What's good in plamtops these days?

[The Mad Monk]

I'm looking to buy a palmtop fairly shortly, and need something inexpensive and dependable.

Apparently Palm has become very undependable since the last time I looked at this, back in 2000. The Amazon reviews are downright scarey.

Don't need a camera, or a phone, or an mp3 player. Color would be nice, but not required. I do need PC connectivity and either high memory or expandable memory.

So...what's good?

[Asher]

iPaqs

[Asher]

What's your price range?

The iPaq rz1715 is an "entry level model":

http://www.brighthand.com/article/iPAQ_rz1715_Review

The impression I got the first time I picked up the rz1715 is it's surprisingly small and light. There aren't a lot of handhelds I think you could carry in your shirt pocket, but this is one of them.

HP iPAQ rz1715The rz1715 is 4.5 inches tall, 2.75 inches wide, and 0.5 inches thick (114 mm by 70 mm by 13 mm). It weighs just 4.2 ounces (120 g).

This iPAQ has the standard screen for a Pocket PC, which is 240 by 320 pixels, typically called QVGA. You can get screens with four times this resolution (VGA), but you'll have to pay about twice the rz1715's price to get it. And this screen is just fine for displaying images from your latest vacation or letting you read Microsoft Word documents.

Unlike older Pocket PCs, this screen can be easily switched between portrait and landscape modes.

This iPAQ runs Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition on a 203 MHz Samsung S3C2410 processor.

I've heard many people say that this processor is too slow, but I disagree strongly. True, it isn't up to the job of running the most cutting-edge multimedia applications, but other than that it does just fine.

The standard applications like the address book and the calendar respond virtually instantaneously. This is important, as they are the ones first-time handheld owners generally use the most.

If the rz1715 has a weakness, it's in the amount of RAM it has: just 32 MB, of which 27 MB is available to the user.

Pocket PCs use RAM both as a place to store applications, and a place to hold them when they are running. As such, 27 MB is barely adequate.

Fortunately, the rz1715 has a couple of other options for storing applications. It has a 10 MB File Store, which is sort of like a tiny hard drive. Files and applications stored here won't be erased if the device runs out of power or undergoes a hard reset.

Obviously 10 MB isn't a lot, but the rz1715 also includes an SD card slot for storing additional files and applications.

Prices for SD cards have dropped tremendously in recent months, especially if you buy them online. I'd suggest you get at least a 64 MB card, which will set you back about $20, or even less if you work at finding a good deal.

This isn't going to be a complete review of all the applications that are part of Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC. However, I'm sure most of the people who are reading this are considering buying a rz1715 as their first handheld, so I'll go over some of what it can do.

Calendar The two biggest uses for handhelds are as an address book and calendar. Of course, the rz1715 comes with very good applications to handle these jobs. In addition, these can be synchronized with Outlook on your PC so you don't have to maintain two separate lists. The device comes with a copy of Outlook 2002, by the way, in case you don't have it already.



The email application can also be synchronized with Outlook. I do a lot of email reading and writing on my handhelds, and the rz1715's spell checker comes in very handy.

Of course, this application supports attachments. Most of these can be opened with apps that come on this handheld. There's also a free Adobe Acrobat viewer available if you get a lot of PDF files.



Even if you don't do any kind of wireless networking, you can still access the Internet with the rz1715. When your Pocket PC is in its cradle, it can use the Internet connection of the PC it is hooked up to.

Pocket IE in LandscapePocket Internet Explorer is like a miniature version of the desktop app. It allows you to visit almost any web site and supports important web standards like JavaScript, CSS, SSL, and more.

However, I have to admit, surfing the Web on your handheld when it's sitting right next to your PC is pretty much pointless. Still, you'll be happy Pocket Internet Explorer is there if you get a Wi-Fi card.

In addition to being able to synchronize with Outlook on your desktop, Inbox can directly download email from a POP3 or IMAP4 account. This means you can download your personal email to your iPAQ and read it when you are away from your computer. You can even write replies that will be sent when your put your handheld back in its cradle.

I found the battery life of the rz1715 to be above average. In my tests, it lasted for over 7 hours on a single charge. That's enough to let you go for days and days without a recharge.

This is a good thing, as this model doesn't include a swappable battery. If you start running out of power, you will need to plug it in to recharge.

The rz1715 has gotten a bad reputation in the handheld industry for being unattractive, slow, and lacking sufficient storage capacity.

After having used this handheld, I have to disagree with the people who are giving it a bad rap. It is quite fast enough for its target market, and the addition of an inexpensive SD card bumps its storage capacity up considerably. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but this device, at the very least, is dull looking rather than ugly.

First-time handheld buyers should really consider the rz1715 for its decent feature set at a good price.

[Asher]

The rz1715 is $249.99 at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...onics&n=507846




Or did you want cheaper?

[The Mad Monk]

Thanks, Ash.

I was hoping to keep it under $150, especially now that I'm unemployed and just learned that the New Jersey tax office took $300 more out of my bank account than it should have last month.

[Asher]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6501546&type=product&productCategoryId=cat01004&id=1077629064002

[The Mad Monk]

Ah, but you see, that's the scary one...

Lated 3 weeks, then went dead., April 30, 2005

Reviewer: Stephen H. Holanov (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

Mine worked for about 3 weeks and then it wouldn't turn on. From reading the other reviews it looks like maybe 7 out of 8 have a serious manufacturing defect.

Disposable product with an indisposable price, April 17, 2005

Reviewer: Robert L. Crepeau "craypoe.com" (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

$150.00 is entirely too much to pay for a product that doesn't last two months. I went to turn it on one day and it wouldn't. It has a lot of great features and functions but they're worthless if the thing doesn't work. Going by what the other reviewers have stated, this is a common occurence.

battery life sucks!, April 16, 2005
Reviewer: Betsy McCullen "betzie6" (Upstate New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
i 'upgraded' (???) to this from my m105 and what a DISAPPOINTMENT!! the battery was dead before i used it for half a day. i could use my m105 for WEEKS before i needed to replace batteries. i took it back within 2 days. battery life is very important when you aren't anywhere where you can sync it or recharge the battery...all that hard work GONE!

Zire 31, April 12, 2005
Reviewer: S. Patel (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
I have always protected my Palm in a full leather case and never dropped it or spilled anything on it, yet it still died on me. I just won't turn on and no reset applications have worked. As I looked into this further, I realized that many people have this problem. Just research everywhere, not just this site for reviews. Good luck.

90 Day Warranty - Not Long Enough, April 12, 2005
Reviewer: L. Howell - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
I used the device less than 10 times in the first 90 days due to a cross country move. But wouldn't you know it, it stopped powering on right after the 90 day warranty expired.

I tried both the soft and hard resets as well as various other suggestions found in the online forums.

The cost of repair is almost as much as buying new.

pretty much worthless (because of battery problem), April 4, 2005
Reviewer: veteran Palm user (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
I've had the same battery problem that several other people have reported. The thing has repeatedly died within a day or two of being recharged. I've never had this problem with a Palm product before.

Great for awhile, and then it died., March 26, 2005
Reviewer: I. Fernie "Reasonable consumer" (Vancouver, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
This is my third Palm (III, VII) and now Zire 31. Bought it because it was all that I needed - plenty of space for contacts and scheduling. I don't use it for music, expansion cards, etc. Love the color screen, functionality, size & weight. LOVE the battery life - never have to use my wall plug in. If you sync w/a computer with any regularity (~once/week), you can use the Zire 31 all you want w/o any worry of it's battery dying. However, mine recently died (just wouldn't turn on after having full battery power previous day and after attempting hard reset). Long story short, cost is $75 to repair if it's beyond 60 or 90 days old (can't remember which) -mine was just 6 months old. So, I can get it fixed - no problem, but it just stinks to spend half of the purchase price over again after only 6 months of use. I am now considering an upgrade to a phone/PDA (i.e. the Treo) and, if so, will add the service contract this time. Grumble... I wish you could just pay a bit more up front and then count on a higher quality product, or less money for repair... like my Honda. By the way, if you're like me, you rarely buy extended contracts because you figure that if the life isn't acceptible (at least a year of use in this case), then the business (Palm in this case) will agree with your reasonable argument that the product should have lasted longer, and will then offer you a discounted or free repair. Palm has not allowed this to be easily accomplished. So, good for them, bad for me, and maybe you. After writing this comment, I'm beginning to think about switching to a different brand - maybe a Dell to match my computer. After all, customer service is important.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/B0001KWGOW/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/102-6266281-3972164?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=electronics

Palm seems to have gone to crap.

[Solly]

Essential feature: spellchecker.

[The Mad Monk]

Not if I'm the only one using it.