[FT:World] Psion 5mx for Jornada 720/728

Hi, Rick!

I have two Makos and a Series 5 (whose cable is failing ), and I'm always taken aback at the quality difference in screen. I realize that the 5mx has a better screen than the Series 5, but marginally better, and neither came close to the Revo. When they put in the backlight (and it's a good backlight), it really diminished the caliber of the non-backlit screen. I heard the same happened with the Series 3a and the 3c, though I've never seen those in the flesh.

Do you remember there was some wizard from Korea who was installing backlights in Revos? You had to have cajones of steel to do that... I saw his schematic; very impressive. There was even a bluetooth Revo, though never officially released. One came on ebay once, but it went for a fortune.

Jake

Years ago I had two Series 3 machines (I don't remember now which ones they were, but one had 512K and the other had 1 or 2 megs, not backlit) and I always thought they were beautiful screens - good contrast and easy on the eyes. My 5mx, as I wrote earlier, has a screen that looks very much like my MobilePro 700 - a lot less contrast, but I've never had a real problem looking at either of them (maybe because I use them so much that I'm just used to them).

I'm also not sure that I've ever seen a Revo, so I can't really compare them (I may have seen one years ago at the Palmtop Shop here in Toronto, but I don't really remember it). I'm also not surprised that someone came up with a way to install a backlight in a Revo. I know it can be done with just about every small computer now, including the 200LX and I just saw the photos of someone who did it with an original Newton.

In a way I wish I had a Jornada 7xx, I would have gone for design.fort's trade in a heartbeat... I've always figured that you just can't beat a good monochrome handheld that runs on AA batteries...

BTW, when it comes time to replace the 5's screen cable, I highly recommend Shiva at Palmtop Support Services in Toronto. It took about a week for him to get mine back to me, but it was worth it. He put in one of the newer cables that's not supposed to break... (I didn't know they were soldered in (unlike a lot of WinCE machines)).

Rick

Rick, I hope you break down one day and buy a Mako for your ccollection. Top-notch screen, runs the entire ER5 OS (including Comms--a Russian developer found a way to install it), and has a Today view that neither 5 nor 5mx uses. The battery problem can be vexing, if it appears, but they're replaceable, with a little minor surgery--God knows, I've replaced enough of them.

Jake