Rating: 
Summary: Great Product, Horrible Manufacturing
Review: Not surprisingly, Compaq's shoddy manufacturing has seriously hurt what could have been a perfect unit. Aside from the problems with the power, the stylus slot, and the display, Compaq chose to throw in their useless "add-ins" to Windows CE. These clutter up the installation of the OS just as with all of their desktop and notebook products taking up space and in most cases causing unneeded problems. I've had my Ipaq for 48 days now, the unit has been in Compaq's repair process for over 13 of those days. Seriously, I'm an extremely patient person and believe that I have given them more than a chance to redeem themselves - I've asked repeatedly for them to replace my Ipaq since it has now been sent in for repairs 3 times but was denied because it wasn't for the same problem on each occasion. Bottom line - it will cost an additional $50 for a 1 year CarePaq (ScarePaq) to allow them to replace the unit when there are problems. I would say it's worth the fee but I can all but guarantee that the replacement(s) will have problems as well. This product is in such demand because it truly is (read should be) the greatest PocketPC out there. At this point, Compaq doesn't care that they don't work because they are making revenue...wait until they realize the amount of money they've spent shipping these things back and forth for repairs.
Rating: 
Summary: Quality Issues? For a few....
Review: Some folks here have posted about quality control problems with the iPAQ 36xx series. There were some problems with units that shipped early after the release of this product. However, Compaq has been doing a great job of addressing the concerns. They have also been replacing units that suffer the worst problems (screen flipping, power button issues). They have also been offering refunds to those who are not satisfied. I've had mine for 6 months and haven't had these problems. I'm happy with my device. It's a lot easier to use on a plane than my laptop, I can check my e-mail in just a couple of minutes, I can browse full websites (not clips) wirelessly. Can your Palm do that?
Rating:
Summary: Compaq iPaq (Pocket PC) vs HP Jornada HPC
Review: I have owned handheld devices for 10 yrs. My 1st was HP 95LX. I found (as I am writing a technical book), that the keyboard was an important addition. My latest handheld was the HP jornada 690. It was very useful, but the OS was not stable & would crash occasionally (necessitating reformatting of the CF card!!). I bought the ipaq 3630 pocket pc as it seemed the handhelds were 'going out of style' so to speak, & I wouldn't have as wide of choices of 3rd party software or updates available to my existing applications (if you can't beat them, join them). I think the ipaq is the best of the pocket pc pdas available. Its very fast, the OS is much more stable. The handwriting recognition is very good & you really don't need the extra HW recognition pgm that comes with it 'Transcriber', as Transcriber is slower too. The battery lasts about 6 hours. (1-2 hours less than the standard Jornada battery). The best settings on the ipaq to save your battery are: turn device off if not used for 1 min + turn off backlight if device is not used for 10 sec. I am using the ipaq with a IBM 1 gig microdrive - this allows for many reference DBs (I have about 9 of them) to be carried with me. The screen is very readable. I have not had a problem with the stylus getting stuck (as I remember to put it back in, in the correct orientation). The MP3 player or making home movies & sound (with digital camera pictures & recorded songs)are fun, but I really don't use that feature much (it uses up your battery fast), & I need this machine for work. I guess the biggest drawback to the ipaq is what is in common to all pocket pcs & palm devices, the small screen & limited word processing conversions. I have M'soft word documents that are quite long & in a outline form. They are essentially unreadable on a pocket pc even in landscape mode or even converting them to eBooks format with M'soft reader. Reformatting the hidden codes in these MS Word documents even on your desktop to fit a small screen is not a job for the faint of heart. Pocket Word is very limited. I also bought a keyboard for the ipaq, but the keyboard doesn't support 'ctrl B' for bolding, etc. Pocket Excel works great tho. Syncing with my desktop has been fine, no problems there. With the HP, I could do editing, change excel, get on the Internet etc & really not worry about getting things onto the desktop. With a Pocket PC or Palm, its best to do all your work on the desktop, then sync with the PDA. I don't bother accessing the Internet from the ipaq so I don't need a modem. If you want to use a modem tho, then you can't use a CF card or the IBM microdrive, as an expansion sleeve only allows a modem OR a card. The HP Jornada 690 (or now 720), lets you do EVERYTHING but it has a larger footprint & costs more. However I kind of miss it, but it was bigger & I am not sure software developers will support it as enthusiastically as the Pocket PCs which are more consumer oriented. As for a Palm, if you want anything more than a calender or contacts, forget it. I bought one of these too & returned it the same day. The Palm can only have 1 to max 3 applications open at a time, then it runs out of memory. I have had 9 programs open at once on the iPaq or the HP & never run out of memory & the machine doesn't come to a halt either.
Rating:
Summary: Great toy but check sync for business use
Review: Great high end toy with great screen. If you want to read your work email on your pocket pc, dont bother unless you use MS outlook at work. Bought it yesterday, and tried to sync with my Eudora email at work. NO third party software is available to sync Eudora on the desktop with outlook on the pocket pc. Eudora has no plans to support anything other than Palm OS. Microsoft has no plans to support sync with anything other than outlook. Palm OS cant read attachements(excel,word,etc), so decide between 2 evils before you buy.
Rating:
Summary: Availability
Review: I have noticed that Staples.com seems to have immediate access to these. I have not called to confirm, but the website says ~1 day delivery.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible Quality
Review: The screen went out on the first one i purchased and the buttons didn't work on the replacement one compaq sent to me. Two months later I'm waiting on my third ipaq. Three other ipaq owners i know have experienced similar problems. Advice...Buy the HP.
Rating: 
Summary: Availability
Review: I'm very interested in buying a Handheld iPAQH3650, unfortunately I have not been able to buy it because there is no availability of this product. Could you please tell me when will you have some available? I had wrote to Compaq and they told me that it has been so succesful that they can not supply the market at the same speed. Please advise about availability. I think this is a great product but to satisfy customers availability is mandatory. Thank you very much for your attention.
Rating:
Summary: This Pocket PC is great!
Review: I got this Pocket PC about a month and a half ago and I think is so cool. It is really easy to use, is very lightweight, very versatile, and fun. It is just like a regular computer it uses Windows for Pocket PC, which is similar to Windows 98 and includes all of the Windows programs such as Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, etc. With this PC you can read e-books, listen to music, take notes, and just about everything you can do on a normal computer. Accessories such as A GPS system, CF card, PC card, and a modem are available. You can also download games for this machine also. The IPAQ is definitely the best Pocket PC or Palm on the market, though it is very expensive, it is well worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Buyer beware! Serious quality issues
Review: The Ipaq has serious quality issues including dust under the screen (!!), problems with the stylus housing, and problems with some of the buttons. Compaq customer service also suffers, no doubt due to the back log of complaints on the Ipaqs already in the hands of consumers. My advice is simply not to buy one of these. Take a look at the Casio models instead. They're high-quality machines and beat the Ipaq in several areas, including screen quality, sound quality, and, most importantly, manufacturing quality....
Rating:
Summary: Sleek Tech with an eye on expandablity
Review: Mr. Bits here to give you the straight dope. What we have here: Great screen, that is actually visible in sunlight. Expandability for CF cards AND PCMCIA(PC Cards). This will prove handy if you want add-ons later, like wired/wireless modems. The speaker is built into the navigation button for suprising directional sound. You can also play mpeg video and mp3 file formats. I hooked this bad mama jama up to a pair of Microsoft amplified PC speakers and you'd swear the sound was being generated by a High Quality Sony CD-Player. You've got the ablility here to connect to your MS Outlook. At about 206Mhz of processing power, this thing is processing at 100 times faster than Jethro Clampett. What you don't have: The ease of use when synchronizing with your PC that you will with the Palm Products.(think long and hard about this if you are a computer newbie). Also no love for Mac-Heads like my buddy Andy, the cat keeper. The connection on the cradle will worry you more than a Porsche hood ornament tacked on with duct tape. With the addition of programs like Pocket Pics and Hairy Palm you can view quality Jpeg/gif images with ease. That's right. In conclusion, forget all I've said(despite my truth). You're not here for facts. You just wanna look cool. A pocket full of food stamps and a cell phone is all to common for you. Pagers are played out like boy bands in the year 2001 and something has to fill those stubby fingers when the Starbucks runs dry. You couldn't get a girl's number if you had caller ID, but hey this sleek little chunk of sexy technology may give you the self confidence needed to fill out a personals ad on the web.
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