Rave review of Zaurus SL-6000L

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Jul. 20, 2004

O'Reilly's Linux DevCenter has published a highly favorable review of Sharp's SL-6000L, the English-language Zaurus launched last January into the U.S. enterprise market. Reviewer Guylhem Aznar proclaims the $699 SL-6000 "worth every cent."

Aznar praises the device's portrait-mode form factor, which he favors over clamshell designs. He likes the slide-apart keyboard design, which features shift keys on both sides. He also praises the ability to quickly shift from portrait to landscape mode when using the PDA with an external infrared keyboard.

The high-resolution VGA display wins praise for featuring pixels so small that dead pixels are barely noticeable, and for being easier to read in sunlight than previous Zaurus screens. Previous Zauri came with poorly designed cradles, obviated by the SL-6000L's wireless capabilities and direct recharging connector. The new Zaurus does have a useful add-on pack with extra battery and CF slot, which yields up to three days of near continual use, Aznar says, despite making the device "as big as a brick."

Additional hardware-related points of praise include the integrated microphone and speaker, and a ruggedized construction that survived several falls onto concrete from Aznar's lab coat pocket, he reports.

Aznar praises the Qtopia software installed on the PDA, which he calls easy to configure, and the Opera browser, with its zoom, popup blocking, and multiple window support (though not Flash support). He likes Hancom's Office suite, too, and the Qualander calendar, which he says may rival Palm's calendar in time. He regrets an update to the J2ME Java environment on the SL-6000 that prevents some older Zaurus Java programs from working, however.

The software still needs some improvements, according to Aznar, who mainly criticizes the lack of backup/sync software for any platform other than Windows, and an SD port with binary-only drivers, which prevents users from using the port with custom-built kernels. Another concern is a proprietary libsl library, which prevents applications on the device from running elsewhere.

Read review of Sharp's Zaurus SL-6000L

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