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 start with one piece of advice for any first time Pocket PC purchaser.
** If you're unsure between two models, ALWAYS choose the smaller. **
Why? Because the extra features of a large-sized PDA (like a fingerprint reader?!?!) are almost never worth the increased probability you choose to leave it behind. A PDA's usefulness scales rapidly with its vicinity to you. And a PDA is just about the size of a pocket.... You get the idea..
Okay:
THE PROS (somewhat obvious)
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1. it is ultra thin and weighs only 5 ounces.
2. the screen is bright
3a. it has wireless 802.11b
3b. the wireless features are now very intuitive and somewhat secure, a vast 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 hold an extra stylus conveniently in front of a docked ipaq anymore. Which means, if you want to quickly access something on a docked ipaq, you have to remove the stylus, which you must do very carefully or you'll disconnect the 'paq.
2. the battery life is much poorer than pretty much all competitors'; most notably the Dell AXim series.
3. no compact flash, only secure digital. Although, almost all compact flash ports are typically used for these days is to hold 802.11b cards, which this device has integrated. And SD memory has gotten remarkably cheap, so it shouldn't bother most users. Still, if you have a compact flash requirement, keep that in mind.
4. the screen 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 accurate, however.
5. the new navpad isn't so great 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 if you use it to read eBooks, the MS reader it comes with is already outdated!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 problem by reading microsoft's knowledge base.. not fun.) You'll need to do an update.
3. Buy a protective case; the one it comes with is basically garbage.
I had been always curious about the Pocket PC OS and its usefulness and practicality on the PDA environment. I am now a believer and definitely prefer it over the Palm OS due to its ease of use, 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 create individual profiles for every connection, so there is no need to manually configure every time you switch networks.
Bluetooth:
This technology is becoming more common 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 start 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 original 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 interesting web links included with your iPAQ and you can add your own 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 exact 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 entertaining 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 secure 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 clear display, sharp, easy to read text, adjustable text size and fonts in some programs.
Battery:
The iPAQ possesses a respectable battery duration. It obviously varies according to your battery saving settings. Reducing the default screen brightness helps as well as turning off the wireless access or lowering the sound volume.
Settings:
You can monitor memory usage and power consumption, remove programs, adjust backlight settings, align the screen, sharpen the text, etc.
Other features:
Voice recording: There's a button on the upper left corner of the iPAQ to start 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 limited though, is not like you can have a CD full of music on your iPAQ, don't confuse it with an MP3 player.
Letter Recognizer A very cool option where the iPAQ attempts to recognize 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 quickly 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 consider the memory limitations.
Memory:
Additional memory can be obtained with Secured Digital (SD) memory cards. These come on 128, 256 and 512MB sizes at reasonable prices.
The HP iPAQ 4155 is a complete, full-featured piece of equipment, well worth its price.
Buy HP iPAQ 4155 Pocket PC Now
I bought the HP IPAQ 4155 for 3 Reasons: 1)I set up a Wireless B/G Network in my home and needed to access it while I was on the road.
2) I was becoming dissastifed with how slow my Treo 300 was surfing the web.
3) I wanted to surf the web as fast as possible without a laptop or PC.
I've had this unit about a month. I am extremely satisfied with it thus far. It is my first Pocket PC. I've been using the Palm OS for over 5 years. To be sure, the Palm OS is more intuitive to operate. But I can do so much more with Windows Mobile Premium 2003. The HP IPAQ is a great MP3 Player (get excellent sounding stereo headphones), a very good PDA and, above all, has tremendous WIFI signal strength. The WIFI is built into the unit so there is really nothing to set up. I connected to my wireless network at home as soon as I took the unit out of the box. Lots of people have wireless routers in NYC so it is simple for me to connect (for free) when I am outside my home. I find the WIFI signal strength on the unit is about 1500 feet; but that depends upon the Router I am connecting to. I am so satisfied with the HP IPAQ 4155 that I am seriously considering ditching my Treo 300 and getting a Bluetooth Phone so I can surf the Internet when I cannot pick up a WIFI signal. The Processer inside this unit is very fast. I have not tried the Bluetooth yet.
The only negatives were the cheap case and cradle and the weak battery. My battery was going down to 0 after 2 hours of wifi surfing. I rectified these deficiencies by buying a hotsync charge and sync cable, a new custom case and a 2000mAh battery, which required a bigger battery door. Now I can surf a good 4 hours daily with the wifi before the battery completely drains.
Bottom Line: HP hit a homerun with this unit.
Read Best Reviews of HP iPAQ 4155 Pocket PC Here
iPAQ 4155 in my opinion is simply the best handheld device on the market right now. Combination of ideal size, full features and excellent performance is almost hard to believe. I've used it for about a month now and I am very satisfied.
I use almost all of the advanced features including Bluetooth connectivity to my Sony T610 cell phone for remote internet access (this setup works quite well with T-Mobile data account), wi-fi networking at work and home, terminal services for control over other computers, data synchronization through wi-fi, VPN connectivity, etc etc. And of course, email and other related scheduling features work very well. All of this with a familiar Windows interface that is, I am happy to report, stable if not entirely intuitive.
There are few relatively small gripes, like I wish the back cover of the unit was silver (aluminum) to match the front, the cradle could have been better designed no to put so much tension on the connector, more memory would have been nice (this, however, can be remedied quite easily by adding a non intrusive SD memory chip), the OS integration could be more stable (thankfully it is easy to recover from the rare freeze), the included case needs a belt clip, and such. However, these should not deter anyone form enjoying the fine product that 4155 is.
You can use this thing as a mp3 player, use instant messenger, add a digital camera through the SDIO expansion slot, install software and games, read books, do work with email, excel, word, surf the net, connect to networks, and on and on... If you can imagine a miniature laptop pc, you are getting the picture. It is not however, an exact duplication of laptop or desktop capabilities. But it is a remarkably useful and powerful tool.
One word of advice: it takes patience and determination to make it do what you want it to do, particularly with more advanced features. But if you like this kind of stuff, then the capabilities are definitely there for you to use. If you're not technically savvy, then have someone knowledgeable help you set up everything you want and DO A BACK UP of it!!! Once you got that, you have one very powerful tool.
Verrrry Cool.
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The new iPAQ 4155 is what I've been looking for. I've hopped around from Palm OS to Pocket PC, prefering the Pocket PC desktop integration and OS but finding that most of the high-powered ones were just way to big to carry around. The 4155 is TINY smaller than my Clie I replaced and light! Easy to carry around, I don't even notice it in my pocket. The screen is bright and crisp. The 400mhz Intel processor is plenty for my needs. I've played games on it, emulated an old Atari, handled all my work, and linked it to databases with no problem.
The integrated wireless was the selling point for me. I'm a wireless engineer, so it helps to be able to carry around such a small device with built-in 802.11b. My only complaint is that it does not allow you to manually set the SSID information if it automatically detects wireless network SSIDs, but that probably won't be a big problem for most users.
Again, this is the PERFECT handheld. I've finally found a handheld I absolutely love and I've been looking since the original Palm Pilot.
I use this in my Canon digital camera. Works fine, no problems and 2GB size provides more picture storage than I could ever need.
