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| Home >> Handheld & PDA Reviews: HP iPAQ 5555 Pocket PC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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User Submitted HP iPAQ 5555 Pocket PC Reviews (cont...)Date: 2004-02-13 Poor Service from HP/IPAQ PLEASE read this before you buy an HP IPAQ product so you know how you will be treated if you should have a problem. I own about 6 HP products between IPAQ's, printers and scanners, and I always chose an HP before any other product, until NOW. I purchased 3 IPAQ's within 2 months. One for myself, my husband, and my father to the tune of $1350! There are days I don't even use my IPAQ, so it isn't abused. My IPAQ froze up on Thanksgiving day of 2003. It would not do anything, so on Monday, I called HP service, they said they wouldn't do anything because the 1 year warranty had expired. I purchased two of the three on Oct. 4, 2002 and this was November! I thought, oh, this product is only good for 1 year of use? So I talked to a few "higher up's" in the service area and got told that I am on my own. Then I had my husband call up there and they agreed to send us a box with shipping paid so we could send the unit back for them to diagnose the problem. Fair enough. They call within a week and left us a message telling us that the mother board is shot and it will cost $217 to fix. I just got done paying $450 for the product just over a year ago!! You have to be kidding!! This unit was obviously DEFECTIVE from the beginning. And because of a few days of warranty lapse, HP won't step up to the plate and help at all. So my husband calls back up there and talks to another "higher up" again (because obviously he got further than I did the first time), and her verdict was that HP will not stand behind their product at all. We have to pay the entire bill. Well I will tell you what, I will not fix this HP product, nor will I EVER buy an HP product again. And furthermore, I am in one of the hugest business markets in the world and talk to customers all day long, and I will be sure to tell them of how HP treats their customers. They should stand behind their product, Period! If they haven't figured it out, PEOPLE make a business and HP's people and policies are ludicrous! If I have a customer that has a problem and is 2 months out of warranty, I will make our manufacturer stand behind their product and fight for my customer's rights!! It is obvious that HP doesn't care about their customers at all. Good to know!! Beware of big business. Date: 2004-01-21 Pretty cool I can't be dissatisfied with the device. It has all you need on the go, big nice display, bluetooth, wi-fi... and Jack, it comes with Microsoft Outlook XP software - that's what you sync with, no need to "enter everything manually". Date: 2004-01-14 Finally for MAC This Pocket PC is wonderful. All of the features work well. Especially appreciated is the handwriting recognition - it simply works pretty well - the processor is strong enough so you do not have to struggle with recognition. It takes a bit of getting use to - but once done it is very handy - especially for someone who does not like a lot of paper - keep your thoughts, notes, etc electronic. The recognition software is an update to the Newton - which many Mac users loved but which Apple dropped but with a lot more processing power. If you buy this and are a Mac devotee - I would also recommend PocketMac Pro - which is a Mac front end - including a look and feel of OSX - now you do not have to sacrifice synchronization or OSX. Date: 2004-01-12 Jack of all trades - king of none Overall, disappointing for the high price. Cons There is no PC desktop software, which means you enter every appointment/contact directly in on the handheld(or buy an additional keyboard!)and cannot use your desktop to view your calendar/contact list. The scheduling functions take quite a bit to get used to - it is much less ergonomic than the Palm capability. I found the Help functions frustrating - they do not easily produce useful results about half the time. In particular, finding help on managing the connections between the PDA and other devices was maddening. The accompanying help literature is very light on how to actually use Bluetooth to your advantage, get printers to work(have fun finding printers with IR or Bluetooth in your den), or how the expansion pack can be utilized. The IR synch not only doesn't work well - depending on how you've configured, it might wipe out all the data you've stored on the handheld. When it does work, it is very slow. Loading a variety of applications software resulted in both interesting game experiences and incredibly frustrating crashes(some which required hard reboot). I'd be very careful to back things up prior to loading new apps. Battery usage - I'd strongly recommend changing the default power management and screen management settings unless you stay close to an abundant source of electrons. Plan to charge at least every other day. Better yet, get the expansion pack with additional battery. Weight - think heavy - like a small brick. Pros Moving files between the handheld and the desktop is easily accomplished and the PPC OS facilitates easy creation of folders to organize all the different types of files/applications. Microsoft Reader - WOW! I think the strongest application is by far the e-book capability of this device. Easily loaded and activated, the software performed flawlessly. Even after I loaded over 30 classics into the device, I perceived no slowdown in accessing, loading, or viewing a book. This thing is capable of so much - it can be a phone, a PDA, an MP3 player, an ebook, a game device, a movie player, and more...I'm sure when I get it all working, I'll love this thing. Being an IT professional, I'm used to configuring hardware and software, but even my patience has been taxed by the amount of effort required to babysit this PDA. ClearType: Biometric Finger-print Reader: ActiveSync Synchronization / Bluetooth: The wi-fi works perfectly. The battery life is significantly increased from previous models. Backlight is tight. I've already dropped my iPAQ onto concrete at a seminar and it still works perfectly. I'm prone to dropping handhelds and this one is currently the most durable! Streaming Movies+Music: |
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