Dell Axim X51V Pocket Pc

The X51v has kept the same design as the X50 which is mainly a sleek piano black with a silver edge.  It measures 73 x 119 x 17mm which is 1mm thicker than its rivals but makes up for this by having curved corners making it more ‘pocketable’.  The rubber grippy bits at the side are helpful for ease of holding in one hand.

New features are the biggest part of the X51v’s make-over without a doubt.  Such as the 624MHz Intel XScale PXA270 processor and the Intel 2700G graphics engine. Also, there's still 16MB of dedicated video memory and 64MB of SDRAM, but the good news is that Dell has bumped up the flash ROM from 128MB to 256MB.

Replacing Pocket Word and Pocket Excel are the bigger and better new Office Mobile Suite which includes Word Mobile, Excel Mobile and PowerPoint Mobile.  Although these are good features, they work the X51v right into the ground – this is made evident by the noticeable delay when asking it to perform certain tasks.

The X51v sports a whopping 3.7in screen (bigger than the HP iPaq HX2750) which shows off the 640x480-pixel resolution and a 16-bit-colour output, meaning you'll enjoy sharp text and images, and there's continued support for landscape and portrait modes.

Below the screen are the standard shortcut keys including Calender, Contacts, Inbox and Home plus a four way toggle with a central select button.  An important mental note to make for those users with large fingers – this toggle is rather small.  Also on the front you will find a speaker, a power button and a status LED line.

There are two nifty side buttons on the left spine which activate the voice recorder and wireless connection, there is also a ‘handier than expected’ hold button which prevents battery drain. On the top you’ll find a headphone jack, dual CompactFlash and SD expansion slots.  By sliding the battery-release lever on the back, the battery becomes unlocked allowing when it needs replacing.

Multimedia and wireless are very well covered by the X51v.  With Bluetooth and Wi-Fi – which can run simultaneously – you’re laughing.  You’ve also got Windows Media Player 10 Mobile as well as Windows Media Rights Management 10 which gives provides access to audio and video content from subscription services, such as MSN Music and Napster.

The software CD is good, offering quite a few handy programmes, one being Battery Pack Light which once installed will provide a handy battery at the top of the screen to let you know how much life it has left.

Finally, an area requiring consideration is the battery-life.  For a Pocket PC it isn’t bad – with normal use it will provide 7-8 hours of power but if you are an intensive user you should expect no more than 4hrs.

Overall this is a good Pocket PC but it isn't the best.  Probably the only feature that it can boast over market competitors is the larger screen but performance is definately substandard.  Before buying - shop around and you'll find that you can get more for your money.

By Lisa Malyon