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Filed under: OS Updates, Features, Windows Mobile

How to downgrade a Dell Axim X50v the hard way

Dell Axim X50v WM06Last week we let you know about an amazing hack that brings Windows Mobile 6 to the Dell Axim X50v. What makes this hack so amazing is the fact that Dell has no plans that we're aware of to offer Windows Mobile 6 for this discontinued PDA. In fact, Dell's Windows Mobile 5.0 "upgrade" for the X50v was pretty widely panned for being buggy and slow.

Windows Mobile 6 runs better than Windows Mobile 5.0 on the X50v. But there are still some problems. After a week of playing with Windows Mobile 6 on our crash test unit, we got tired of occasional slow downs and the constant need to reinstall programs that had mysteriously stopped working. So we decided to downgrade to Windows Mobile 2003SE, the operating system that originally shipped with the Axim X50v, which runs like a dream.

Here's how it's supposed to work. First, you reinstall Windows Mobile 5.0 using a Dell utility. Then you use another Dell utility to reinstall Windows Mobile 2003SE. If only it were so simple. After the jump we'll tell you about some of the hurdles we faced and how we overcame them.

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Filed under: OS Updates, Windows Mobile

Unofficial HP iPAQ hx4700 update

HP hx4700Now that Windows Mobile 6 is shipping, let's take a stroll down memory lane and reminisce about the problems users had upgrading their Windows Mobile 2003SE devices to Windows Mobile 5.0.

Specifically, Dell Axim X50 and HP iPAQ hx4700 users found themselves in a bind. They'd already purchased some of coolest PDAs on the market. They had blazing fast 624MHz processors and high quality VGA screens. But since they didn't use the same type of RAM as newer Windows Mobile 5.0 devices, it turned out that when you tried to "upgrade" either model, you'd wind up with a much slower system.

Late last year, Dell released a fix for the Axim. And while the X50 series still feels more responsive running WM2003SE than WM5.0, the difference is much smaller than it used to be. And you get updated versions of Mobile Office and the ability to run newer third party software.

Unfortunately HP hasn't released an official patch for the hx4700. But it appears some Russian hackers have. Werner Ruotsalainen reports that the unofficial ROM upgrade vastly improves performance on hx4700 PDAs running Windows Mobile 5.0. However, the upgrade does not include support for A2DP Bluetooth audio, so if that's important to you, it might be worth waiting (possibly forever) for an official update from HP.

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows Mobile

ROM update for Dell Axim X50 running Windows Mobile 5.0

Axim X50vWow, just the other day I got fed up with problems I've been having with the headphone jack on my Dell Axim X50v and since it's still under warranty, I'll be swapping it out for an X51v.

When I bought my PDA over a year ago, it ran Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition. I payed for a CD that was to be released soon that would let me upgrade to Windows Mobile 5.0. But when those CDs started shipping hundreds of complaints rolled in from X50v users, stating that sometimes their memory cards wouldn't be recognized and that their PDAs were running much slower.

I decided to hold off on upgrading until a fix was issued. And I waited for about a year, until I decided that the headphone jack was broken and so I could get the newer X51v which runs Windows Mobile 5.0 and doesn't have most of the problems associated with the upgraded X50v.

And lo and behold, today Dell goes and issues an update for X50 users running Windows Mobile 5.0. The update allegedly features the following improvements:
  1. OS 5.1.195(Build 14957.2.3.1)
  2. Wireless roaming enhancement
  3. Improve CF memory card sometimes disappear
  4. CF modem driver improvement
  5. Microphone recording enhancement
  6. ActiveSync connection improvement.
Maybe I'll install it for fun in the few days I have left with my Axim X50v. Keep in mind, in order to apply this update, you need to have a Dell Axim X50 or X50v PDA that has already been upgraded to Windows Mobile 5.0.

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So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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