A Jornada user reviews a MobilePro 900

So having heard about the MobilePro 900 for a number of years but never actually having used one, I thought I would buy one just for the heck of it and compare it to my Jornada 720.

Here are some thoughts:

* Perhaps it's just me but it seems as though the 900 I received is kind of glitchy. The regular-sized battery only seems to last about 3 hours or so. That's probably just a function of its health. But it does make me wonder how long it is supposed to last on max brightness.

* The screen is much brighter than the Jornada's, which is nice. But that might be why the battery life is worse.

* It seems that my keyboard does not work when I push Control + Alt + Arrow to select text to the end of a document. This is very strange. Is it something that has happened to others?

* The keys are harder to push down than the Jornada's I'm not sure I like that. I do like that they're larger though.

From what I've read/heard:
- The larger screen sounds nicer, but the display can look more pixelated. Same resolution as Jornada but double screen estate.
- The keys are larger, but don't feel as good and snappy as the Jornada's.
- Battery life is shorter, probably due to the hungry big screen.
- A bit too bulky to my taste
- Look more plastic and not as stylish

But maybe these are just biases. I don't have one anyway.

I agree 100% with hpcboy. I bought one a while ago mainly thinking that it would be an upgrade from the Jornada (newer OS and faster CPU), but that wasn't the case. It honestly didn't feel that much snappier, probably due to WinCE4.1 being more resource intensive, and the device looks actually like a brick! It is too big, too heavy and not sexy enough for me... I sold it less than a year later. I remember having battery issues with mine as well. It wouldn't last as much as the Jornada, not even close. The keyboard actually feels good, like a real laptop keyboard from that time, but it wasn't an improvement over the Jornada's keyboard in my opinion, especially considering that Jornada's keyboard is a lot smaller.

Interesting to hear all your comments about 900 vs 720......

Would be interested to hear if any of you have comments about the Psion Netbook Pro. Know it's larger than the 900 and 720.....but it looks like a very usable instant on laptop.

I had a Mobilepro 900 and installed the cmonex rom and I liked it better than my current Jornada 680. The keyboard was significantly larger and much easier to touch type on. It could also stream very low bitrate radio stations, which I liked.

There are obvious differences between the Japanese and the English/European keyboards on the Jornadas. The former has more keys but is (much) more cramped at the same time. Even 1mm pitch makes a huge difference for fast touch typing.
The MP900 keyboard is near full sized so in principle is superior. The question is how deep the keys can (be felt to) travel and how quick the keys are responding to each tapping action. Hitting just a few keys may not reveal much, but trying to type the same passage using different keyboards can be a telling experience.

I've thought about picking up a MobilePro 900 as well. It's amazing how much brighter screens have become in the last ~10 years. I remember my old 620LX and Axim x30 seeming super bright back in the day.

I have nothing to say…

Look what you've done @Duckworth, you've upset Rich! I hope you're happy. It'll take me days to get him off his fishing boat now...

This may be a first!

Sorry Rich!

But I am legitimately curious if my 900 is glitchy with the Control+Shift+Alt+Arrow thing. It seems like such an obvious bug that it makes me think it's only my machine that has this problem.