- 5mx battery problem

- Re: lines on screen

- Long term 9500 review

- 9500 vs 5mx

- post ER 5

- Revo battery: Towards a solution?

- File viewers/converters for EPOC5

- Re: The Digest V1 # 697

Date: 25 Feb 2005 19:03:43 +0100
From: Hoffman, Susan <address truncated>
Subject: 5mx battery problem

Patrick, I have a similar problem with the batteries on my old 5mx.  I think the hinge is weakening, so the back round cover is not holding the batteries tightly against the connections.  I've toyed with the idea of putting a piece of paper in to tighten it (which I have done under the backup battery cover and it works like a charm), but that just seems to push the cover out even further.  Sometimes pressing in on the back hinge works just as well as twisting the batteries around.  If anyone has a permanent fix, let me know.

Susan Katz Hoffman
Pepper Hamilton LLP--------------
3000 Two Logan Square
18th & Arch Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Tel: 215-981-4990
Fax: 215-827-5909
e-mail:<address truncated>BR>web address: www.pepperlaw.com




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Date: 25 Feb 2005 19:27:17 +0100
From: Richard Clark <address truncated>
Subject: Re: lines on screen

I am not sure how the screen and screen cable are set up in the
netbook, but i can tell you for sure on older lcd tv's there were
little integrated circuits that were attached directly to the screen
cable, after a while they would start to come off and cause the same
lines your talking about.

Richard
On 25 Feb 2005, at 19:51, The Digest wrote:

> Date: 24 Feb 2005 11:24:57 +0100
> From: Fredrik Johansson <address truncated>
> Subject: netBook Screen Problem
>
> Recently I have had some strange problems with my screen. Now and then
> the upper half of the screen have thin vertical lines in green and red
> like this : || || || || ||
> integrated with wathever I visualise. First I thought that it was the
> screen cable problem that I have had on the 5mx, but since the problem
> is still there in all angles for the screen I suppose it isn't that. I
> have reset my netBook, but still the same problem. For example today I
> have had my netBook beside me all the day while working without
> touching the screen or the screen angle and the line have come and
> gone twice (for the moment beeing I am seeing the lines).
>
> I have used my netBook for two years now and I thought that the screen
> would hold for longer time than that.
> I have protect my netBook in a semi-rigid case and opened and closed
> it very gently (all in all I have taken care of it like a baby). So I
> am a bit disappointed that the screen allready starting to fail.
>
> The problem that others have had like the light drops in force, I
> haven't yet experienced, so I suppose that it means that it should
> hold still a long time?
>
> Then I thought maybe it has to do with the temperature, but the
> problem appear even in constant temperature.
>
> Do I have to send my netBook for a repairing to SRS GmbH
> (http://www.psion.at/en/index1.html) for a prize of 280€ or does it
> exist another solution?

Date: 25 Feb 2005 21:09:00 +0100
From: Steve Litchfield <address truncated>
Subject: Long term 9500 review

Now at 3 months and counting - see

http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/reviews/nokia9500.htm

Steve Litchfield

Date: 25 Feb 2005 21:41:55 +0100
From: Kevin Thorne <address truncated>
Subject: 9500 vs 5mx

Patrick Warner wrote:

<In fact I have 3 5MX machines, one for me, one for my wife and one backup. I haven't found anything that I feel can replace it.  I am following the threads on the Nokia 9500 with interest - that could be what I am looking for, although I have heard that some of the software is crippled compared to the 5MX - for example you can't zoom the views in the Agenda application. I'd be interested in any posts from Nokia 9500 owners on what are the missing software capabilities of 9500 vs 5MX.>

Patrick, the inability to view very small fonts on the Calendar application (it's not called Agenda on the Nokia) is one of the things that frustrates me most!  One of my favourite/most useful views on the 5mx was the Busy
view - you could see 4 weeks in one go.  Not so on the 9500, only 1 week at a time and with a screen with such brilliant reolution capability this is just a crime in my book!  Week view isn't too brilliant either as you can't zoom down to a low enough font to see more than 3 entries per day.  It's the same in the Email app too.  So on the 9500 you actually see LESS information per screen view than on a 5mx - this on a machine with a far superior screen.....aarrggh!  Some may see this as a minor niggle but to me Calendar is central to everything I do and I just have to accept I'll always have to do lots of what should have been unneccesary scrolling.  Symbian please note this!

To balance things up a bit - good points:  Personally I find the one box solution works very well indeed (I used to carry a 5mx with a Nokia 8210), the keyboard is actually better than it looks (but you'll undoutably feel slightly disappointed after a 5mx - who wouldn't with such a wonderful keyboard?), it's battery life is excellent, the screen is much better than on the 9210 (even readable in direct sunlight, and I mean EASILY readable), it's still a brick but feels quite a bit smaller than a 9210 and considerably lighter than a 5mx and I still get a buzz bluetoothing files over to a colleague's laptop from the thing!  However, give me a 5mx with this machine's colour screen and modern connectivity and I'd still buy one tomorrow.  Sometimes I still miss that old 5mx in it's sleek silver casing.....aaahh :-)  Incidentally, has anyone on the Digest actually gone back to a 5mx after finding out none of the modern machines satisfied their needs?  Wouldn't that be an interesting article?

Regards
Kevin Thorne

Date: 25 Feb 2005 23:09:03 +0100
From: Rody Koops <address truncated>
Subject: post ER 5

Regarding possible 5mx successors:

Check out the soon to be released MDA IV. BT, WIFI, VGA swivel screen, 2 camera's, qwerty keyboard, triband GSM etc.....one possible drawback, it runs PocketPC Phone Edition....

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000090030074/

Cheers ROdy

Date: 26 Feb 2005 14:42:12 +0100
From: Timothy H.D. Williams <address truncated>
Subject: Revo battery: Towards a solution?

I wonder whether I have found a possible solution to the battery problem.

I frequently find that whatever I do, the battery gauge registers a completely bogus reading. Often when there's no charge at all, after a hard reset there is a reading of 60 or more percent. Worse still, if by dint of hard restarting, I finally manage to get a zero percent readout, after a few minutes of recharging, the gauge jumps from 6 to 60 or more percent. I don't think Betsy Baker's suggestion of putting the Revo aside for a month is really a solution because my experience is that even after a rest, the gauge jumps about unrealistically.

However, I have now noticed that if I transfer files from my Mac (OS 10.3.8, via JPL2PsionLink and a Keyspan connector) I can watch the gauge on the Psion while the machine is receiving the files and while it is also being recharged. The gauge drops to a much more realistic read-out - which allows me to charge the machine correctly.

Best

T

Date: 26 Feb 2005 14:58:07 +0100
From: Christopher Holly <address truncated>
Subject: File viewers/converters for EPOC5

Was I dreaming or is there no software for a 5mx to view Word, WordPerfect, RTF, and other format files without running it through the PsiWin converter? Occasionally I download files when I am away from the desk and want to be able to view them.

--Chris Holly

Date: 26 Feb 2005 20:53:38 +0100
From: Martin Maxwell <address truncated>
Subject: Re: The Digest V1 # 697

Answer to: Itamar & Steve
RE: Psion

> Q2)  A Psion 5MX with a colour screen would have been a great > machine. Did Psion ever think about it and if so why was it not launched ? >

If I understand ex-Psion peope I've talked with correctly, this was on the drawing table a number of times. Besides a netPad *is* basically a colour 5mx without keyboard.

> Q3) Some of the major problems of the Psion machines were
> technical with the screen cables and the Revo battery. Was this
> due to sloppy sourcing of the required parts or what was the
> reason that these otherwise great products were let down by these
> problems ?

I actually think that Psions have not had more hardware problems than other machines, perhaps with the exception of the early Palms. But they were slow in coming out with corrective measures. Why the screen cable problem in S5 was allowed to pass on to S5mx without corrective measures is unforgivable.

It has taken people like http://www.clove.co.uk to correct this problem.

> Q4) In your humble opinion, could Psion have stayed in the market
> and further develop their products and product range or not ?

My humble opinion is that Psion could have been a major success if they had continued and got their act together. The size argument does not hold. If Sendo can, so could Psion. Their key problem was that most of their core team was moved into Symbian. But that is not insurmountable.

>Two main reasons for Psion not continuing with PDA's. On becoming Symbian, Psion Software put 100% of effort into the smartphone market, everything was driven by the phone companies at the point and I don't think there was room for any distractions making PDA's as well as phones.<

This is not entirely true. Psion *did try* very seriously indeed. They were working on at least two (according to some: three) devices to succeed the ER5 line. These machines were to be based on ER6. They were (1.) the Odin project with Motorola - "UIQ" on ER6 - (2.) the Conan "Bluetooth Revo" project - Eikon on ER6 - and  (3.) an Eikon on ER6 communicator which I have heard people call "Thor" and which was shown in an exhibition as a wooden model but never went much farther than that.

>To fight against that Psion would have had to do the same thing, raise a large amount investment cash and operate at a loss to gain market share of what was basically a dieing market. I believe overall Psion made the right tactical decision to go for the smart phone market and let Palm and Microsoft throw their cash away in the dieing PDA market.<

I agree, though I think Psion's idea of its future was to be a niche smartphone player (which both the "Thor" and "Odin" project attempts indicate), just like Sendo is today. In many ways, Sendo picked up that fallen mantle of Psion. Some of Psion's innovative spirit can indeed be found in the way Sendo has enhanced Series 60.

>I think Psion did toy with the idea of a PDA based on later versions of the Symbian OS, not sure what made them decide not to go ahead with that plan.<

I think that the idea with "Conan", which was to be the natural ER5-line PDA successor, was to capture the interest of the existing PDA customer base.

But clearly, Psion saw in "Odin" and "Thor" the future direction, i.e. smartphones and communicators, not PDAs.

>My personal ideal PDA/Smart phone combindation would be a pair of seperate devices, a small pocketable phone linked via Bluetooth to a Series 5 or sized powerful PDA.<

Mine too!

cheers
Martin Maxwell
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia