WTB: MobilePro 880

Looking to get one in the US.

As new as possible would be nice, screen and KB without damage and stuff. Not really worried about cosmetic damage other than that.

Also need it to come with a good battery and the ac adaptor.

A good low battery use wifi card would be nice too.

Just like to pass some advice, I was looking for one for a few months, they seem to be pretty rare, so be prepared to wait for a month though. OTOH, I wonder if Rich still has some 800s left?

Watch here carefully, my 880 just popped up one day for a reasonable price. It and the 800 are both nice machines. Are you fixed on the 880 so you can upgrade the ROM to hpc2k?

Well there was a really nice newish one that came with EVERYTHING almost bran new and a new extra battery on ebay that I was going to get, but I missed the end of the auction. It went for about 175, sorry I missed it, was probably the best deal Ive seen on there for one.

Eh, Just gotta wait I suppose.

wallythacker: I wasnt really sure about that. I saw some upgrade roms on ebay but wasnt sure what it was all about, but if its worth it Id be all for making it better.

Edited by Nesagwa 2006-03-15 11:28 PM

If you want the hpc2k OS the ROM from a MP790 can be used to upgrade the 880. If the hpc2k OS isn't that important to you Rich Hawley had some really clean 800s for a tremendous price. They don't have a battery or adapter but they can fe found.

I saw some batteries for 800s on ebay just now for about 100 bucks
Can they be found alot cheaper than that?

Another 880 just popped up, but its more expensive and comes with nothing but an AC adaptor.

Im not really familiar with alot of these devices either, are their other alternatives to mobilepros (800/880s) as far as screen size and built in USB (important to me really)?

yes they can be found cheaper, Rich knows where... i forgot or sftfclmshell has also a few..

there are a few alternatives, jornada 820 maybe for example.. but it is only vga.. or the netbook pro but that's pricey

WRONG!!!
USB/VGA (no adapter needed)/Seria//Modem (16 or 32mb RAM)/ARM SA1110 (@190mhz)/640x480 DSTN screen (can't remember)/HPC pro (non upgradable)/IR/CF/PCMCIA/buggy software

But is missing:
800x600 screen
headphone socket
Modems on the euro models

actually screen size is similar physically and it does have a usb port. sooooo whats the problem lol

I think cmonex was saying the Jornada 820 has VGA screen resolution, which is 640x480. The Mobilepro 880, in contrast, has SVGA screen resolution at 800x600.

Nesagwa, if you're looking for a handheld PC in notebook-form, you can't go wrong with either the Mobilepro 880 or Jornada 820. I have both and I love them for their comfortable keyboards and screen sizes. They are roughly the same size (width and length are a little less than standard letter-size paper).

Pic of the Jornada 820:


The Jornada 820 is the older of the two. It is also a tad slower, even if you install the (expensive) 16 mb upgrade RAM to bring it to 32 mb. However, the J820 has plenty of ports and, in my opinion, one of the best keyboards on an HPC. (Only the IBM Z50 has a comparable keyboard.) The J820 also uses the ARM cpu, so there are many programs available to it--Softmaker, maker of the best word processor on the HPC, recently dropped MIPS cpu support. The DSTN screen is nice and bright. The J820 uses a touchpad--no pen. One of the best things about the Jornada 820 is its battery life--10 hours with the standard battery, 15(!) hours if you get the extended. It feels like I can go forever, even with wifi.

Pic of the Mobilepro 880:


The Mobilepro 880 has 32 mb built-in and an 8-hour battery life (4-5 if you use wifi). It uses a pen like almost every other HPC. It can also be upgraded to Windows CE 3.0, but that will render the USB port useless--trust me, there is NO workaround for it, at least in software. The SVGA screen is very crisp for DSTN and much clearer than the J820's. There is plenty of software available for its MIPS cpu, although most new software tends to focus on the ARM. I find the keyboard a bit stiff compared to the Jornada 820, and the setup of the arrow keys is just plain weird. But the screen and speed make up for it.

For me, the Jornada 820 and the Mobilepro 880 exist on equal terms--both have their pros and cons. Depending on how you want to use an HPC, I hope this info helps in your search.


Edited by alphacrumb 2006-03-16 7:09 PM

You have my attention with the Jornada, I ike the specs. It might make a nice typing machine. But it is ce2.11?

The Jornada 820 makes a fantastic word processor--the keyboard feels great, the battery lasts forever, and the VGA screen really gives Textmaker the room it needs. As a journalist, I've used the 820 pretty much exclusively for the last year and haven't looked back at my old laptop. (In fact, I still prefer hte J820 to my new Mobielpro 890--as much as I dislike trackpads, I hate taking my hands off the keyboard more, even if it's just to tap at the screen.)

However, the J820 is a CE 2.11 machine and has all the problems inherent with that. It's unfortunate that it can't be upgraded to CE 3.0--afterall, it uses a StrongArm just like the J720, albeit a bit slower at 190 Mhz. I believe the slight sluggishness of the J820 is due mostly to the OS. It would've also benefitted from a 2D accelerator like in the J720.

The J820's USB mouse support is convenient (worked perfectly with my no-name optical mouse) and those Clik USB drivers easily upgraded it with thumbdrive/etc. support.

Amazingly, the J820 also plays Doom full-screen quite well.

EDIT: I don't know if they were more popular than other Jupiter-class HPCs, but there are plenty of 820s all the time on eBay, and usually at great prices. My wife bought her own last year for $110 and that was a complete kit.

Edited by alphacrumb 2006-03-17 2:56 AM

Im not sure what you mean by problems with 2.11? Are there really alot of problems with the older versions of CE?

EDIT: Do the Jornada's support mice and usb flash drives and stuff too? Also, is it a touch screen?

Edited by Nesagwa 2006-03-18 9:23 PM

You can find a thorough examination of CE 2.11 and CE 3.0 right on this site:

http://www.hpcfactor.com/support/windowsce/wce2.asp

http://www.hpcfactor.com/support/windowsce/wce3.asp

The biggest problems with CE 2.11 are its older version of Internet Explorer and its difficulty with Pocket PC software. CE 3.0, however, can be hacked to run some Pocket PC software.

The Jornada 820 supports mice right out of the box. For USB flash drives and other storage types, you will need to install the USB Clik! drivers found (again) on this site. This thread talks about it:

http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=2623&posts=36&highlight=clik&highlightmode=1#M23177

It says HPC 2000 in the title, but the driver works great on the Jornada 820.

The J820 (as I wrote previously) is not touch-screen. You can either use the trackpad or an attached mouse.

Edited by alphacrumb 2006-03-18 10:09 PM

2.11 isnt so optimized as HPC2000, is less stable, has less functionality, the browser plain sucks. well it is OK if you dont want to do heavy browsing.

yes the jornada 820 supports these just fine. no touch screen