If you're wondering about the Dell Axim X51v's multimedia capabilities, here's the dish. The Pocket PC still features Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, so you can listen to your favorite WMA, MP3, and WMV music files and view album art. Plus, Windows Media Rights Management 10 gives you access to audio and video content from subscription services, such as MSN Music, Musicmatch, Napster, and Wal-Mart Music Downloads.
The Dell Axim X51v comes with built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, which can run simultaneously. As mentioned before, you turn on the wireless radio with the shortcut key on the left spine, but you are now required to press the button twice--once to turn it on and once to confirm your selection. The status LED will blink blue and green to let you know wireless is on, as will two icons--signal bars and the Bluetooth logo--that appear in the lower-right corner. The Axim X51v comes with the Bluetooth 1.2 stack, so now there's support for more multimedia accessories, such as stereo Bluetooth headphones. You can check your Wi-Fi configuration, network strength, and more via Dell's WLAN Utility.
While the Dell Axim X50v didn't impress with its lackluster software bundle, the X51v is a completely different story. The companion CD comes with a plethora of useful and fun applications, including Battery Pack Lite, Calligrapher, Resco File Explorer and Picture Viewer, and eWallet. We particularly liked Battery Pack Lite, which installs a handy toolbar across the top of your PDA's screen and displays your battery life, memory status (internal and expansion card), and screen brightness. It's nice to have all this information immediately accessible, rather than having to go through various menus. The X51v also continues the tradition of being packaged with a gaming bundle; titles include Geo Rally EX and Toy Golf.
Overall, we were disappointed by the Dell Axim X51v's performance. It scored below our expectations in CNET Labs' tests, but that said, we're finding this to be a common problem with all the new Windows Mobile 5 PDAs. This may be in due part to the more demanding operating system and unchanged processor speeds from previous models. The PDA responded sluggishly to taps of the stylus and lagged when multiple applications were running in the background.Also, while the new and improved battery-management feature of Windows Mobile 5 supposedly lengthens the battery life, this wasn't the case for the Dell X51v. Playing a looped video clip with all wireless off and the backlight set to high, the X51v lasted only a little more than 4 hours, which isn't bad but is definitely not spectacular either. By comparison, the Dell Axim X50 and the HP iPaq hx4700 lasted an hour longer. However, since our tests are designed to drain the battery in the most intensive way, this score translates to about 7 or 8 hours of real-life usage.
The news isn't all bad. The Dell Axim X51v offers a great 3D look with beautiful icons, menus, and buttons. Plus, it offers great wireless performance. Its built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth worked flawlessly in our tests, and we were able to connect access points and Bluetooth-enabled devices with ease.
Performance analysis written by CNET Labs project leader Dong Van Ngo.
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