Review: Sharp Zaurus SL-C760

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At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last winter, Sharp showed off a new, lither successor to the Zaurus — one that looked like a tiny PC. Since then, sadly, the company decided to only release the Zaurus SL-C760 in Japan, not the U.S.

But these days, country borders mean little. You can now get the new Zaurus in the U.S., through Dynamism, a Web company that localizes cool technology from other parts of the globe. We were so impressed with the early version we saw at CES, we decided to get one in to test. Not even the $800 price tag – about 25% higher than in Japan – put us off.

In my last PDA column, I waxed enthusiastic about the iPAQ 2215. At the time, I decided there werent any Linux PDAs worth adopting. But after the Zaurus SL-C760, Ive changed my tune. A worthy contender for the handheld crown, this new model is like a notebook computer that fits right in your pocket.

The C760 runs on the OpenPDA version of Linux and is built around a 400MHZ Intel XScale CPU. Weighing in at just over a half-pound, with a 640×480 3.7″ display, this baby is svelte and powerful. Check out the hardware specs:

Sleek and Sharp

The SL-C760 is a sharp-looking little PDA (no pun intended). The case is snow-white and solidly-built — much stronger than the past U.S. versions that always felt cheap and somewhat fragile. Its a bit bigger and heavier than an iPAQ 2215, but the extra size and weight doesnt make it uncomfortable to carry around. Its even better suited for someone using it as a laptop replacement – which you can easily do. Both a type 2 Compact Flash and an SD card slot are built in, as are a headphone jack, jog wheel, and USB connection port. Because the Zaurus has a touch screen, it also includes a stylus, but its made of cheap plastic – not nearly as good as the iPAQs.

Display

& Keyboard”> The new Zaurus has a great screen – bright, colorful, and crisp. Since it runs at 640 x 480, you can see more on-screen than you would with an iPAQ or other PDA (which generally use 240×320 screens). Sharp didnt cut any corners with this unit — theyre using a high-quality CG Silicon screen.

In addition to possessing great resolution and beautiful colors, the Zaurus screen can be rotated for use in landscape or portrait mode. In landscape, it looks like a tiny notebook computer with a full keyboard. When you fold the screen around on top of the keyboard (like a mini-hybrid Tablet PC), the system automatically changes to portrait mode. In portrait mode, there are a handy selection of icons at the bottom of the screen that let you easily navigate to your calendar, e-mail, address book and other programs. If you opt for landscape mode, you can use the buttons on the keyboard to do the same thing.

This amphibious quality is something that virtually all PDAs should have. Web browsers and word processing apps cry out to be used in landscape (with a real keyboard for navigation, edits, and additions), while others work best in a tablet-style portrait mode. I wish my iPAQ would do this — its just so darned convenient.

Unlike the Zaurus models released in the US, the keyboard on the C760 is actually comfortable to use. We got used to it after just a few minutes and quickly found it much faster than entering data via the touch-screen or handwriting recognition app. Its not quite large enough to type on normally, but the keys are big enough to hunt-and-peck with. (The quality of the C760s handwriting recognition is pretty awful, though — not nearly as good as the Microsoft Transcriber software on an iPAQ.) The keyboard also includes application-specific buttons for Calendar, E-mail, Address book and more. There are navigational arrow buttons for quick navigation around documents or Web sites (more on that later). All things considered, this a very functional keyboard that we enjoyed using.

OS

& Environment”> The new Zaurus runs the OpenPDA version of Linux. If you havent run Linux before, dont sweat it. You wont need to go anywhere near a command line unless you really want to. If youve ever used a Palm or Pocket PC PDA, then youll soon feel right at home. The C760 was quite stable — we had no crashes, and we rebooted only because we wanted to.

Since the new model was not designed for release in the US, translation from Japanese was necessary. Dynamism did a pretty good job with this, but while the menus and some other things were translated into English, the help documents and the Install CD werent. So bear that in mind that if you decide to snag a C760, youll be pretty much on your own. That said, most of it is pretty apparent to any longtime PDA user.

The C760 comes with a healthy selection of bundled applications:

• Calendar
• Address book
• Calculator
• To Do List
• Intellisync for MS Outlook
• Hancom Mobile Sheet, Presentation and Word
• NetFront Web Browser
• MP3 Player
• Video Player
• Image Pad
• Presentation
• Text Editor
• Voice Recorder
• Java
• Email

Bundled Software Applications

We found the e-mail application very functional, as was the calendar, address book, to-do list and the rest. One annoying problem we ran into, though, was the absence of a screenshot application. There was no equivalent of “Print Screen,” nor could we find any other application on the Zaurus that would let us take screenshots.

Fortunately, we were able to download a screenshot applet from Handango. But Sharp needs to bundle this in by default — its very a basic function that should already be there. A tip of the hat to Handango, however, for providing the free screen capture app.
We had mixed results when trying to sync the C760 with Outlook 2003. The Intellisync software included on the CD was in Japanese, so we werent sure what the heck we were clicking on. We did manage to get it installed on both of our test systems. I never got it to work, but ExtremeTech Editor-In-Chief Jim Louderback (who tested it before I did) finally figured it out after clicking through a maze of cryptic buttons in just the right order. According to Jim, it worked pretty well, but wed really like to see Dynamism include an English version of Intellisync with the unit.

The C760s bundled applications cover most of the functionality we look for in a PDA, including the ability to read and edit MS Word and Excel documents. After that, though, its a bit dicey. Companies like Handango and theKompany provide third-party Zaurus software, but you wont find anywhere near the amount you can find for Palm or Pocket PC PDAs.

Wireless

& the Web”>

The one thing we really missed was Avantgo, an application that downloads news and other data to Pocket PC and Palm PDAs. Theres no Linux version yet and we couldnt find a viable substitute. Linux PDAs desperately need some kind of Avantgo-like application to advance on. Palms and Pocket PCs share of the market. Sharp should really just build its own newsgathering app for its Linux PDAs.

We were pleased with the Zaurus speed. The SL-C760 opened applications and handled the usual array of PDA chores quickly (about on par with our iPAQ).

We had no problems getting the C760 connected to our wireless broadband network. It includes a simple built-in VPN for connecting to corporate networks — something that most major Linux distributions still havent figured out. We used the Compact Flash-based Ambicom 802.11 card from our iPAQ 2215 and it worked well. All we had to do was put the card in, click Settings, then Network. From there, we added the WEP password to our wireless network and were ready to go.

The NetFront browser included with the C760 is one of the best PDA browsers weve come across. With a wireless Internet connection and the Zaurus in landscape mode, it blows every other browser out of the water. We zoomed out the view to 200%, which let us see an entire 800 pixel Web site on the 640-pixel-wide screen. Even at that resolution, sites were easy to read (including ExtremeTech.com). We were able to navigate through articles using the stylus or arrow buttons. Itll be tough to go back to Pocket IE.

The Verdict on the

Sharp Zaurus SL-C760″> Frankly, we love this PDA. Its got a few warts but we still strongly recommend it. If we could find it an Avantgo-like application, we might even ditch our beloved iPAQs. We like the keyboard, we love that the swivel screen lets us switch between portrait and landscape, and we adore surfing the Web with the NetFront browser. We can even envision, in certain situations, using the C760 as a laptop replacement.

So why did Sharp shortchange its stateside customers by only releasing the SL-C760 in Japan? They would do well to rethink their decision and release it here (where it would likely retail for about $600). Still, if youre looking for a great keyboard-enabled PDA and dont mind spending $799 and a facing a little language barrier, this is an ideal product. For now, you can pick one up — mostly localized for the US – from Dynamism.

To my wonderful editor and the fine folks at Dynamism: I will need at least a few more months to, er, continue my… um….assessment. Actually, itll probably take a year or so to really do it justice. Come to think of it, Ill just get it back to you when Im done with it. Thanks for understanding.

From the Editor: Should we take the $799 out of your next paycheck?