some questions for a730w users

[s_kates81]

Here are some questions
1,What's your average battery life time score?with half brightness screen and normal usage.how long does it actually last?
2,I just heard from a a730w user that while watching movies(landscape mode)the viewing angle will be not be similar to both eyes(a bit dark from left eye,a big bright from right eye ) resulting causing headache if watching movie for some time.
What about your overall experience of using this unit?impressed,satisfied or unsatisfied.
Please reply to it as it will help many persons in deciding for the correct PDA.

[PROPortable]

Do we need to start another thread about this? :lol:

Who told you there are different viewing angles depending on what eye you look out of? It's a 3.7" screen that you should be holding atleast 2' from your face and it should be a "personal" video experience........ Do you want to watch movies with your friends or something? Thats the only way I can see even thinking about need that extreme of a viewing angle.

Justin

[s_kates81]

Lol.Thanks Justin.I think you are right here.I am curious about the batt.as i just had another feedback from one more 730w user about it.He claimed
1,the battery meter of a730w is strange as the batt.decreases in 10%,same like that of older ipaq models.
2,He said that after playing games just for about 40 minutes,from fully charged batt,he got low batt warning (10%) left.So He turned off the unit,after turning it on,he got surprised at the batt.meter showed 50% power left,but his joyness just left for more 10 minutes as batt.go dead

[PROPortable]

Battery life and battery meter are two different things.... I've heard the same thing from customers and 9 out of 10 of them are usually another battery meter and we found that is screwing things up. I don't use a 3rd party meter, but found most of them aren't meant for 2003SE yet.

Anyway, Matt Keys has his 730w and anyone who cares can have him do an impartial review on it. Even though the 730 bluetooth should be getting the same numbers as long as we're considering wifi being off on the 730w. Matt's 730 bluetooth review is still valid in that case... although there has been a rom update for that model which has helped performance and battery life......

Matt, help these people out! :lol:

Justin

[dwizard]

I have the A730 and if you've read my thread you'll know I get approximately 45 mins of battery use.

I don't want to get into another argument or belittle the product but people need to know the truth. So here is my honest opinions.

The viewing angle is a big problem. I used to read a lot of pdfs but can't (in landscape mode) with this pda because of the small viewing angle. It does hurt your eyes after a while.

Also the camera is not too good. It's slow, consumes too much battery power and the pictures of closeups are not sharp. I owned a Sony TH55 palm device before this and that only had a 0.3mp but gave sharper pictures.
It's fine for taking snaps of landscapes or things more than meters away but a camera on a pda is usually needed to take pictures of whiteboards, monitor screens and documents etc.

Maybe I've been spoilt by Sony's better technology?
This is my first pocket pc so can't compare to other ppc devices.

Am I happy with the A730?
I'm in two minds, there are good and bad points, here they are:

PROs:
Good design.
Fast in turbo mode compared to palm devices
Much better and varied software available for PPCs.
VGA screen has good colour saturation.

CONs:
Battery life is terrible.
Camera doesn't give sharp closeup pictures.
Viewing angle IS a problem in landscape mode.

I did do some research before I bought it so knew basically what to expect and on the whole I do like my A730, but If I had to decide which ppc pda to buy from my short list again I would probably get the Hx4700.

[Guest]

I have the A730 and if you've read my thread you'll know I get approximately 45 mins of battery use.

I don't want to get into another argument or belittle the product but people need to know the truth. So here is my honest opinions.

The viewing angle is a big problem. I used to read a lot of pdfs but can't (in landscape mode) with this pda because of the small viewing angle. It does hurt your eyes after a while.

Also the camera is not too good. It's slow, consumes too much battery power and the pictures of closeups are not sharp. I owned a Sony TH55 palm device before this and that only had a 0.3mp but gave sharper pictures.
It's fine for taking snaps of landscapes or things more than meters away but a camera on a pda is usually needed to take pictures of whiteboards, monitor screens and documents etc.

Maybe I've been spoilt by Sony's better technology?
This is my first pocket pc so can't compare to other ppc devices.

Am I happy with the A730?
I'm in two minds, there are good and bad points, here they are:

PROs:
Good design.
Fast in turbo mode compared to palm devices
Much better and varied software available for PPCs.
VGA screen has good colour saturation.

CONs:
Battery life is terrible.
Camera doesn't give sharp closeup pictures.
Viewing angle IS a problem in landscape mode.

I did do some research before I bought it so knew basically what to expect and on the whole I do like my A730, but If I had to decide which ppc pda to buy from my short list again I would probably get the Hx4700.

Based on the features... the Loox 720 may be the better choice...

[Guest]

About the "bad viewing angle in landscape mode", I believe this has to do with the way the screen was meant to be operated in portrait mode coupled with the extremely high pixel density of a 640X480 resolution small screen. I came to this conclusion as I own an X50v and have tried out a friend's HX4700 and both exhibit this very effect. (PS. You can pretty much see this on any LCD; just rotate it 90 degrees)

[have both loox and a730w]

From what I experience I cannot see this effect on my loox720. I can watch video file in landscape without any annoying effect. From any review Loox's also praised with its wide viewing angle.

But I heard Loox screen is much like hp 4700. Why does this happen to 4700?

[have both loox and a730w]

After I post the previous reply I come to check both my loox and my a730w again about this effect.

I found that Loox also have little effect but almost unnoticeable. I hardly find this effect, need to open a few video clips to notice it.

For the a730w, the effect is far much worse. it make me annoyed again after watch a first video clip on it.

I think 4700 shouldn't have much effect either but people can notice it easier because of its 4" screen, I guess.

[s_kates81]

does hx4700 also have this short angle landscape effect? I never heard anywhere complaining about it yet.

[Lukas44]

I just heard from a a730w user that while watching movies(landscape mode)the viewing angle will be not be similar to both eyes(a bit dark from left eye,a big bright from right eye ) resulting causing headache if watching movie for some time.
What about your overall experience of using this unit?impressed,satisfied or unsatisfied.
Please reply to it as it will help many persons in deciding for the correct PDA.

I have the unit in front of my eyes right now, and have 2 say that this is another myth.
If this were true, then that guy needs a pair of "3d" glasses to make it better!HA..

Seriously, though
Try as I might, I cannot duplicate the "different eye make hedache" symdrom.

What is happening in landscape, is the the narrow viewing angle.
Moving past this viewing angle(starting about 20degrees off either way) produces either a slight shading starting from the right side of the screen, or a slight lightening starting from the left.
This applies to both eyes, unless you have a 2foot wide head!

The headache I am very shure is problably caused from regular eye strain, or intentionally moving the whole unit "angularly", to face others, not moving side to side!
So there you have your real answer, as I see it...

[sponge]

This happens to me on my laptop if you rotate the LCD - it's pretty much prevalent across all LCDs. I would assume it due to an improvment in LCD technology that only works one orientation.

[The Blur]

I just heard from a a730w user that while watching movies(landscape mode)the viewing angle will be not be similar to both eyes(a bit dark from left eye,a big bright from right eye ) resulting causing headache if watching movie for some time.
What about your overall experience of using this unit?impressed,satisfied or unsatisfied.
Please reply to it as it will help many persons in deciding for the correct PDA.

I have the unit in front of my eyes right now, and have 2 say that this is another myth.
If this were true, then that guy needs a pair of "3d" glasses to make it better!HA..

Seriously, though
Try as I might, I cannot duplicate the "different eye make hedache" symdrom.

What is happening in landscape, is the the narrow viewing angle.
Moving past this viewing angle(about 20degrees off either way) produces either a slight shading starting from the right corner of the screen, or a slight lightening starting from the right.
This applies to both eyes, unless you have a 2foot wide head!

The headache I am very shure is problably caused from regular eye strain, or intentionally moving the whole unit "angularly", to face others, not moving side to side!
So there you have your real answer, as I see it...

Exactly Lucas44... All it takes is a little common sense to figure out that the screen is best at an angle in Landscape. Other peoples: you should see a doctor if that's giving you headaches... ask the to amputate your head, that should help.

[dwizard]

The viewing andle is a real phenomena and if you honestly can't see it you are either lying or need your eyes tested.
Anyway, it's not as noticable when all you do is play games on your pda. If you look at a still image or text and close one eye then alternate you'll see that one image is darker than the other, this is a fact.

[s_kates81]

So you guys think that this narrow angle landscape is bearable?What about in real vga mode by implying se_vga?Does it still affected by this narrow angle syndrom?