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As a previous owner of PDA's (palms) and specifically ipaqs (both a 3870 and a 2215), I am proud to say I've finally found a PDA that satisfies all my needs.
But first, I'd like to inaugurate with one part of advice for any first time Pocket PC purchaser.
** If you're unsure between two models, ALWAYS determine the smaller. **
Why? Because the extra features of a large-sized PDA (like a fingerprint reader?!?!) are almost never worth the increased probability you settle to leave it gradual. A PDA's usefulness scales hasty with its vicinity to you. And a PDA is unprejudiced about the size of a pocket.... You obtain the plan..
Okay:
THE PROS (somewhat definite)
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1. it is ultra thin and weighs only 5 ounces.
2. the cover is bright
3a. it has wireless 802.11b
3b. the wireless features are now very intuitive and somewhat catch, a grand improvement over pocket pc 2002.
4. it has bluetooth for syncing wirelessly or for accessing your bluetooth enabled phone. (This I haven't tested with this ipaq)
5. it comes with a cradle, unlike some of their other models
THE CONS
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1. HP removed the stylus holder from the cradle... which means you can't believe an extra stylus conveniently in front of a docked ipaq anymore. Which means, if you want to snappy access something on a docked ipaq, you have to occupy the stylus, which you must do very carefully or you'll disconnect the 'paq.
2. the battery life is worthy poorer than graceful grand all competitors'; most notably the Dell AXim series.
3. no compact flash, only collect digital. Although, almost all compact flash ports are typically venerable for these days is to maintain 802.11b cards, which this contrivance has integrated. And SD memory has gotten remarkably cheap, so it shouldn't bother most users. Collected, if you have a compact flash requirement, hold that in mind.
4. the cloak is slightly yellow when viewed from a skewed angle. Some people care about this... if you're one of those people, be advised. Straight-on, the colors are correct, however.
5. the unique navpad isn't so astronomical for games
Okay, that's it:
Finally, some advice
1. about the wireless features: they drain a lot of juice, so simply turn them on and off as you need them.
2. if you exhaust it to read eBooks, the MS reader it comes with is already outdated! (And the error message is vague about that... I had to figure out the predicament by reading microsoft's knowledge unsuitable.. not fun.) You'll need to do an update.
3. Recall a protective case; the one it comes with is basically garbage.
I had been always enthralling about the Pocket PC OS and its usefulness and practicality on the PDA environment. I am now a believer and definitely bewitch it over the Palm OS due to its ease of expend, compatibility and similarity to the Windows PC environment. This also results in a faster learning curve.
Integrated wireless:
This was the selling factor, and it did not dissapoint me. I got it to work at home and at the office, where I connect to different wireless access points. The iPAQ allows you to perform individual profiles for every connection, so there is no need to manually configure every time you switch networks.
Bluetooth:
This technology is becoming more popular around airports, offices, malls and other places, although probably you'll need to incur in a connection fee. I have not tested this feature yet although my iPAQ recently came across and recognized a Bluetooth network on one of the airports I travelled to.
Synchronization:
The iPAQ supports Outlook (preferably 2002) for Calendar, e-mail, notes, file and task synching. The Active Synch software is included and required on your host PC in order to originate synchronizing with your PDA. A maximum o 2 PCs (partnerships) can be established for synching. Methods of synchronization include IR(Infrared), USB(using the included cradle), WLAN (yes, you can synch wireless) or serial.
Word and Excel documents are automatically converted into Pocket PC format when they are synchronized with the iPAQ. The unusual document needs to be copied into the Pocket PC folder (Pocket_PC My Documents) on your host PC before performing the synch.
Internet:
In order to connect to the Internet, you are required to be connected to a network, be it WLAN or Bluetooth. There are a few lively web links included with your iPAQ and you can add your beget favorites as well. Navigations is similar to Internet Explorer although you are required to scroll up/down and left/right continously on web sites that are not mobile-friendly.
E-mails:
E-mail accounts on the iPAQ are setup in an almost true manner as Outlook on a normal PC. By default, and in order to conserve memory, e-mail attachments are not downloaded, there's also a default limit of e-mails you can carry at a time. E-mails can be downloaded while connected to the Internet or synched using the methods mentioned previously.
What about games? Two games are included: Guess what? Solitaire is one of them! The other one is Jawbreaker, a very simple but extremely enchanting game. There are many web sites with additional programs that can be downloaded for your iPAQ.
Programs and utilities included:
MSN Messenger, Windows Media Player, Pocket Excel and Word, Pocket MSN, Microsoft Reader, Calculator, Terminal Services Client among others.
Security:
Password security is optional; there are two security options, a simple 4-digit number and a more complex alphanumeric password option. Wireless connection security is obtained using 64 or 128 bit WEP encryption. Obviously your PDA is as glean as the network it is connecting to. Setting up 128 bit encryption on your iPAQ won't work if your wireless access point is unsecured.
Time settings: Up to two different time zones are available at the same time.
Display:
Very certain indicate, engrossing, easy to read text, adjustable text size and fonts in some programs.
Battery:
The iPAQ possesses a proper battery duration. It obviously varies according to your battery saving settings. Reducing the default camouflage brightness helps as well as turning off the wireless access or lowering the sound volume.
Settings:
You can monitor memory usage and power consumption, capture programs, adjust backlight settings, align the veil, sharpen the text, etc.
Other features:
Voice recording: There's a button on the upper left corner of the iPAQ to begin recording short messages or reminders, very handy.
MP3 audio: MP3 files can be downloaded and played on your PDA using Windows Media Player. A headphone jack is also available for your private listening pleasure. Memory is tiny though, is not like you can have a CD beefy of music on your iPAQ, don't confuse it with an MP3 player.
Letter Recognizer - A very frigid option where the iPAQ attempts to stare your handwriting and converts it into readable text.
Block recognizer - It's similar to the Palm's graffiti recognition
Transcriber - It recognizes words written in cursive
Notes can also be like a flash handwritten as if using the iPAQ as a paper Notepad.
Images can also be viewed using your iPAQ, and as with the MP3 files, you should judge the memory limitations.
Memory:
Additional memory can be obtained with Secured Digital (SD) memory cards. These arrive on 128, 256 and 512MB sizes at reasonable prices.
The HP iPAQ 4155 is a complete, full-featured fragment of equipment, well worth its sign.
I have owned this product for about 4 months and loaded 6-8 additional programs. I added a 256 MB SD card to handle the load. Hurry and reliability have been grand. The range of the 802.11b receiver is better than my laptop. I considered the Palm Tungsten T3 but bought this product for the combination of 802.11b and bluetooth. Also, I wanted a user-replaceable battery.
I previously customary a Handspring Visor. Switching from Palm to Windows Mobile 2003 is easy once you realize that unlike Palm, any program or function continues to speed until it is turned off in the memory control applet in system settings. Pressing the "X" in the upper true hand corner does not shut down the program, it simply removes it from conception. Sometimes the system becomes lifeless because of the multitude of programs running. I rep that among the additional programs I have loaded, only the Audible.com listener causes instability and crashes. Also, be aware that PocketPC 2002 programs will not always bustle on Windows Mobile 2003.
Setting up email accounts is snappily and simple. Email attachments such as word or excel files must either be translated into Pocket Word or Pocket Excel format via the sync process or viewed by the Westek Clearvue software included on the installation CD. It is also useful to install the included Adobe Acrobat software to understanding pdf attachments. Overall, Documents to Go on the Palm platform is a better solution for viewing and altering email attachments, however.
The bluetooth settings for connecting to the internet with a GPRS phone are difficult, unless you have one of the few Sony-Ericsson phones listed. The instruction manual does not even account for that determined settings are critical and vary from phone to phone. Luckily, I found what I needed to employ for my Cingular Siemens on an obsure forum hosted by Pocket PC Magazine. I recommend a program called GPRS Manager to construct it easy to connect your Ipaq to the internet through your cell phone, should you need that feature.
