By David Gewirtz
Ever since the advent of the handheld PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), there's always been some level of discussion about using PDAs as laptop replacements. The idea was that, with a keyboard at least, the PDA can be used to do some limited writing, email management, information access and so forth. The benefit, especially for travelers, is obvious. You don't have to lug the laptop with you, and everything can fit neatly in your pocket. We've devoted many articles in our sister publication, Computing Unplugged Magazine, to just this very topic.
But we've never yet discussed using a PDA as a laptop replacement for digital photography. Frankly, until recently, we didn't consider PDAs up to the challenge. But with the release of Dell's Axim X50v Pocket PC and a piece of software called Photo Viewer, we think the PDA can finally become an indispensable asset for the digital photographer on the road.
Let's start with the screen
Back in the olden days before digital cameras, professional photographers would set up a scene in a studio and shoot test shots with a Polaroid camera. Polaroids, of course, were cameras with film that could be developed instantly -- there was no need to send the film off for processing. This nearly-instant review allowed the pro shooter to get a good feel for what his shoot would look like once he switched to his professional film camera.
"Definitely the PDA to get if you're a photographer."
Today, of course, we can get a quick preview of our photographs by looking at the LCD displays of most digital cameras. There, you can quickly and easily see how your picture looks. Of course, there are some disadvantages to those LCD displays. First, and most important, they're small. You can get something of an impression of your picture, but you really can't judge the image accurately until you upload it to your PC or laptop.
Herein lies the primary benefit of the new Dell Axim X50v. While it's still small enough to fit in your hand, the Axim X50v has a VGA display (that's the "v" in the product name). In the handheld world, the term "VGA" is a shorthand way to say the display can show 640 pixels across by 480 pixels down. That's bigger than the original Macintosh could display, and is more than enough to get a clear view of your photograph. VGA stands for Video Graphics Array and for a long time, monitors on typical desktop computers were 640x480.
Figure A makes this very clear. In this image, you can see a Casio Exilim EX-Z40 digital camera next to the Axim.
FIGURE A
You can really see your picture clearly in the Axim's display. (click for larger image)
As you can see, the Axim's display is much larger and much clearer, giving you a very good view of how your camera's image will look. By the way, if you want to see exactly how a 640x480 image looks, click the thumbnail above. The image that's displayed as the full-sized image is exactly 640x480 pixels.
My personal digital camera is the Canon Digital Rebel, an SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera. SLRs are much more suitable for the sorts of professional work I need to do, and the above picture was taken with my Rebel. However, I also wanted to show you how the screen of my Rebel compares to the Axim's screen, as shown in Figure B. Obviously, I couldn't do this using the Rebel, so I made use of the previously mentioned Exilim camera.
FIGURE B
The Axim's display is much larger than the Digital Rebel's. (click for larger image)
While Figure B does show the difference in size between the Rebel's display and the Dell Axim X50v's display, it's also a good way to see the difference in macro photography quality between a digital SLR and a normal point and shoot camera. I had to tweak this second image in Photoshop, and yet there's still quite a bit of digital noise on the left side of the image. It's adequate, but if I was going to take a lot of close-up pictures (I do), I'd want my SLR rather than the point and shoot.
"We consider the Dell Axim X50v to be the best pure PDA we've yet seen. Period."
Without a doubt, photos look far better when viewed on the Axim X50v's screen than on either camera. This will be universally true for virtually all digital cameras.
Getting the pictures into the Axim X50v
As with every other media format since the beginning of time, different digital cameras use different storage formats. Most of the smaller point and shoot cameras (like the Casio Exilim) use SD cards while many of the larger, digital SLRs (like my Digital Rebel) use the larger Compact Flash cards. Unfortunately, most modern PDAs (including all the current Palm OS models) only support the SD card format. This is a bummer, because if you happen to be using more professional digital photography gear, the typical PDA can't handle your storage cards.
Ah, but the Axim X50v can. One of the most unique features of the Dell Axim X50v is its support of both Compact Flash and SD memory card formats. As you can see in Figure C, the Axim X50v can actually hold both cards at the same time.
FIGURE C
The Dell Axim X50v can read both SD and Compact Flash cards. (click for larger image)
This is indescribably slick. First, because you can stick both card formats into the handheld at once, you can move files from one card to the other. This allows you to, for example, backup your pictures to another flash card, without taking a chance on losing your data. It also provides you with a great deal of versatility when it comes to using multiple cameras (as I had to, for this article's little shoot).
Editing your photos
Imagine you're on the road, just you, your camera, and your Axim X50v. You've taken a few pictures and you've decided to preview them on your Axim. You generally like the images, but you wish you could adjust the contrast on one, the brightness on another, and you'd like to crop a third to see if it's really what you want. For that, you'd need a laptop and a photo editing program, right?
No. Not really. For that, you need a Pocket PC program called Photo Viewer.
Photo Viewer, which we reviewed for the Palm OS back in September, is a powerful image editing tool for your handheld. Photo Viewer will allow you to adjust brightness and contrast, and crop images, as shown in Figure D.
FIGURE D
You can do some very nice basic image manipulations, right on your handheld. (click for larger image)
In addition to the basic image adjustment capabilities, you can also annotate your images using either voice notes or text. Plus, you can draw rudimentary shapes, shade them, and color them, as shown in Figure E.
FIGURE E
In this example, I've made a note to tell a co-worker where to find me in the lobby of the Swan Hotel. (click for larger image)
The program manages thumbnails, albums, can play videos, and can even create presentations complete with background sound. Frankly, back when we reviewed it in September, we liked Resco's Photo Viewer so much, we gave it four stars. Were you to have to buy it, it'd be well worth the $24.95 price. However, in the bundled CD of the Dell Axim, we found the Resco Photo Viewer OEM version -- which provides all these capabilities for free.
One more quick note on Photo Viewer. It includes a bundled screenshot maker. All the screen shots you're seeing of the Axim's screen were taken with Photo Viewer. Did we mention this was an amazing program?
Getting the pictures out of the Axim X50v
So, now you're on the road. How do you get those pictures up to your server, back to your computer, or someplace safe? This variant of the Axim has both built-in Bluetooth and built-in WiFi networking. With the built-in Bluetooth, you can connect to your Bluetooth-equipped phone and email the images back to yourself, as shown in Figure F.
FIGURE F
You can email images right from the Photo Viewer's interface. (click for larger image)
Or, if you wanted to transfer a whole pile of images quickly, you could locate your nearest Starbucks or other WiFi hotspot, and use the X50v's built-in WiFi to upload those images back to your home server at broadband speeds.
Our overall impressions
We consider the Dell Axim X50v to be the best pure PDA we've yet seen. Period. It has an exceptional VGA-quality screen. It has support for both Compact Flash and SD cards. It has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth networking and a built-in voice recorder. It comes with an exceptional photo management program. And, running Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition with an Intel XScale processor running at 624MHz, it's as fast as many laptops. At an amazingly reasonable $424, this is definitely the PDA to get if you're a photographer. We give it a crystal clear, high-resolution 5 out of 5.
RATING: 5 STARS