HP iPAQ H5450
If you can think of a type of mobile technology, chances are it's been bolted onto the h5450.HP's been in charge of the iPAQ brand for some time now, and in Pocket PC circles iPAQ is effectively the brand to beat; it's faced stiff competition from the likes of Toshiba and Dell and still managed to remain a prominent part of HP's portable arsenal. The H5450 is HP's high-end PDA, incorporating features ranging from a dual Bluetooth/WiFi antenna to a biometric fingerprint scanner. If there's a technology out there suitable for PDA inclusion, it seems that HP's jammed it into the H5450 somewhere, although this is amply reflected in the asking price.
The H5450 matches up well with its high-powered PDA brethren; like many it sports a 400MHz XScale processor and 64MB of onboard memory, along with a reasonably high-powered 1250 mAH Lithium Ion battery. Battery life on the H5450 is highly variable, however, as with the inclusion of Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, it can vary anywhere from less than an hour to around three hours continuos usage. It's relatively trivial to switch off both wireless connectivity models to preserve battery life, as well as dimming the exceptionally bright screen if you need to eke out the very last drops of battery life.
Unlike Toshiba and Dell, who both offer PDAs with multiple card reading options, the H5450 has only one storage slot, compatible with SD/MMC cards. The supplied dock isn't quite as visually pleasing as that on the Dell Axim, but the inclusion of side grips make it easier to insert and remove the iPAQ from the dock. Of note with the dock is the inclusion of a serial cable end; while many users will never use this, it's handy if you've got a full compliment of USB ports already.
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PDAs
Introduction 1. Dell Axim X5 2. HP iPAQ h1910 3. HP iPAQ h5450 4. Palm Tungsten C 5. Palm Zire 71 6. Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22 7. Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 8. Toshiba e350 9. Toshiba e750 Editor's choice |
Enrolling your fingerprints is a somewhat time-consuming matter; you can enrol as few as two fingers (HP recommends your left and right index finger) although those with little patience may want to just enrol their thumbs, as the larger surface area makes it easier to get swipes recognised correctly. Once the system has you properly entered, however, it's remarkably accurate at recognising fingerprints, although we did note that it only requires the password when synchronising up to a PC. We'd suggest using the strong alphanumeric password option to overcome this particular flaw.
Wireless connectivity with the H5450 worked quite well in our testing, but we did notice one oddity; if the WiFi connection is used for more than about 15 minutes it heats up to an alarming degree. While this is handy on cold winter's mornings, it gives us pause for thought when it comes to what that heat will do to the innards of the H5450 over a period of time.
HP hasn't oversaturated the H5450 with software; aside from the normal Pocket PC 2002 applications there are utilities for data backup, image viewing and remote control of IR-compatible devices, turning your iPAQ into just another remote to lose behind the couch. The great advantage that any iPAQ has over other Pocket PC devices, however, is that it's pretty much been the standard to beat, so many applications have been written with the iPAQ specifically in mind. On a similar note, the H5450 is compatible with HP/Compaq's legacy iPAQ add-ons, so it's a solid choice for anyone upgrading from a previous iPAQ model, or enterprise buyers with an existing inventory of iPAQ accessories.
The H5450 is an exceptionally capable PDA, and only missed out on the Editor's choice by the slimmest of margins to the Toshiba Pocket PC e750; if it were natively running Pocket PC 2003 it would be absolutely neck and neck.
HP iPAQ h5450
Company: HP Australia
Price: AU$1,299
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 13 13 47
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I am interested only in limited features in a PDA like the Phonebook, Birthday or Anniversary date storages etc. etc.
So which pDA do you recommend me to have that should have some high Battery backup and long-life warranty?