Ever since I'd gotten my Axim (which closely follwed a snafu where I got an hp i1910, then saw the Axim, and got really annoyed at what I saw as a ripoff), there'd been one thing on my mind: going wireless. I mean, what's the point of a portable computer if you've gotta plug it in (which I still have to in order to install any new software)? Well, at my local best buy, I was looking about, and saw it: an
Ambicom CF wifi card. Without too much thought, I grabbed the card (and a wireless router, but that's a different story), checked out, and blazed on home.
THE INSTALLATION
Microsoft pretty well lived up to its name when it said PocketPC 2003 was a plug and play OS, but the drivers still needed to be installed. At first I went with the pocketpc drivers for the 2002 version. I installed the software on my main computer, synced the Axim (which I refer to as Munin - after the Norse god Odin's raven which held his memory), and, seeing now that the drivers were in place, I did a soft reset, and inserted the card. PocketPC 2003 went through the whole routine, and the card was up and running. Later, I upgraded the driver off of the Ambicom website (which was pretty nice, except I had to uninstall the old drivers)
THE SOFTWARE
The software included with the PocketPC 2002 drivers was typical fare, and reminded me a lot of my Uncle's computer when I set it up for wireless: diagnostic software out the hooah, and most of it seemed kind of extraneous. Nonetheless, if anything went wrong, I was sure to know about it! The PPC 2003, drivers, though, lacked any such software, and is more dependant on the OS to do the work. So, for the rest of the test, I downloaded
Boingo Wireless' software, though it's really unnecessary - it just has a better sniffer than the standard PPC 2003 one.
THE TEST RUN
(For my initial test run, I used my
D-Link DI-514 router in my bedroom, next to a somewhat large, if not outdated setup. It was connected to a cable modem from Motorola, to Comcast, and transmitted at full strength setting on channel 1.)
Once I had it all fired up, I tooka little stroll around the house with the wireless card going, just to see what I could do. Connection quality was quite good (as is to be expected), and the LED on the card itself stayed solid the entire time, alerting me to the fact that it was connected. The connection process, itself, was quite easy, too. PPC 2003 presented me with a dialog box asking what my router connected to, and then asking me in turn what my WEP key was. Once both bits of data had been input, I was free to go. Nowhere in my house did signal strength drop below 50%, though I did notice two exceptions to the "constantly connected" rule. Those exceptions came in the form of my TV (admittedly, an old model that probably emits interference out the yinyang), and the microwave (same applies as was said for the TV.) But, beyond that it was excellent, and throughput was quite nice. I downloaded a 1.5 mb file within 30 seconds (mind you, I've got a cable uplink. People sharing dial-up over wireless shouldn't expect quite so much). These tests done, I decided to take the next step, which came in something I'd been itching to do: warwalking.
WARWALKING THE MALL
:devil: Okay, I had to do it. My local mall had always intrigued me in the way that I had no idea what its capabilities were. So, using the Pocket Boingo wireless sniffer, I took a stroll through the mall, just looking for access points. The card picked up 3, and, once again, I was presented with options to connect to them. However, I skipped that, simply because breaking the law isn't something I'm not normally interested in.
THE BATTERY HIT
Of course, doing all this stuff is going to use battery life. The Ambicom card shines here, as the power hit once you have a connection seems to be quite minimal. I was able to stay connected in my house for about 5 and a half hours (actively browsing, mind you. I didn't simply let it sit there.) before Munin went into powersave mode.
IN THE END
In the end, the Ambicom card worked, at least for me, good enough that I'm going to keep it (yes, if it sucked, I was going to return it.) Transmit range (at least in my house) was quite good, though interference from older equipment (darn the TV!) can cause easy disconnects.
THE GOOD
-PPC 2002 Drivers had a pretty good software management system
-Battery hit seems to be minimal
THE BAD
-PPC 2003 drivers don't include the management software.
-The Price. I didn't mention it in the review, but it cost me $70. I had to sell the moths in my wallet!
THE UGLY
-The card itself. It works great, links into the OS just fine, it's just... the card is frikkin' ugly! But, aesthetics aside, it works rather nicely.
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UPDATES
First, I've discovered that my TV and Microwave had nothing to do with the ever-so-irksome disconnects. It was the Pocket Boingo software I mentioned before. I've uninstalled it, and haven't been disconnected since. However, it takes my Axim a mere 7 seconds to reconnect to the wireless router, and does so without making a peep to me, and only changing the little connection icon in the corner. God, I love the Mobile 2003 operating system.
Second, about the battery life: after re-doing my tests (yes, my free time is in abundance), it turns out that the battery lasts about 3 1/2 hours under the tests. My testing software the first time screwed up (about 3 hours in I found I needed to sync the Axim with my computer. My computer's clock was wrong, and so the Axim's clock went wrong. Needless to say, that screwed the timer up.)
Either way, I still like it. WiFi for all!
Linear Mode
