The review is applicable to the 211 as well, since the all the devices in the 200 series are exactly the same.
UPDATE: See 'major problem' below
This device has become absolutely ESSENTIAL for me. This is a laptop without the bulk, and although there are limitations in surfing the web via mobile, the portability can't be beat. I can whip this out while I'm shopping, which I certainly can't do with a laptop or a netbook.
With some very good 3rd party apps, I am able to keep my finances straight, make as many custom lists I want, make handwritten notes, make type written notes. I jot things on the fly, whereas before I'd do it on scraps of paper, and then lose them, I can also make typrewritten notes and organize tham any way I please.
I can also modify photos, type letters in Word, open up spreadsheets.
The native WM apps, with exception of Office, like Notes, Media Player, IE, Calendar/Contacts, File manager aren't very useful to me, everything I do is mostly with third party sw like ListPro, Phatnotes, Phatpad, ewallet, NF Browser,Rescoe Explorer, etc.
I'm a Palm owner from 1996, but after trying the Palm TX for 5 days, I decided I had enough of Palm, which was a good decision since they've abndoned their PDA line.
Now, I'm an affirmed WM user, which despite its bugs and lockups, BLOWS the Palm out of the water, IMO. And unlike the Apple iTouch, it offers a number of ways to enter data beside the virtual keyboard. Also, it offers more apps than the Apple.
I hope (REALLY HOPE)HP continues with the PDA line, and with improvements to the 200 series. The screen on the 200 series is to die for. I can read electronic docs without any trouble, and scale the fonts larger or smaller to increase the space utilization.
The unit is large, but so what, it makes the smartphones look like toys with their tiny screens. Oh, the battery life. Using mostly Word, and other text based apps with occasional views of photos, playing lo level games like bubble breaker, and moderate access to SD card, I got anywhere from 8-10 hours. Not bad, considering this thing has to power the VGA screen.
The power utilization is better than with the 110 unit which I had prior to my getting the 210.
My 210 is a:
-ebook reader
-video/mp3 player
-TV viewer
-photo viewer/editor
-web surfer
-weather forecaster
-finance organzer
-list keeper
-handwritten note taker
and organizer
-appointment reminder
-game center
-secure records keeper of websites, passwords
Minor quibbles:
1.Unlike the Ipaq 110, on this you need to put the stylus ALL THE WAY into the well. Otherwise it'll come flying out. With the 110, which I had also owned at one time, you could put the stylus in part of the way, and it would stay. I've gotten in the habit of doing this with my 210, because it's annoying to dig in to get the stylus out every time. I wish they'd designed the stylus and well like they did on the 110
2.The cable is a MESS. One part of it is the AC adapter with it's own cable. To that, you have to hook up the cable that actually connects to the bottom of the device for charging. The end result, the cables NEVER fail to get tangled up with each other and with other cables I may have on the power strip
3. Windows has its usual problems with lockups,etc. Nice to know things don't change.
4. As with Windows on the desktop, I'd LOVE to be able to UNinstall the junky apps like clearvue pdf reader, media player, IE, File manager, and free up some memory, but alas.
Major problem:
1. There's a process called gwes that seems to balloon in size everytime you surf the web, and eventually will cause an out of memory error. It's a pain, and then you have to reboot. There are definitely limitations in web surfing on this, and I use another browser, since IE is so bad. GWES controls the gui. The longer you have the browser open, and the longer you surf, gwes (along with my third party browser) gobbles up more and more memory.
Even after you shut the browser, gwes may not necessarily release the memory. Definitely frustrating, esp when you're waiting for a webpage to load, to get the out of memory error, and then you have to soft reset.
Nothing's perfect I guess.
Also, a generic problem with mobile web surfing, sites like Amazon don't load up like they would with all the bells and whistles on a regular browser. For example, you won't be able to access your Amazon account on the mobile browser.
However, this is a problem inherent in mobile browsing in general, and not a problem with the 210
UPDATE 6/21/10 Lack of memory. MAJOR drawback.
I alluded to this before, about certain processes being a memory hog. HP should have added a LOT more memory than they did, esp since it's a an Enterprise model. I have a WM phone which has more memory than this, but the screen is like a blackberry. Be warned, you will get lockups because of inadequate memory as you surf the web.
I have to put it down to 3 stars for this.
The Ipaq 210 was a nice upgrade from my Ipaq 3950. It is very fast and very stable. The biggest selling point for me was the bright 4" screen and the tons of freeware available. I considered the Ipod touch but I needed the Microsoft Office apps. The ability to create and edit Office docs make this a small computer. Transcriber and Word make a great team. The WiFi is strong and fast. I can stream WebTv, and YouTube fairly well. I took one star away because HP has not updated the software to Win Mobile 6.1 or 6.5. Also the touch screen can be "touchy". Make sure to get a screen protector!!!
Buy HP Ipaq 210 Enterprise Handheld Now
I bought my iPAQ in May 2008. I was excited when I bought this product, however things soon changed. I noticed that the touch screen was not very sensitive. I contacted HP Customer Service and they said they would send a box to me that I could return the iPAQ for repairs; it never came. I contacted HP Customer Service two more times with the same result. Finally, HP escalated the issue to a higher priority and promised to have a Customer Service Agent contact me to resolve this problem. I gave them three phone numbers so they could reach me at any time. I have never been contacted. HP's CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NON EXISTANT. I will never buy another HP product and I intend to tell all of my friends about what has happened to me. If you buy an HP product, you better hope that nothing is wrong with it.
Read Best Reviews of HP Ipaq 210 Enterprise Handheld Here
I've had several Pocket PCs with the Del x50v & 51v being the most recent. This is a solid device in that it has an incredible screen and about much ram memory as you could use plus it's one of the few devices out that offers SD & CF card slots (may seem unimportant but you can upgrade this to over 40GB of memory for a little over $100 and soon over 70GB). The only two draw back I have is that one of the buttons can't be reconfigured and the ROM is a bit weak. However, other roms are becoming available which pull out it's potential. The battery life is very good. Without the new rom, I'd give it a four star, with it five.
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I recently purchased the IPAQ 210 and switched over from my Palm TX that I had been using for several years. The 210 has the latest Windows Mobile 6 operating system, which seems to be pretty stable and also very wifi aware. I have been pleased with it so far. The available apps are good and it is very fast and responsive with an incredible 4" display. I would recommend it highly.
When I bought this I thought for $3 bucks it was going to be cheesy. But I'm very impressed! Loved the smell of leather when I opened the box (nicely packaged!!). There are only a few minor things I'm not happy about and that's why it got a 4 star rating. First, there is not an opening for the charger. Second, there isn't a hole for the camera (my husband got the book version of this and it has one). I have to fold down the flap and it's creasing the holder. And lastly, the credit card slots are very tight making it almost impossible to get them out without a set of pliers on hand! But like I said, for the price, you just can't go wrong. I deal with the issues.
