Review on Sharp SL 5500 Zaurus PDA by Sean Bouchard

The most notable attribute to mention is the sheer power of this device. Unlike the Pocket PC operating system (OS), this little Zaurus runs an embedded Linux OS distribution. Do I have to say more? The possibilities are endless. Sharp has an excellent website for distributing and supporting applications. It's on mysaurus.com. Get apps, updates and documents here. You can download a console to run terminal commands. There were a few oddities I encountered while downloading app packs. An automatic reload occurs after the installation of a package or group of packages on the device is complete. I couldn't get Zaurus to start after the first reboot more packages to be recognized. Without further ado, I downloaded as many packages as possible at once and then turned on auto-reload. from fuses. The procedures are clearly described in the manuals provided with the device. The synchronization worked as expected. I have not tried the Intellisync software on my computer as the user manual states that only one of the two sync software options can be installed on your PC at a time. I personally like using this PDA. Everything you need is built in. The fact that you support both SD memory and CF memory cards opens up so many expansion possibilities. The built-in mini QWERTY keyboard is excellent. It comes with a software keyboard and an OCR application. Only games downloaded to the device demonstrate its superior graphics capabilities. I tested my IPAQ with Pocket PC 2k2 OS and Zaurus on my friend's wife, who doesn't know anything about computers, to see what she thought was more intuitive to use. for basic text editing, solitaire games, etc. It's gone on the Zaurus. She didn't like the OCR on the Zaurus, but the OCR software on the Pocket PC was much easier to use. The OCR software on the Zaurus isn't as forgiving as the Pocket PC version, or you'll have to get used to your writing style. Overall, it worked much better with the Pocket PC. Overall I would rate Zaurus as more geared towards the advanced computer user or anyone else read the manuals well and take the time to learn. If you want a good "simple" PDA I would recommend Palm or Pocket PC.