It’s gonna be a Dell

Well, after a much more realistic needs analysis, and a fair chunk of research, I decided to get the Dell PDA. Early this morning, I ordered the Dell Axim X51v.

Yes, it broke the heck out of the budget, because I had originally set a limit of $399MSRP. Nowadays, many items of this type sell for the price suggested by the manufacturer. It’s not like the old days, when stores bought for 40% off of MSRP and could make their own decisions about their profit. Instead, the margins on highly competitive items like this are closer to about 8%. So, the resellers sell for list price. Dell, being a manufacturer, has some advantage in this game, and can offer some attractive sales. This pushed the selling price of this unit to below the list price of the “lower” model.

Basic Features:

Microsoft^Â® Windows Mobile^TM 5.0 software with Windows Media Player 10 Mobile
Powered by the Intel^Â® XScale^TM PXA270 Processor at 624MHz
Brilliant 3.7″ color TFT VGA display with 640×480 resolution
Integrated Intel^Â® 2700G multimedia accelerator with 16MB video memory
Integrated 802.11b and Bluetooth^TM Wireless Technologies
Packed with 64MB SDRAM and 256MB Flash ROM
Integrated CompactFlash Type II and Secure Digital / SDIO Now! / MMC card slots provide flexible expansion
VGA-Out Support with optional VGA Presentation Bundle
Removable Primary Battery with optional High Capacity Battery
3.5mm Headphone / Headset Jack for Headsets to support VoIP and voice recognition applications
Built-in microphone and speaker for easy recording on the go
USB Cradle including Battery Charging Slot
Sleek, stylish design

Of course, it does all the usual things, like e-mail and calendar, and read Word, Excel, Powerpoint and PDF files. However, there are some things that a cursory look at the features doesn’t reveal. For instance, the 3.5mm headphone jack is actually a four position jack, which means that there’s support for stereo audio out, and mono audio in. That allows for some nifty audio functionality. For instance, when paired with a proper microphone and the right software, it can be used as a realtime audio spectrum analyzer. The output feeds white noise to the audio system, and the input is used to see the frequency response of the speakers in the room, allowing the system to be adjusted to flat response.

Other audio applications include a guitar tuner, chord libraries, pocket synthesizers and SoundForge-like wav file editors. There’s even a multi-track recording package!

Another feature not immediately found in the spec is the ability, via an adapter cable, for the X51v to output high-resolution graphics (up to 1024×768) for viewing on an external monitor or video projector, allowing the PDA to become a high-powered presentation tool.

There are also tools for photographers, such as a free download depth-of-field calculator, and a plethora of image viewers.

Other neat applications include multi-media remote controls, VNC clients (and servers), and, an application for identifying and logging bird sightings. While not as complete as the National Geographic application that started this whole thing a few days ago (only 300 birds, instead of nearly 900), the price is 92% less.

I’ve been fooling around a little bit with a software PocketPC emulator, and have found that it’s even possible to view this website on a PocketPC, although it’s not pretty. Entering posts is not yet possible, though I’m sure there’s an application out there to do it. Eventually, I’ll do a PDA-friendly version of the site, but for now, it’s surprisingly decent.

Now, I just have to wait for Dell to deliver. The order entry screen indicated that the device could ship as early as today, although the status report that was in my e-mail indicates that the actual estimated ship date is 2/8. I don’t quite get that, as I didn’t add any customizations or extras. And, the sales page still indicates that one ordered today will ship tomorrow. You never can tell with Dell, though. It may still get here tomorrow or Friday, for all I know.