Zaurus review

1-Introduction

After 2 1/2 years using the Revo, a very interesting product from Sharp, the Zaurus SLC700 apparently offered the "missing" features so much needed in the Revo, the purpose of this small review is to examine the Zaurus and find out its pros and cons compared to the Revo.Link to photos are included along with the text.

2-Size and Weight

The Zaurus is slightly smaller than the Revo, althought thicker and heavier. The size reduction logically affects the keyboard and screen size as well. Due to the Zaurus double configuration with or without keyboard, having a small package increases its usability with one hand. (The Zaurus has side controls in order to navigate the screen).

Photo of Zaurus and Revo here
Photo of Zaurus here
Photo of Zaurus back buttons here
Gif animation of Zaurus screen position here (190kb)

Size and Weight Table

Item	Revo	Zaurus
Size (mm)	157x79x18	120x83x18.6
Weight(gr)	200	225

3-Hardware Specs

3-At first glance the Zaurus hardware specs ar impressive, althought this implies a reduced battery life, in my view the expansion and connectivity capabilities are the most relevant features.

Hardware Specs Table

Item	Revo	Zaurus
CPU	ARM 710T 36mhz	Intel XScale 400mhz
User Memory	8/16mb	64 mb
Screen (pixels)	480x160 mono	640x480 65536 colors+backlight
Keyboard	53 key qwerty	50 key qwerty
Expansion	none	1 CF card slot/1 SD card slot
Links	Infrared+Serial	Infrared+USB
Sound	Speaker 1/2w	Stereo headphone jack/speaker
Battery life	8 hours	4.5 hours

4-Software Specs

4-The Zaurus as the Revo both include enough preloaded software to use it just right out of the box. The Zaurus also has multimedia software such as an image editor,voice recorder (you have to plug in a mic) and a Media player for music and Mpeg movies.

Sofware Specs Table

Item	Revo	Zaurus
OS	Epoc 5	Linux
Word processor	Epoc word	HancomMobileWord
Spreadsheet	EpocSheet	HancomMobileSheet
PIM	Agenda/Contacts/Phone/Jotter	Calendar/Contacts/Phone/Memo
Sound	none	Media Player/Voice recorder
Internet	Opera/Email	Netfront/Email/Terminal
Extra Software	Data	Book reader/Image viewer

5-Usability

In general terms the Revo is easier to use right out of the box as the Zaurus, this is due to the simplicity of the Epoc OS. The Zaurus Linux OS takes a bit of time to get used to an also occasionally crashes.
The size factor forces the user to "thumb-type" in the Zaurus, something that takes time to get used to; on the other hand the OS inclused a hand writing recognition system that makes easier taking quicknotes.
The screen of the Zaurus is very crisp and allows zoom control, so the change from the bigger Revo screen is not as painful as it seems.
In its "folded" configuration, the Zaurus is used by means of the stylus and 2 buttons and one wheel control positioned on the side (more or less like the Sony Clie "jog dial").

Photo of Zaurus back side with SD expansion card here

6-Internet Connectivity&Mail

Maybe the best aspect of the Zaurus lies on its connectivity capabilities. It can use several wireless network adaptors, wireless modems and conventional ones too through the CF slot.The OS includes preconfigured cards and setting up a dial-in connection is quite simple (as simple as using the Psion eSetup on the Revo). The internet browser provided can read most of pages at decent speed. Wireless Internet can be used via a wireless WiFi Lan card or a PHS card, the first allows a fast connection but is restricted to the coverage of the Wireless Lan point, the latter allows nearly ubiquitous connectivity but at a slower speed (and at a higher cost)
The email application is fairly efficient, allows message filtering, multiple email accounts,nested folders, mail signatures,SMTP authentication, also mail can be synchronized with MS Outlook.

Added October 21/2003: Setting a wireless connection using a wireless access point and a wi-fi card: The set up was done connecting a Buffalo Air Station Access point (WLA2s11) to the ADSL router. The Zaurus connects to this hotspot using a WiFi card (PCI GWCF11H) at speeds up to 11mb/s in ideal conditions. Connection quality is determined by distance to the access point and the amount of obstacles between the Zaurus and the ac cess point. Setting up the internet connection in the Zaurus was very easy, maybe too easy (the Zaurus detects the access point automatically) so I had to set up the security features of the acess point in order to make the connection a litlle less vulnerable.
Photo of Zaurus with modem here

7-Sincronization&PC link

The Zaurus links to the PC via a USB cable (serial), and identifies itself to the PC using its own IP address. The included software creates a "Zaurus folder" from which you can drag and drop documents in their native formats (they are converted inside the Zaurus). Conversion for MS Word, Excel is managed by the Zaurus applications, also the Zaurus can read directly image files such as .jpg/.gif/.bmp. Somehow the copying and converting of documents seems quite slow to me when compared with the speed of Pswin for the Revo.
A new feature of the Zaurus is the "Zaurus shot"; through pressing PrintScreen in the PC you can capture a window from the PC and convert it as an image file that can be transferred to the Zaurus.
Synchronization with MS Outlook with Mail,Agenda, To do, Address book and Memo information lists is done throught the package Intellisynch provided with the Zaurus.
The Zaurus includes a network connection method via USB to the PC, this link works considerably faster than the serial link, and allows faster and easier transfer of big amounts of data. The Zaurus can be seen in the Windows explorer as a new device, and also can be mapped as a network drive. Zaurus shot, sinchronization and backup all work through this connection method.
For Apple Macintosh computers apparently there are not yet any sync solutions provided by Sharp, but there is a network drive at this link that can be a temporal solution to exchange files between the Zaurus SLC700 and MacOSX.

8-Software Availability?

The main strenght of the Zaurus now is that it uses Linux as is OS, therefore the amount of applications is growing constantly. Said that, the Zaurus SLC700 double screen orientation and its high resolution makes it difficult to find appropiate sotware, even in Japan.
Considering the recent introduction of the product, it is expectable that the amount of software adapted for the SLC700 will increase, matching the variety and amount of software available already for the previous Zaurus models such as the SLC5*** series.At the moment the Zaurus SLC700 does not have a database app. which that will be released this month.
The installation of software is done using the Zaurus package application, which manages .ipk files, this way is quite similar at the package installation used for the Revo through Psiwin. A second way, althought more complicated is to use the terminal prompt, and uncompressing .tar,.gz or other usual formats used in the Linux world.

9-Migration from Revo

Transferring the Revo files to the Zaurus is less complex than it seems. Basically all documents have to be translated through Pswin to the equivalent PC Formats, and from there to the Zaurus via the Zaurus folder.
Revo Jotter files are translated as text, Data files are translated to CSV (that HandcomSheet can read). The address book can be transferred to MS Outlook and from there to the Zaurus addressbook, althought the field order can be altered and require some edition work.

10-Battery

The Zaurus is powered by a rechargeable and replaceable battery that last some 4.5 hours or less. Sharp sells a a battery charger (CEBC21), so having 2 batteries always is a good option in order to avoid power shortages. According to the manual, losing power does not compromise the data in the Zaurus, this is a radical difference from the Revo an its famous battery problem.
The power adapter in the Japanese version of the Zaurus is very thin and portable when compared to the Revo adapter.

Photo of the Zaurus and the Revo power units compared here
Photo of the Zaurus battery here

Another option to overcome the battery limitations is to use a battery charger such as the Diatec power bank (PE0505B). This battery pack has a capacity of 3600mha (the Zaurus original battery has a capacity of 950mha) and can power the SLC700 for some 8 hours or more (it depends on the applications used). Also is small and not too heavy.

Photo of Zaurus connected to the Diatec power bank battery unit here

Additional adapters can be used in order to recharge either the Zaurus or the battery pack, as long as the voltage requirements are met. One popular adapter in Japan is the Filco Micropower adapter, that can be used with voltages from 220v to 110v.

11-Additional Software

This list contains some links for the addiotanl software that i use at the moment.

Name	Description	Link
Qpdf	PDF Viewer	Zaurus Soft.Index
Slcalc	Scientific calculator	Slcalc page
ZEditor	Text editor	Zeditor webpage
ZTen	Dictionary viewer	Zten webpage
File Manager	Alternative File Manager	Zaurus Soft.Index
Portabase	Database Software	Link
Aliens	Game	Zaurus Soft.Index
Justreader+	Ebook reader	Justreader+
q2ch	BBS news thread reader (japanese)	q2ch page
KanjiNirvana	Kanji lookup and practice soft.	KanjiNirvana
Babbletower	Japanese dictionary written in Java	Babbletower
Zaif	Simple japanese finance software	Zaif
QtSearch	Qtopia Search application	QtSearch
Gaim	Multiprotocol Instant Messaging Client	Gaim
Wireless Monitor	Wireless Network Monitor	Wireless Monitor
MacOSX driver	MacOSX driver	OSX driver

12-Screenshots (640*480)

Application Desk	Media Player	Terminal
NetFront3.0	Mail	Zeditor
Slcalc	Portabase	Zten
Qpdf

13-Conclusion (for the moment being)

On one hand the Zaurus shows what a "future Revo" could have been, above all in the areas of Internet connectivity, hardware and software expansion, it is an impressive machine. On the other hand the old faithful Revo still feels pretty fast and responsive compared to the Zaurus, fact that is a testimony to the OS Epoc design. The Zaurus here in Japan is priced between 59800yen to 52000yen (more or less 485 to 422us dollars), a little bit more expensive than the original Revo price (some 200 UK pounds?).
What impresses me the most is not how advanced the Zaurus is (obviously due to the technical progress) but how capable the Revo still is, considering its age and limitations.

Added 05/03/2003

After some 2 months of usage the Zaurus has proved quite reliable, working with wireless internet is easy and fast (using a lan card) and the amount of available software has added some of the lost functionality from the Psion Revo (adding a database app. PDF viewer, Jotter app. and some dictionaries). The battery life is still the only issue that requires some attention, a full daily recharge is a must for a normal user.

Added 07/05/2003

Using the SLC700 outside Japan was very easy using the appropiate power adaptor and the battery pack (for travel usage) , also the internet connection and locale settings were easy to change back and forth without any hassle.

Added 01/16/04

File exchange with an Apple Ibook is possible using a USB driver for the Zaurus and its USB cable. The Ibook recognizes the Zaurus as a network device and reads its directory contents (using the finder command "connect to server"). Still it does not synchronize the contents of the agenda and the phonebook but at least makes data exhange possible.

Revo,Psion,Sharp,Zaurus,Apple son marcas registradas..El webmaster no se responsabiliza del contenido de los enlaces ni de los efectos causados por el uso de la informacion consignada en estas paginas.

Quick review of the Zaurus SLC700