Mobile-review reviews a great product, the Sharp Zaurus SL-C3100, which only comes short on its lack of integrated WiFi & Bluetooth. Update: Another Zaurus review.
Sharp Zaurus SL-C3100 Review
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
I really dont understand why they didnt put in wifi. would be perfect with built in wifi.
Its from Japan. Consumers there have several more options for wireless access then we do. It makes more sense for them to add their own choice of wireless hardware with the CF slot then it does for sharp to leave out the people who don’t like its choice of options.
Sorry, but this is not true. Zauruses are pretty picky on the wifi/bt hardware they support, they don’t support any random CF card out there. This already limits people and their choices. Except 1-2 zaurus models, they don’t traditionally come with either wifi or bluetooth, they only come with IrDA and good USB-communication support. I think this is simply a bad (and old) decision from Sharp, it has nothing to do with japanese choices on wifi and what not.
If this model had wifi and bluetooth, it would have been a killer product, IMHO.
Yep, Agreed. Killer indeed.
Although, GSM/GPRS as well would make it unstoppable…….
(stuck with the Jam for now)
Actually you must look at this device as coming from japan. In japan many of the cell phone companies and ISP offer custom wireless equipment. Much of which is offered as CF cards. If Sharp was to include such equipment it would only drive up the cost and alienate those customers in 16 different markets. I prefer no wireless myself.
— C1000 Owner
Not really. Usually just 802.11b or g, just like everywhere else. However, people who want internet access outside of their house or work will probably use a wireless internet card like this: http://www.mcd.jp/rental.html. They’re really popular right now, but the bandwidth isn’t that great and the prices are high. However, there are a few public wifi access points at local coffee shops like Starbucks if you have a standard wifi card.
Do most of the phone+PDA combos I have seen make it easy for developers to write custome applications.
I am familiar with QT and learning QTopia may not be difficult. Does that mean I can write my own application for any of the QTopia based smartphones?
For that matter, how easy is it in the Windows world?
I have never programmed in the windows world, but I would be willing to do if that is the only choice.
Are there any reviews of these devices from a programmers point of view. All the talk of Linux PDA
is not worth anything if developers cant easily install custom applications.
I am a student thinking about getting a PDA. However I had some questions…
Is it possible to run a PDA with only free software like GNU/Linux or OpenBSD?
The article said typical battery life is 6 hours. I know that some cell phones will last about a week if its not being talked on, but only about a few hours of talk time. Is the PDA like this? For example does it have a hibernate mode or something?
>Is it possible to run a PDA with only free software like GNU/Linux or OpenBSD?
This Zaurus is Linux-based. And there are some OpenZaurus flavors that are 100% OSS, but I am not sure they support this model yet.
>The article said typical battery life is 6 hours.
Yes, this means if the PDA was used at all times (it was not on standby). If the PDA is not ON, it can go on and on for a month or so!
>If the PDA is not ON, it can go on and on for a month or so!
Um, if the PDA is not on, how is it going on and on? Its off.
I meant in Standby (‘off’==’standby’ in most PDAs).
Eugenia I checked and this model is supported by OpenBSD.
Most of the clamshell will run full blown linux IE pdaxrom.com I run thunderbird, sunbird, firefox, abiword, gaim, gnumeric and many other full programs on my c1000. I like it because no longer do I care about a stupid sync program to convert my programs to a format for portable use. I just stick my thumb drive into my c1000 and mount it like I would on my mac or linux/bsd desktops. Hell I use my ipod nano as an external hard drive with my c1000. OpenBSD on the other hand currently only supports the c3000/31000 due to the need for the 4gig internal hard drive. Many devs are overcoming this by using a 1gig sd card on the c860/1000. Only a matter of time before its widespread there also. If you want to run full blown debian with access to all apt-get stuff, pocketworkstation.org
The CG technology looked very cool! Even more interesting is this thing ships with a near 4Gb hdd.
Go to ebay and get an HP rx3115 for around $200-$230 or an rx3715 for around $250-$300. You get builtin wireless, bluetooth, voice recorder, edit word/excel files, mp3 player, video player, games, web browser, chat, email, calendar, notes, universal remote, etc.
Much cheaper and better than a $900 zaurus, although it is Windows PowerPC and I haven’t seen a version of Linux that can run on it yet, but I’m sure that will change.
> although it is Windows PowerPC
I’m sure Bill Gates just coughed up a lung!!
POCKETPC, PowerPC is a processor family (aka POWER).. Trust Microsoft to muddy the waters by using an already established acronymn!!
As for alternative… Any Zaurus is a better alternative to a PocketPC IMO. We use these at work with part of our product line and Windows is a complete PITA to code for. Especially when the MSDN says something should work, it works in Desktop Windows, but on PocketPC it doesn’t…
http://zaurusfr.org is a french zaurus user group that can provide zaurus for european people at very best prices, i ordered mine from this association, and i’m really pleased of them
Belgian KD85.com resells the Zaurus c3000.
http://www.kd85.com/
Why is this news?
The SLC3100 has been available for months, however, I have to admit that this review does provide a very high level of detail albeit with slightly jarring English (My Russian knowledge is zero though so I can’t complain).
I went to the review, but the first half was a rant and rave about the future of Linux and Palm pda’s. I found this to be a very confusing review. THe author should have greatly shortened the rant, and spent more “structured” time on the review.
Why are you all singing the praises of this thing? Yes it’s good to have real computer which is ultra portable, YES Kudos to sharp for using linux, BUT WHAT IS WITH THE KEYBOARD!!! surely it’s not that expensive to license the sweet one that used to come on a psion 5 series? or at least expand the keys so that they touch? or maybe, just maybe, try releasing to the rest of the world again?
Other than that it is a nice toy, but please people remember what perfect means!!