[JASJAR, XDA Exec, MDA Pro General] mig31:
Hi everyone,

I received my new XDA Exec last Friday and today (Tuesday) I just returned it!

I'm not here to try to influence anybody, but if you haven't bought one yet, you might find this useful.

Then it's up to you.....

I owned 6 PDAs until now, from an old IPAQ with B&W screen to this great XDA Exec piece of kit.

This to me is simply a fantastic piece of hardware, but unfortunately it is severely let down by the software running on it and comiing with it.

Here is what I found in the last 4 days before I lost my patience:

PROS:

1) FAntastic screen, great resolution, brightness and clarity

2) Very good keyboard. It might be too small for touch-typing, but it's great if you don't have to write a book with your Exec. Most of the functions on the screen are replicated on buttons on the keyboard, so you can use the Exec without a stylo pretty easily.

3) USB charging. Nice after the previous XDAs to have one with a "normal" adaptor.

4) Nice new processor. I know many people on this forum had problem with the speed of their JasJar, but I found my Exec very speedy. I personally noticed an improvement from my XDA II.

I'm sure I could have other nice things to say about it, but here are the CONS:

1) It says everywhere about its 285gr weight, but I don't know if you really realize what you're getting yourself into. If you're used to bring your XDA into your bag or your backpack, then no problems. If you always found a place in your pocket for your XDA, then you better tighten your belt because this baby is a real brick!

2) The hardware is probably the best piece of kit I came across, but the software is the worst ensemble of problems I've ever dealt with.

Activesync 4.0 is a bag of .... Both my tomtom 5 software and a flight planning navigation softare that were working to perfection on my XDA II, are not working on the new EXEC.

I know somebody has been able to install the tomtom by transfering the .CAB files directly to the Exec, but I'm one of those "unlucky" (or too stupid) ones that couldn't install one of the 4 .CAB files and therefore....no tomtom 5 for me anymore.

The other piece of software is a VB written software, I installed the VBruntime and I was able to transfer the .CAB files individually. I managed to install the software, but it then started to play havoc with the Exec (the keyboard light would not come on anymore and even after few soft-reset and unistalling the application, I could only bring the system back to normal throught a hard-reset).

3) I also had the soft buttons disappear on me, and had to reset the machine before they reappeared. By the way, please note that the soft reset on my XDA Exec, takes approx 1 min to take place and restart the system. It's a lot longer than on my XDA II and if you think of how many times you'll need to restart it in its life (thanks Microsoft for its well known stabiltiy).

4) WM Player has problem with its full screen funcition. Even if you select the box, it won't play in full screen. If you like me, have plenty of movies converted in a 320x240 format and you'd like to use them in the new Exec, then forget the WMP because they'll only play in 320x240. WMP will not "stretch" them and they'll only look as big as a stamp.

You can easily download a free software (Core Pocket Media Player) which is a great piece of kit, but this brings me to my next point,

5) Storage memory in the new Exec is not "plentyful". The system should come with 128Mb, but around 80Mb are already taken by the pre-installed software. When you first start the machine, if you look and the memory settings, you'll only have around 40Mb available, 20 for Storage and 20 for programs.....and you cannot bias the size from one side to the other. In this new software, it's done automatically.

You can probably download software to correct or improve the one that the system is shipped with, but you'll soon find out that you'll run out of memory.

I installed on my new XDA:

The PDF viewer,

The VBruntime,

Microsoft Autoroute,

Core Pocket Media player,

and all I was left were 6 miserable Mb to play with.

I know somebody said that the system is designed for you to install the programs on SD cards, but I found this whole thing a bit ridicolous.

BTW, Microsoft Reader is NOT included in the system, so if you, like me, like to read books on the go, you'll have to download it separately and utilize even more memory

I'm sure I could go on for another few pages but I'll better stop.

I'm not trying to change anybody's mind, but I'm trying to make a simple point.

If you're an expert in PC and PDAs and if you're ready to "play" with your exec for hours on end to reach a "usable" machine, then enjoy it. It's really a great piece of hardware, with almost endless potential.

If you are an XDA (or probably any other PDA) user and you think that you can get the new Exec and transfer all of your programs on it and have it working in a heartbeat......think again.

I'm no pro, but I'm not a complete rockie.

I don't want to spend my next 3 months downloading ROM upgrades and hard-resetting this beast, just to get out of it what I already get out of my old XDA II.

My final thought is that if you haven't bought one yet, you might want to wait a litte bit more, until microsoft or somebody else, sorts out some of these problems.

I Hope somebody might find this useful.

ps My apologies for the grammar.....