Best of the New Pocket PCs
Written: May 18 '00 (Updated Jul 21 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful and functional design. Great color screen.
Cons: The Palm OS still works better than the MS Pocket PC OS
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| RichBoston's Full Review: Compaq iPAQ H3650 Pocket PC |
In my never ending search for the perfect PDA I've test driven the iPAQ the past week. I was sadly disappointed with the Jornada in the new Pocket PC realm but much happier with the iPAQ. First of all - it's beautiful. Bigger than the Palm V but more "state of the art looking." Same great color screen as the Jornada but a much better design job.
Don't get me wrong, the guts are still the inferior MS Pocket PC OS but Compaq wraps a better looking and better functioning unit around it. I hate the MS continuing saga of trying to miniaturize your desktop as the Palm OS is better, easier to work with and synchs with the complete Outlook package. You can also add software to the Palm to work with Word and Excel.
That said - the iPAQ makes the best use of the Pocket versions of Word, Excel, Outlook and Explorer.
The 32 MB of RAM and 16 MB of ROM sound impressive but this unit is slower than my Palm IIIxe and the realistic memory level is greater.
The Expansion Pack, as with the Jornada, is a work in progress. Not much out there yet but we're promised great things down the road. I really don't want a GPS and an MP3 player on my PDA which is meant to simplify and organize my life - but to each, his own. The first of the expansion packs allows for wireless connection to the internet. Thus, instant competition for the Palm VII.
One thing that is quite helpful on the iPAQ is the microphone and ability to record notes. I find myself using this frequently in the car.
The easy to read color screen is the strong selling feature. About 2 by 3 inches it compensates for bright light outdoors and is the easiest PDA I've tried to read outdoors. VERY impressive as compared to the Palm or even the Jornada.
It has a Navigator button for one button travel around the interface. Unique for a PDA, in my experience and very helpful.
Compaq added three additional utilities of their own: QUtilities, QStart and QMenu. QStart is a nifty task launcher but I think tries to too much.
I have to admit that the shallow part of me loves the beauty of this unit and makes me want to live with the fact that it just doesn't equal the functionality of my Palm IIIxe. But after a week I long for the ease of my Palm unit which simply integrates itself into your life better than the Pocket PC OS. What I wish is that Compaq had built this unit around the Palm OS but no such luck.
My recommendation? Still the Palm IIIxe. It's half the cost and works better. But...this is as close to something outside of a Palm that I could live with.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): N/A
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Epinions.com ID:
RichBoston
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Member: Rich
Location: Boston, MA
Reviews written: 92
Trusted by: 134 members
About Me:
I live for the latest gizmos and doo-dads!
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