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| Home >> Handheld & PDA Reviews: HP iPAQ 211 Enterprise Handheld (210 Series) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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User Submitted HP iPAQ 211 Enterprise Handheld (210 Series) Reviews (cont...)Date: 2010-02-03 Good for it's purpose Good for it's purpse. Windows Mobile is compatible with lots of medical references databases so it is a useful features. Date: 2010-01-02 This is a great upgrade fom my older iPAQ I was a bit reluctant to order after reading some negative reviews of this product but I liked my old iPAQ and figured the new one would be at least as good so I took the plunge. I'm glad I did. Contrary to what I read, the screen does not require too heavy a touch with the stylus, the battery life is quite adequate, and connecting the charger is not a problem. I strongly recommend this PDA to anyone looking for a product of this kind. Date: 2009-12-09 Very good non-phone PDA My background: I'm a long time Pocket PC user and the 211 replaces my faithful but low-end Dell Axiom x30, and prior to that I was a long time Palm user. My Axim started doing strange things and it was time for a replacement. I wanted an excellent PDA that also worked well as a media device (mainly for music but also for movies which I rip from DVD). I like stylus input with handwriting recognition and am more than happy with a separate, smaler mobile phone (which is why I didn't get a Blackberry). I've had this unit for about 3 weeks and have used it a LOT. Pros: 1. The 211 and the IPAQ 111 are the only game in town if you want a non-phone PDA. I don't think Palm sells them anymore and only HP still offers a Pocket PC device. ***This is the single biggest reason to buy this unit*** 2. Outstanding, huge screen with vibrant colors 3. Stylus input with handwriting recognition, assuming you like that versus using a keyboard or fingers 4. Adequate as a media device if all you need to play are mp3 and windows media files audio files. Media Player does not support lots of codecs, doesn't have a pre-amp to control treble & base, and in spite of what the documentation says, you can't reprogram the buttons. However, this Media Player is a big improvement over the one that came with Windows Mobile 2003 on my Axim -- that version was unusable. Microsoft claims you can use Media Player to sync files, similar to the way iTunes works, but as this feature never worked on under Windows Moble 2003, I long ago gave up and simply copy files onto my SD card myself and that works fine. However, if you have a big SDHC card with lots of files, it looks like it takes a long time for WMP to update its library 5. Takes SDHC and CF cards. You can really load a lot of storage on this unit. I have a 32gb SDHC card 6. Excellent feel and size. It feels solid and even though it's a "large" unit, most of the increase is in the length. It still fits easily into my shirt pocket -- even in a leather case! And I can stick into my pants pocket easily too. 7. WiFi setup is a snap and mobile IE is OK -- much better than I expected, in fact (I expected the worst!). I tried the Skyfire mobile browser expecting IE to come out second but there was no comparison, IE was vastly better. The Opera Mobile browser (free) has some nice features and may be a better choice than IE in the long run, but I don't really need internet access on my PDA Cons, in no particular order (but they are the reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5) - Windows Mobile 6 is a bit clumsy and to my surprise requires somewhat more taps to do things than WM 2003 (eg, to edit a calendar entry requires one more tap than WM 203) -- but this isn't a big deal, just a minor irritant that I've gotten used to already - Not blazingly fast. I say this because the 211 has a fast processor and many reviewers have commented on that fact. I expected a more zippy feel to it but I don't see it. Not that it's slow (but see next point), but it doesn't feel fast either. I take this to be due to Microsoft bloat, not HP - Noticeably slow opening a big word document. No idea why but my old, slow, Axim x30 was much faster in this regard. And it's not that big a document I'm opening, either, only 616 words and 39K - Can't reprogram all buttons. On my old Axim, I could reset any button to any function, but on this IPAQ, you can't reset buttons 2 or 3. I find this very annoying (you can reset "Hold Button 3" but not Button 3). Don't know if it's an HP limitation or Microsoft's - Windows Media Player (WMP) is lame: (1) can't reset any buttons at all -- in spite of the fact that it claims to be able to reset any button! I find this very, very annoying. (2) playback of video files is terrible. I rip DVDs to ASF or WMV format and they play back beautifully on my PC but on WMP Mobile (on the Ipaq) it's so jerky that it's unwatchable. I was afraid it was the Ipaq itself but no -- when I installed my old friend, the TCPMP player (which I used for years on my Axim) it played back magnificently. Clearly Microsoft just failed to put out a quality player -- shame on them. No wonder people buy Ipods. - Weird syncing problem with Outlook 2003 -- I have to have Outlook open in order for my Notes to sync. Otherwise I get an error syncing Notes. I see no reason to upgrade my outlook, which I guess would fix the problem(?) OTHER THOUGHTS: Audio jack on bottom is OK. I mention this because so many other reviewers mention the strange position of the audio jack on the bottom. This simply is not an issue, though I was afraid it would be. I often slip the unit into my pocket (shirt or pants) while connected and I just slip it in top first so the jack sticks up, and this is with a leather flip case, too. Speakers. Many of the reviews I saw talk about the poor quality of the speakers and how they are on the back of the unit. So what? Does anyone use this as a stereo replacement? Audio recording playback of voices is just fine (I don't use this feature myself but I did test it out). And who does not use earphones listening to music on a personal media device? The sound quality out the earphone jack is excellent, the sound quality from the speaker is what you'd expect from a tiny little speaker. I just don't understand this criticism. I don't use Bluetooth so I can't comment on that I haven't used it long enough to really run the battery down but just from listening to music for several hours I can tell that the battery life is very good I agree with everyone else that this screen requires more pressure. I got used to it quickly, it's not an issue IMO HP's calling this an "Enterprise" device does it a disservice. It's a great personal device. Date: 2009-12-07 Excellent Purchase Previously owned a Palm Z22. Stopped Hot Syncing so i went shopping for a new PDA. Not too many left on the market. But when i came across the iPAQ 211, and I fell in love with the it. First, The screen is enormous compared to my Palm. It is bright and the quality of the images are wonderful. I like the fact that Microsoft Excell, Word, Powerpoint, and One Note are available on this item, due to the fact I'm a student an use them quite a bit. I can start a project when I'm not near my computer and download when I get home. Bluetooth and Wifi are a great touch, but uses way too much battery, so turn it off when you're not using it. I also found them to be very slow. You can program most of the display buttons to do whatever you choose. Which is very convenient. Instant messaging is also great, but there again, very slow. It's not much use as far as alarms go. The sounds are so low, it's practically useless. The calandar and Contacts are great, but i liked on my Palm where you could use different colors to indicate different appointments. The calander just display's a light green or dark green under the monthly heading so as to indicate appointments. The Contacts has a lot of different catergories and is extensive. I love it. Almost everything is covered. Overall This is a very nice product. Like is said I use it mostly for the calendar, contacts and Microsoft tasks. I haven't tried it using MP3 or anything like that. That is not what I bought it for, I have an Ipod for that. But overall, it's a nice piece, and will be an excellent companion to anyone who needs to use it for eveyday situations. Date: 2009-11-16 PDA big enough to actually use I have had several of the smaller PDAs but found them very difficult to enter data reliably. the HP iPAQ 211 feels good in the hand, has a great stylus, easy to read, and does not try to be all things. Just a fine PDA.
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