HP Releases New iPAQs

Mike writes "HP released two new versions of its famed iPAQ line. The iPAQ rz1715 is a smaller unit to replace the 1910, and the iPAQ h6315 is the long awaited phone version that also sports wifi and bluetooth. Full reviews for both the rz1715 and the 6315 can be found at pocketnow.com." There's also a review of of the rz1715 on PDABuyer's as well.

Comments

HP iPAQ 1715 features

[manavendra]

1. Runs Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition (Pro)
2. 203MHz processor.
3. 32 megs of RAM, an SD slot that supports SDIO, a QVGA transflective display and a 1,000 mA battery .

The PDA comes bundled with:
+ a charger
+ a USB sync cable that plugs into a round adapter at the end of the charger cable.
+ A software CD, slim printed manual and a getting started guide are also included.

Caveat: Battery is not user replaceable

Slashdotted

[MandoSKippy]

Wow 0 to Slashdotted in .35 milliseconds!

Re:Slashdotted

[Spellbinder]

hey I am sure they are hosting their site on a beowulf cluster of ipaqs ....

Re:Slashdotted

[buck_wild]

"Daddy, look!" *takes picture* "An article reader!"

iPaq? Oh, I thought you said iPod..

[Large Green Mallard]

So have they said when they are actually going to start selling iPod's yet?

Re:iPaq? Oh, I thought you said iPod..

[Anonymous Coward]

Later this year. HP decided to wait because by the time they were ready to begin sales, the 4th gen iPod was well into development.

slashdoted

[afidel]

Did anyone get the text of the 6315 story? I'm really interested in how it compares to the Treo 600.

Re:slashdoted

[jomas1]

this site is still up and has a review of the phone ipaq as well http://davesipaq.com/articles/000079/iPAQ_h6300_re views

Re:slashdoted

[Fredrik Leijon]

Nope, but here's some info from hp

http://www.shopping.hp.com/cgi-bin/hpdirect/shoppi ng/scripts/product_detail/product_detail_view.jsp? BV_SessionID=@@@@1710334683.1090838464@@@@&BV_Engi neID=ccdeadcmdlgkflhcfngcfkmdflldfgg.0&landing=nul l&category=handhelds&subcat1=handhelds&product_cod e=FA239A%23ABA&catLevel=3

Re:slashdoted

[afidel]

Thanks for the link, there was some info there but it was the worst written article I think I have ever had the displeasure of reading.

Re:slashdoted

[violajack]

pcmag.com has a nice article about the new ones as well.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1627184,00.as p

Re:2 posts and its already

[jomas1]

Brighthand.com still has pictures of the new devices and http://davesipaq.com/articles/000079/iPAQ_h6300_re views also has a review of the wifi, bluetooth, gprs Ipaq

wake me when they have nice screens

[Qrlx]

320x240 just doesn't cut it. That was nice in 2000. There are competing products on the market with literally four times the pixels.

One feature I am happy to see is being able to change from portrait to landscape on the fly.

Flood of comments from AC Microsoft astroturfers in 5... 4... 3...

Re:wake me when they have nice screens

[jomas1]

I guess you are trolling but in case you are not: Windows mobile SE allows portrait to landscape swithching on the fly and the HP iPAQ hx4705 has a 4 inch VGA screen

Re:wake me when they have nice screens

[ikea5]

you can wake up right about... NOW!

HP hx4705: 4 inch 640-by-480-pixel (VGA) screen http://www.brighthand.com/article/HP_iPAQ_hx4705_O verview?site=PPC

Re:wake me when they have nice screens

[Anonymous Coward]

The upcomming hx4705 should have VGA resolution. Of course, it's much more expensive, and consumes more power...

Re:wake me when they have nice screens

[rafa.lima]

We can use nydot to "increase the screen" but the quallity isn't that good. Something better ?

Re:wake me when they have nice screens

[Chanc_Gorkon]

Yes but this is the only model they have and right now probably the only model that can be had in the US that has a Bulverde processor AND 480x640 (or 640x480). The e805 had it, but now it's been really getting hard to find.

Re:wake me when they have nice screens

[NanoGator]

"Flood of comments from AC Microsoft astroturfers in 5... 4... 3..."

I generally prefer the PocketPC to the Palms out there, but I have to say, I agree with you on this one. I can work with the QVGA still, but the larger screens like on the Sony Clie are far too tempting. Seeing as how I want to web browse and read ebooks on whatever palm device I end up getting, short of the HP that was mentioned in other posts in this thread, I have no interest in the PocketPC.

So no, despite being accused a couple of times of being an MS shill (for the record, my views on MS are misunderstood), I agree with you completely. I wouldn't think too highly of anybody that tried to bust your chops on this one.

Too bad us older IPAQ users are left in the cold

[Zugot]

If you want WM 2003 SE, you'll have to buy a new ipaq. Even us users who have the 4100 and the 5100. I'm not too happy about that, but I don't want to upgrade my 4155, because I like it so much.

brighthand still alives

[ikea5]

some new ipaq ifo here: http://www.brighthand.com/article/HP_Introduces_Su mmer_2004_Line_of_iPAQs

Boycott HP products

[reeherj]

TOo bad I've boycotted HP's products in light of CEO Carly Fiorina's lobbying for accelerated outsourcing of American Technology jobs to oversea's firms. Great Editorial on the subject

Re:Boycott HP products

[TimSee]

That's seriously the stupidest thing I've ever seen written. Nice job. CEOs get paid to be ahead of the change curve, not behind. No question where you stand. Read this http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/india.htm l

Re:Boycott HP products

[Anonymous Coward]

TOo bad I've boycotted HP's products in light of CEO Carly Fiorina's lobbying for accelerated outsourcing of American Technology jobs to oversea's firms.

Do you boycott products from all companies that lobby for accelerated outsourcing of American jobs, or just HP?

Re:Boycott HP products

[Anonymous Coward]

It's because they know how to use the apostrophe overseas.

Re:Boycott HP products

[Anonymous Coward]

You are so right. We wanted to have a fully ARM-native rom in the new calculators. The didn't give us time, so we ended up with a half-assed Saturn emulator running the old software.

Mike Bouma, HP Software Engineer

Re:Boycott HP products

[reeherj]

I appologize for my grammar earlier, I was on my palm and in the car. I actually have started boycotting products from several companies whose executives are extremely aggressive about oversea's outsourcing. The reason? Quite simple. I understand the economics of building foreign markets, and taking advantage of cheap foreign labor. However, there are several myths that are perpetuated by top executives in defending thier aggressive oversea's outsourcing. Basically, instead of the money being saved by utilizing oversea's labor increasing corporate profits, thus creating new higher paying jobs, and also increasing federal tax revenue; corporations are managing to grossly inflate top executive salaries (30% ave last year) and are investing in oversea's Facilities to house engineering, R&D, Marketing, and even legal services out of the country. In addition, these large companies are avoiding paying any federal income taxes through use of various shelters, and are recieving subsidies for moving jobs out of the US. These trends have a serious affect throughout the US economy. Programmers that used to make 80K/year (like me) are now making 30K (and I've survived three layoffs this year already). But moreover, moving Research oversea's takes away even higher paying jobs, in addition, all the support services for those jobs. Building / Maintenance / Cleaning / etc... loosing these top facilities has a major impact throughout the economy. In the next few years, legal services, and medical services (where I am currently studying to get a second career) will be being outsourced. In the name of free trade and unrestricted capitalism, the united states has no regulations to protect the workforce and american jobs that are being threatened by nothing less then pure capitalist greed. We need to start removing tax benefits for companies who are offshoring labor, we need to remove the income tax loopholes that allow them to bring in billions in profit tax-free from offshoring, and we need to start offering incentives to companies who promote a strong domestic workforce. In addition, we don't have to support greedy executives who are filthy rich with no social consciousness about where they came from... who paid for the roads /sanitation/housing etc that they grw up with, provided educational facilities, and of course the opportunity to be a successful female executive (let's see her pull that off in some of these underdeveloped countries). Thus, I am happy to say that we only have one HP printer left in the office, and it will soon be on it's way out the door. Regards.

Re:Boycott HP products

[corian]

TOo bad I've boycotted HP's products in light of CEO Carly Fiorina's lobbying for accelerated outsourcing of American Technology jobs to oversea's firms

Cause those stupid foreigners, they don't deserve jobs like you Americans do, right?

They forgot GPS

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously: WLAN, Bluetooth, GSM, digital camera, organizer and GPS in one device, that would be perfect. And then someone comes and adds a USB host port to make it even better...

Re:They forgot GPS

[ceeam]

And then they add Windows to ruin it all.

Re:They forgot GPS

[Anonymous Coward]

(Score:4, Insightful) And then they add Windows to ruin it all.

Insightful? Ohhh, I must be reading slashdot again...

Re:They forgot GPS

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, when you miss that appointment again... try to enjoy the utter coolness of your gadget.

Re:They forgot GPS

[Zugot]

Well the good thing about bluetooth is that you don't need everything built in. You could just get a separate GPS.

Re:They forgot GPS

[nmg196]

GPS aerials are quite big and would add a lot of bulk to the PDA. After all, they are designed to receive satellite signals directly whereas WiFi and GSM aerials are receiving relatively stronger signals from a source thousands of times closer.
GPS aerials also don't like being behind things (eg aluminium casing or a screen) so it would probably stick out of the top.

Re:They forgot GPS

[nmg196]

Feel free to suggest any alternative OS that could be used on pocket PC? Don't say anything stupid like "Linux", because Linux is *nowhere* where Pocket PC support is concerned.

Re:They forgot GPS

[Anonymous Coward]

The thing already has an antenna stub, presumably for GSM. The patch antenna inside a Garmin Geko 201 is about 2cm x 2cm. There are cellphones with builtin GPS, so it can't be that hard.

Re:They forgot GPS

[NiceAndEasy]

Well, they've forgotten:

better screen display

more colors, currently cell phones are produced with 115K colors

gps

i don't see biometrics anymore

more and more memory, 20MB iPAQ store and standard 64 MB ROM is weak for this beast

But hey, they need to leave something for next releases.

It will be very interesting to see competition's answer after this.

Re:They forgot GPS

[Kent Recal]

That's why I'd prefer a Sharp SL-Cxxx any day.

Re:They forgot GPS

[Anonymous Coward]

How does this propaganda get modded insightful?

Re:They forgot GPS

[Anonymous Coward]

Just like theres no Linux on desktops?

Right.

Stupid troll.

Re:They forgot GPS

[edgedmurasame]

If they didnt go for the full beheading, we'd still have the sleeve capability, and you'd be able to add that GPS via the dual pcmcia sleeve, while having room for another device.

Re:They forgot GPS

[nmg196]

I do not call physically being able to run Linux on a PDA a "good PDA OS". Obviously I know you *CAN* run Linux on PDA - but it's crap. Have you tried it?

Re:They forgot GPS

[nmg196]

Actually no. Not a statistically significant amount anyway. According to the stats I've read on *MANY* places, nearly everyone is using Windows or Mac OS. Linux ownership is so incredibly low that it usually just comes under "Other OS" in the results.

You're troll is that you're trying to get people to think that being able to run linux on a PDA means it's usable. But from what people in other posts are saying, it looks like if you have linux on your PDA that you're unlikely to get usable handwriting recognition, bluetooth support, GPRS or any other bare essentials.

Being able to run XCalc and XEyes is *NOT* a usuable solution for 99.9% percent of users - only some hard core linux advocates would be happy with this level of support on their PDA.

This will probably get modded down by yet another person that hasn't actually tried using Linux on a PDA for more than an hour or so.

Re:They forgot GPS

[Anonymous Coward]

Ooh, it went from 4 to 5 with the complaints. Slashdot is such bull lately. Linux is not the solution for everything. Deal with it.

Death of the PDA? Likely

[Talez]

I was thinking about buying an iPaq. But then I got my mobile phone (a Sony Ericsson Z1010).

This phone is a freaking PDA. I have my contacts, tasklist, appointments, email on it. The T9 text entry is infinitely more convenient and faster than stylus. The only thing that is lacking is the screen and I'm sure that will be rectified in future phone revisions. Plus my phone gets battery life measured in days rather than hours.

Re:Death of the PDA? Likely

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't matter what you call it. Future phones will embrace PDA functionality, future PDAs will embrace phone functionality. Unless someone develops magic technology which uses half as much energy when the device is called "phone" instead of "PDA", battery life is going to converge, given similar use patterns.

Re:Death of the PDA? Likely

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Plus my phone gets battery life measured in days rather than hours.

Funny you mention that. My phone, a Sanyo SCP-4900, goes 7 to 9 days on a single charge, and I never turn it off, I usually forget to do that.

I replace the batteries on my Palm m100 maybe twice a year, and they are AAA alkalines.

Re:Death of the PDA? Likely

[Spellbinder]

ever tried voice dial with this phone with a bluetooth headset atached while the phone is closed??
i had a prerelease version of this phone and it has been quite instable...
is it still like this???
btw i don't like T9 .. it is not very usefull over here in switzerland because we write our sms in dialect
there are about as many dialects here as there are people :p
and the worst part of it (for T9) is that there are no writing rules for our dialects so you can write every word in a gazillion of ways

Re:Death of the PDA? Likely

[ceeam]

Next time when talking about batteries please make a distinction between "palm" hours and "pocket" hours. Thanks.

Re:Death of the PDA? Likely

[Zebbers]

you can add words to t9...eventually the dictionary should be full of yours

Re:Death of the PDA? Likely

[Spellbinder]

but you know... there is no default swiss german dictionary ... you have to enter every word by yourself ...
and even if there would be one... i would write only half of the words like they do in their dictionary
example: i hit you on your head
i hau di ufe chopf
i hou de ufe chopf
ich houe di ufe chopf
it is all the same ...
you could replace chopf (head) with the german version (Kopf) and it would be still correct
or gring and "I" could also be written as "eg" or "ig" and so on ...
and it is not like i could say i use just this version
a lot of time it depends on whom you are writting to or what mood you are in or even on how it sounds in context with everything else

Re:Death of the PDA? Likely

[hughk]

The Z1010 is cute, but it is one of the first UMTS sets with associated version 1 issues. It can do a lot but it isn't a full PDA. The Sony Ericsson P900 is a full PDA but it doesn't do UMTS.

Re:Death of the PDA? Likely

[moonbender]

I kind of know how you feel... I mean, it's not as bad because I normally speak the standard German dialect, but I often want to bring in the occasional colloquial term in messages which requires me to work against T9 suggesting correct word forms. :)

Re:Death of the PDA? Likely

[[000000]]

My phone, a Sanyo SCP-4900, goes 7 to 9 days on a single charge, and I never turn it off, I usually forget to do that.

I replace the batteries on my Palm m100 maybe twice a year, and they are AAA alkalines.

So the question is, do you ever turn your Palm on!

Re:Death of the PDA? Likely

[aardwolf204]

I had the exact same phone until I dropped it. What a shame, that phone had awesome battery life and great signal stregnth. My past 3 phones had been Sanyo candy-bar style phones and got great reception, but i missed the coolness factor of my old samsung flip-phone (not the reception tho). I decided to replace the broken 4900 with another sanyo, the SCP-8100. This phone is a color flip with camera and vision. The 4 factors for buying this phone were:

1. Vision
2. Use same date cable from 4900
3. Great sanyo reception
4. Flip (yay, I'm r33t now!)

What I didnt take into account was how much battery that thing would suck up. The camera was cool for like a week until I figured how lame the QVGA pics were, but I still post to my moblog just for the hell of it. Anyway, I have to charge this puppy every night and I only talk on it maybe an hour a day, do maybe 10 shortmails (fake SMS), and connect it to the laptop about once a week for email on the go.

What was this thread about again? Oh yeah, PDAs. Um, keeping on topic, if you have a phone and a data cable, you may want to check out bitpim. Its can access your phones calander, phone book, pictures, etc... worth checking out Jeff DeMaagd as its compatible with the 4900.

Now if only sprint would embrace the MS Smartphones, I would love to get a windows mobile phone that could sync with exchange and open word docs. Er, I mean, so I could put linux on it, sync with sendmail, and use vi. right ;)

Give me $600 for this phone.

go for the 1945

[xot]

I just bought an ipaq1945 n it awesome!. It lets you do everything high end pda's do except the WiFi.
The 1715 is a bad bargain unless it significantly cheaper besides its got no wireless options and you'd end up paying more putting those extra cards!
As for the 6315 I like to keep my phone and PDA seperate, don't know about you guys.

Re:go for the 1945

[corngrower]

Compared with the Dell Axim X30 (base Model)

- The 1715 costs more ($279 vs $199)

- The 1715 offers less performance. (see benchmark on reviews)

Such a deal - 2/3 the performace at 3/2 the price!!

Re:HP iPAQ 1715 features

[harlingtoxad]

Is there really enough demand for user-replacable batteries that companies will start using them? Products with non-replacable batteries seem to sell despite this shortcoming. Plus the company makes an extra couple of bucks if/when the user has to get a new battery.

Personally, I recharge all my stuff every night, and would prefer a long lasting battery (ie. many charges) that remains charged for a shorter time. If that makes sense.

Info on the 6315 -- Site slashdotted

[Anonymous Coward]

Since the linked site is Slashdotted, here's some info on the 6315 gathered from a few other sites (see links at bottom for purty pictures):

-Quad-Band GSM/GPRS device (850, 900, 1800, or 1900MHz)

-Onboard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

-Powered by a TI OMAP 1510 ARM-based processor running at 200mhz. Primarily chosen to conserve battery life.

-Onboard digital camera (for model 6315, not 6310)

-Snap-on thumb keyboard for quick data entry.

-Windows Mobile 2003 Phone Edition

-3.5" 16-bit Color Transreflective TFT

-64MB RAM (55MB User Accessible)

-SD/MMC Slot Onboard

-Weight: 6.7oz; 4.7" x 3.0" x .7"

=1800mAh Li-Ion Battery

Sources (including different pictures!)
Pocket PC Central
Howard Forums
SmartFone

Re:Info on the 6315 -- Site slashdotted

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, many of those stats are wrong or based on outdated information.

Scroll down a bit (search for "here's some info from hp") for the true stats from HP Shopping's product info page. That page has pictures (and a 3D model) too.

Re:Too bad us older IPAQ users are left in the col

[rafa.lima]

I hate this kind of thing, i think since ipaq is a pocket PC it would be upgradeable. I have a h4350 and at least i found many guys working to port linux to this device.

Re:but?

[ikea5]

you do know that they make a RealOne player for PPC don't you?

Re:HP iPAQ 1715 features

[Anonymous Coward]

Consumer electronics are obsolete before you need to replace the battery. Who will be using this model in 2-3 years.

More reviews...

[Zorilla]

You can never have enough reviews, right?

rz1715 review.

I believe the 6315 is pretty well linked on this thread, so I'll leave it out.

Dont forget the hx4705

[james_r_boyer]

I dont care for the look but it looks nice spec wise.

YAL (yet another link)

[ouija147]

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=529

REAL stats

[Anonymous Coward]

Those were wrong. Here are the real ones from HP Shopping:

HP iPAQ h6315 Pocket PC Phone (MSRP $599.99)
*Integrated wireless
Integrated quad band GSM/GPRS, WLAN 802.11b, Bluetooth, IrDA and USB
*Processor
Texas Instruments(TM) 168MHz
*Operating system
Microsoft® Windows® Mobile 2003 software for Pocket PC - Phone Edition
*Display
3.5" Transflective TFT color with LED backlight
*Built-in camera
Yes, VGA, 640 x 480 resolution
*Memory
64MB SDRAM, 64MB Flash ROM
*Weight
6.7 oz.
*Battery
Removable, rechargeable Lithium-Ion (1800 mAh)
*Expansion
Integrated SD slot
*Audio
Integrated microphone, receiver, speaker and one 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack, MP3 stereo (through audio jack and speaker)
*Included accessories
Desktop cradle/charger, AC adapter, battery, keyboard, headset, carrying case, stylus, a SIM in the box for wireless service

HP iPAQ rz1715 Pocket PC (MSRP $279.99)
*Integrated wireless
N/A
*Processor
Samsung S3C2410 processor 203MHz
*Operating system
Microsoft® Windows® Mobile 2003 software for Pocket PC - Professional version
*Display
3.5" Transflective TFT, Portrait and Landscape modes
*Built-in camera
N/A
*Memory
Up to 25MB user available memory including 10MB iPAQ file store
*Weight
4.23 oz.
*Battery
Internal rechargeable 950 mAh Lithium-Ion battery
*Expansion
Integrated SD slot
*Audio
Integrated microphone, speaker and one 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack, MP3 stereo (through audio jack)
*Included accessories
AC adapter, USB sync cable, stylus

Re:HP iPAQ 1715 features

[manavendra]

You're right that there is perhaps not a large enough demand to have user-replaceable batteries.

However, with more and more handheld devices, PDAs, phones, etc coming in, there is more and more stuff that one needs to recharge every alternate night at least - there's at least the handheld and the phone that I have to worry about
It may perhaps be cost effective this way, but I keep thinking have replaceable batteries saves this hassle (assuming the batteries last like a month or so)

Wake me up when the OS has matured.

[vjlen]

I have a number of clients using PPC and PPC-based phones, and every couple of days they seem to do all kinds of weird things when you sync them or download e-mail. They constantly need rebooting, or worse, reconfiguring on a regular basis.

The PPC OS seems to be about as mature as Windows 95 at this point in time. If I had a client ask me right now about a PDA and they want e-mail, I'd recommend a Blackberry solution. Straight PDA? Might have to stick to Palm.

Re:Wake me up when the OS has matured.

[Cheeko]

Thats whats great about the iPaq, you don't need to use PPC. Most iPaq owners I know replace PPC with linux as soon as they buy them. handhelds.org tends to be the site of choice for most people I know.

Re:Wake me up when the OS has matured.

[citog]

I'm running Familiar/Opie on a 5450 for the past couple of weeks. It's neat but there are some things missing that I think are in the WinCE version. However, the security trade-off worries me, so I'm sticking with Familiar. It has been mentioned that Linspire will be producing a distro for PPC, that could be interesting when it comes along.

Re:Wake me up when the OS has matured.

[djeaux]

Thats whats great about the iPaq, you don't need to use PPC. Most iPaq owners I know replace PPC with linux as soon as they buy them. handhelds.org tends to be the site of choice for most people I know.

"Most iPaq owners I know" probably restricts the sample population upon which you base your statement to a pretty select geekish cohort. Would general users be inclined to install a new, better OS, or would they stick to the PPC that comes with the device?

Re:Wake me up when the OS has matured.

[fr0dicus]

Most iPaq owners that I know, thick enough to spend £400 on something that doesn't do anything more practical than an £80 Zire, wouldn't have a clue they could even do that, let alone follow instructions that they'd probably screw up and lobotomise their precious new toy.

Not that they know what Linux is.

Re:HP iPAQ 1715 features

[benzapp]

That isn't the ONLY reason to have replaceable batteries. I have a Casio E125 which I got about 3 years ago. It works great for my needs, and I can even play ogg vorbis files on it. Convert my FLAC encoded files to 64kbps vorbis files, and I can fit many hours of music on my 512MB flash card.

Problem is, the battery only lasts about 5-6 hours with the screen off. So, I keep a second battery charged. First one dies, I replace it and I am good to go...

That said, I don't upgrade to a newer PPC device because I don't see much difference between newer PPC devices and my own. The ONLY reason I have considered it is MIPS processors are no longer supported, and most new software comes out for ARM.

6315 - the ultimate device ?

[sufehmi]

I've been looking for a while now for something that will function as laptop / PDA / MP3 player / digital camera / mobile phone for me.

I wonder if HP's 6315 is the One.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait until the site recover from the Slashdotting I guess...

Re:6315 - the ultimate device ?

[3waygeek]

You might consider the Motorola MpX; it has everything the 6315 does, plus a few extras.

Re:6315 - the ultimate device ?

[Anonymous Coward]

The Motorola MPX definitely looks like my next phone. The release date of "Second half 2004" is a little vague. (Though not as ambigious as "When it's done"). Can anyone pin down a release month or even quarter?

Re:6315 - the ultimate device ?

[joshmccormack]

Wow, I can picture the PDA/MP3 thing. But Laptop and camera? Do you really see one device meeting all these needs? That seems awfully ambitious. Perhaps I'm thinking of a different use of these devices than you, though.

rotr

[Anonymous Coward]

the rotr extension has been doing dynamic resize and rotations for a few years at least

Dell Axim X30

[Anonymous Coward]

I just bought a Dell Axim X30 624MHZ. I love it. Has bluetooth, wifi, WM 2003, etc. However it does only have the 320x240 display but for the price it's definetly worth it. With Wififofum it's great for wardriving.

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/categor y. aspx/pda?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

No harddrive.

[Anonymous Coward]

I still do not understand why these things don't have hard drives. What use is it, if I have to carry around an mp3 player in one pocket and a PDA in the other? It's horrible. I want one device. Why can't they manage to fit a hard drive inside? These things are bigger than iPod's. Why can't it just have a 40gig drive like any old mp3 player? The device would then function as a portable drive, PDA, and mp3 player.

Until they have harddrives, I won't even consider buying any kind of PDA, iPaq, whatever.

What are they thinking?

Re:No harddrive.

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh, I don't even have enough pockets to fit my GameBoy, Cell Phone, Palmpilot, and Creative RIO mp3 player...

I'd love to cast a spell and magically have them all in one device.

Currently, on the market, we have:
---
PDA + Digital Camera. (various)
Cell Phone + Handheld Video Game (ie, Ngage)
PDA + Cell Phone. (various)
Etc.

-> And just about every other combination. But no one has managed to put them all into one!

Re:No harddrive.

[Samuel Nitzberg]

I use an expansion sleeve (when I need to) with my IPAQ 5455. This gives me two PC-card slots available.

My basic configuration (without the sleeve)gives me 64 Megs RAM. I also have a 512 MB SD-RAM that I leave in with all the programs I run and my day-to-day data, including documents, spreadsheets, and maps for cities that I may visit.

With the expansion sleeve, I can use GPS (with the mapping software that I already loaded), or use my Toshiba 5 GB PC-Card format hard drives. This is very convenient, as they also get popped into my notebook whenever I use them there (most of the time). Easy 5-GB of data transport when the 512-mb SD chip won't do. But, that's pretty rare. Also, the wi-fi that's built-in allows for some networking, and access to files over the Internet. If you use the IPC for VPN-based access (by running a VPN client), you really don't need to carry a drive with you. Leave all your docs on your network, and VPN-in.

It may not be the solution that you are looking for, but it's worked pretty well for me. Still, the use is awkward if you have a large number of music files on the hard drive.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with my IPAQ\, but any PDA has its limitations.

Re:No harddrive.

[Audigy]

Creative Rio?

I guess you can load songs onto it with your Pentium Athlon 64-based PC?

Netcraft *didn't* confirm?

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought Netcraft confirmed PDA's were dying, these are ...stillborn?

Re:I have yet to see

[Shant3030]

I hear that! I had an IPAQ for two months and hardly used it. It had the integrated WiFi and bluetooth... but it stil became a glorified rolodex.

traded it to my cousin for a 15gb IPod... much happier now!

I'm not impressed.

[NNKK]

I bought an iPAQ 1945 in May for about the same price as the rz1715 is listing for.

The rz1715 has exactly one advantage over the 1940/1945: WM2003SE. I'm not impressed.

Everything else is measurably worse. Even the battery, although it's 100mAh bigger, is worse, since it's not user-replacable. Performance stinks, and it has *half* the RAM (the 1940/1945 has 64MB, this new rz1715 unit has 32MB). It doesn't even have built in Bluetooth (I don't use BT myself, but a number of people do).

I'd highly recommend the 1940/1945 (they're the exact same device, but one model number is sold through business retail outlets, the other through consumer outlets) for anyone looking for an entry-level PocketPC device. I'd recommend AGAINST the rz1715, you're getting far less for your money.

How many friggin' PDAs are out there?

[British]

Is it me, or do new PDAs come out every 3 frickin' months!??! Even with common sw platforms like Windows CE and PalmOS it sounds like a major hassle trying to make software that gets the most out of it.

trying to by accessories for said models sounds like fun too. Of course, I'm still using my years-old 16mb Handspring Visor. Man did I have high hopes for that.

Re:How many friggin' PDAs are out there?

[WuphonsReach]

Is it me, or do new PDAs come out every 3 frickin' months!??! Even with common sw platforms like Windows CE and PalmOS it sounds like a major hassle trying to make software that gets the most out of it.

/shrug

I'm still using my Kyocera QCP6035 PalmOS phone (mmm, a bit over 3-years old now). Have zero plans for replacing it before 2006. It does everything I need, I can customize it with additional PalmOS applications, and I'm generally happy with everything about it.

Unfortunately, the manufacturers want everyone to upgrade every year.

mil-spec version: the iRAQ ?

[Tex Bravado]

No, I guess not...

Yawn

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is it that this type of story gets released on /.? To be honest, the only thing more boring and useless than an iPAQ is a Mac. Come on guys, write about something useful for a change!

Awesome

[utexaspunk]

The iPAQ h6315 looks like it has everything I'd want from a pocket device. I can't wait 'till these start having higher resolution cameras, more storage, and faster processors.

The specs look a lot like the O2 XDA II. Anyone know how a 168MHz TI OMAP 1510 compares to a 400MHz Intel Xscale PXA 263?

Re:Awesome

[3waygeek]

According to some reports, the OMAP outperforms the 400 MHz Xscale, at least on multimedia code.

Note that the forthcoming Motorola MpX, another OMAP device, has basically the same hardware as the 6315, but is presented in a modified flip-phone form factor roughly the same size as the original Moto StarTac.

slashdotted already

[sootman]

evidently these new PDAs aren't strong enough to run a webserver off of yet...

OMGLOLWTF I must be new here

But wait...

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet Russia, iPAQs release you!

These are competitve...

[Anonymous Coward]

Dell makes a better PDA for less money. HP's PDAs are obsolete. Even the new models are not competive. Ever since HP bought out Compaq, very little innovation has been coming out of HP or Compaq.

Re:I have yet to see

[WuphonsReach]

someone REALLY using an IPAQ or any similar device for anything else than a desktop ornament when they are done playing with it.

It really depends on your job and what tools you normally carry around.

Back when I worked software development with a 45 minute commute, I used my Palm IIID extensively to keep track of everything. (Replaced my Franklin-Covey planner.) The work machine was a desktop so I didn't have a laptop that I could always keep with me when travelling. The Palm let me stay organized, get to all of my meetings, download reading material for review in a spare moment while waiting on an appointment, etc.. As a bonus, I was able to keep my home and work calendar and contact book up to date by using the Palm as a bridge device.

Later, I switched jobs to full-time telecommuting for a firm in another state. Switched to a phone with PalmOS so I only had to carry 1 device instead of two. Also started using a laptop full-time. However, the only time the PDA functionality really got used was on the trains when I didn't want to pull out the laptop. So the PDA functionality of the phone has been worth a lot less (depending on how often I travel).

As laptop prices continue to slowly fall, they encroach more and more on what PDAs are useful for. However, there are still numerous social situations (sales) where it may be impolite to pull out a laptop to jot down a simple note. I can put a PDA in a coat pocket and take it anywhere... can't quite do that with a laptop yet.

You really could apply your statement to people who buy planner systems like Day-Timer or Franklin-Covey, get all psyched up about organizing everything, and then let the planner gather dust in the corner. I was lucky to work for a company where we were all put through a training session and then *required* to use the planners. The majority of folks who did this are now dedicated planner users and have stuck with it for years.

iPAQ rz1715 - $279 shipped & Free $50 GC

[Anonymous Coward]

If anyone is considering the rz1715, get it at Amazon for $279 shipped and get a free $50 Amazon gift certificate. In stock and shipping.

Ugly, anyone?

[NiceAndEasy]

I'm owner of iPAQ 5 serie and the only reason why I'm not buying this 6 beast is ... they are ugly.

This retro design is too much. Compaq did better job in designing before.

Outsource or Stagnate

[Anonymous Coward]

Outsource or Stagnate
http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle &id=9889&news_iv_ctrl=1021

But the real question is...

[the pickle]

Does it -- the 6315 -- run Linux?

Not a troll. It's a legitimate question. This device is exactly what I've been looking for in a smartfone with the exception of Windows. The SonyEricsson P900 isn't available with a service plan *anywhere* in the United States, and I'm sure as hell not paying $800 for one without it.

If the 6315 will run a fairly mature *nixoid OS, I'll give up my T68m in a heartbeat.

p

Re:But the real question is...

[venomix]

http://www.ipaqlinux.com/ do have a lot of info on running linux on ipaqs. I doubt there is any release (yet) that supports the phone, wifi etc. though.

Re:Too bad us older IPAQ users are left in the col

[Anonymous Coward]

I like the look of H4150 rather than rz1715.

PDA Phone

[ceswiedler]

I'm looking for a good, small cell phone which also functions as a basic PDA. I'm tired of keeping my cell phone address book updated manually. I'd also like basic access to my calendar, but I don't want something a) separate from my phone or b) larger than my phone.

It doesn't have to allow for convenient text entry, as long as it will sync with a computer. (You can't really enter text into something as small as a cell phone anyway).

still miss the ipaq sleeves

[Anonymous Coward]

the sleeves were the reason I purchased an ipaq in the first place over other PDAs of the day simply because of the ease of adding capabilities to the ipaq. There was a nice third party market for these additions also - something that won't exist with these newer devices.

What's so bad about the sleeve that HP needs to go away from it - other than that it's a leftover from the old Compaq days...

I'll buy it as soon as the Vonage client comes out

[mrnick]

Truely, when in Wifi range I shouldn't have to pay for voice minutes. Instead it should use VOIP like Vonage softphone. I think that is why it has taken so long for a Pocket PC Phone to come out with built in WiFi or even WiFi capable slots because they know there will be VOIP apps developed for it thus reducing minute usage. Also, I hope that AT&T adopts this as I am not a big T-Mobile fan.

Nick Powers

someone has a cute belly button

[Anonymous Coward]

seen in the reflection in the screen of the ipaq from the review - http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/image/iPAQ_rz1715.jp g

hee hee...

Re:HP iPAQ 1715 features

[Anonymous Coward]

--us po' geeks who wait for ya'all rich geeks to try out the new expensive stuff so we can pick and choose the good stuff out at yardsales for a nickle on the dollah.

That's who, and thankee kindly for dropping the cash on the new stuff, we'uns appreciate you doing the Q&A for us.

Now, go buy a flat screen and dump your 25 inch crt monitor, will ya?

Windows Mobile 2003 Phone Edition

[Anonymous Coward]

Nothing more to see here, move along.

Enough with the stupid cameras

[Ada_Rules]

I'd buy something like this but I can't have a camera phone at work. I can't have one at the Gym. Might not be able to have one on the subway soon.

Add to that the fact that idiots with camera phones are 2x more annoying then people with phones in general and bamm..You have a product I won't buy.

Of couse it is just a matter of time before the camera/phone PDA makers claim sales are down because people are downloading phones for free over the internet.
jcree

Re:HP iPAQ 1715 features

[AltaMannen]

You'd think the PDA's of a couple of years ago would be out of date today but my iPaq (which I was planning to replace about now) still performs identically to all the latest PocketPC's (at least as far as I can tell, there's only so much benchmarking you can do with PocketHAL test programs and reading email).

The features I was looking for to upgrade:

* Multiple resolution choices (ok, there are a couple of 640x480 pixels right now) for previewing digital photos.
* Increased graphical capabilities (the new graphics chips are slower than older PocketPC's)
* A lot more brand-name-publisher games
* Virtual desktop
* Pressure sensitive touchscreen

Clamshell

[AShuvalov]

I'd love to see the clamshell device. So far I know nothing but Zaurus 700, sold only in Japan.