Compaq iPAQ pocket pc owns j00!

[G14]

As a result of what I read here and over at CNET.COM I returned my Handspring Visor Prism and purchased the iPAQ. No knock against Visors but the color screen on the Prism is awful.

I absolutly love it! The screen is a thousand times better than the grainy pixelated screen on Prism. So far the OS rocks! Does anyone know how to change the screen brightness?

 

[NFS4]

I love mine too. It rocks!!! Do a search for iPAQ in General Hardware to see all my threads on the glorious iPAQ.

To change the brightness:

Start --> Settings --> System --> Backlight --> Brightness

Or just copy this app to your iPAQ and run it directly.

 

[G14]

SWEET! Thanks...I apreciate it...I just installed AvantGo and synced it with Outlook are there any other must have apps? I'm searching the boards now....

 

[NFS4]

Go here for tons of iPAQ apps...mostly freeware

http://www.gregh.co.uk/html/ipaqfreeware.asp

 

[G14]

Question: ARM, MIPS, SH3, or SH4?

 

[JackHawksmoor]

ARM, and I for one can't stand the iPaq. I waited months to buy it, and then took it back after three days. It's a horrible PDA compared with a Palm half it's price, IMO.

 

[NFS4]

It's an ARM processor.


<< It's a horrible PDA compared with a Palm half it's price, IMO. >>


Anyway, NEXT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Adul]

Everyone to their own. Whatever PDA works for your needs.





Can I have one of each

 

[G14]

Is there any way to close programs besides clicking on the Q button and clicking on &quot;close all tasks?&quot;

 

[Sunner]

I for one hate all PDA's

I used a Palm for one day or so, after which I discovered that it didnt really do anything useful, sure it was fun at first, but once the coolness factor wore off, it was just a waste of pocket space

 

[BoberFett]

I recently bought a Visor Platinum, and I'm loving it so far. If you're comparing the Prizm to the iPaq, I don't think there's much of a contest, the iPaq looks far better. But for a PDA I'll take PalmOS.

What in the world do you need a PDA that can play movies and music, but only has 32MB? What is that, about 4 or 5 songs? Or a few minutes of video? I think that for what PDAs can do well given the limited storage and screen space, the B&amp;W Palm PDAs are the best bang for the buck.

 

[Noriaki]

I agree with Sunner, I've found them to be annoying as hell. I wouldn't mind an ultra light notebook with a wireless internet connection to take to class with me, but those PDAs are just annoying....(no a notebook isn't as portable but at least it's useful )

 

[astroview]

I for one find NFS4's iPAQ fetish hilarious, no offense.

 

[NFS4]

<< What in the world do you need a PDA that can play movies and music, but only has 32MB? What is that, about 4 or 5 songs? Or a few minutes of video? I think that for what PDAs can do well given the limited storage and screen space >>


I don't store ANY movie or MP3's on my internal RAM. That's what my 80MB and 32MB CompactFlash cards are for. And I have a wireless PCMCIA NIC for it as well to hook into my broadband

 

[Eug]

The iPaq's screen is definitely superior to the Prism's. Both machines are overpriced for what they NEED to do however. Hopefully prices will drop in the near future. I agree though, for the successor to the Prism, the colour screen should be a higher resolution. 240x240 would be great. 300x300 would be even better. (300x300 in 2.2 inches is about equivalent to the highest resolutions of TFT screens that are currently available for laptops.)

As for MP3, 80 MB is all of 15 songs for me (because I use 192 or higher bit rates). As far as I'm concerned, 200 MB is the bare minimum. Otherwise it's not worth carrying the thing around, but to each his/her own. May be cheap enough by next year though. (I have over 200 MB for my camera, but it cost me a fair bit.)


<< I wouldn't mind an ultra light notebook >>

I have a notebook as well as my Visor Deluxe, although the notebook ain't an ultralight. They serve different purposes. The PDA (along with a foldable full-size keyboard) always is in my briefcase. The laptop gets used only when necessary. My laptop (15&quot; screen) is over 7 lbs, but even if it were 5 I still wouldn't carry it around most of the time. Too damn big and fragile.

 

[NFS4]

<< As for MP3, 80 MB is all of 15 songs for me (because I use 192 or higher bit rates). As far as I'm concerned, 200 MB is the bare minimum. Otherwise it's not worth carrying the thing around, but to each his/her own. May be cheap enough by next year though. (I have over 200 MB for my camera, but it cost me a fair bit.) >>


I encode mine into WMA's using Windows Media 8 Encoder at 64kbps (their new encoder is AWESOME) and it sounds great through the speaker or MARVELOUS through the headphone jacket.

With that, I get about 32-35 songs which is plenty to put me to sleep at night or during a trip or something. I then put more songs on my 32MB card if need be.

 

[Michael]

I'm still convinced that the iPaq is too expensive for what you get and for what I use my PDA for. My Palm IIIc (which I bought for just over $200) does everything I need a PDA to do and my Landware keyboard does fine.

I need my laptop to do real work, but for writing memos, my Palm is great. Eug, is there a spell check program for Doc files that runs under Palm OS? I usually hot sync onto my laptop and then spell check there before printing and sending them out, but it would be nice to be able to spell check on the Palm.

I also recently started to use AvantGo and Stockcharts.com. I can DL the charts into my palm and then look at them on the way home on the train.

I use my keyboard to type in content for my personal website. The instant one and small size of the PDA and keyboard lets me jot out things as I can grab a little time

Michael

 

[NFS4]

<< I'm still convinced that the iPaq is too expensive for what you get and for what I use my PDA for. >>


Michael, YOU are not everyone It fits PERFECTLY for A LOT of people, and that speaks volumes in Compaq's inability to keep them on store shelves long enough The Palm fits you perfectly, and my iPAQ suits my needs better than any Palm could. That's just a fact.

And I may think about getting a keyboard for my iPAQ. Targus is making a stowaway keyboard for the iPAQ (I saw pics in the latest PocketPC magazine and I have to have it).

 

[Eug]

<< I encode mine into WMA's using Windows Media 8 Encoder at 64kbps (their new encoder is AWESOME) and it sounds great through the speaker or MARVELOUS through the headphone jacket. >>


Hmmm... Something to look into. However, I still prefer MP3, mainly because my DVD player plays MP3 as well. However, I'm thinking of getting Dell's Digital Audio Receiver and it apparently supports both MP3 and WMA. (I would use my desktop as an MP3 server.)



<< Eug, is there a spell check program for Doc files that runs under Palm OS? >>

I haven't seen one, but then again I haven't looked for one either. The few times I've needed one, I've used a PalmOS dictionary for the specific word, but that isn't what you're looking for. Also, at least as of the end of Dec., no word processors for PalmOS that I know of include a spell check.

 

[G14]

<< , I get about 32-35 songs >>



With that compression what's the aprox file size of 4 minute song?

 

[NFS4]

I'm sorry, I used 80kbps for my last WMA batch which I did in WinAmp. That was 32 songs on one 80MB Compact Flash card.

I get between 40-45 songs with 64kbps WMA 8 Encoder. Lemme do some encoding right quick in WMA 8.

One of my 4:12 long WMA's using 80kbps is 2.44MB.

 

[Paul]

I have used Media Player to encode WMA's onto my NomadII @ 64 and the quality of sound is like radio quality.

 

[Michael]

NFS4 - I would recommend the keyboard, it makes the PDA much more powerfull. As for me not being everyone, I work in an office environment. Palm OS PDA's outnumber all others by a huge margin. For the typical office worker, Palm OS is very, very strong. All we're trying to do is replace a paper calendar and phone number system. Palm OS syncs very nicely with Outlook.

Since I do not need the multimedia capabilities of the iPaq, there is no justification for me and most office workers for the additional cost.

Michael

 

[JackHawksmoor]

I don't need or want the supposed multimedia capabilities of the wince devices either. I want it to be a useful PDA, and the PalmOS is far faster and better thought out than wince. I can access any piece of information almost instantly. Plus there are a lot more programs available for Palm, and grafiti works better for me than any of the ipaq's three ways of entering text.

Obviously I'd like more power, perfect voice and text recognition, the etc., but no platform offers that.

Oh, another thing, Palm syncs much better with Exchange/Outlook, ironically enough. And I love the Palm Desktop.

 

[BD2003]

As far as I know, wm8 is still in beta and the only encoder available is command line, and I'm too lazy to deal with that right now. Since you seem to be such an advocate of it, and I'm too lazy, would you mind emailing me a sample wm8 64kbps file? Send to bigdee2003@yahoo.com.