What Compaq Aero 1500 did I buy?

I've been wanting to buy a Compaq Aero 1500 series Palm Size PC and won one on eBay but it is a Pocket PC (CE 3.0) and it seems every 1500 on eBay has CE 3.0, but I thought the 1500 was a 2.11 or even 2.0 model. Why do some 1500s have CE 3.0 and why can't I find any with 2.11?

I would have preferred 2.11, but it will be nice to see good old CE 3.0, where they made the biggest change ever up to CE 7.0 in Windows Phone.

Thanks


Edited by aab 2012-01-17 2:08 AM

Windows Phone 7 is actually based on Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3.

As with many of these older devices, OS upgrade was available via ROM chip replacement. A lot of folks took advantage of this with the Aero 1500 models, buying ROM chips with Pocket PC 2000 that were offered separately in addition to the pre-upgraded model (Aero 1550). As I've learned from my own experience buying a few Aero 2100 series models, a lot of people did the same thing with the 2100 series, buying a Pocket PC 2000 upgrade ROM chip specifically made for the 2100 series.

Thanks for the details. The one I bought isn't an upgrade since it has the Pocket PC logo on it. So I assume I bought a 1550? Are there CE 2.11 ROMs available for it if ever I want to downgrade it?

It's going to be sort of ironic that my Palm PC with the newer OS is grayscale when I have older color ones.

I got it today and although the description said it works fine when I turn it on the right half of the screen is solid black and the left half just has random lines.

Is this a common problem and can it be fixed? I tried re seating the video cable with no change.

Something is amiss for sure, I'd try reseating all the connectors again...