Hewlett Packard IPAQ h3630 Pocket PC

I bought my iPaq H3650 (which has exactly the same features as the H3630) two months ago. My new job requires me to keep track of much more detail than ever before, and I was beginning to need help keeping track of my personal commitments. I've always hated paper calendars precisely because I don't like tons of erasures, don't want to write things down at home AND at work, and don't want to carry a big heavy organizer with me every where I go. Given that technology has now provided me with the perfect tool, I bought an iPaq. I use it to keep track of my Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and also to move files between office and work. It is lightweight and fits in my purse.

The iPaq is by far the most outstanding PDA on the market. It has a color TFT active matrix screen which is backlit and contains little lights all around its edges. This provides a nicely lit screen that you can easily read even in bright sunlight.

The iPaq also has more memory than any other PDA on the market with 32M RAM. (The newer model has 64M RAM). While the iPaq does not have an expansion slot, there is a sleeve that fits over the PDA which contains the expansion slot. If you choose to add wireless connectivity to your iPaq you would need to buy this accessory. There is no reason, however, why you would need extra memory given that so much is initially provided.

Earlier models of the iPaq had a stylus that would become stuck if you didn't insert it correct into its slot. Compaq has solved this problem by only allowing the stylus to be inserted in one direction. What I like about how the stylus is held in the PDA is that it can't fall out, unlike several of the Palm and other PDA models. And just in case you do happen to lose the stylus, the iPaq comes complete with an extra stylus. (If I'm too lazy to use the stylus, my fingernails also work quite well!)

The iPaq also supports USB, but in order to use this feature, your desktop needs to be running Windows 98. Windows 95 does not adequately support USB, even if your machine has a USB port. The iPaq comes complete with a docking cradle, which both recharges the battery and allows the iPaq to sync with your desktop.

The iPaq is designed to sync with no more than two computers. Microsoft ActiveSync 3.1 software is provided. The software installs easily and is easily configured. There is a slightly different procedure when setting up the software for use with a USB port, but directions are provided as part of the complete package. I had some minor difficulty getting the iPaq to sync correctly on my first try so I called Compaq's customer service. I was very impressed. They spent about 20 minutes on the telephone with me making sure that my configuration was correct and clearly taking me through the process, step by step.

I was also pleasantly surprised that the iPaq seems to have no problem syncing despite different OS and Outlook versions on my home and work computers. My home computer runs Outlook 2000 and Windows 98 with USB support. My work computer runs Windows 95 and Outlook 98 (which I am not allowed to upgrade) with a serial cable connection. I ordered an extra serial cable directly from Compaq and hooked the iPaq up to my work computer after first syncing it at home. It synchronized the information beautifully.

When you first sync between two different computers, you will get a lot of duplicate information that you will have to delete. Once you delete the duplicates, however, and get a synchronized version of your information on each machine, duplicates will happen no more.

One design flaw seems to be that the power button can be so easily turned on when the iPaq sits in its leather case. The power button is exposed. My solution to this is to put the iPaq wrong side down in the leather case so that the power button is no longer exposed. This works beautifully.

I am also quite impressed with the great character recognition that is built into the iPaq. You have the choice to use a small keyboard or character recognition as an input method. Unlike earlier PDAs the character recognition is great! I almost never have to backspace and rewrite a character. I also don't have to write my characters in a specified way as the iPaq understands my handwriting just fine. This makes data entry quite easy and, I think, faster than hunting and pecking on the keyboard.

The iPaq will warn you when it get low on battery power. If the battery gets drained completely you will lose all the information on your iPaq. This has happened once to me (I probably forgot to turn it off) and I was greatly surprised at how easily I was able to get everything working again. I deleted all the partnerships created in my ActiveSync software and just started all over again.

One very nice feature about the iPaq is that it can be password protected when you turn it on and when it is synced. This is important given that most people will be carrying around a lot of personal information on their PDA.

The iPaq comes with several preinstalled applications, including the Pocket PC versions of MS Word, Excel and Outlook. Installing new software is easy, although no directions are contained in the material or demo CD from Compaq to tell you how to do this. In order to install new software, you first download it to your desktop. Then you run the installation program on your desktop. The software then gets installed on the PDA. I've tried Pocket Mahjong, Pocket Chess and Pocket Tetris and they all worked very well. The Windows CE OS is much improved and gives better performance over earlier versions. The "Q" button allows for quick and easy closure of open applications.

One major drawback is the low supply and high demand for iPaqs. This means you may have to purchase your iPaq at a premium, if you can find one. Compaq is trying to remedy this problem and has recently announced a new factory that will be devoted to building iPaqs. So hopefully, this won't be a problem in the future.