Is that a computer in your pocket? 6 mobile devices tested

HP iPAQ H5550

  Portable devices
  Main issues

  Fujitsu Stylistic ST5010
  HP iPAQ H5550
  Motorola A925
  Handspring Treo 600
  RIM Blackberry 7730
  Toshiba Portégé R100

 Specifications
 How we tested
 Editor's choice
 About RMIT
This is a powerful little device; more PC than PDA, and it still has a microphone and speaker. It happily runs Word and Excel, though it takes a little getting used to the differences from the standard editions of these programs. The screen is large and clear and has some very nifty handwriting recognition software. The alternative is the virtual keyboard, which is very easy to use.

You don't need to password protect the H5550, it comes with a biometric fingerprint reader. This does take some getting used to. GPS is also an option, if you wish to pay another AU$1000 for attachments and software.

We found it all too easy to hit the volume control buttons, thus causing the volume dialog box to appear over our work at all sorts of odd times. (At least the keys are convenient when you need them!)

HP iPAQ H5550

Product HP iPAQ H5550
Price AU$1,199
Vendor HP
Phone 13 23 93
Web www.hp.com.au
 
Interoperability
Windows-based Pocket PC operating system, wireless LAN connectivity
Futureproofing
Biometric ID, plenty of memory built in.
ROI
Powerful, compact, and reasonably priced.
Service
One-year warranty
Rating ½

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Talkback 6 comments

    One of the main problems I see ...Anonymous -- 31/10/04

    One of the main problems I see with all the phone/pda's is that they seem to forget about phone functionality and concentrate on the PDA side of things. For example handsfree dialling/answering. Most of the end user I talk to want the phone features first and the PDA features second.

    In your review of the Treo 600 ...Anonymous -- 30/12/04

    In your review of the Treo 600, you were concerned about the possibility of hitting two keys at once. Well, I've worked with the Treo software engineers in California (in partnership with my company, Openwave systems), and they have sophisticated algorithms to account for the multi-key-hit problem. In other words, your reviewer hasn't used the unit for any actual work to give it a decent review.

    The design spec was to make it as small as possible with a full keyboard so as to not frighten people who weren't familiar with Graffiti or other handwriting-recognition programs. Well, IMHO they succeeded admirably.

    The price for this notebook is ...Anonymous -- 02/01/05

    The price for this notebook is Aud$$3,960.00......... on the toshiba website..

    The a925 and a920 (same intern ...Anonymous -- 02/02/05

    The a925 and a920 (same internals, different firmware) have the GPS enabled. The (A) in AGPS needs info from the operator (an AGPS server that kickstarts the positioning with additional data), and does not work without the operator enabling it. But the GPS should work anytime, anywhere. Except for the fact that this unit needs up to 5 min to get the initial fix. See www.nhgps.com or http://per.nitro.dk/ for programs that use the GPS units of motorola phones.

    Where in Australia is the Tosh ...Anonymous -- 11/06/05

    Where in Australia is the Toshiba R100 selling for $1999?

    The Trackwheel IS an Enter Key Dummy! Anonymous -- 26/12/07

    Whoever wrote this review is clueless about how to use a Blackberry - didn't even bother to read the manual. The trackwheel is the enter key. All you do is use the trackwheel to navigate to what you want to click, then press the trackwheel in to "enter" !

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