Sharp Zaurus SL-C760

[Alexkass]

The Sharp Zaurus line of GNU/Linux-based handhelds has to date sported some very impressive features and designs. Unfortunately, many of the most interesting are only officially released in Japan, such as the high-powered SL-760 clamshell model. Fortunately for the rest of the world, importer Dynamism has added the SL-760 to their line of import-and-translate products and offers an English-ified version of the SL-760. It is almost a laptop, but still handheld.

 

Design

 

The 760 is a surprisingly small 120 x 83 x 23.6 mm clamshell, although at 250 grams it is somewhat heavy heavy side. The casing is a mixture of white and silver plastic with a clean finish. Overall, it is reasonably comfortable to hold in the hand for long periods. However, because the unit is an import much of the labeling and all the paper documentation is still in Japanese.

 

Opening up the clamshell reveals a full QWERTY thumbbaord and screen. Both are quite impresive. The keyboard is a 5-row design with dedicated number keys, and each of the large rectangular keys is made of a soft vinyl with good key travel. There are two shift keys (good), but they are not sticky (bad). There is also a tab key for moving between fields and a purple Fn key, although many of the Fn commands are to generate Japanese characters that no longer have any effect. They keyboard also sports OK and Cancel buttons, three app buttons, a Home key, Menu key, and inverted-T directional arrows for one of the most complete keyboard designs we've seen to date.

 

http://www.infosync.no/news/2003/09/28/gfx/sharp_zaurus_sl_c760_01.jpg

 

After a little practice to get used to the wider key spacing, we found the thumbboard a joy to use. We were able to use it to write this review without difficulty. However, the keys are not large enough to touch type. The 760 is still a thumbboard device.

 

The screen, however, is even better. The 760 sports the first true-VGA 640x480 screen to grace our labs, and we like what we see. Images are extremely crisp, with no graininess to speak of. The TFT screen itself is bright and clear all on its own, much more so than previous Zauruses. The high resolution also allows programs to put even more information on screen at once. We want to see more full-VGA handheld screens. The screen also has flip-and-rotate ability to fold down into a portrait-mode device, covering up the keyboard in the process. When in normal landscape mode, the screen shuts off automatically when closed. There is also a zoom function, supported by most included text-sensitive applications.

 

The top of the device includes an on/off switch as well as OK and Cancel buttons and a jog wheel for use when the device is in portrait mode. In portrait mode, those buttons are on the left as the device is held. The stylus silo in on the front right, or top right when rotated. The AC charger port is also on the top.

 

Connectivity

 

The 760, like many of its predecessors, sports both a Compact Flash slot and a Secure Digital slot. The CF slot is on the right (top when rotated), while the SD slot is on the top (left when rotated) next to the IR port. The SD slot is not SDIO compatible, unfortunately, due to problems with the closed source driver for the SDIO spec. Because of the placement of the CF slot, the user will have to adjust his hand position if an oversized CF card, such as a network card, is in use.

 

The 760 also has a proprietary serial port to connect to a PC over USB. It does not, unfortunately, include any wireless capabilities.

 

Specifications

 

Under the hood the Zaurus is powered by an Intel XScale PXA255 processor at 400 MHz. As with other recent Zauruses, the 760 has a flash ROM area for program storage that keeps it memory even if the battery runs dry and a separate RAM area strictly for running programs. The 760 squeezes in 64 MB of each, plus available space on expansion cards for a reasonably roomy device. However, that split memory architecture does mean a lag time when starting a program as it is loaded into RAM.

 

Much of the weight of the 760 is taken up by the lithium-ion battery. The Zaurus' hefty battery provides hefty power, too. We left the MP3 player running continually to test it, and we allowed the screen auto-dim feature to conserve power. The 760 lasted a very impressive 8 hours, 49 minutes before finally shutting off. In more real world situations, we were able to listen to several hours of music while writing this review all on the device and didn't even get as low as half power.

 

The 760 ships with separate power and USB sync cables, with no cradle. For reasons we cannot fathom, the power adapter is back to the brick-plug design we always hate instead of the superior multi-part cable of some earlier models. It is a small brick with a folding plug, but still a brick design.

 

Software

 

The 760 runs a customized version of the Linux 2.4.18 kernel, with the usual GNU software collection on top of it. All user functions are full graphical, however, courtesy of the Qtopia graphical interface. It is an overall clean interface with tabbed launcher, Documents tab, Start Menu-like feature, clock, task bar, and so on. All fairly standard on any Zaurus by now.

 

Java support is provided via the included Jeode JVM. Most included programs make full use of the rotation feature and resize themselves as appropriate. Legacy programs written for earlier Zauruses will run scaled up from QVGA (240 x 320) but still in portrait mode.

 

Although the primary text input is the thumbboard, the 760 still includes a collapseable handwriting area. The handwriting system is similar to Jot, but is customizable. However, both in normal and rotated mode the handwriting area is a bit too small to use properly, and least the way we write.

 

The application suite has evolved somewhat from earlier models. The Hancom Office suite is still present for word processing and spreadsheets, and both can read Microsoft Office files as well as Hancom's own format. However, gone is support for .RTF word processing files, which is very surprising. That leaves plain text as the only supported open file format, which is disappointing in general but even more so for a GNU/Linux-based handheld. We would have at least expected support for the Open Office XML-based office file format, which is quickly becoming the standard, open alternative to Microsoft's closed, proprietary format.

 

Also absent is the Opera web browser, now replaced by the NetFront browser from Access Systems. Other bundled applications include a PIM suite, voice recorder (separate microphone required), a slideshow program that works off of standard image files, and e-mail program. Multimedia is provided separate Music Player and Video Player applications, although once again we are disappointed to see no support for the popular Ogg Vorbis audio format, only MP3 files.

 

The smae sort of 'so close and yet so far' design permiates many of the included applications. For instance, the included text editor supports wrapping, but wraps at the character, not the word. The Documents structure is still mime-based, which is nice except that not all programs support it properly.

 

The OpenZaurus distribution does not yet support the C760, but it is expected to do so soon.

 

Desktop synchronization is provided by the familiar Qtopia Desktop application, with the ability to synchronize data to Qtopia Desktop or Palm Desktop.

 

Availability

 

The Sharp Zaurus SL-C760 is available in the United States through Dynamism now for $799 USD.

 

Conclusion

 

The Zaurus SL-760 is in many ways the same as its predecessors. The hardware is amazing, one of the most impressive devices we've seen. The thumbboard is first-rate, the screen is gorgeous, the battery life is very welcome, and dual card slots are always appreciated. The C760 could easily act as our office-in-a-pocket, that is, if the software was more complete. Unfortunately, while the bundled software is good, it's not great, and still shows some rough edges we'd have expected to have been dealt with a long time ago. Still, it is a solid device and once OpenZaurus is fully working on the C760 it will be one of the most complete "pocket laptop" solutions we've seen.

 

 

What's positive: First-rate thumbboard, screen, battery life

What's negative: Bundled software still has rough edges

 

 

λινκ: http://www.infosyncworld.com/reviews/n/4115.html

 

και ποιος θέλει ακόμα το sony :rolleyes:

[DON]

Wireless connectivity?...Τίποτα ε?.. :whistle: :whistle:

[Alexkass]

cf card :)

 

εντάζυ δεν είναι και ότ καλύτερο αλλά το βρήκα και το πόσταρα για να έχουμε να συζητάμε και εδώ :)

[eosid]

Αν έπρεπε να διαλέξω ανάμεσα σ'αυτο το Sharp Zaurus και το Jornada 720 ή 728?

This Sharp Zaurus or the Jornada 720/728?

[Alexkass]

Αρχικό Μήνυμα από τον eosid

 

Αν έπρεπε να διαλέξω ανάμεσα σ'αυτο το Sharp Zaurus και το Jornada 720 ή 728?

This Sharp Zaurus or the Jornada 720/728?

 

 

φίλε μου, δενέχω δοκιμάσει κανένα από τα δύο. απλά το zaurus είναι πιο καινούριο και τρέχει Linux οπότε δεν θα έχεις ένα νεκρό λειτουργικό σύστημα όπως το windows ce handeheld pc 2000 :)