HP's New iPAQ hx2755 Reviewed

Brandon Miniman submitted a story that discusses the whole iPAQ line of handhelds and specifically looks at the newly released iPAQ hx2755 Pocket PC. This one is unique in that it has a biometric fingerprint reader.

Comments

Slashvertising?

[lucabrasi999]

Ok, without having read the FA, I'll make a prediction about this article:
1) The article reads like a press release from H-P.
2) The submitter is just pushing traffic to his own site in the hopes he can cash in on some advertising revenue.

Am I correct or am I correct?

Re:Slashvertising?

[Marxist Hacker 42]

1) incorrect- HP press release would NEVER mention Windows Media Version (still 9 not 10) or the QVGA screen (when HP already has a full VGA model, as well as some of their competitors). Final analysis was "surprisingly good machine- now if HP could only get it right".

2) correct, it seems.

Dear Problems With Fingerprints

[Letter]

Dear Problems With Fingerprints,

There's much debate about whether fingerprints are the primary keys to human identity. Law enforcement has based over 100 years of work on the premise that no two humans, anywhere, ever, have the same fingerprints. Some people say this is hogwash. Let's leave out, for now, the fact that it's not possible to verify this claim at all: there's no way to test all living people and compare their prints. This is troubling, but a bit of a red herring. More troubling is the way fingerprinting is practiced. There's a case in Philly right now where a federal judge has prohibited the prosecution from testifying that two fingerprints "match" -- and Tom Ridge wants fingerprints added to U.S. passports. From this article:

But in 1993, a Supreme Court decision required judges to take a more active role in deciding what scientific evidence to admit. In the case of fingerprints, the so-called "Daubert" guidelines would lead to questions such as: Has the practice of fingerprint identification been adequately tested? What's the error rate? Are there standards and controls?

The answers, respectively, are "no," "no one knows," and "no."

Letter

Pocket PC's are dead

[Szentigrade]

I just read a recent report that said smartphones with pocket PC capabilities, sale numbers rose an average of 120% while smartphones have only gained about 6% growth. IMO pocket PC's wont be around much longer, it just makes more sense to include the features in cellphones, i really dont want to pay $300+ for somthing im most likely going to keep notes and addresses in. And i think its clear which side the public is on. Death to pocket PC's, long live the smartphone!

Re:Pocket PC's are dead

[stratjakt]

Every smartphone I've used has been a pile of shit.

I have a Kyocera 7135 with Palm OS. Sometimes it crashes when the phone rings, you go to answer it and see "seg fault" and the thing frozen up.

The battery life is absolute shit. I'll charge it all day at my office, leave today about 6PM, and the battery will be nearly dead by the time I get in tomorrow at 9(ish).

For the first couple of days I had fun playing with it. But realistically, it's not useful for anything. I write notes and schedule on paper, and I carry a little black book since not even the fucking phone directory works right.

Oh, and the phone "application" can't use the touch screen. Well, it can, but it wont. If you touch the screen, a modal dialog (meaning you cant do anything, even answer the phone) will pop up telling you you cant touch the screen. You have to clear it with the undersized OK button.

Jack of all trades, master of none.

Besides, people want tiny cell phones (razor phones), and they want big bright hi-res screens on their PDAs (VGA or higher).

They also want a keyboard option, or at least enough touchpad surface to be able to form letters, another gripe I have with my phone.

Even if I got the hang of graffiti, there's a scratchpad about the size of a pygmy's thumbnail
on which to form the letters. Absolutely uselsss.

I can't get it to behave as a wireless modem for my laptop for the life of me, hell it's nearly impossible to do anything 'net enabled with it. This is probably more a criticism of Verizon than Kyocera, but who knows. My point is, my boss pissed away 650 bucks per employee for these things, thinking they'd be useful to a bunch of techies who are constantly travelling. I'm the only one still using it, being too poor to replace it on my own dime.

Nah, if you want a shitty camera, a shitty phone, a shitty pda, and a shitty gaming platform, buy a "next-gen" N-Gage. Me, I can't wait until this thing dies, and they discontinue it, so I can expense out a real phone that actually makes phone calls, and a real "Personal Digital Assistant" that actually assists in doing stuff.

I'll bite

[Crag]

You can't easily synchronize a Mead notepad with your central database over a wireless connection in a coffee shop.

You can't do an automatic search-and-replace on a notepad.

You can't write in various computer languages and then have the notepad render or compile the language to its target format(s). Think web design, for example.

You can't passphrase-protect your notepad.

The notepad has zero levels of undo.

The question is not whether a PDA is useful, but whether the uses it has are ones you want when you're away from a regular computer. If not, that doesn't make you a ludite any more than not driving in a metropolitan city does.

Re:I'm a luddite

[angle_slam]

I had a Palm (Clie, actually) but found that I never used it. But when my employer gave me a Blackberry, I realized that a PDA can be useful. Pushing email is rather Blackberry specific, but a lot of other features are available on other PDAs:

• Syncing between computer address book and PDA. I have my full address book with me at all times. And if I add a new one, it automatically gets entered into the computer.
• Writing notes to myself. I'm a bit ADD. If I wrote a reminder to myself, I'd probably forget about the note, much less what I wrote in the note. With the PDA, I can set an appointment or a task with the note. After I sync, Outlook (or whatever your PIM is) will remind me about it later.
• Writing notes to myself for use outside of work. For example, I'll just type out a grocery list in Outlook, and get it synced to my Blackberry. No more wondering where my grocery list is.

I think the best part of the Blackberry is the keyboard. When I had my Clie, I hated using Graffiti. The thumb keyboard is much more handy.