To revive this thread, I looked at the first page and it certaintly interested me. As I write this, I have had my handheld PC for 3 weeks, but it has only been in my house for a week.
Finding handhelds in the UK is very rare, I know no one with a handheld and it looks like I am the only one. I know 4 or 5 more people with Pocket PCs, one has 2 iPAQs
(2 H3660s to be exact
), someone once had a Palm M130 another with a H3630 and someone with a HP Jordanda 5xx
(I cannot remember the model number, it was not a 560 or 568, it was a very early one with 8mb ram and PPC2000
). I have an iPAQ 3870, something I wish to replace, its getting on, getting very battered and brused and the person that has 2x3660s wants it too. I was thinking of swapping my 3870 with a 3660.
My Handheld is about 4/5 years old I think, it has seen a few rough times, but it is soild as a brick, its even outlasting my laptop that has case problems after 2 years
(its nearly 4 years old now
), particulary around the screen area. The backlight is going very slowly which is a constant annoyace and just about handles my 3D design work. The handheld PC would be brilliant to create 3D visuals on a portable computer and it would be good if there was a piece of software, like 3D studio max so I could create items, such as this:
When I first purchased my handheld
(as told by elsewhere
), I sent it via a company warehouse and got it sent over with the bits my father needed
(He works for Acoustiguide Limited and Acoustiguide Corp.
), I originally thought I wasn't going to recieve it, as my fathers parts took too long to go through the company's new and far more burecratic system. However, when it did arrive, I opened it up and thought "
(unrepeatable word
)!!! Its a bit too big!" and I thought I brought a massive lump of plastic. I hooked it up to the AC power suply with no problems, on the US charger and I had to make the PC Card CD drives power supply suffer for the lack of 3-pin UK power supply, when I started it up, I was totally amazed. I knew Handhelds existed and when I saw the Jorndana 728 in an RS catelouge, I always wanted one, even when I had an iPAQ. The NEC cost me also around 20% less than my iPAQ did when it was new.
I did some searching for accessories and I was also amazed by the ammount of accessories available, including VGA cables and a AA adapter, both which I desire to have!
I was impressed to also find that the modem worked right out of the box, with little trouble, just set it up to dial "Nildram"
(our ISP
) and watch the magic, even if it was slow. The only thing I wasn't impressed with was the lack of software support and the lack of internet communications, for example, communications with my mobile phone. These are minor and it is probably due to the fact that I didn't do enough research. One problem was MP3 software, I did some searching on the internet and found an Xaudio player, using that did cause my computer to constantly crash or slow-down when in standby mode or comming out of standby mode.
The only other complaint is that MS didn't include a battery gauge, like they do for my laptop, except my laptops one now does go missing!
(Time to try some VB coding I think!
).
I started to take my MP to college the third day I had it delivered, I kept it quite concealed, until I used the bus home and played a bit of solitare, I also recorded the buses engine noise
(it was a Alexander Volvo B10M, ironically, the type that I modelled and appears as a render on this page
), I was not impressed with the audio quaility either, even at max, it was very quite and a lot of skipping was evident! I did have a fun time with Solitare, but I found the fact that the sunlight caused more strain to my eyes as I was sitting to the south side of the bus and I used the bus about mid day, now big windows, with great vision and a route that is virtually West to East all the way
(Crookhorn - Leigh Park - Havant in the South of England
) meant that 60-70% of the journey, I had problems reading the screen and on some occasions, I just had to look out the window and look at the scrolling urban scenery and other buses going to Portsmouth or to Wecock Farm, because I couldn't see the display at all!
The third day, I tried it out to write some notes down in college, I gave up and use my sketchbook instead, as we were asked to use our sketchbooks in the first place. I had to take down some Health & Saftey notes down and my pencil and sketchbook just proved too slow, so I got the handheld out and use that, I found it far quicker to type. Not many people took interest then. I let someone else use it so they could write notes down too.
On the fourth day, I got it out late in the afternoon, others took instant interest and asking "what is that?" "I have never seen one" and ended up playing around with it for a little bit, getting really interested, because it was the first one they had seen, even the UK finds handhelds a rareity. It has been the same story all along, I was reading a magazine article from 1998 and handhelds of CE1 devices were still extremely rare. PC World reviewed 5 handhelds
(A Casio, a Philips Velo 1, Compaq PC companion and a HP 320LX for greyscale handhelds and a HP 620LX for colour handhelds
), the editor prefered the keyboard of the casio, but overal of the 620LX, I must scan the article at some point.
On Friday, some were bored in lesson, so one girl had a play on my handheld and she loved it, so did someone else when I wanted to get some Canvas to make a case, I'll have a post on this IDC. One of them even wanted to buy my mobilepro off me!!
So far, this device has despite, it pitfalls, has become a useful device. I liked the keyboard and found it easy to adjust to, but when I went back to my laptop, I made constant errors as I thought I was on the MP's keyboard!
When I first got it, I had beem use to a laptop for most of my life, I accidently thought the mobile pro was a laptop, so I constantly tried to reach for a touch pad, only to realise I had to use the stylus!
As for the future, I expect that it is a matter of time away, before I end up with a MP880
(How do I carry that if I did? Bung it in the same compartment as the laptop and crush both of them in my bag?
), even though the larger screen tempts me and the docking cradle, if there ever was one tempts me further. I read a review that one person has both and she likes them both, they use the 880 most of the time and the 780 to toss in her bag when she wants something smaller. Sounds like my kind of wanted setup. The USB port will be useful too.
I also wish to upgrade the MP780 to a 790, with the 790 battery and ROM board, I may make a request for it, but is it worth it? I also may purchase a bluetooth card, a wired ethernet card, a wireless ethernet card and a 2gb microdrive. Or shall I go for a 5gb PC card? I also need a mono 2.5mm-stereo 3.5mm converter, I would just simply replace the jack, making my headset useless, my nokia headset useless
(it only works with my mobile phone anyway!
) and my spare motorola that a friend gave away for free useless, which I particulary hate, because it activates the damm RECORDING application every time I use it. I just wanna listen to MP3's!!
Oh and make a custom case......
(oh and the lack of port replica and the wish to use a modem instead of a NIC is quite a mistake in my mind as any forward planning would say that the modems now are almost redundant!
).
If I went for another handheld, I'd love to build my own handheld to my preferences, so that I know what I wish to have, I have no electrical knowlege however and it would be pretty costly. I would have something that is cheap to make but has the latest technology, hopefully to fit in your pocket. My MP does for one pair of trousers, but not any others.
I also think a docking cradle with atleast a charging socket
(direct from the 240v supply and stepped down to 9v
), a USB sync port and a ethernet jack
(perhaps a stylus drawer
) would be an excellent thing to have, so you can just plonk the computer on the jack and it will sync as well as access the internet.
I would like to hear your comments and suggestions.
