Lifedrive experiences

From jvburdick "I thought maybe those of us who have tested a lifedrive at a store or purchased one for ourselves could use this thread to report our experiences with it.

Tonight I went to Compusa to test out the lifedrive. Mind you I do not consider myself a power user, but I did do all the tests I could think of. I want a device that can connect to the internet and play movies. That's my main reason for a lifedrive. So here is my pros and cons of the lifedrive from my brief encounter with the lifedrive.

Pros:
1. Wifi worked seamlessly. I had no problem connected to the hotspot at the store.

2. Movie playback was great. It did have a hiccup at the beginning of the movie where the sound stopped, but them comeback. However, it never did this again even after 15-20minutes of watching the movie. Yeah people were starting to stare at me.

3. I used LCD analyzer to test the speed of the device. IT filled the whole screen with those colored lines in 2seconds.

4. Most apps I tried did open with a slight delay, but I felt it was really a big concern to have a 1-2 second delay.

5. The weight felt really good in my hands. It did not feel like a brick to me at all. With a thick case though it would be getting a little to big for me, but we'll see what case designers will come up with.

6. The file managment system was awesome. I loved how simple it was to copy files from the card, device, or harddrive. An easy and familiar design with the folder styles.

7. Screen was beautiful.

Cons

1. Device gets warm. Not hot mind you, but my sd card was warm from being in the sd slot.

2. The first time I tried Bejeweled 2 on the lifedrive, it took 20 seconds to load from the sd card to the Bejeweled 2 loading screen and another 2 seconds for it to get to the main menu. I timed it with a stopwatch on my T|E. (Yes, the gadget freak was in the building). After the first time, it did not take but a mere second or two to load to the Bejeweled Please Wait loading screen. So I am not really sure why this happened or what would cause a program to take that long to load. The screen went white and the harddrive light was going and 20 seconds later Bejeweled was loading, but it only happened the first time. In defense of the lifedrive, loading it from the main memory or harddrive was almost instant. However, I wonder if the lifedrive put Bejeweled in that 32mb of rom (or whatever it is). If it did, when it gets removed will I have to wait another 20seconds. Just thought?

3. Didn't read my sd card right away. Maybe a problem on my sd card. I did get to work after removing it and putting it back in.

4. Lag is there, but only 1-3 second delay on most apps. Seems most apps load almost instantly. Pocket Mini Golf (@6sec first time), Bejeweled experience the longest delays for me.

Bottom Line:

I will most likely buy the lifedrive within one or two weeks. What I experienced does little to distract me from the lifedrive. The lag may be? a software issue that could be updated , I am not sure. But the device felt good in my hands and internet worked well, movies played well. Please remember that this was my experience with it in a store. Undoubtly, some of these things may or may not be an issue after becoming more familiar with the lifedrive. I know Prof Jonathon and Kyle have been posting their experiences as well. They will give a much better review and thoughts regarding the device including more pros and cons I am sure.

My advice wait another 1 or 2 weeks if you must buy one (like me) for other users to report with their experiences. I think this device will become a popular device. As when the T5 came out and people bad mouthed it, now they say it is a much better PDA than the lifedrive. Well, time will tell how good of a device this is and so will the users." You can comment on this mini review over in the forum.
- Lindsey Dyson, Deputy Editor, (UK)