HANDHELD REVIEW

Sharp Zaurus SL-C860 review

Thursday 11 March 2004, 2:02 PM

A PDA with power performance and style - but can you handle the Linux flavour?

Comparing the C860 and Sony Clié UX50:

-- The Zaurus is larger, but it's really an average sized PDA, while the UX is amazingly small.
-- The display on the Z is much better in terms of saturation, brightness and resolution (640 x 480 vs. 480 x 320).
-- The keyboard on the Zaurus is better, though the keys on the UX light up which is handy for those who type in dark environments.
-- The Zaurus has a SD and CF Type II expansion slot, while the UX has a Memory Stick slot.
-- The Zaurus operates in both landscape and portrait modes, while the UX operates only in landscape mode.
-- The Zaurus has no built-in wireless networking, while the UX40 has Bluetooth and the UX50 has both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. You'll have to purchase networking cards separately for your Zaurus.
-- The UX models have an integrated VGA digicam, while you must purchase Sharp's CF VGA digicam if you want to take photos.
-- In terms of display, keyboard and computing power the Zaurus wins. However, the selection of Zaurus software is meagre compared to the huge number of Palm applications available.
-- The UX comes with very reliable syncing software that's in English. The SL-C860 comes with Japanese syncing software that displays with a lot of garbage characters when run on English Windows. However, you can download an English version of the syncing software for Windows that works very well.
-- Much of the Zaurus software is free and open source. You can easily get into developing your own apps or porting desktop Linux apps if you're a programmer. It's also a great way to get into Linux if you don't have a desktop or notebook to devote to that project!
-- Palm OS apps require no technical knowledge to install, and most are clearly described on the download site. Some free Zaurus apps require more technical knowledge: you sometimes have to figure out dependencies (which other packages are required for your app to run) and visit the command line to configure them.

8.5

This Member's Rating

Excellent

Sharp Zaurus SL-C860

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Overview

Sharp Zaurus SL-C860

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Editors rating: 8.0

Verdict

This Linux-based clamshell handheld, which can operate in landscape and portrait modes, could pose a challenge to similar devices like Sony's CLIE PEG-UX50. But for now it's only available as a grey import.

Typical price

£ 565

Featured Talkback

Put simply, what is the compelling reason to pay ~$200 extra for an Eee with Windows XP? A Windows Eee won't come with any useful applications and you'll have to buy anti-virus software to boot. The truth about low cost computing is that nobody really cares whether the machine is running Windows or Linux as long as its cheap, its easy to use and it works.