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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."
Handhelds.org is where most of the Pocket PC -> Linux action is these days. They are still working on getting Familiar (the main Pocket PC linux distro) on previous generation devices, such as the Dell X3 and the Ipaq 4100, so it could be a while before there is support for the 4705.
BTW, I have Familiar Linux with the Opie GUI on my Ipaq 3650, and its actually quite good.
eclecti.cc
If you are never more than 15 feet away from a computer, you will probably never understand the benefit of a pda. My current job requires me to constantly be in the field and at someone else's mercy for electricity and computer/internet access. A pda allows you to take lots of files/documents/passwords etc with you without requireing you carry a laptop with you.
Once again this means nothing if you are never too far from you computer and are immobile.
http://nyamenation.org/
> after which you have a paper weight.
No, you still have a PocketPC. It doesn't stop working just because a company doesn't provide upgrades to it.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
with HP selling iPods now, wouldn't it be sweet to have one of these top-end iPaq's running some sort of stripped down OSX?
A nice dream, but I don't see how you're adding iPaq+iPod and getting osXpaq. They're two completely incompatible portable gadgets whose only commonality is the company selling them and the size of the pocket they fit into.
The HP iPod is merely licensed and resold by HP; they're not adding anything to the gadget. Just the opposite, in fact: they're preinstalling iTunes (for Windows, natch) to HP computers to go with it. And the iPod doesn't run OS X or anything like it, of course -- the iPod OS is licensed from a third party, PortalPlayer, and its resemblance to OS X is purely cosmetic.
Let's see...
1. Contact List
2. Memo Pad (I like to jot down things)
3. Calendar/Schedule
4. Games, with halfway decent resolution.
I bought a Palm IIIx about 4 1/2 years ago. Upgraded the memory. It still works great, although the screen is a little worn.
I bought a refurbished Palm IIIxe for $35 a couple of months ago. I still love the IIIx line.
Cellphones make crappy browsers, crappy memopads, crappy schedulers, and crappy game platforms. Add to that, you typically can't sync them with your PC, and I tend to switch providers (and thus phones) almost annually, and I can't ever see a cellphone becoming a suitable substitute for a PDA.
Just my flamebait opinion.
That's a very laptop-like workload! Maybe it would have more traditional PDA battery life if it were tested on more traditional PDA tasks, like sitting in your pocket turned off most of the time until you fire it up for 10 seconds to look up an address.
Imagine if Ford stopped making spare parts next week for the 2004 F150 because this year's model is all new. Nobody expects them to stop innovating, that's not the problem.
>One year of upgrades is your lot in life, after which you have a paper weight.
I think that's a little harsh. Your palmtop is not a PC. It's more like a cell phone. If you want new features, buy a new model. If not, keep the one you have. It's not a 'paperweight'. It will continue to have the same functionality as the day you bought it. Nothing today makes it worth less than every cent you paid for it yesterday.
Sorry you feel burned. I felt the same way about my i-Pod. But you know what? Mine plays music just like my friend's. He bought his 2 months after I got mine. He paid a lot less and got the 'new' model. I could feel ripped, but I got what I paid for....
I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
Current uses:
Future/Dream Uses:
Cell phones are limited by input method and screen resolution (currently at least). Laptops take time to boot, dont fit in pockets, and cost more. For some tasks and situations the PDA ends up perfectly in between. That said PDAs are not for everyone and take some effort to make use of. They also have lots of room for improvement, and or convergence with cell phones.
Final thoughts: I had a dell axim x5 and despised it. The user interface seemed to fight me every step of the way and the size was above my convenience threshold. From my experience using Windows Mobile is like trying to give someone a fullsized piano and only letting them play it through a fist sized hole, underneath it, surrounded with barbed wire, ah well you get the point. Whereas PalmOS consistenly surprises me with well thought features and usable functionality. Also, I would be using a much cheaper pda if I did not get the Tungsten T3 for free.
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose."
Moderators: As evidenced by the massive response, I think the parent needs to be rated as either flamebait (regardless of what he says) or as overrated.
The usefulness of PDAs has already been established, and this is like getting on Slashdot and saying "I still don't know what the usefulness of a mouse is - I can do everything from the command line and faster" - it's flaimbait, and it's obviously wrong.
LS
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie