Rating: 
Summary: Great Portable Linux Box
Review: I have the developer version of the Zaurus,which is basically the same as this but with half the RAM. I use a LinkSys WFC11 compact flash 802.11b card for network access, web browsing, etc. Both Opera and Konquerer work great. You can ssh into the PDA and get a bash prompt, which is awesome. TCP/IP access to the PDA can be achieved via USB or a CF network card. Also, the tiny keyboard facilitates quick data entry for those of us who are stylus-challenged. The CF slot instantly mounts and displays images written to the card on my Nikon camera. I personally would prefer two CF slots to 1 CF and 1 SD (I don't use SD), but besides that this thing is perfect.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent PDA...
Review: I separated my review into the following items...Screen - The screen is excellent with very good visibility in various lighting conditions and accurate with the stylus. Keyboard - Very usable, you won't write a book with it but it's faster then any handwriting recognition or pick board. I have experimented with the handwriting recognition and it appears to work ok too, but I'd rather "thumb type". You have many options for data input with this device. Performance - Fast and stable! I was very impressed hopping around to the different apps with no wait time what so ever. As a stress test I started playing some MP3's, opened a spreadsheet, fired up a java animation demo and the CPU handled it fine not even breaking a sweat at 30% utilization. Expandability - The compact flash support is excellent. Just throw in a CF card with data and your set to go. A CF with MP3's works great! I haven't tried any of the CF wireless network cards, Proxim wireless cards, or modems but it appears ready to go. Applications - It's loaded with a lot of nice applications out of the box... Spreadsheet App, PowerPoint presenter, Word Processor, MP3/MPG Player, Email, Web Browser, Games, etc. Not to mention the growing list of applications on the internet... Design - Very nice and solid. It feels extremely light, and has a nice size to it. The pull out keyboard is ingenious. If you have no interest or knowledge with Linux, you'll be fine using it there is little learning curve. It's very intuitive and easy to get around. If your a Linux guru, you'll know what to do. <grin> You will have a big smile at boot up with message "Entering Runlevel: 5"...
Rating: 
Summary: So close and yet so far...
Review: I really wanted to like the new Zaurus. When I finally got it from Amazon, I must say that I was trully dissapointed. My wife has the HP Jornada 568 and I have a Palm m505, so I'll compare the the Sharp to both. PROS:
- hidden keyboard - mostly nice software, with a lot of applications built-in CONS:
- screen :( It is very unevenly lit, actually has a bad dark spot in the upper right corner. Mine also has a dead pixel. The screen isn't very bright, and definitely lacks contrast. The Palm is darker, but has better contrast. I can use both the HP 568 and m505 at work without the backlight under the office lights. The Sharp becomes very dark. I basically have to run it at 100% backlight all the time, whereas the HP is on at 40%. Also, the Sharp screen seems a bit muddy. - battery power... or lack of it. The HP lasts over twice as long on one charge, with using 100% backlight. The Sharp seems to be actually worse than the old iPAQs... - it is pretty heavy and feels a bit odd in a hand. Like a small brick. The HP has a much nicer feel. - the casing has a cheap finish to it. - The software is still not very polished, with many very small buttons that are hard to hit, and cluttered. On a scale of 1 - 10 as far as interfaces go, the Sharp is a 6, HP is a 8 and Palm is a 9. It would be wonderfull if you could combine all into one... All in all, a nice first try, but I'm shipping mine back.
Rating:
Summary: There's just no need for another PDA OS.
Review: I got a "developer" version at this year's JavaOne.
In short, I don't think this platform (Linux/Qtopia) is going to make it. Don't get me wrong, I love the form/function.. the dual expansion.. the keyboard..BUT the Linux OS just doesn't cut it. Why? 1) There really isn't a need for another OS. Pocket PC is gaining momentum and as a Pocket PC owner, I'm really happy with it.. so I don't see an opening for a new PDA OS. 2) Who is Sharp targetting? The low end is taken by Palm, the high end.. taken by Pocket PCs such as iPaq, HP and Casio... Symbian is somewhere out there. Judging by the price, they're going after the high end. But then again, there's no speaker or mic, which basically takes the Zaurus down a notch in the eyes of business professionals who want to use it to record and playback "voice notes"... and gamers who want to hear sounds from games. (It has recording/playback capability.. but you need an external headphone and mic to use it). 3) This part might not be fair.. as I've got a developer version.. not the one sold on Amazon. But the Linux OS is just not tuned enough for use as a PDA OS. For example, you cannot adjust memory allocated for programs and data space.. so when memory allocated for programs run out, the programs you run get terminated (Even if you have memory left over for data!). This does not happen on the PocketPC. Second, the User Interface just isn't very intuitive. For example, I'd expect a little menu to pop up when I hold down my stylus over a sentence to allow me to copy/paste.. but for most of the applications, it does nothing. And then the Opera browser crashes, hangs, does not work well with javascript heavy sites. 4) The "Suspend" button is also the "kill" button.. in order to Suspend, you hold the Cancel button until the screen goes blank. But what if you let it go early? It kills the current running application.. D'oh!! 5) Java runs better on the Zaurus.. Now come on.. Java? Please! What are you going to do with Java on a PDA? The Sharp folks at JavaOne were extremely nice and bright, however I think this strategy of going with an unproven OS is going to be an unfruitful venture. I hope to be proven wrong, and at least I hope Sharp finds some niche it can hang onto until a the market for Linux based PDAs develops.. but until then I'm keeping my Zaurus for the sake of technological novelty :)
Rating:
Summary: Linux & Java OS -- where's the Linux /*nix compatibility?
Review: This looks like a very impressive device -- the "open" Linux and Java platform should also attract Linux users and Mac OSX (a Unix FreeBSD-based OS). So why no Linux and Mac OSX support? There is market of unix-savvy Mac users and developers out there waiting for a PDA with an OS they already comprehend. Not to mention Mac OSX is one of the world's best Java platforms and this is supposedly a great Java PDA. C'mon we've been wating for a device like this (Apple hasn't given us one!) Mac/Handspring users stuck with out-of-date Palm OS may be ready to ditch and cross over -- so give us the support. If this is a Linux based machine as it says, then it shouldn't even be nearly as difficult as all the work Sharp had to do to make it Windows compatible.
Rating:
Summary: Nifty Machine
Review: I've tried a Palm an Ipaq and the Zaurus and have decided to stick with the Zaurus. From a hardware standpoint the Zaurus beats all other competitors with its built in keyboard, expansion slots, industry leading LCD screen and replaceable li-ion battery. Curiously the Zaurus lacks an internal microphone like its Pocket PC competitors, but instead has an input/output phone jack. My unit has served as an eBook, an address book, an mp3 player, a photo album, an alarm clock, video player and a pocket video game machine. The linux shell has also allowed me to use the same tools available on a desktop machine and has also proved to be highly configurable. Pros:
- keyboard, blackberry-like, much more efficient than writing
- plethora of open source software available
- highly configurable, even allows custom kernels Cons:
- casing scratches easily
- short battery life (but replaceable)
- Sync Software is not as refined as Palm's
- packaged Media Player cannot fast forward or rewind
- does not save application state on suspend Sum it up: Great work horse, but room for improvement.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice Product!
Review: Sharp has done a great job with this PDA. I love the fact that it has both an SD/MMC slot and a CF slot. I can use the SD for storage and the CF for wireless connectivity. And with Linux as the OS, there are lots of free / low-cost applications and games around already. I was a little disappointed with the image viewer on large JPEGs (1600x1200), but other than that it's great.
Rating:
Summary: Zaurus Developer Review
Review: I've had a development version of the Zaurus for a few months now and have to say I really like it. Not that it's perfect, far from it, but it seems like a very well put together PDA. First, the keyboard is usable. I used to use a Psion Revo Plus, and the keyboard on the Zaurus is not nearly as usable as the Revo's, but it's still better than nothing. And it's hidden when it's not in use. There are other input methods available (a pickboard, an onscreen keyboard, and a graffiti like system), but the keyboard beats them all. The display is very nice, better than the IPAQs I've played with, and the backlight is strong. There's no built in speaker, so any MP3 playback will have to be done through headphones. The unit seems able to handle all sorts of media (MP3, Mpeg Video, and there is a divx :-) player). The bundled PIM apps aren't quite as good as the apps built into the IPAQ, but the browser and email applications are excellent. Opera provides the browser, and the email is full featured, with IMAP capabilities. All in all, not a bad PDA. A definite alternative to the IPAQ, and not a purchase you'd regret.
Rating:
Summary: Great PDA for the money
Review: Right now the 5500 is around $200 and it is hard to beat this PDA at that price. Sure the 5600 and 6500 have fancier features, but they are still priced too high. The best thing about the Sharp Zaurus running Linux is the enormous amount of free software that has been developed for it. You can make this little PDA do ANYthing! My only gripe is that Sharp hasn't put more effort into making syncing the Zaurus with Linux easier out of the box. It's as if they assumed a Linux PDA would only be popular with Windows and Mac users. How dumb is that? Otherwise, my favorite PDA.
Rating:
Summary: The swiss army knife of palmtops
Review: I was a Sharp Wizard user, so I was excited when they came out with a more sophisticated PDA. I was swayed by the price and the pull out keyboard unit. Since I purchased it in November 2003, I have not been able to sync anything but the address book and calendar. This is a waste to me. After several e-mails and phone calls to Sharp, I am considering chalking this up to a bad experience, and jumping out of the Sharp bandwagon and purchasing a Palm or IPAQ. I am truly disappointed with this product and pray that you do not make the same mistake.
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