Rating: 
Summary: overpriced
Review: I recently bought a HP Jornado thinking it had all the bells and whistles. I was going to use it for pharmacy programs. When I started using it downloads were slow and you had to buy everything. I was able to download a few demo programs for a month free. Most were of only fair quality. I never got the excel program to work. The battery constantly went dead and lost all the programs. The system was slow retieving information. I dropped it at work and sent it to HP. They wanted over 250 dollars to fix it. Actually that was the good news. Another pharmacist told me to buy an 89 dollar visor. Now I can find free programs that are better than the ones I was going to buy. It also has a soft case to protect it which the Jornado didn't have unless you wanted to buy it. The OS system is much faster than the Windows system. HP customer service wasn't very good either. This experience will make me think twice before I buy any more HP products. All I got was over 400 dollars worth of problems!!
Rating:
Summary: Hewlett Packard Support
Review: Just bought HP computer system ... [and a] Jornada 568 ... expecting compatability. Jornada software crashed HP computer.
Called tech support (NO 800 #) spent approximately 2 hrs on phone calls trying to get support. System restore on computer failed. Rather than send me a restore disk (would have if I would pay $$$) they would ship me a box to send it off for repair. I had system one day! If this is the kind of support HP offers, I would not buy any system from them. Before anyone buys a HP product check tech support availability. From my experience it is lousy! I am returning the Jornada and computer and willing to pay restocking fees, there has to be a supplier out there who will provide customer care.
Rating: 
Summary: A good PDA, if you can stand the size.
Review: I've had my Jornada for about a year now, and while I don't use it all the time, I at least always have it with me. It comes with fairly useful applications already on it, making it very useable straight out of the box -- no need to download several programs just to get it to do all the things you want it to. In fact, the only other programs I've put on it have been games. With things like Word, Excel and Outlook functionality, in a Windows dominated work world it's good to be able to drag and drop and not worry about having to figure out if you'll need to convert it or download a seperate application to your PDA just to view it. It also has MS Money on it, which I had never used before. I now use it all the time, as it lets me keep track of finances, and if I'm out shopping I don't need to call the bank to figure out how much money I can spend. The battery life is fairly good -- the last time I charged it was about a week or two ago and I still have about 75%, though I haven't been using it much lately. The screen is pretty bright, and I haven't had a problem using it in any lighting condition. The writing recognition is far superior to that of a Palm Pilot, which I had before my Jornada. When I took the Jornada out of the box and ran through set up, one of the first things I tried was to write. Surprisingly (after trying to do the Palm Pilot grafiti I was used to), I found that my normal handwriting was recognized. The Jornada is pretty flexible -- it does the standard email/text document/caluculator functionality of a PDA, but also offers a lot more. It can store and play mp3s or wma's (windows media format), eliminating the need for a seperate mp3 player. Voice record is good for taking notes if you don't have the time write or catching that bit of song you'd like to look up later, just make sure you set the quality to one of the higher settings -- the default is pretty scratchy. While the Jornada is a bit heavier than most PDAs these days, it also makes it more durable. I am apt to throw my electronics in a purse or backpack (and with my Jornada, it's more often my backpack), and the included screen cover protects it nicely. I have bent the case once, when it was in my backpack without any protection and I forgot. I dropped the backpack (all 30 pounds of it) on the floor, and the back of the Jornada dented a bit, though it hasn't affected the functionality at all (and that was about six months ago). Overall, I've been very happy with it. I've never had it lose data or freeze up, it reminds me when I have to be somewhere, and it keeps me from bouncing checks. All without having to add anything on.
Rating: 
Summary: Super price! Super PDA
Review: This PDA is great, reliable, fast, average in memory size, and above all, worth your $$$.
Its the best buy i could have ever made.
The USB cradle works marvelous.
Rating:
Summary: Modest machine, Big help
Review: I was looking for a fairly simple machine without too many extras I'd never use. I settled on the Jornada 547, and couldn't be happier. It's perfect for someone who wants a PPC for organization, note-taking, writing, and like simple programs. If you're looking for a PPC for digital music or intense image work, I suggest you keep looking. But if all you want is something to replace the piles of loose papers cluttering your notebooks and planners, it is perfect!
Rating:
Summary: Reliable and Indispensible
Review: I've been using my Jornada 548 for about 10 months or so. I use it every single day and it is rarely far from my grasp. It has performed beautifully with no noteworthy problems. In the past several months I've been away from home a good deal of time, and my Jornada has been right there with me. Naturally, it has done all the typical things you expect from a PDA such as keeping my schedule, contacts, email, tasks, and day-to-day details of living. But it does oh so much more. I have several CF Memory cards for my Jornada, but 90% of what I use daily is kept on a single 256Mb card. I store a large personal photo album, several hours worth of high-quality MP3 music, many excellent games, plus a boatload of other documents and applications on my Jornada, all on a single memory card. I have the HP Jornada digital camera, as well. This is definately one of my favorite accessories. I plug it in to the standard CompactFlash slot, and the excellent software (included with the camera) automatically comes up on the screen. In a flash, my Jornada turns into a quality digital camera, ready to snap photos at the touch of a button. The highest image resolution is 640x480, but I find this more than adequate for most of my needs. One drawback is that the camera doesn't perform well in low-light conditions, having no flash capability. But when there is adequate light, or especially outdoors, it takes very beautiful pictures, easily rivaling some of the top standalone digital cameras at the same resolution. Since the camera occupies the memory slot, you must store the pictures in main memory initially, but it's a simple matter to move your pictures to a storage card when it's convenient. MP3 playback is outstanding using the included Windows Media Player for PocketPC. It's even better if you upgrade the WMP to version 7.1. WMP 7.1 can also handle other audio and video formats, and is "skinnable" with different skins available from the Microsoft website. I have a Socket DPC (Digital Phone Card) which allows me to connect to the internet via my mobile phone (a Samsung 3500). This has been a wonderful feature for me, since it allows me to collect and send email, converse with friends and family via Instant Messages, and surf the WWW....from anywhere, at anytime. It's like carrying the whole world around in your purse. The downside of connecting to the Internet via a mobile phone is the connection speed. At this time, most wireless connections are limited to 14kbps (i.e., snail speed). Big pain if you're in a big hurry, but if you don't mind the wait it's tolerable. The speed isn't really an issue for email or IMs, only for surfing. When I'm at home or near a phone jack elsewhere, I use a Pretec PocketPC 56k modem for a much faster connection. The absolute best accessory for my Jornada is the Targus Stowaway keyboard. It folds up to a size only slightly larger than the Jornada itself, and folds out to a full-size keyboard. Indispensible. This is where it gets fun. All of this stuff fits perfectly in my purse (and it's a fairly small purse). No matter where I am or what I'm doing, within mere moments I can unfold the keyboard, slip my Jornada onto its cradle, connect to my mobile phone and be on the Internet. True, there are other PDAs that can do that...but few can do it so elegantly and easily. I've done this at restaurants, in bars, in airports, in the car, in stores...all over. I've used it in stores to comparision shop for a product I've seen, at airports to check on flights, etc. Because of the Jornada's flip-top cover, I don't need any extra, bulky carrying case for my PDA. I just close the cover and slip it into a slot in my purse. It's always at my fingertips, which is important to me since I use it for just about everything from shopping lists to bank accounts, schedules to contacts, and...well, everything. Honestly, the flip-top cover is a really big selling-point for me. I even got a couple in different colors to give my Jornada a little spice. It is so much more attractive than other PDAs I've seen, and much better protected. On the technical side of things...sure, it's slower than most other PocketPCs on the market now. If you compare the speed of opening applications to, for instance, an iPaq, you will notice a difference. I wouldn't call the Jornada sluggish, though, and unless your a nut for speed, I very much doubt you'd find it troublesome. This is really only an issue if you expect to run processor-intensive games or multi-media applications (it does just fine with normal MP3s and MPEG video, etc.) If your looking for the ultimate high-power game machine, this isn't it. I run several very good games though, such as Pocket Gambler (Ziosoft) and Pocket Hustler (Godot) with excellent performance. The graphics are simply beautiful and gameplay is smooth. The screen is hard to see outdoors, its true, but if you wait a few seconds while the screen brightens up, and then shade the screen from the sun, it is workable. Not ideal, but workable. I've found this most troublesome when in the car on a bright, sunny day. Something to think about. It weighs a bit more than most, too, but I actually find the extra weight comforting. It feels solid and doesn't slip easily out of hand. The rubberized trim on the outside edge of the Jornada also adds to this, making it the most slip-proof PDA in its class. Some have complained about the stylus or its location (recessed in the flip-top cover). Others love it. I'm one of the latter. I like the wider feel of the Jornada stylus as opposed to the ultra-thin ones found in most other PDAs. I find its location in the flip-top cover very convenient 75% of the time. The only time I find it inconvenient is when I remove the cover (to play a horizontally-oriented game, usually). With the cover off, there's no place to put the stylus. A minor detail, of course, but worth noting. One thing I miss on the Jornada is a directional fingerpad. Again, this mostly relates to game-playing and isn't missed at all for most other applications. The Jornada does have, however, an up-down navigation wheel on the side, which doubles as an action button when you press it. I really like the location of the wheel and the easy motion. It's only really useful in the left hand, so it could be troublesome for lefties. But for us righties, it's perfect. The "record" button, also on the left side, is another nice feature. The location is convenient for recording a quick voice memo, but isn't particularly prone to accidental activation. A good design. My Jornada has proven very durable and reliable. It has been dropped a couple times on a hard surface, and came through without so much as a mark. No major glitches or problems. Naturally, there have been a few minor "blurps" here and there. But I've come to expect that with any kind of computer, big or small. I did encounter a problem once that made me decide to do a hard reset, but later I discovered I did so uneccessarily and could have fixed the problem with a few taps, had I known how. Furthermore, that particular problem was with third-party software, and not the Jornada per say. Luckily, I had a recent backup and didn't have to lose anything in the process. (Backup, backup, backup!) I do a soft reset of my Jornada every once in awhile, maybe once every couple days. That's just me, and knowing how Windows has a way of "leaking" sometimes. Resetting in this way doesn't harm data or applications in the least and only takes a few seconds while it restarts. As long as you remember to save your work and close open applications, this is a good way to keep the memory glitch-free. I use a task manager/screen organizer called WIS Bar. It sits on the top of your screen and has convenient, familiar icons for closing applications and so forth. I highly recommend this for PocketPC users. It makes managing open applications a snap. Look for it on the web. I'm sure it's obvious I'm a big fan of the Jornada 548. My Jornada and I are inseperable, and I quite honestly wouldn't trade it for the top-of-the-line iPaq if you paid me. That said, I am extremely eager to try the new Jornada 648. The 648 model wasn't out yet when I got my 548, but from what I've read it sounds wonderful. Because of my positive experiences with my Jornada 548, I would definately consider upgrading to the 648 in the future. But even so, I am very content with my Jornada for now and indefinately. If you're looking for a solid, dependable workhorse of a PDA...I believe the Jornada 548 may be worth a serious look, even over some of the newer, faster devices. - Heather
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre at best
Review: I bought this machine to use in a land surveying environment. My goal was to load CAD drawings on the machine and then use it to send construction staking information to the job site for my field surveying crews to use. I added a CAD program to it for transferring drawings, but the whole process was not successful at all. First, the program and the machine would not handle the drawings. It was slow and got hung up all the time. Second, you simply could not see the screen in the open. I reset the contrast and display for outside and it simply would not work. All in all, it is a good idea, but it just will not work. And this is from a fan of Hewlett Packard.
Rating:
Summary: Nonreplaceable battery
Review: I've had my 548 for a little over a year. On a recent plane trip, a flight attendant spilled coffee on my pocket PC and i thought it was history. You can imagine how surprised i was that it came back when everything dried out! The only problem i have is the battery won't hold the charge - so i lose all the entries if it's off the cradle for more than 8 hours. I contacted HP to get a new battery (customer support - and i use the term loosely - took more than 24 hours to respond to the email) but it seems that the battery is not replaceable by anyone but an HP service center. And the number for the US servce is on the west coast - and i'm not! I spent over 45 minutes on hold between two attempts to contact the so-called service center with no success to date. Moral is - don't buy HP unless you really don't need the machine anyway!
Rating:
Summary: The MP3 books champ
Review: There is space on this Jornada for lots of books from
Audible.com after I got the 256M Viking compact flash card
and a cassette tape converter for playing it through my
car stereo. This set up is terrific for long distance driving.
No discs or tapes to fool with. If you drive lots of 300 plus
mile trips consider this. Other than that the software will
synch your MS Outlook on your desktop with your Jornada and
you can pack and go! I havent used a modem with it yet but the
software and hardware work great thus far! 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST
Review: I previously owned an Palm Pilot and thought it was pretty good until the screen froze up. Because of this I did some research on the different typed of handheld on the market. Once I completed the search I found for my purpose the HP Jornada 548 would do all I needed it to do and more. The price was the same as the palm 505 but it had more functions to offer the user. The Palm Pilot only has 2mb of memory vs the HP Jornada 548 which has 32 mg of memory. Which one would you buy? I do own the Jornada 548 and I must say I am more than satisfied with my selection.
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