Looking to buy a Pocket PC any suggestions?

[Mark_Venture]

Originally Posted by termite

...the problem with it was that once the battery ran out for some reason, the whole memory would reset itself...

If you run the battery down on a PocketPC device too low, the contents of RAM will be lost. This is true for any PocketPC that I know of.

Some set aside a portion of the main battery as a "reserve" just incase, and you can set the ammount of standby time the reserve provides just in case. Set it for less time, and you can run a little longer, but when the battery dies, you better head for the charger quick!! Set it for more stand by time, and you will run less time per charge, but have more time for the RAM contents to be protected before total loss.

[ravidflux]

If you're looking for a good machine for the price get a Dell Axim. I purchased an Axim X3i (400MHz, 64MB SDRAM + 64MB StrataFlash, Built-in 802.11b wifi) three months ago for $320 and boy was it a deal. This puppy runs great and I couldn't find any other PPC2K3 handhelds with integrated wireless for the price. It also has a built-in rechargable backup battery (instead of a coin doohicky) for saving the contents of RAM when the battery is dead or being changed. Buy the super-sized battery if you want to use the wi-fi for more than 2 to 2.5hrs, though. Here's a review:

http://www.brighthand.com/article/Dell_Axim_X3i_Review

[Hotrunner]

Writing this from bed via WiFi on my 4150. I was a palm user before and was considering a Sony TH55 but decided on the 4150.I think that HP have a much better balance than they used to between price,features,removable battery and the smaller sizes. Also comes with premium addition of 2003ppc that includes extras like terminal services client.

[termite]

I ordered a 4150. Should be here in a day or two.

[Gr8Golf]

Originally Posted by Mark_Venture

Question... on my iPAQ 2215, the "backup battery" is said to really be just a reserved portion of the main battery incase it runs down too low, so that the contents of RAM is not lost right a way.

Does it work differently on the 4150?

Yep, it has a removeable back plate and there is a replacement battery option. I love it - HTH.

[termite]

Got the 4150 by FedEx today. Nice little toy, and overall seems more feature packed compared to the old IPaq 37##. Wi-Fi was nice too. Got that working as soon as I figured out the MAC address of the thing (have MAC filtering on the router). Transfer speed there was just as fast as my regular computer. Question about the battery though - if I take the battery out, won't that erase whatever I have stored in the memory? Also how does the backup program work? Does everything from there get deleted aswell when I want to take the battery out? Is it possible to backup onto a SD card?

[wayne_abx]

I believe Sony is going to stop Marketing these gadgets in the US
Sony will depart handheld market

Sony this week said it will stop developing and selling new handheld digital assistants in the United States this year, leaving a declining market and striking a blow to PalmSource, whose software powers the devices

"Sony is reassessing the direction of the conventional PDA market, and Sony will not introduce any new Sony Clié handheld models in the United States this fall," a Sony spokeswoman said.

-wayne

[Mark_Venture]

Originally Posted by n00b

Yep, it has a removeable back plate and there is a replacement battery option. I love it - HTH.

Are you sure that is a backup battery and not the MAIN battery behind that door?

per HP's web site HERE "h4100 Series: Removable/rechargeable 1000 mAh, 3.6 Volt, Lithium ion battery with internal backup battery to maintain data during main battery replacement, estimated usage time of fully charged battery is up to12 hours (no wireless, no backlight), adjustable standby allows user to choose data retention time for RAM with unit run time tradeoff."

My 2215 also has a back door and removeable/replaceable battery back there, but its the MAIN battery.

The Desktop cradle/charger also has slot to charge a 2nd battery... Its cut out so that spare battery also charges while iPAQ is in the cradle.

Per HP's web site HERE the 2215 has... "Removable/rechargeable 900 mAh Lithium ion battery with internal 10-minute bridge battery to maintain data during main battery replacement, and support SD/SDIO/MMC type standard"

[NiTCOM]

Originally Posted by n00b

I just got a new iPaq 4150. It has a 2nd battery as a backup, and the primary battery itself is replaceable with a spare battery so you can use one while the other charges. They also have an extended life replacement battery. The WiFi and Bluetooth are awesome features in such a small form factor. I love walking around and connecting to all the unsecured wireless access points. It is the same size as the 1945, just tiny compared to my old iPaq 3670. I highly recommend the new iPaq's -

I like my Ipaq 4533 (?) with bluetooth and keayboard.
its very fast and just very nice to handle. kind hefty price.
I paid arou $400 for it. Oh well, you live just wants.

[Jackyl]

My asus a620 was 310 after tax, no bluetooth and no keyboard. just a great pda

But it really comes down to what you need a pda for. Often a cheap palm will do the job and you can same alot of cash, But if you have money that is burning a whole in your pocket and you need to get a ppc then I would say get whatever one has the specs that you like and the cost that you want. You really can't go wrong with anything in the upper 250+ range for cost. I mean really how many times can you play nes roms with a emu or tg16 games like spatterhouse on your pda? it's a navelty at the least. I mean. I use my laptop more than my pda. but I always have my pda on my because you never know when your going to end up at a mcdonalds with a wifi netowork and you want to do some wardriving handheld style lol J/K

[Mark_Venture]

Originally Posted by termite

Question about the battery though - if I take the battery out, won't that erase whatever I have stored in the memory?

As long as you don't have the battery out too long, the contents of the device's ram will be ok. The contents of the iPAQ File Store should survive longer.

If the battery is out for too long, and the backup runs out, then it will be like doing a Hard Reset, where the device will be reset to the factory defaults. All changes, data, installed software, etc will be lost, and the device will be just like when you took it out of the box.

Originally Posted by termite

Also how does the backup program work? Does everything from there get deleted aswell when I want to take the battery out? Is it possible to backup onto a SD card?

Depends on where you back up to.... i.e. if you backup to ram, it can be lost. If you back up to SD card, no problems. SD can be removed from the device and still retain its data.

The built in iPAQ backup software (repacked version of Sprite Software's backup software.) can back up to iPAQ file store or SD card, and in my iPAQ 2215's case, CF card as well.

The full version of Sprite's software also allows you to backup directly to network.

[Purple Lizzard]

I just aquired an IPaq 4150, I wanted the Asus but found the IPaq for $100 used.

How do you back-up the OS and registry? I want to be sure I can get back to a clean version if any program I load corrupts the OS.

[Mark_Venture]

Originally Posted by Purple Lizzard

How do you back-up the OS and registry? I want to be sure I can get back to a clean version if any program I load corrupts the OS.

The OS is stored in ROM. If you mess up your PocketPC, doing a "hard reset" will restore the OS, its default registry, etc. back to the way it was out of the box.

Now, if you are looking for how to do a backup of your device after you've installed all your software, set it up the way you like it, etc.. so you can restore to that point if things get messed up... Use the iPAQ backup program and do a backup of everything to an SD or CF card. After a hard reset, do a restore of that backup.

The iPAQ backup program backs up your files, settings, customizations, etc made to the OS and RAM. You can restore individual files, or do a "full disaster recovery"

[NiTCOM]

Originally Posted by Jackyl

My asus a620 was 310 after tax, no bluetooth and no keyboard. just a great pda

But it really comes down to what you need a pda for. Often a cheap palm will do the job and you can same alot of cash, But if you have money that is burning a whole in your pocket and you need to get a ppc then I would say get whatever one has the specs that you like and the cost that you want. You really can't go wrong with anything in the upper 250+ range for cost. I mean really how many times can you play nes roms with a emu or tg16 games like spatterhouse on your pda? it's a navelty at the least. I mean. I use my laptop more than my pda. but I always have my pda on my because you never know when your going to end up at a mcdonalds with a wifi netowork and you want to do some wardriving handheld style lol J/K

I personally would NOT recommend a PALM pda anymore. I got my wife one of the latest last year and the OS is terrible, crashes and usualy is as slow as snails. with PPC pda's you buy really power which means a device with a decent cpu! Yeah, they are cheap PALM pda's out there but let me tell you
you wont (I wasn't) happy with it. Go with PocketPC. just my .02.

ps: and HP rules over Dell big times of course.
But better a cheap PPC than an expensive Palm device, IMHO.

[Purple Lizzard]

Originally Posted by Mark_Venture

The OS is stored in ROM. If you mess up your PocketPC, doing a "hard reset" will restore the OS, its default registry, etc. back to the way it was out of the box.

Now, if you are looking for how to do a backup of your device after you've installed all your software, set it up the way you like it, etc.. so you can restore to that point if things get messed up... Use the iPAQ backup program and do a backup of everything to an SD or CF card. After a hard reset, do a restore of that backup.

The iPAQ backup program backs up your files, settings, customizations, etc made to the OS and RAM. You can restore individual files, or do a "full disaster recovery"

Thanks Mark