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HP iPAQ hx4705 Reviewed
Tong writes "PDA Buyer's Guide has published an in-depth review of the HP iPAQ hx4605.
'This has been the month of the iPAQ with so many new models released! The hx4705 is one of the most anticipated because it features a fantastic VGA display and a super-fast 624MHz processor. Heap on plenty of memory, Bluetooth, WiFi, both CF and SD slots and a touch pad navigator and you've got the 4705. It's one of only two Pocket PCs with a VGA display sold in the US.'
Read the full review on the buyer's guide."
You can buy the Sharp Zaurus 6000 in the US. It has a VGA screen, in fact it has been around for quite a while. Snoooooze.
I think you'll find that there are more then two VGA PocketPC systems out there. I have the Toshiba e805 which has 802.11b, 128mb RAM, 32mb flash, ATI graphics chip, VGA screen, CF and SDIO slots. In addition I've seen several others with the same 480x640 screens.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Check out this article if VGA is something you really want on your next pda:
t _PC_is_Right
http://www.brighthand.com/article/Which_VGA_Pocke
http://nyamenation.org/
It would probably be pretty nice, but OS X requires some fairly hefty processor power to do a lot of the tricks that people take for granted in OS X.
Mach itself is nice and speedy, but a lot of the frameworks that make up the OS X experience come from things like the Foundation Kit and AppKit which make heavy use of message-passing in Objective-C, notification centers, etc etc - all of which is a little on the slow side - as well as GUI tricks that require Quartz and such.
So, yes... it would be sweet, but it's doubtful it would happen.
Here is a comparison chart of the VGA Pocket PCs coming out soon.
And the only VGA Pocket PC Game so far (a breakout game).
The idea is that I can be anyplace and have access to information I want. I drop by a store to get something, and see a product on sale, but I don't remember what the reviews said. Maybe I'm going to be out longer than expected, and I ssh back and set my PVR to record a show. Perhaps I need to get someplace, and grab them from mapquest. Or I want to see if someone is around, so I log into irc or fire off an email.
There are plenty of uses. Just make sure you have a PDA with an OS that has the software you need. :-)
(Note I haven't yet connected via bluetooth. I've got a symbol bluetooth card, but am still looking for an acceptable phone. 802.11b is wonderful however.)
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
I'm just curious, but what is it about this device that sucks so bad? It seems pretty spiffy to me.
I don't read or respond to AC posts
This is why the http://myxda.com/XdaII/personal/template/XdaIIProd uctInfo.vmXDA2 still trumps 'em all.
PXA263 400MHz processor
128MB SDRAM(I have 384 in mine) 64MB ROM
65K display (good enuff for me)
camera (motion or still)
BT, Wifi(opt), etc
Phone, GPRS, etc
Handwriting recognition
WMP9, IE, RealOne, etc (the only windows machine I own/recommend) (WM2k3)
ObBitch: It doesnt have very good osx support (read: none), tho works for periods of time with some third party software. SyncML should, in theory, work, tho I havent gotten around (anyone?) to getting it to work.
What do I use it for? What do I NOT use it for?!
reading ebooks every single day... in bed, on the couch, on the can: uBook
keeping track of miscellaneous bits of info (eg, project shopping lists): Noterrific
Listening to my MP3 collection, via earphones, over WLAN, while reading in bed: BetaPlayer
scientific calculator: Calc98
Getting online (via T-mo GSM phone & Bluetooth) anytime, anywhere. (In other words, I have Yahoo Yellow Pages in my pocket.)
All of my contacts and appointments kept in sync with home & work desktops: organizer software is built in but I bought Pocket Informant
Various games, of course
Keeping track of how much I spend on lunch: Pocket Excel
Taking notes in meetings: PhatPad
Storing every single number and password that plagues my life in a secure format: eWallet
Sure, it isn't as good as a laptop, but I can (and do) take it everywhere.
I am upgrading to one of the new VGA models shortly after they hit the streets. I have my eye on the Dell Axim X50V, which has specs similar to the HP 4700, but is less expensive.
I can't imagine not owning a nice PDA.
PDAs are general purpose compromise devices. Bigger and less battery life than an iPod, smaller and more battery life than a laptop. They can do a lot of things but not as well on any job as a single purpose device.
Here's what I have on my Dell X5 (admitted a big clunker, but has a CF slot and a bigger battery compared to slimmer models):
1. Music player: either Winampaq or Mortplayer. They both play OGG, MP3 and a few other formats. You can load it with a 512MB or a Gig of flash memory pretty cheap, but I don't use it as much for this since getting an iPod. It's the size of a big MP3 player like a Dell DJ but only holds as much as a flash player.
2. Video player: Windows Media player for WMV and PocketMVP for DIVX. It takes a few hours to encode videos for PocketPC, but I can fit a movie in 100MB at 320x240. CPU load shortens battery life, but still enough time to watch 2 movies on one charge. The single purpose devices like the DVD players and the Creative PMC do this better now but it's still pretty cool.
3. Wifi: Pocket IE is a joke, but 2003 SE now lets you browse in landscape mode which is a big improvement (unfortunately not for me). PocketWinc and Ministumbler are handy for finding APs, but my card is too underpowered for real wardriving. It's good for finding rogue APs at work if you ever needed to do that. Battery life sucks with the Wifi radio on, less than half of regular.
4. Passwords: I recommend Passwordsafe (open source too), but there are others too.
5. Quicken: I actually use SPB Finance which is better and cheaper than Pocket Quicken. Syncs to desktop Quicken too.
6. Maps: Mapopolis is great. If I had a CF GPS or a cable for an external GPS is can even do navigating too, but I don't. It sure beats carrying around a map book. I wouldn't suggest it for a handheld GPS, it's too delicate compared to a Garmin eTrex.
7. Games: It's fast enough to run arcade or SNES games in an emulator, but too slow with sound. I wouldn't suggest action games because the directional pad is too delicate compared to a GBA, but I can play SNES FF games just fine. Just get a GBA SP if you want games.
8. Address, Phones, and Calendar: I have it but I don't use it much. It only syncs to Outlook and I've pretty much decided to only use my phone for this stuff instead of doing triple and quadruple entries on all my gadgets.
9. Calculator: It can do scientific or IP subnets. It's overpowered for it, but it works.
10. Photo Album: screen is 2x bigger than my digital camera. If I want a better look at pictures pop in the CF card.
According Palminfocenter and the Register, Palm Tungsten T5
could come as early as next Monday.
"Mathematica is a symbolic package. The mathematics packages for linux are numerical. There is an enormous difference in terms of standard error."
Just a little FYI. Mathematica is available for linux and has been for a long time.
--HC
So I'm jump'n up and down screaming show me the money.
Currently Familiar's Linux distribution supports some of the following key features:
If thats not enough Linux in your PDA, try:
The intimate project is a fully blown debian based linux distribution for the Compaq iPAQ. Taking the work being done by the Familiar Project and combining it with fully blown debian package management, and access to the thousands of existing debian arm packages. The goal is simple. We want the best of both worlds. Sure... it won't fit in the 16MB Flash but for the lucky few with microdrives then this is the way ahead. The minimum requirements are currently around 140MB of storage for the base image.