Credit: Dell

Handhelds are swiftly becoming efficient and productive products for mobile users. As they become more successful, companies like Dell and others are constantly updating their products to stay in the league. Dell recently introduced its X51v handheld, which is an upgrade to the X50v. Unfortunately for the X50v, it had some resolution issues and wasn’t as much of a multimedia powerhouse as Dell had claimed. Now Dell specifically touts the VGA screen of the handheld in its tag line, "The Dell Axim X51v is the ultimate handheld device that delivers performance, connectivity and a brilliant VGA display at an affordable price."

The x51v is based on Intel’s XScale PXA270 624MHz microprocessor and comes bundled with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0 OS and Windows Media Player 10 Mobile. It also features Intel’s 2700G-multimedia accelerator with 16MB of video memory for graphics. The overall system memory is 64MB SDRAM (RAM) and 256MB Flash (ROM). Particularly paying attention to the display, Dell specifies it as a TFT color screen with support for ~65K colors and 480x640 resolution. The display measures 3.7" and is touch sensitive.

For expansion, you’ll get 1x CompactFlash Type II Card Slot and 1x Secure Digital/SDIO/MMC Memory Card Slot. Considering it’s a multimedia handheld, you’ll get the standard cradle and sync connectors, headphones and headset jacks and infrared port. It also features a WM8750 sound chip with 12S codec. Since the X51v has an integrated microphone and speaker capabilities, you can record and playback live conversations as well.

The regular controls include 5-way navigation button, wireless on/off button lock switch, 4-program buttons (Calendar, Contacts, Inbox, Home), voice record button, reset button, backlit power button and a plethora of other options that are supported by Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0.

The price for the Dell Axim X51v is $499.00.

Initial Thoughts: There isn’t much to discuss except that Dell has packed in quite a bit of functionalities into the handheld in order to complete its multimedia design. With that said, we hope Dell has cured the resolution and battery life span issues that hindered the effectiveness of the Axim X50v model. Dell has upped the price tag from $399 to $499 from its X50v to the newer model, which is quite unfortunate. Needless to say, it’s somewhat of an expensive multimedia powerhouse. Even if everything is perfect, you’ll still need to think twice before plunging the money on a device that’s both productive and entertaining.