ViewSonic Pocket PC V35 PDA (ViewSonic-PPCV35)

Viewsonic Pocket PC V35

Pocket PC V35 PDA (ViewSonic-PPCV35) Review, by Mick Lockey January 7, 2003

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• Reviewed by: tott888

  Strengths: Good Screen Visual QualityGood Access to Internet With SDIO Card and PPC 2003

  Weaknesses: Non Self Changeable Batterlow battery life after chargeLow Quality Screen which developed a thick horizontal for no reason

  Overall: I was really happy when I got my unit as it worked as it was suppose to. I never really carried it because it seemed as if the battery didn't last long. I turned in on one day after is had been sitting in my dock and I noticed a THICK BLACK HORIZONTAL LINE/DEAD PIXELS. I was horrified. It had barely been used and was not accessable to any children so I though that it needed to be reset or something. WRONG, after contacting Customer Service I found out that I had to send it in and they replaced the screen. This would be great if I felt that I could depend on it not to go out again but this is not an isolated incident, but I hope not. Not worth it if the screen develops problems for no reason and the company doesn't issue a recall to replace a KNOWN defect in its products.

• Reviewed by: Shingshing

  Strengths: Price and condensed MS Office programs.

  Weaknesses: Battery life while in use is not even close to manufacturer claims. Sync program is inconsient, drops data, and causes problems with MS Outlook contact list.

  Overall: I have had the V35 for just over a year. Currently, with the battery setting on optimal, I get the "back up battery dangerously low" message after about 30-45 minutes of use--even if it is my first use after it has been charging for 8 hours or more. I have returned the whole unit to ViewSonic on warranty; the returned unit lasts longer than it did before the warrantly work (at which time I had average of 11 minutes before battery low warnings appeared), but is still unsatisfactory. The sync program is glitchy: files won't have synced but it will tell you they have, it drops data out of the calendar, and causes problems (creates duplicates and loses data) in the MS Outlook contacts list. In the latter, problems appear in both the PocketPC and desktop contacts lists.The manual and the ViewSonic product support web site do not provide insightful user tips or help files. For instance, in their Q&A for syncing problems they recommend you check to make certain that the prongs are not bent on the ports. One aggravating feature is that it only holds past appointments 8-10 days in the calendar (with or without syncing) and then drops them off completely. It will pull them off the desktop calendar when it syncs, as well. Any information, notes, phone numbers, or other info you might have wanted to retain in that calendar entry is gone.It is a disapointment that there is very little customization available--for instance, changing default meetings slots from 30 to 15 minutes or chosing to display the task list rather than the number of tasks. These things don't make the unit unusable, just less appealing.

• Reviewed by: farmhouse

  Strengths: Exceptionally small and light. Easy to use with the Microsoft Mobile system as the operating system.

  Weaknesses: None noted so far.

  Overall: The ViewSonic V35 is my first pocket PC and I couldn't be more pleased with my purchase. The advertised capabilities were all there and after the rebate, the final cost was $163 including taxes. Realistically my use is going to be directory, scheduling with a bit of note taking thrown in. As with any electronic product, the ViewSonic people have recently introduced the V36 in time for Christmas which incorporates a digital camera. However I'm glad that I went ahead with my purchase of the V35. One can always wait for the next greatest thing and miss out on the "NOW"!UPDATEI've now owned the machine for over a year and a half. It continues to perform well. It does need to be recharged rather often and on a week trip I always take my charger. One regret is that I didn't wait for technology to catch us as there are phones and other pdas that tend to have more features. All in all, this PDA delivers.

• Reviewed by: jmcallon

  Strengths: see below

  Weaknesses: see below

  Overall: Great specs!! I just want to comment on a prior review- it is very bad etiquette to comment on another review, but I can't help it. The guy that said "it claims to have 64MB of RAM, but only like 36MB are accessible". Dude, the operating system uses the rest of the RAM. When you buy a desktop computer, it may have 512MB of RAM, but not all of it is accessible. The Microsoft OS this PDA comes with is pretty detailed and you have to expect it to take up a lot of RAM.

• Reviewed by: john11023

  Strengths: looks nice on the web

  Weaknesses: The Manufacturer (bad warranty) and The Product (not durable)

  Overall: I bought this product approximately 90 days ago. I dropped it once and it kept working fine. About 30 days later, the screen did not work. I sent the product back to the manufacturer and they said that since the product had been dropped they can not cover the product repair under warranty. To make matters worse, the repairs would have cost more than what I paid for the unit!!! And to top it all off, when I asked to have the unit shipped back to me, they told me that it would cost $30!!!!!!! They said that since it was dropped, it was no longer under warranty and therefore, they will not reimburse shipping either. I told them that I had only paid $8.00 to have the item shipped to them and it was received by them in 2 days. I also insured the item for $600. I told them they were trying to make money on the shipping costs as well and they told me there was nothing they could do abou their shipping costs. Just to add to my dissatisfaction with Viewsonic, my computer monitor which I had bought from them less than 2 years ago has broken and I have to pay to have the item shipped to the repair facility in Virginia. The bottom line is, the product may look good and sound good but what really matters is how the company will take care of you if you should have problems down the road. Obviously, Viewsonic does not focus on customer satisfaction. They focus on making cheap products that won't last. Now I am back to my Palm Pilot which I have had for 2 years and have never had a problem.