In Praise of Older Handhelds

[Ed Hardy]

Just because new handhelds are out with features that make you drool doesn't mean that your current device should be thrown away.

Read more at www.brighthand.com/article/Save_Our_Handhelds

[cybrid]

Amen! 3 Ipaq 3630's , casio e-800 g-fort, e-25, dell x5 2002, all running.

[imported_scgf]

Absolutely.

Recently I decided to return to the Windows Mobile camp after using a Palm Tungsten T5. I did a lot of research on the net to find the PDA which would suit me best, both in terms of spec and form factor.

Unfortunately I could find nothing I even liked the look of - apart from the HP iPAQ rx1950. Then I find that this model does not have bluetooth built in - absolutley essential for on the road usage with my GPRS mobile phone.

So, I decided to buy a second-hand HP iPag 4150 from Ebay.

The 4150 was in mint condition and does exactly what I want. It also doesn't look pig-ugly like all the other PDAs out there (apart from the 1950!).

[treynolds]

Yeah, this is kinda what I tell people regarding divorce and remarriage:

"Another common mistake is to assume that getting a new SPOUSE will solve all your marital problems.

It just isn't true.

While it's quite possible that a new SPOUSE will not have the irritating bugs that you've been suffering through for years, I'd bet you a dump-truck load of money that your new SPOUSE will have at least as many problems.

They'll be different, but they'll be there."

Sorry, OT I know, just couldn't resist the analogy.

Great article, Ed!

Tony

[Hendrixus]

AMEN. It is nothing more then a hype getting a new device. You can organize stuff with an old device too, can ya?

But ofcourse we want to be able to surf the internet while sitting on the "schijthuis"





Hendrixus

[sojourner753]

There's a lot of truth in your article. Of course here's the other side.

If people stop upgrading feverishly, then the market will slow down. That means that we will have fewer choices.

Ironically the bigger players will probably be the ones who begin to pull back first.

[4ster]

I jut want to chime in to agree with the praise for Chris Short. I have worked with him on some Palm purchases on eBay and he is far and away the best seller I have ever known. He is super-knowledgeable, responsive, and very helpful.

[madreaper]

I found this article to be very true.
I did not upgrade from my Cassiopeia E-115 till the lack of a second expansion slot and RAM finally had me wanting a new unit. Even in my upgrade I went for a Cassiopeia E-200 simply cause it met my needs: upgradable(USB host,SD/MMC,CF-Type2,PCMCIA)and a lil over 61MB of available RAM.
The E-200 maybe considered old by today's standards but the only other units I would consider to move to are the Asus A7XXw units or the Toshibha e7/8 series which are out of my budget range.
So as long as the E-200 mets my needs I will make good use of the device.

[dlangton]

Just thought I'd mention a similar service for HP Jornadas at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...Pr4_PcY_BIN_IT .

[Gerard]

Originally posted by madreaper
...the only other units I would consider to move to are the Asus A7XXw units or the Toshibha e7/8 series which are out of my budget range.
So as long as the E-200 mets my needs I will make good use of the device.

The Casio E-200 almost caught my attention enough to go that way, but experiences of 4 failed EG-800 devices (4 at the time, now 5, as the last warranty-replaced unit is dead) had left a sour taste (especially at USD$1150), and some of the user reports of various hardware problems with the E-200 were off-putting. Still, those which worked well seemed good machines.

I put off making a decision, and was aided in that by receipt of an iPAQ and then a Dell X5 in exchange for services. Finally the X5 seemed too tired, and the iPAQ had gone to my daughter (to replace the EG-800 after that died), so I made a decision and bought a Toshiba e800 in November. I've since passed along the Dell to a brother who desperately wanted a PDA, and who seemed likely to go Palm. He's happy with it now, stripped down to simple apps and a lot more stable for it.

The e800 is a fine machine, especially running WM2003SE and with a bunch of tweaks to overcome the bugs/glitches of SE as it works in this unit. The biggest bug remaining seems to be the incredibly slow reboot time, with a soft reset taking a minimum 45 seconds to complete. Otherwise it's proving most reliable, and the generous 128MB of RAM is more than enough for speed and worry-free operation. I keep most things installed to the flash store or an SD card, and swap out an 802.11b Symbol card, memory cards, and a Flycam in the CF slot. With landscape and an external keyboard, USB host expansion pack, the right drivers... well, it's just the best Pocket PC I've had so far.

And it cost a bit over 1/3 the original retail price. They were selling here for $800 (Canadian) just a year ago. Now they're all over eBay - bought mine from the digigood store - for $250-$300 (USD - and the exchange is a lot better for us now up here) and pretty hard not to buy for all the features. Comparing this e800 to the newest devices, the only things I'd note as obvious failings are the lack of a built-in phone (which I'd rather not have - lockups in the middle of calls would not be amusing) and persistent storage. I've more than enough non-volatile memory so as to make the latter seem irrelevant, and daily backups mean I don't tend to worry about data loss. Noting that Sprite is still having problems with their backup version for WM5 I'm all the more comfortable with this machine.

So yeah, if someone needs something which can only be had in a newly released machine, fine, there seem lots to choose from, or at least there soon will be. For my part, I'm considering buying a second e800 while they're still available, you know, to keep in a drawer for when this one fails. Somehow my doubts are growing as to whether Microsoft is on the right path with the OS... Seems I'm on a middle road now, clinging to a discontinued, but brand-new PDA.