Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #244867 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Sharp
• Model: SL-C1000
• Dimensions: 2.65 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
The Zaurus SL-C1000 is the fifth generation of the highly innovative SL-C line of Linux-based portable devices. The Zaurus SL-C1000 is the lightest SL-C and still manages to pack a tactile keyboard, a breathtaking screen and multiple expansion slots into the little black style statement.

As with the C3000 and C3100, the C1000 is only sold by Sharp in Japan, but we have made sure that it can be appreciated by English speakers - ensuring the software is translated (we've also made a few improvements!) and there is a comprehensive user guide.

The C1000 comes with a 12 month warranty. We have also ensured that the Zaurus is CE marked for the EU (this required a modification!).

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

OQO on a budget
If you want a simple out of the box solution then the Sharp Zaurus may not be for you.

However, if you are familiar with Linux, and don't mind hacking your Z about to get exactly what you want from your "Personal Mobile Tool" then the C1000 could be exactly what you are looking for..

I have had mine for about 2 years, and am currently running the CACKO ROM, Great english conversion, with some useful additional software (including video).

The screen is bright and clear, more than adequate for watching movies on the go. All of the standard PDA apps are available, and because it runs linux most are free. And the qwerty keyboard is excellent (for my small hands anyway).

Think OQO on a budget.

nearly but not quite
I loved my Psion and needed a replacement mostly for word processing. The Zaurus is beautifully engineered and the psion seems plastic and cheap in comparison. The screen is small but very sharp and looks great. The keyboard is smaller than the psion but more precise and I think it will be fine (with practice) for short documents and notes. The zaurus feels durable and high quality. Fits in my shirt pocket. Connects easily with PC. Transferred and used photos and documents easily. It hung when I played a video podcast. Organising documents seems complicated and unwieldy but perhaps this is my incompetance. I bought the wifi attachment which works fine. No particular problems getting the machine up and running. Figlabs provide impressive support. So why just three stars. Well - I want something with a bigger more useful keyboard. Its just not quite easy enough to use. Nice toy but not quite fit for my purpose. Why can ipods provide 80gbs and ease of podcast videos when the zaurus falls so short. The software could be better.

The Sharp Zaurus range brought Linux computing capabilities to a PDA size device
Just commenting on the Tim R review, and generally about the Zaurus. The Zaurus is pretty much a full computer sitting on a pda. Yes, it has it's limitations, but what do you expect from a device that fits into your jacket pocket (and this model came out some 2 years ago).

The video playback capabilities can be improved by viewing video files which are optimised for the Zaurus. It can handle many formats (mpg, avi, divx, xvid) via mplayer software. It can play videos happily across a network share (i.e. you set up a pc with Windows file-sharing, you use Samba client on the Zaurus to connect to your PC share, and then you play the video or mp3 file over your home wireless network).

You can also expand the Zaurus with 2Gb SD card or 4Gb+ CF card, for playing media files (on the move). I'm surprised Tim R isn't happy that this is sufficient for his needs. The "power" user could use a powered usb hub and an external usb hard drive, or could carry a few SD or CF cards in order to boost the internal capacity.

The keyboard is excellent, although small and I have some solutions for Tim R to be able to access the Zaurus with a bigger keyboard. Method 1 - get a small usb keyboard and plug it into the usb host port. Method 2 - use a Infrared keyboard. Method 3 - use a Bluetooth keyboard. Method 4 - set up VNC Server on the Zaurus, and then type on it from your PC.

The main point of a Zaurus device is a full Linux computer you can fit in your pocket (and thus carry anywhere). It can run all the typical Linux applications, such as web server (Apache), database (MySQL), file-sharing (Samba), programming (C, PHP, Perl, Python, etc), mail server, ssh daemon and client, ftp server and client, Bash script, even X-Windows.

It has a great form-factor (jog dial), portrait or landscape display, 3.5mm stereo headphone jack, for using as an mp3 player on the move. I have used mine with qpeGPS and bluetooth card/bluetooth gps receiver for satellite navigation (also GPS CF card can be used). You can connect all manner of usb and CF based peripherals to it (CF ethernet, CF GPS, CF Wireless Lan, CF Modem, CF Bluetooth), USB keyboard, mouse, hard drive.

The file manager application is okay for navigating files, but there are alternatives you can download. Also you have a full Linux shell via terminal program (or Konsole app). All the standard "ls, cp, grep, cat, mv" commands work). I use mine on wireless network at home, and then with bluetooth (or infrared) and my mobile (GPRS) to get internet access. The web browser built in is pretty good, and you can expand it with alternative browsers. At one point I think I had 5 browsers set up.

For the retro gamer there are numerous emulators you can run as well as Doom, Scumm. There are numerous games built specifically for the Zaurus, although it isn't as popular as it could have been since it (Cxxxx range) never got released to the European market by Sharp.

I could go on...