Stop reading, just go get one!
Written: Jul 29 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: lots of memory, fastest unit
Cons: demand is greater than supply, expect to order and wait
|
|
|
| topolski's Full Review: Compaq iPAQ H3650 Pocket PC |
I decided to buy the new Compaq iPaq Pocket PC before it was officially released. What attracted me was it's 6 oz. weight, 32 megs of RAM, Intel StrongARM 208 MHz processor, and the Pocket PC operating system.
This was my second palm top PDA. My first was a Windows CE device (Pocket PC is the name of the latest version of Windows CE) made by bcom electronics. Although the bcom version was sold in the US, a nearly identical version was re-branded by Uniden. I was regularly running beyond its capabilities and its plastic casing often resulted in damage when the unit was dropped or stressed.
I ordered the iPaq through pdamart.com. I knew they were one of the first retail outlets shipping, but I was too late to get in that first shipment and had to wait about 3 weeks in backorder.
When the unit arrived, I was happy about several things:
1. The unit had some juice in the battery. I could turn it on and play with it immediately (against the advice of the owners manual).
2. The unit had a very sturdy metal case. This felt nice, and I know I could wear it on my hip without worrying about crushing it when I sat my sizable butt into a chair.
3. The screen was nice and bright in all lighting conditions.
4. The Pocket PC operating system was very easy to learn -- there were several changes from Windows CE. I was productive immediately.
5. The price was the same as many 16 Meg. models
Now a month has gone by.
1. In relatively heavy use (8-10x a day for a few minutes, sometimes longer to play a game or two), I've never run the battery down to less than 50%.
2. I've had to hard-reset only once due to an unexplained crash (this was a regular event in Windows CE).
3. The hard reset did not lose any data and I was immediately back on my feet.
4. All my friends, many of them Palm users, are envious. I know for sure I've sold one of these to a guy who's owned 3 Palms before.
The iPaq comes with MS Word, MS Money, MS Outlook and several other multimedia titles already installed. This is loaded with software.
The StrongARM processor is a new entry into the Pocket PC world, so there is not a lot of 3rd party StrongARM PPC software out there, but the list is growing and doubling every month.
I had high expectations and this unit surpassed them all!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 506.00
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
topolski
|
|
Member: Robert Topolski
Location: Hillsboro, OR
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 12 members
About Me:
I sing baritone in a barbershop quartet!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.