Thanks very much for the comments. A few reactions and follow-up questions:
> From: "Arnold P. Siboro" <asiboro@maltech.jp>
>
> I don't really get what you are trying to say, but my zero3 is
> charging
> well via my notebook's USB port as far as I am concerned. I got the
> cable from Willcom's online store:
> https://store.willcom-inc.com/ec/faces/lstlsht000783/cmdprde001238/
> Btw, it's the best selling peripheral at Willcom's online store now.
I'll probably make a special trip to see this tomorrow. I think you are
describing a special USB cable that does nothing but feed the 5V power from
a USB port to the round connector the 003 uses. Or perhaps two USB
connectors with one mini-USB and one round connector to stay within the USB
spec. That's what I was trying to describe. Standard mini-USB cables will
only work for data, but I know that those cables were fine for charging my
previous phone while also supporting data. (I forgot to mention that the
manual also specifies that USB charging is not supported, but again, I'm
pretty sure that was in reference to a normal mini-USB cable.)
> I thought the power consumption was very bad, but I found out that it
> is not that bad if you:
> -don't use WiFi
> -don't set mail reception to automatic and
> -receive 100 or so mails each day on it
I basically follow your advice, but all it takes is a couple of checks of
information on the Web, and I'm already having to worry about the battery
status. I never get much email, but my main actual usage to date has been
taking notes in meetings. For that purpose it is about equal to a pen and
paper.
Related note on power. Has anyone else seen the machine get into a weird
status where it starts draining the battery very quickly? I couldn't figure
out what was going on, but rebooting seemed to take care of it. (I don't
know the proper reboot procedure, but I just pull the battery.)
> Opera for WM5 is not free, so you need to pay. But you are free to
> install a trial version.
I feel like this is on the edge of false advertising by both WillCom and
Opera. It was included at no charge on my previous phone, and since both of
them were publicizing it, I thought they had some kind of bulk license
agreement.
> Sharp instructs users to run "DispVersion" inside "Windows" folder to
> check firmware version. I always do this to decide if my zero3
> needsupdate.
Thanks for the reminder.
> From: "Andrew Shuttleworth" <andrew@andrewshuttleworth.com>
<snip>
> It's a very useful device once you learn how to manage it, but
> certainly do have a lot usability issues. It will probably take 2-3
> years for Windows Mobile to get to where it really needs to be.
You mean 2-3 years to catch up with where the Palm OS was 2-3 years ago? At
least that's my perception of the situation. I know that Microsoft has
always had a policy of designing at the leading edge of the hardware, but
that doesn't make sense in a market that is fundamentally defined by the
current state of the hardware. I can only see two possibilities here.
Inadvertent incompetence, or strategic incompetence--and I've already stated
my conclusion.
> I also got a dual USB sync and charge cable and it works fine.
Thanks also, and I'll look at this item in the WillCom store, probably
tomorrow. Unfortunate that I didn't see this email before my trip to
Shinjuku today...
> I believe it is free for W-ZERO3 users and is much better than Pocket
> IE.
Do you have any source for this? I've asked both WillCom and Opera people.
The WillCom people said it wasn't recommended, and the Opera people said
nothing.
Received on Sat Jul 22 12:57:59 2006