[ale] Sharp Zaurus SL-5500

[mdhirsch at gmail.com (Michael Hirsch)]

On 6/15/05, Grant Robertson <f.grant.robertson at gmail.com> wrote:
> I know there are a few Zaurus users on the list. I'm thinking about
> buying one, and I'm wondering what the concensus is on its usability.
> 
> Specificly...
> 
> Is anyone using the Zaurus with a CF WiFi card?

Yup.  I have two different ones and they oth work fine.
 
> How is basic web browsing?

Okay.  Opera seemed to work okay, but then I switched to OpenZaurus
and konqueror tended to be pretty flakey.  It didn't work with many
sites.

> How is integration with outlook?

I never tried any kind of mail integration, but the calendar and
addressbook integration was pretty good, I thought.

> How is battery life? (with or without the Wifi card, and an SD card installed?)

sux.  If I put in the charger every day I usually don't have a
problem, but I don't try to use it to, say, takes notes during
meetings.  I get about 1-2 hours of use, I think.

> How hackable is it? (geek quotient)

Extremely.  If you use the shipped system it has java to hacking on,
and there is a free development environment using QT.  But most
hackers (the good kind) switch to OpenZaurus and run a completely free
(in all senses) system.

Michael