ViewSonic V37 Pocket PC (V37-1)

[Archived in $300 - $400, Music, Productivity Software, Products, ViewSonic]

Manufacturer: ViewSonic
Price at amazon.com: $370.99
This item is not stocked or has been discontinued.

Product Features:

• A thin, light powerful pocket PC
• 400MHz Intel Xscale processor
• Read and respond to e-mail while on the go
• Includes the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework tools
• Ultra-thin design weighing about four ounces

Product Description:

Average Customer Rating:

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Comment: Viewsonic PPC After one year Rating:
I've owned two IPAQs, and several PALMs. This is the best little gadget I ever had. The screen is so bright that even battery-saving settings are clear. Battery life is good, almost 4 hours continuous. Having a Flash Memory and an SD card I record music, books and games. You can listen to headphones and read a book at the same time for hours!

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Comment: Viewsonic - battery not that bad, very good PDA vs iPaqs Rating:
Regarding the previous review concerning battery anomalies - they can be fixed. However, all PDA's have problems with dumping memory when the battery runs out. You will learn how long your PDA lasts given your personal use, and how often you must overnight-charge it (or use a travel charger).

I've had many Pocket PC's - this is the fastest, lightest, easiest to use that I have tried. Much better than many of the iPaqs.

More info at the Yahoo group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ViewSonic/

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Comment: Great machine, bad quality control Rating:
I got the Viewsonic V37 as part of the Visual Studio .NET giveaway. Things seemed to be fine for the first couple of weeks, except the power display, which would never show less than 100% battery, even when run down to 0.

The next symptom was the machine would not turn off until it burned out the battery or had a hard reset. As this was not acceptable, I wrote to Viewsonic on their web. As I was writing, the machine did a death roll and the only sign there was any life was the indicator light blinking on and off.

It took a few days to dig up the PRN number to get to send it back. Since the return address was bouncing my mail, I had to start the process over again.

Friday, I got the PocketPC back with a note that the system board was replaced. I noticed the power display still did not work, so I figured it was either a common Viewsonic problem, or I had another lemon.

Today, the following Wednesday, the machine only displays a picture of the Viewsonic birds. Soft reset, birds. Hard reset, birds with a "wait for 30 seconds" message and then just birds.

I have a hard time recommending a device that has such poor quality control. I am going to give them one more chance. As it costs quite a few bucks to ship and insure, I am not going to do it more than one more time.

Just for comparison:
I have an older PocketPC that has been through hell. I set it on top of the car one day and drove off. I remember when it flew off the back. I picked it up with a slight mark to remind me of my carelessness. Still works perfectly to this day. Contrast this to the Viewsonic which has given me a couple of weeks TOTAL of enjoyment and more than a month of no service (including time spent at the service facility).

Posted at November 11, 2003 07:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)