Compaq positions its slim new monochrome-screen Palm-size PC to compete with Palm Computing's Palm V.
The Aero 1530 is the smallest and lightest Palm-size PC I've seen. It's the only Palm-size PC that's able to slip into your shirt pocket without weighing you down. In that respect, it's similar to Palm Computing's Palm III & V computers. Interestingly enough, Compaq is positioning the 1530 as a direct competitor to the Palm devices!
Smallest Palm-size PC
Compaq's Aero 1530 is only slightly longer than the previous holder of this title the original Everex Freestyle Palm-size PC. But the Aero 1530 edges the Freestyle aside in the more important width and thickness dimensions. Also, it's slightly lighter than the Freestyle. More importantly for this review, it compares well in size and weight to the Palm computers. In fact, it's smaller and lighter than the Palm III and only slightly larger and heavier than the Palm V.
Extended battery life
The Aero 1530 also gets a very respectable battery life of up to 14 hours. This is largely due to the 1530's gray-scale display, which is very power efficient. Here again, the 1530 compares nicely against both a Palm V device and other Windows CE devices. For instance, Compaq's own Aero 2100 color-screen Palm-size PC gets up to 10 hours of battery life. The Palm III gets up to 25 and the Palm V up to 17 hours. Like many other Windows CE devices in the P/PC class, the Aero 1530 has Lithium-Ion rechargeable batteries. I only found it necessary to recharge the batteries about once every 2 weeks. (Incidentally, the Palm Web site claims that the Palm III and V can go for a month without charging, but did not give hours-of-continuous-use estimates.)
Readable display
The Aero 1530 features a 16 gray-scale "semi-transmissive STN" display, which seems to function especially well in low-light situations such as using the device at night. The backlight on the display makes the text appear quite readable under these conditions. Further, there is a setting for the backlight that allows the user to reverse the colors such that the background is dark and the text is light. To do this or not is a matter of preference the device seems equally as readable under either setting. Both the Palm III and V have a backlit monochrome display.
Plenty of power
The Aero 1530 is powered by the same chip found in the Aero 2100 NEC's 70 MHz MIPS chip. I found it to be very responsive for all of the common tasks such as opening or closing an application, painting the screen, and so on. The 1530 has 16 MB of RAM (there's no mention of expandability), a serial port, an IrDA port, built-in microphone and speaker, and a headphone jack. The 1530 also offers a standard Type I CompactFlash slot, for use with memory expansion cards or other Type I-compatible Compact cards. The 1530 ships with an AC adapter, which can be plugged into the base of the docking cradle or directly into the side of the 1530, to power the device and recharge the Lithium-Ion battery pack.
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