December 10, 2001 -- Every time Sharp Corporation came out with some hot new Zaurus for the Japanese home market, the editors of Pen Computing would howl, "It's gorgeous, but why can't we have a US version?" Cool features like reflective color TFT displays and wireless connections often show up first on the latest Zaurus, but we could only see them at international tradeshows or in Japanese magazines, and they all had touchscreens. Frustrating.

When Sharp pulled the relatively unsuccessful Zaurus out of the US market, we waited a respectful amount of time and then cancelled our column and other coverage of the platform. Apparently intimidated by the aggressive stance taken by Microsoft with their new Windows CE-based Handheld PC, combined with Palm's success with what was then called the PalmPilot, Sharp executives must have figured it wasn't worth fighting for the number three position. Psion's Series 5 was selling in those days, a mini-clamshell design that was very similar to the Zaurus, so they would have been faced with sharing the few remaining percentage points of marketshare with the Brits as well.

The story across the Pacific was entirely different. Sharp dominated the handheld market consistently, with regular upgrades of existing models and exciting new units featuring the latest technology. But with success of Microsoft's Pocket PC platform, it was looking like coming back to the States would be ill advised.

Then a miracle happened in the shape of a penguin. Sharp could take all they had learned about building state-of-the-art handheld computers and combine it with the license-free, open source Linux operating system, building a market niche for themselves that was theoretically unassailable. Early Linux-based handhelds have been resounding duds, so there was nowhere to go but up. If Sharp could partner up with the very best developers in the Linux environment, then back it up with some IT credibility by hooking up with a well-established middleware player to sew all the wireless communications together, the plan could work.

The first of these new Zaurii, the SL-5000D, was built in limited quantities and is sold only to developers. I was able to procure one of these units for the purposes of writing this preview, and I must say that I am very much inclined to think Sharp has a true winner on its hands.

When it arrives, the new unit will have double the memory of its trial balloon predecessor, a generous 64MB. The 5500 will be identical to the 5000 on the outside, but on the inside will reside updated OS, driver, and application software packed into the device's 16MB of flash ROM.

You'd think that a mere handheld stuffed full of Linux would be dog-slow, but in this case you'd be wrong. The SL sports a mighty Intel StrongARM running at 206Mhz, so the performance is on a par with all the new Pocket PC 2002 models from Compaq, HP, NEC, and Toshiba. Sharp chose Lineo's Embedix Linux kernel is optimizing it for speed on a small device. Trolltech's Qtopia windowing interface and PIM suite are as beautiful as they are functional, and it syncs with desktop PIM s, too. There is a full-featured web browser from Opera, a robust email client and advanced Java VM support from Insignia Solutions. There is even a powerful media player supporting MPEG movies and music streams.

Defining Characteristic

And then we have the defining characteristic of the new Zaurus, the slide-out keyboard. Anyone who has used a RIM Blackberry or a Handspring Treo will be right at home on this keyboard, which is designed to be used with your thumbs. It's an acquired taste, these little keyboards, but many people find them easier to use than handwriting recognition. The new Zaurus does include a serviceable, Graffiti-like recognizer that can be customized to your writing style.

Also noteworthy is the new Z's dual flash slots: a CFII on top and an SD on the left side. It's just as well they did this since you'll undoubtedly want to use the CF slot for a wireless card, leaving the SD for backup and such.

All this promising functionality would be fairly pointless if you couldn't see it, so Sharp equipped the new Z with its excellent reflective color TFT display, with 320x240 pixels showing 64,000 colors. Hold it up to any of the new Pocket PCs and you'll see a brighter display with better contrast, truer whites, and none of the reddish cast of the other displays. In a word, it's gorgeous.

We'll go deeper into Sharp's new Zaurus in the next issue of Pen Computing with a full PenLab review, along with hardware and accessory reviews as new products are released. For now, it's just nice to know that the increasingly tedious Palm versus Pocket PC battle finally has a formidable new combatant.

Sharp: www.sharp-usa.com and http://developer.sharpsec.com

Comments/Questions?

– David MacNeill