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 Electronics : HP iPAQ hx2495 Pocket PC |
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Rating:  - Simply didn't work...
Well, I take that back. This product was able to store the owner information I put in and display it on a screen with a nice, white background. This made it especially useful as a flashlight when I had to examine something under my desk. And I suppose a token paperweight analogy might fit here too, but I really don't want to downplay that flashlight feature. It really does work (over short distances).
Sure, it's true that the wi-fi, blue-tooth, and activesync features all failed to function, but why dwell on the negative?
But seriously, I'm glad I bought from a reputable seller. They refunded my money the same day they received the unit back.
Rating: - Buyer beware!
I must say I am very disappointed with the Ipaq 2495. I used to be a palm pilot user ( I had one of those Sony Clie's) until something told me to switch to what I thought was the more advance hand held gadget. Dumb me........
I should of asked myself why do I need to switch?
- was it because I could not use my appointments on my palm? No
- was the address program bad on my palm? No
- was the color display on the Sony palm bad? No
-was there a lot of hype about the so-called "pocket pc?" Yes!
Jesus! The only thing similar to a real pc and the Ipaq is that both of them can crash and with the ipaq it crashes a lot. Every 3rd or 4th time I would turn the darn thing on it would freeze and then I would press the reset button underneath to unfreeze it (or should I say press it 2 or 3 times before it functioned properly). No way would I recommend this gadget. I paid over $300.00 for it and I am able to say I through away over $300.00(not including $50.00 in programs that I bought) If you bought one I feel sorry for you better yet do a follow up review so others can be forewarned.
Rating:  - A good choice among PDAs
I have owned many PDAs including smartphones and this IPAQ is really worth the investment. It is a powerful machine that works very well. I was going for the higher model with VGA display but decided that it was not worth the extra $$ and the amount of battery power it would use over normal use.
I have loaded several programs already and they run great. Synchs great with outlook. Battery life if great. Overall a great machine. Highly recommended.
Rating: - A Solid, Affordable Pocket PC
This review is of the hx2495b which I believe has more built in flash memory than the earlier model. I will describe my impressions based upon my previous experience with other pda's (as this is the first Windows Mobile device I have owned) and also based upon the fears I had prior to receiving my new iPAQ.
1. I have owned several Palm OS devices and 1 Linux based device. Overall, I think the Palm OS is the most integrated of all as far as its contacts, calendar, and ToDo list. The calendar on the Windows Mobile device seems somewhat poorly organized, but I am getting used to how it functions.
2. It is also a little harder to navigate a Windows Mobile device using only hard buttons, but this iPAQ allows you to map hardware buttons for various functions so I can do most simple tasks without taking out my stylus.
3. Windows Mobile does not shut down programs when you "X" out of them. Normally this is not an issue with 56Mb of memory...but when running a memory intensive program (usually when surfing for me) I find that I need to manually free up some memory by going into the task manager and shutting down previously opened programs. This is a quirk that is a little annoying but something I can easily live with. There are many free and non-free utilities which can change this behavior.
4. The built in WiFi for this device seems rock solid. I get a better connection than I did with my Linux based Zaurus pda. I would prefer a slightly richer WiFi interface when setting up a connection, but then I am used to working with a laptop where I have more options available. I am sure there are some utilities you can install to beef up the interface.
5. Many of the functions on a Windows Mobile device are accessed by holding down the stylus on the screen (i.e. instead of just a tap). This is the equivalent of a right click in the desktop world and the functionality seems to be logically laid out.
6. Windows Mobile supports both portrait and landscape modes and you can map this functionality to a hard key.
7. My previous pda had a VGA display. I was worried about the loss of resolution when switching to the QVGA display of this device. However, I am now pretty much convinced that a VGA display is nearly a waste with screen sizes this small as I don't even notice a difference for most functionality.
8. There are a crap ton of free applications that exist for Windows Mobile. I was blown away. I thought the Linux world dominated the market for freeware, but I guess that Microsoft is on so many devices that there is a lot of software written for them.
9. I think the battery drain issue must have been fixed for this model. I have not loaded any updates to the OS, I have an SD card installed, and my battery life is excellent. I can easily read for over 4 hours on this device before recharging (I keep my backlight at 1/2 power when in doors).
10. This version of Windows Mobile has persistent memory storage so if you lose all the power in your pda your applications will still remain. All the applications I have installed so far have given me the option of storing them on my SD card...although I haven't even come close to filling up the built in storage.
11. My desktop machine has WinXP and Microsoft Office. Synchronization is painless. I'm sure it is not so painless with a Linux or Mac OS.
12. The suite of applications that comes with the iPAQ impressed me. It already has a built in terminal services client to remotely connect to a Windows machine (this is fairly impractical given the screen size but is good for shear geek factor). Excel and Word are included but I haven't played with them much. Out of the box you are ready to play mp3's and wmv's on the built in media player.
Overall, this is the best pda I have owned. There are some quirks with the OS (every OS has some), but this iPAQ delivers a lot of power for such a small device. I am a very happy owner.
Rating: - Great - battery life EXCELLENT!
To put everyone's mind at ease, BATTERY DRAIN PROBLEM HAS BEEN FIXED (you simply have to do a few steps to fix it). BATTERY LIFE IS EXCELLENT once you complete the fix(I can go several days on standby and still have well over 80% battery power left).
The unit is suberb for typical PDA functions and a GREAT feature is not losing your data if you happen to drain the battery (resident memory). Works great as an MP3 player too (I just bought a 2 GB card for about $50; uses SD and CF cards).
I sync at work and at home...to me a PDA isn't too useful (other than music, books, etc.) unless you really put all your organizational info on it (contacts, appointments, notes, shopping lists, etc.).
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