- Asus EEE PC

- Advantage 7501

- EPOC Entertainer - issue 3

- Loose keyboard

Date: 30 Jan 2008 15:46:37 +0100
From: emai7s <address truncated>
Subject: Asus EEE PC

A friend of mine came over last night with an Asus EEE PC. It's a little smaller than the Psion Series 7, can easily handle most standard office formats (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, PDF, MP3, ogg, avi etc.), has built-in WiFi, a web-cam and Skype. YouTube, streaming radio and everything else I tried works without a hitch. And all that in a package costing about EUR 300. Wow!

But I don't really like the 7 inch screen, it just seems too small. Once they release a machine with an 8 or 9 inch screen, I think this machine will be quite hard to resist.

Definitely the most interesting development on the sub-notebook computer market in a very long time!

Peter

Date: 30 Jan 2008 16:29:08 +0100
From: Arabbitte <address truncated>
Subject: Advantage 7501

In response to Moshe Nahir:

I used Psions over many years and gave up on my last - the 5mx - because its frequent cable replacements were getting too expensive. The last time it failed, my ideal combination PDA/Phone didn't exist so I replaced it with a Palm Tungsten. When Sony Ericsson announced the P910i I snapped one up in August '04 and had only positive experiences of it over 3 years.

During this time, I formulated a wish list for my next ideal device and the first to tick most of the boxes (it is missing an FM radio and Infrared) was the HTC TyTN II. I bought one over 4 months ago and am delighted. The physical aspects of a device are critical to me and you may want to look closely at the Advantage before making a plunge. I think its one of those devices that's too big for a phone and too small to be an effective laptop. Why compromise - if you want a device about that size why not buy a UMPC - oh, and a phone.

Click here to get a side-by-side comparison of my TyTN II, the Advantage and the 5mx. It makes interesting viewing! http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=pdacomparer&id1=833&id2=752&id3=733

In summary: 
       HTC TyTN II  HTC Advantage  Psion Series 5mx
Size:  59x112x19mm  98x133.5x16    170x90x23
Mass:  190 gramms   359 gramms     354 gramms

The thing is, nothing will really replace the 5MX. It was ahead of its day when it was launched and it still is today. Newer devices offer a much better package overall, but there are aspects of the 5MX that will never be beaten: Keyboard, ease of use, stability, speed, functionality, etc, etc. Just convince yourself that 3G comms (3.5 G actually in the case of both HTCs), a camera, GPS, decent synchronisation and up to date technology makes up for what you will miss.

All the best from Dublin, Ireland

Alan

P.S. To keep things more interesting for me (!) I'd like to see more Windows Mobile / Symbian content!

Date: 31 Jan 2008 09:00:07 +0100
From: Damian Walker <address truncated>
Subject: EPOC Entertainer - issue 3

Hello everyone,

It's that time again!  The next issue of EPOC Entertainer, a small magazine leaflet dedicated to games on the EPOC32 platform, is available for download in PDF format.  In this issue:

* A completely new presentation!
* A review of the excellent card game Mille Bornes.
* The first in a head-to-head review series of Connect 4 games.
* The latest in the Animating OPL programming tutorial.

All feedback is welcome.  This month I'd especially like to hear about readers' opinions on the new presentation scheme.  I thought after publishing that Issue 2's presentation was looking a bit dull, so Issue 3 is my attempt to rectify that.  Let me know what you think!

You can download EPOC Entertainer from its usual home on my Psion pages:

http://psion.snigfarp.karoo.net/psion/
You might like to check out the Psion Games Database while you're there. It's a work in progress.  Each day 12 random entries are shown, and at the time of writing, over half of them have downloads available.

Damian - http://psion.snigfarp.karoo.net/

Date: 1 Feb 2008 09:54:49 +0100
From: Philip Carlisle <address truncated>
Subject: Loose keyboard

Dear All

Dropped my 5mx a little while ago and, being unobservant, have just
noticed that one side of the keyboard is higher than the other. This is
because the slide at that side has come out of what looks like its
groove or channel.
Have tried to push back using a moderate amount of force, but to no
avail.

Can anyone advise me how I might tackle the problem?
Machine still working OK, but typing worse than usual, as keyboard now
'bounces' a bit.

Kind regards
Philip Carlisle