Rating: 
Summary: Sleek Tech with a eye on Expansion.
Review: Mr. Bits here to give you the straight dope. What we have here: Great screen, 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 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 the rate of Jethro Clampett. What you don't have: The ease of use when sinking that you will with the Palm Products.(think long and hard about this if you are a computer newbie). The connection on the cradle will worry you more than a Porsche hood ornament held on with duct tape. In conclusion, forget all I've said(despite my truth). You're not here for facts. You wanna look cool. 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 technology may give you the self confidence needed to fill out a personals ad on the web.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Choice If
Review: NOTICE: The IPAQ does not support "Open Host Control" USB.To check this out right click mycomputer->properties->Device Manager, then look under the USB icon. If you have that kind of USB you will not be able to sync with the IPAQ through usb. I have been syncing with a serial since and it is terrible. It takes approximately 30 min. to sync an mp3, and at least 20 min. to sync avantgo. If you have an open host controller USB I would not advise getting the IPAQ. Overall, I have to say that I am very happy with my IPAQ since I can sync at work with a USB. I have owned the palm IIIc and the Handspring Prism. First the Prism, simply, not worth the money. The only advantage of the prism over the IIIc is the expansion port but the components are so expensive that it isn't worth it. So given the choice I would choose the IIIc over the prism. The screens for all intents and purposes are equal and you will not be able to tell the difference most of the time. My primary reason for getting the IPAQ over any palm type device would be the unit's speaker. I purchased all of my pda's to make sure that I am on schedule but the palm type devices don't have a loud enough speaker to warn me of a meeting. The IPAQ is loud, extremely loud. I also found the palm type devices to be somewhat limiting. In approximately one day you will know the entire machine and you will also know that, that is about all you can do with it. However, on the other had the IPAQ is way more complicated to use and to set up but I feel that if there is something unique that I need to do it will be able to do it. Before buying the IPAQ I read many reviews and many of them said that Compaq's service was terrible. I must say that I do not agree. As a matter of fact I found there service to be A++ and the operators to be extremely polite and patient. Also DO NOT buy this unit to play mp3's. It will be maxed out in about 4 standard mp3's because the IPAQ allocates part of it's memory for running programs so in reality you only have about 14 mgs of space to work with for your files. Also don't plan on upgrading the memory for the ipaq since the 64 meg cards cost $310 + $50 (prices from Compaq) for the expansion jacket. One more note about the available software. There is not as much available software for the IPAQ (or any other PocketPc) as for the Palm devices. So if you want to do something highly specialized plan on spending more money after you get your pocketpc. I know that I gave alot of cons and little if any pros, eventhough I said I was happy with my unit. I did this primarly because when you are spending [this much] on anything, the cons are way more important.
Rating:
Summary: Airport Blues
Review: A couple of months ago I was sat at a UK airport waiting for a flight to Germany. I decided to stroll into the airport electronics shop and immediately noticed a cute little number sat on it's cradle - I'd fallen in love. I swiftly pulled out my credit card and purchased the Sexy Silver Compaq iPaq H3650. I'm a Psion man myself, but ever since that chance meeting in a remote airport, I've never looked back. The iPaq is more than just another PDA, it a MP3 player, a picture viewer and a ebook reader plus more. One thing I like most about the iPaq is its ability to synchronise perfectly with Outlook. Psion products I've had in the past always seemed to miss information or were difficult to setup. The iPaq was easy to setup and synchronisation through the serial or infrared ports is a breeze. I'm left handed, but still find the handwriting recognition software extremely accurate. I would recommend the iPaq everytime - If you can get your hands on one.
Rating:
Summary: No confusion here
Review: For those of you are trying to find this very hard to get PDA, Keep in mind that the H3650 and H3630 are the same device. The H3630 model is sent to direct re-salers (i.e. Best Buy, Circuit City, Comp USA, etc), and the H3650 is sent to the online retailers. However, I've noticed on-line that you will see both. I've called compaq to confirm this. Good luck, and good shopping! I've been sold!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely great!
Review: This is great! Being used 3 generations of Palm, 2 Psions, i found the CompaQ absolutely stands out! Fast, bright colorful, let me do lots more, reasonably priced! My thanks to CompaQ for making such a great pocket PC! SOME TIPS TO SHARE: for friends who want to expand by jackets for CF cards, think buying the PCMCIA jacket instead. There are PCMCIA card adaptors for CF cards. So you only need one PCMCIA jacket to serve both purposes!
Rating:
Summary: Some useful pointers
Review: I've had my IPAQ for several months now and am extremely satisfied with it. Over that time I've learned a few things that might be helpful to to other users, so rather than write another general review, I thought I would post a few suggestions on this, especially for those that may be making the transition from the Palm platform to the iPAQ, (as I did). The iPAQ saves individual Notes that you make in the sub-directory where you create them in the Notes app area. This results in them initially having a name such as "Work1, Work2, etc. (i.e., if you have a Note directory called Work). This is not very helpful so you have to rename them by doing a "tap and hold" on the file name, and giving it the new name. Otherwise you end of with lots of Notes with non-descript names with numbers at the end. Not too helpful. For better power management, watch the screen brightness setting which you set from the Settings menu. You can also hit the "Q" button and pop up the Q menu and get to it from there. A lot of times you can reduce the backlight setting and save power and extend battery life. Otherwise running it at the highest intensity you'll only have about 3 hours. Also, in direct sunlight, where the iPAQ works great but the Palm and Casio units wash out totally, you can set it on "power save" mode If you use the digital recorder function, be careful what you have the settings here. The iPAQ will record anywhere from 8,000 Hz, Mono, 2KB/sec, to 44,100 Hz, 16-bit, stereo, 172 KB/sec. You'll find that even the 22,050 Hz, stereo settings will cause even short notes to take up 300K of space. After a few of these you're out of memory and you'll wonder why. The default setting of 8-bit mono is okay so I just leave it there. This setting is also hard to find and can be found under Settings\Personal\Input\Options. I've found my iPAQ to be the best of the Pocket PCs out there. Hope these suggestions help.
Rating:
Summary: I love it !
Review: I got my "Dream come true" IPaq about 5 days ago. As an old Palm pilot user who upgraded to an HP Jornada, this Compaq device beats them ALL easily out of competition. This device can truly be anything , anywhere, anytime - Given you install the correct hardware and software to it ;) The speaker is really amazing when playing an MP3 , it's just like a miniture boombox. Plug in your headphones and you got an MP3 player ! Download the Pocket TV software and you can watch movies on this baby anywhere ! I personally thought that alone was worth the price of this gadget, but that is not all it is capable of. It can handle almost all the necesarry work that is needed to be done on a laptop or desktop computer. Preinstalled software of Word ,Outlook ,and the Pocket Street makes this device really involved in your everyday lifestyle. Battery is impressing. It survived a whole 15-hour workday with me of average use. (No Videos) All in all , I take my hats OFF to compaq for creating such a great product ;)
Rating:
Summary: Super performance and display, OK expandability
Review: Compared to anything else out there. This is at least 2X faster, perceptably, than anything else as provided by the Intel Strongarm 206Mhz processor it uses. The screen is very sharp and controls layout is excellent (stereo jack, speaker/controller, etc. Issues: * I wish it had an integrated compact flash slot (you need to get a sleave which adds bulk). But, I suppose Compaq had to make some tradeoff's and it's OK. What they should have done is included the compactflash sleave with the unit instead of the useless plastic it came with (it makes an OK ashtray). * The synch/power cradle is a bit clugy but it's pretty. You need to get a traveling kit (power, synch,etc) * The power adaptor is large. I wish they would standardise these friggin things so you don't need a suitcase full of them. Overall, this is one super product and I use it every day. Also, you MUST get Microsoft Pocket Streets. This is the best applciation out there for a pocketPC.
Rating: 
Summary: Compaq Customer Service is terrible, unit defective
Review: Many of these units have been turning up with a display issue that renders them useless. Compaq would rather try and ship more defective units into the channel than take care of those of us who already bought one and are without a working unit. Shame on Compaq, I wouldn't take my chances on buying one of these unless you can afford to be without it for a couple of months while you wait for them to fix it.
Rating:
Summary: The best "available", but not perfect
Review: I say "available" because people are paying up ... retail in auctions, there are so few in stock anywhere. I've looked at a number of earlier WinCE units, as well as trying several Palm generations, but wasn't impressed by anything up till now. The Palm's are good units, but limited in their interoperation with the applications I use every day. The MS PocketPC OS and applications work extremely well with their full size counterparts. The screen is amazingly bright and crisp, and the form is slim and sharp looking. a couple of annoyances: The stylus holder accepts the stylus in either direction (left-right, not top-down), but will jam in the last inch if you put it in backwards. Why not use a design that would only fit in one way, or make it symetrical so it didn't matter? you jam this stylus in good, and it's never coming out, not without a trip to service. I'd rather have seen a Palm compatible stylus holder, so one of the excellent aftermarket ones could be used (Pentopia makes a stylus/pen combination that rocks!) The data connection on the stand is a flimsy design that makes an uncomfortable "chunk" sound everytime you connect it. I don't know how well it's going to last. the hard plastic slip case that comes with it has no face cover, so it doesn't protect the screen, and it latches into place only lightly. a quick movement will launch the unit out of the case. So the "protective" cover actually provides a negative level of protection, creating a situation where damage is certain to happen. Better to buy the leather case, looks nice and much better protection. The voice recorder button is placed in the perfect place to bet hit accidentally, and often. I delete odd recordings almost every day. ActiveSync has a long way to go to become a mature application. It works, but it's very limited in capabilities. built in lithium ion batter makes for a nice slim unit, but what happens if it needs replacing? The case is sealed. The system reminder alarms are LOUD, no amount of adjusting volume settings seemed to change it. I had to turn them all off, otherwise anytime a reminder went off, the entire office would hear it. all in all, the best handheld PC available now, but the market has a lot of maturing to do as of yet.
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