What is the best of the Handheld Pro units?

I have the Jornada 820 on my watch list at EBay. It looks like a mighty fine, small device - with all my requirements, plus the batteries look to be cheap as well as other accessories.

Otherwise, I have to Handheld Pro devices - the Hitachi Eplate and the Casio PA-2400W. Out of these two, I have to say the Hitachi Eplate is much better.

By far - the Hitachi Eplate is my overall favorite handheld. The only glitch is the rare sh4 processor. Even though, I have been able to get the essential software - such as Textmaker, SpreadCE, Pocket Powerpoint Editor/Power Present, Primer PDF and Adobe PDF, Pocket Streets 2002 on the device. I would like a better graphics program - right now I have UltraGraphics. I have not been able to get a Mobipocket version that syncs and there is no Avantgo for HPC Pro. So, there is some software that is virtually unattainable and unworkable on this device. The Eplate's screen is the best and the worse thing about this handheld. The Eplate is the most stylish of the handhelds with its large tablet screen - but it is also one of the worst when it comes to using it outdoors. It is virtually unseeable and unreadable in the sunlight. The sound quality for MP3 playing is not that great either, but it is better than the Casio.

Now onto the Casio - which also is a very stylish device and somewhat smaller than the Eplate. It will just not run some programs such as Buseful Utilities (which I have on the Eplate and therefore know it works on HPC Pro). I think the screen too with the Casio - the most attractive feature of this handheld, yet it's greatest shortcoming in that indoors, under fluorescent light, it becomes unreadable. Also I have to continually re-calibrate the screen. The Casio PA-2400 is also problemmatic with its low RAM at 8mb. Also the sound is crap and unless headphones improve on that (haven't tried yet) - it really is no good for MP3 playing. The best reason to choose this Casio is you can use AA batteries in it and its small stylish tablet design which makes it good for note-taking.

With these two experiences of HPC Pro devices - I see trends of low sound quality for MP3s, low screen quality, and inability to find or install some software such as graphics editing and Avantgo. I wonder if it is any better with other HPC Pro models, especially the Jornada 820???

quiche, i can test the buseful utilities for you on my casio i'm sure it will work. and yes i have to recalibrate its screen sometimes. (CE Geek - what's your experience?)

anyway, nice question

the jornada 820 is nice, have seen one in person. you'd better get the RAM upgrade for it, without it 16mb isn't too much... the battery is AMAZING though. and the usb host works well with the usbclik.
it is smaller than many other hpc pro's but less stylish looking than the nec 800/880
its screen looked ok, i'm sure it washes out in sunlight but didn't look hopeless (didn't test this actually - just a feeling). the touchpad drove me mad however ... but that's my problem, every touchpad drives me crazy after 10 seconds except the one on the hp nx6110 (this is what i have - absolutely accidentally ). i'll have to say it was better than on the wibook. (i mean touchpad) no idea about audio.

overall.. hpc pro's aren't my favourite, most of them are too large for my taste (though it is nice to have this nec 800 here if i want a big screen and good keyboard), and the OS is crappy (sorry, just my opinion ). of course it is better (or just the cpu's got to be faster) in performance (speed, stability) than ce 2.0, and it is more useful (native office compatibility, socket bluetooth card compatibility, and irc client that may actually have logging) but i somehow like 2.0, as a whole, more, lol. the ce 2.0 PIE is certainly better with a lot of things (logging onto websites for example), and the ce 2.0 devices' hardware is nicer for me. but hpc pro brought a lot of invention into the hpc world. see how many different unique hpc pro's are out there!

for me, it would be very hard to name the best, only the hp's are the right size for me, and maybe the hvga mobilepro's are still acceptable. however the hp hpc pro's are quite crap (i.e. very slow) even though the jornada 6xx has the best design....
ok, the sigmarion 1 comes to the rescue here! it has the same mips 168mhz cpu as the nec 780 but is almost as small as a jornada. and has a very cool design! only problem, it is japanese. and has only one slot ...but it was upgradeable to hpc2000
and now don't forget many intermec 6651's started their lives as hpc pro! i really love that thing with its unique style, tablet mode, good cpu and nice tft.

so for me, the best is hiding somewere between intermec and sigmarion / jornada 690

cmonex, send me your email address and I will send you the Buseful to test on your Casio.

I haven't had to recalibrate my PA-2400W thus far. As for sound, I've noticed that every single monochrome device that I have (even my Aero Pocket PC) has problems with MP3 sound - either it plays roughly, with breaks at several points, or it won't play them at all. Weird coincidence - or is there some connection?

I think the NEC 880 is a very good H/PC Pro device. The sound is pretty good, and the display is SVGA (800x600). And it's pretty fast. But it's pretty hard to resist the temptation to convert it to an H/PC 2000 device with a ROM chip from the 790 (pretty easy to do), even though you lose USB host functionality. For a strictly H/PC Pro device, I'd have to put the Vadem/MainStreet Clio C-1050 at or near the top of the list: it's fast, has a tablet mode with Calligrapher installed, and seems to have a very good touchscreen with a crisp display. There's even a tweak built in that allows you to rotate the screen 90 or 270 degrees (in addition to the default 180-degree setting). It's no coincidence that C-1050s are selling for more than other H/PC Pro units (though the 880 does come close).

I've considered the Clio and the Intermec, but I worry about accessories and batteries. That's why I think of the Jornada 820, because on EBAy batteries are plentiful and cheap for this model.

contactchan (at) freemail.hu i have it already but i'm curious what version you have

sure, if they have a greyscale screen they are probably very old and so don't have decent audio capabilities as that was not a priority at that time

Would that apply to my Aero Pocket PC (2000) as well?

maybe they tried to be cost effective there it is so uncommon for a ce3 device to have greyscale

For everyday use, the Jornada does the trick for me. Awesome screen, REDICULOUS battery, and connectivity is great.
For games, though, the Clio C-1050 is better. More software, and more raw power (168MHz MIPS beats the 820's 206MHz Strongarm when it comes to GFX, due to poor design on the 820's part) for emulators and other games.
The touchscreens do die at a faster rate than the touchpads, though, and these devices are getting older every day :-D

about the speed difference between the jornada and the clio.. i guess it's indeed some poor design, not the cpu itself, as the jornada 720 has 206mhz strongarm and is much faster than that 168mhz mips.
or it's the older arm design? the jornada 820 does NOT have 206mhz. it is 190.

Does the Jornada 820 have a touch screen???

My Jornada 547, PocketPC, has a good sound when playing MP3s. And how could it not be a priority with the Casio PA-2400 when they went to the trouble of having a nice looking speaker at the top of the device which gives it a look as though it would be designed for sound???

no it doesn't have a touch screen

cmonex, I tried to send the file to you five times tonight. I think it is the PeoplePC problem. Tough on a dialup connection. I will try from work where there is ethernet, tomorrow.

ok, no problem