I could hook more people into it. You can find my 30 boxes info here.
December 15, 2006
December 13, 2006
New (Virtual) Home
mattandrhya.com has a new home. Rhya and I have been fighting spotty internet service for a couple weeks now, and I was frankly pretty sick of battling the VMWare session that the website lived on. So, we’ve now moved the website over to the free (I’m cheap) hosting site wordpress.com. As you can see, this isn’t a drastic change to the site as it existed before, and I don’t think anyone needs to update their feeds.
Teaser Alert: We’ve got some pretty cute videos of Lindy to put up….
December 21, 2005
The one-day server move
Hopefully, no one should be able to see any impact, but I moved mattandrhya.com off of an old crustly laptop in the basement to a bright shiny virtual machine running in vmware player on my desktop in the office.
As my tech posts are only read by a select few, I’ll relegate the rest to the “more” area.
(more…)
September 1, 2005
Review of Dell Axim X30 624MHz
I broke my PDA the other day. I don’t think you understand. I had everything in there. Everything. I’ve been using the GTD system for about a month now, and I had been offloading everything in my head into that thing. It was an HP (Compaq) iPaq h2215 that I bought off of eBay about a year ago.
So, I went to pad and paper and laptop. I told myself I could live without the PDA. As you can see, this lasted all of a week. I was constantly moving info into the laptop from the pad of paper, then leaving something somewhere, or yada yada yada. It was tough.
So, I shopped around. For me, the criteria was pretty simple:
- Cheaper the better
- Fast
- Large amount of main memory (I keep e-mail trails in my tasks)
- Ability to Sync with my work computer via bluetooth
- Easy text entry
- SD Card Compatible
- Bonus given for Wifi
I quickly narrowed my focus to a handfull of PDAs:
- Sony Clie PEG-UX50
- HP iPaq h4355
- HP iPaq h4155
- HP iPaq h2215
- Dell Axim X30 624MHz
Most were Pocket PCs, with the Clie as the sole exception. I won’t bore you with all of the details as to how the Dell bubbled to the top, but it does have some very apparent strengths: Speed, Price, and Wifi.
Not to say that this PDA is the be all end all. It has its strengths and weaknesses, and I’ll try to run through some of these in my short ownership.
The Good
- Speed: This PDA is fast. With my h2215, it would consistently take 3-5 seconds for Pocket Word to open to simply look at a text file. In fact, I would save my text files as .pwi (Inkwriter Notes) so I wouldn’t have to wait for Pocket Word to load. Fortunately, these same files open almost instantaneously with my new Axim.
- Price: If you go to Dell’s website, this PDA retails for around $380. However, if you are willing to be a bit patient, there are normally some pretty hefty discounts that one can take advantage of, and many of these are detailed at sites that specialize in finding bargains. My two favorite of such sites are Ben’s Bargains and Tech Bargains. Both keep a close eye on Dell and list the active coupons that can be applied. As a result, this PDA can be obtained brand new, straight from Dell for around $225 with free shipping. Other PDAs with the same quality are nowhere near this price range.
- Wireless: Not only does the Axim ship with Bluetooth, it also has an integrated 802.11b Wifi card, so it can connect to your home or work wireless networks. Furthermore, it comes with a Wifi application called Odyssey that is able to connect to LEAP and other complicated authentication networks. This is a boon for businesses and business travelers.
The Bad
- Software: Or, should I say, lack of. Outside of the Odyssey Wireless client, there are virtually no special add-on software packages that are included. Of course, it ships with all of the standards, such as Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, and all of the PIM applications such as Mail, To-Do, and Calendar. However, I would recommend immediately purchasing Pocket Informant, as this PIM application blows the standard apps out of the water. You also may want to pick up a photo viewer applicaton such as ACDSee.
The Ugly
- The Screen: Although it has the same resolution as most of the other PDAs in its class, the Dell Axim falls short on viewing angle and crispness of letters. The h2215 was much crisper to read, and I could lay it on the desk and look at it from all normal angles without noticing distortion. I become annoyed with the picture of the Axim with even the slightest of tilts.
- The Shape: The hard edges and boxy qualities of the X30 tend to make this PDA a bit unwieldy. I may just be spoiled from the more streamlined feel of the iPaq models.
Overall Conclusion
This PDA is an absolute winner. It is a cheap powerhouse that will both benefit business users with its and its robust Odyssey client and home users with a Secure Digital card expansion slot and built-in Wireless capability. If Dell could overcome some of its less-appealing design decisions, this PDA would be hard to pass up.
Shortly, I’ll post how I mix Lotus Notes, Pocket Informant, and simple text files into a GTD system that will help project leaders lower stress and increase productivity.
Dell Axim X30 Reviews Technology PDA
