Fancy turbo-charging your Pocket PC Phone Edition? PPCTechs might have just what you’re looking for. Anthony Newman takes a look at their upgrade and likes what he sees.
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Pocket PC Techs have become well-known in technology circles for their tireless pursuit of ever-increasing memory for our beloved machines, and as such are the darlings of the power user. Who would have thought that an iPAQ could equal the RAM of some desktop machines, or that a phone could sport a spacious 128 MB? Clearly PPCTechs did, and they still remain at the forefront of their field as a result. Here we take their flagship Phone Edition product for a spin: the 128 MB RAM upgrade.
 | A quick 128 MB upgrade makes the XDA 4 times as spacious
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The RAM upgrade is pretty exciting – so exciting, in fact, that we made it the subject of a recent editorial. The turnaround was faster than expected, with our machine back in our eager hands just a week after we sent it away – and this is with international shipping, too. For the power user, being without one’s machine is traumatic, and fearing for its safety even more so – thankfully, the XDA was returned exceedingly well packed, and there was no sign that the unit had even been opened for its ‘surgery’. The upgrade went as planned, and in addition to now having a native 64 MB of RAM, a new storage card was present offering a further 64 MB of space for file storage. A little program is now also installed on the unit, named the ‘T2T Disk utility’, which allows management of the RAM disk, including formatting, memory testing and so on. All of this is set up for the user by PPCTechs during testing, so one shouldn’t have to fiddle with anything at all.
Since the upgrade we have been using our unit as normal, and there has been no perceptible decline in battery life or speed. The XDA is just as sprightly as ever, only now it is not nearly as cramped. The downsides? The unit’s original warranty will be voided, obviously, but PPCTechs provide their own limited warranty as a replacement, so on balance it’s not too bad. The price tag is considerable, at least for the 128 MB version – but then again, it’s a unique service. Finally, according to some users’ experiences it is not recommended (or not possible) to restore from a pre-surgery backup – but reinstalling shouldn’t be a massive sacrifice, and on the bright side it forces one to have a spring clean, as it were.
During the upgrade process, PPCTechs also thoroughly clean the unit’s screen and apply one of their WriteSHIELD screen protectors in a dust-free environment – a nice little touch that really indicates the level of service on offer. Despite the precautions, there are a couple of tiny specks of dust under the WriteSHIELD, and a slight rainbow-oily imperfection near the top. Neither are noticeable in normal use. The protector itself has a slightly matte texture, offering some glare protection, and in our limited use so far has not collected any marks – the design is much hardier than some we have used.
Availability
Pocket PC Techs offer a range of memory upgrades for Pocket PC units. The 128 MB upgrade reviewed here costs $299 USD.
Conclusion
It should be obvious already, but we are thoroughly pleased with these product and the service we received from Pocket PC Techs. The memory upgrade resolves one of the perennial issues with this device, and then some, and can therefore be heartily recommended.
- What's positive: Great service, more memory
- What's negative: Costly; invalidates warranty; needs a clean reinstall
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Price and availability
The will start selling for TBA () in November 1999.
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