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Posts: 5 | Thanked: 0 times | Joined on Mar 2006 @ Silicon Valley
#5
I did a detailed review of the S160 a few years back when it was current (though available only through importers). http://www.mobiletechreview.com/nexio_S160.htm

Note in that MobileMag review mentioned at the top of this thread, the author said that Dynamism did the translation of the OS to English-- that is incorrect, the device shipped with the English OS. Unlike the Zaurus, which they do convert to English (that's a trivial task that takes about 20 minutes) it's no easy task to convert or hack any Windows platform to a new language using a different character system.

Anyhow, I found the Nexio so useful at the time that I bought one myself. The keyboard was available as part of a standard bundle and it acts as protection for the display. However, it's pretty nasty typing-wise. Not much better than using the 770's on-screen keyboard and far worse than using a BT Think Outside keyboard with the 770.

There is a newer Nexio model out these days (the XP30 that Yeon-Woo Jeong listed in his .sig above), though the ones I've seen use Korean rather than English. I'm not sure if there's an English version of the new model, which might be why importers like Dynamism aren't carrying it.

The major drawback with the Nexio is that it runs .NET which sounds like it could be a good thing, but it's not. There are very few apps to add to the Nexio. I listed some of the top ones in my review. PPC apps generally don't work (some will, some require hacks and tweaks) and some really old HPC apps do work. But really not a great selection... the problem is that .NET devices tend to be vertical and not consumer so developers never jumped on that bandwagon.

The screen is pretty decent on the Nexio and it is really fun and useful with Terminal Services. If you have an XP Pro desktop your can use the Nexio to run Photoshop and other apps on your PC. Video playback isn't very good on the Nexio. The newer version is better, but again I haven't seen this offered by importers.

The S160 does not use persistent memory, so you'll have to mind the battery level lest you want to lose all data stored in RAM.

I dumped the Nexio when I got my Zaurus C860, which I still own and love. I do use my 770 too.
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Last edited by pdagal; 2006-03-26 at 03:42.