I’m slightly obsessed with the weather. I’ve probably got over 100 bookmarks specific to just weather information. We’re talking wind info, “fog”:5 images, “pressure”:6 images, “jet stream”:4 info, the real-deal-weather-forecast (and super-esoteric) NOAA “area forecast discussion”:1, tropical storm “maps”:3, “Quickscat”:2 satellite seawind scatterometer, etc., etc., etc.

Once you get your bookmarks set on the Dell, it does a great job of rendering most weather sites. Here are a few examples:

table{width:400px}=. | _SF Bay area forecast discussion_ | !/img/Dell_screenshot_AFD.jpg! |
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| _Northeast Pacific satellite pressure image_ | !/img/Dell_screenshot_pressure.jpg! |
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| _Bay Area winds_ | !/img/Dell_screenshot_SF_wind.jpg! |

So, where ever you can get some WiFi on, you can get to whatever web obsession you have… _instantly_. The Dell “Axim X50v”:7 is probably the best $380 bucks I ever spent. Dude, get your credit card out and www Michael today.

[7(Zoinger Dell Axim post)]http://www.zoinger.com/words/archives/2005/04/18/dude-i-got-a-dell-dell-axim-x50v-pocketpc-pda/

[6(NE-Pac satellite pressure image)]http://virga.sfsu.edu/gif/sathts_pac_snd_00.gif

[5(West coast fog image)]http://sat.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/2km/hnx/FOG2HNX.GIF

[4(300mb jet stream maps)]http://squall.sfsu.edu/crws/jetstream.html

[3(Tropical storms worldwide)]http://www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/Tropical/

[2(Quickscat wind images)]http://manati.orbit.nesdis.noaa.gov/quikscat/

[1(The real-deal weather forecast)]http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/productviewnation.php?pil=MTRAFDMTR&version=0

“Bloglines”:1, the coolest on-line RSS reader around, just looks great on my “Dell Axim x50v”:2. Here’s some screenshots for ya (yeah, I’m evaluating a screen-capture program for the Dell to make sure it works with all of the programs on the PDA– hence the nagware graffiti).

table{width:400px}=. | Bloglines “browser detect” page. Nice! | !/img/PDA-screenshot-bloglines-browser-detect-page.gif! | |
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| Bloglines “My Feeds” page. Sweet! | !/img/PDA-screenshot-bloglines.gif! | |
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| Engadget rendered by Bloglines. Excellent! | !/img/PDA-screenshot-engadget.gif! | |
| | _This last screenshot shows browsing in full-screen mode enabled through a program I am evaluating._ |

[1(Bloglines cool RSS reader)]http://www.bloglines.com

This is one of the images from Resco’s Explorer 2003 for Smartphone “web page”:1. As you can see, it’s an image of their software packaged in a _box_ of all things. What? Software in a box? That’s an oxymoron.

We download software now, thank you. It’s the 21st century after all.

I’m not picking Resco for their product quality or functionality… that seems to be pretty solid from what I’ve read. It’s just that images of software in a box just don’t do it for me. It’s like so 1995 or something. Any cool, new software I’ve purchased in the last several years hasn’t come a box — I’ve just downloaded it.

Selling software in a box is like shopping for your iPod at Sears.

P.S. And when is everyone gonna stop using years in their product names. I really don’t what to know _exactly_ how obsolete the software I’m buying actually is.

[1(Software in a box?)]http://www.resco-net.com/smartphone/smartexplorer.asp

I really have to stay away from TechBargains’ “Dell coupon page”:1 — it’s too easy to see how much you can _save_ if you buy some high-tech gadget _right now_.

Usually, I’m pretty methodical about my technology purchases. For example, it took me about two years to upgrade my old computer. I was incessantly researching the best components, the best prices and, of course, was constantly waiting for the next, great, new-fangled technology like serial ATA or PC Express or whatever. At some point in time, you have to just pull the trigger, place the order and know that by the time FedEx delivers it, it’s gonna be obsolete.

With the Dell Axim, however, it was a total impulse buy. What I really wanted was a PocketPC-based, small-form factor mobile like the “Magician”:2. However, by the time something like the Magician is available in retail shops, something even better will be just on the horizon. So I decided not to wait, and just bought the Dell Axim to see what a modern PDA is all about. I was hoping that the Dell would allow me to do some quick web page lookups (not surfing _per se_ — more like a quick check of the weather), and help me with my blogging work flow.

I’ve had the Dell for a few days now, and I am pleasantly surprised by how useful it seems to be. Hopefully, this perceived usefulness will last past the initial rapture with anything new and tech.

The Dell looks great. It doesn’t at all look like the old Dell PDAs (which looked like boxes). This one is nice and rounded with a sleek silver and black look. The screen is big and bright and supports VGA (640×480). The WiFi connectivity just completely rocks! I connected to my Linksys wireless router with WEP encryption no problemo, and was surfing the web minutes after fully charging the battery. I haven’t tried the Bluetooth connectivity out yet, since I don’t have any Bluetooth devices. The only downsides I’ve seen so far are the battery life (crappy if you leave the wireless mode on), and it’s sometimes hard to scroll down the page (you have to push the stylus pretty hard on the edge of the display to move the scrollbar).

I’ll try to post some usage scenarios in the future. So far, the Dell does a pretty good job in quick web page lookups, and it seems like it might be useful in simplifying my blogging work flow.

P.S. I’m not going to try and review the Axim, since it has been reviewed to death on the web. Here are some of the better reviews I’ve found.

The Gadgeteer — “Dell Axim X50v Review”:7

MobileTechReview — “Dell Axim X50v Review”:5

Geek.com — “Dell Axim X50 and X50v Reviews”:4

PocketNow.com — “Dell Axim X50 and X50v Reviews”:6

MobileTechReview — “Considering Moving from Palm to Pocket PC Series of Articles”:3

[7 (The Gadgeteer)]http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/dell-x50v-review.html

[6 (PocketNow)]http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=reviews&id=495

[5 (MobileTechReview)]http://www.mobiletechreview.com/Dell_Axim_X50v.htm

[4 (Geek.com)]http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/pda/aximx50s/

[3 (MobileTechReview)]http://www.mobiletechreview.com/editorials/winds_of_change.htm

[1(TechBargains' Dell coupon page)]http://techbargains.com/dellcoupons.cfm

[2(Zoinger article on Magician)]http://www.zoinger.com/archives/2005/02/15/13.23.48/