HP iPAQ 4155 Pocket PC

WIFI - excellent reception and not difficult at all to set up. I was in a Chicago and I could even get signals from the building across the river. (For those war-chalking warriors this is it!)

ActiveSync - The ActiveSync is easy to use and integrates extremely well with Outlook. The optional Avantgo is very useful too. You can download maps and directions from Mapquest before you go on a road trip. You can even sync bookmarks between your desktop's IE and Pocket IE.

For those Chinese-speaking folks, there are tons of software packages out there that allow you to input and read Chinese characters. The one that I am using is called CE Star and it costs 29.99. I must say it's well worth the money. It recognizes my handwriting and it does Simplified and Traditional Chinese translations as well. It even recognizes Japanese characeters!

The location of the stylus is on the back of the ipaq which proves to be an inconvenient location if you have your ipaq in a protective case.

The form factor of the 4155 is very small. It fits well in the pocket so you can carry it around to impress your friends by, for example, firing up Pocket Excel at the end of the dinner to split up the bill. :P It is definitely one of the most stylish PDAs I've ever seen. PocketPC has long been known as bulky but this 4155 totally changes the game! It's even slimmer and sleeker than a Palm Tungsten.

As mentioned by other reviewers, the screen does turn yellow when viewed it from an angle. But c'mon...who looks at his PDA at 170 degrees? The screen is perfectly fine when viewed at normal angles (90 +/- 30). At extreme angles (160+), nothing is readable anyways so why bother?

Integrated wireless:
This was the selling factor, and it did not dissapoint me. I got it to work at home and at the office, where I connect to different wireless access points. The iPAQ allows you to create individual profiles for every connection, so there is no need to manually configure every time you switch networks.

Bluetooth:
This technology is becoming more common around airports, offices, malls and other places, although probably you'll need to incur in a connection fee. I have not tested this feature yet although my iPAQ recently came across and recognized a Bluetooth network on one of the airports I travelled to.

Synchronization:
The iPAQ supports Outlook (preferably 2002) for Calendar, e-mail, notes, file and task synching. The Active Synch software is included and required on your host PC in order to start synchronizing with your PDA. A maximum o 2 PCs (partnerships) can be established for synching. Methods of synchronization include IR(Infrared), USB(using the included cradle), WLAN (yes, you can synch wireless) or serial.
Word and Excel documents are automatically converted into Pocket PC format when they are synchronized with the iPAQ. The original document needs to be copied into the Pocket PC folder (Pocket_PC My Documents) on your host PC before performing the synch.

Internet:
In order to connect to the Internet, you are required to be connected to a network, be it WLAN or Bluetooth. There are a few interesting web links included with your iPAQ and you can add your own favorites as well. Navigations is similar to Internet Explorer although you are required to scroll up/down and left/right continously on web sites that are not mobile-friendly.

E-mails:
E-mail accounts on the iPAQ are setup in an almost exact manner as Outlook on a normal PC. By default, and in order to conserve memory, e-mail attachments are not downloaded, there's also a default limit of e-mails you can carry at a time. E-mails can be downloaded while connected to the Internet or synched using the methods mentioned previously.

What about games? Two games are included: Guess what? Solitaire is one of them! The other one is Jawbreaker, a very simple but extremely entertaining game. There are many web sites with additional programs that can be downloaded for your iPAQ.

Programs and utilities included:
MSN Messenger, Windows Media Player, Pocket Excel and Word, Pocket MSN, Microsoft Reader, Calculator, Terminal Services Client among others.

Security:
Password security is optional; there are two security options, a simple 4-digit number and a more complex alphanumeric password option. Wireless connection security is obtained using 64 or 128 bit WEP encryption. Obviously your PDA is as secure as the network it is connecting to. Setting up 128 bit encryption on your iPAQ won't work if your wireless access point is unsecured.

Time settings: Up to two different time zones are available at the same time.

Display:
Very clear display, sharp, easy to read text, adjustable text size and fonts in some programs.

Battery:
The iPAQ possesses a respectable battery duration. It obviously varies according to your battery saving settings. Reducing the default screen brightness helps as well as turning off the wireless access or lowering the sound volume.

Settings:
You can monitor memory usage and power consumption, remove programs, adjust backlight settings, align the screen, sharpen the text, etc.

Other features:
Voice recording: There's a button on the upper left corner of the iPAQ to start recording short messages or reminders, very handy.
MP3 audio: MP3 files can be downloaded and played on your PDA using Windows Media Player. A headphone jack is also available for your private listening pleasure. Memory is limited though, is not like you can have a CD full of music on your iPAQ, don't confuse it with an MP3 player.
Letter Recognizer - A very cool option where the iPAQ attempts to recognize your handwriting and converts it into readable text.
Block recognizer - It's similar to the Palm's graffiti recognition
Transcriber - It recognizes words written in cursive
Notes can also be quickly handwritten as if using the iPAQ as a paper Notepad.
Images can also be viewed using your iPAQ, and as with the MP3 files, you should consider the memory limitations.

Memory:
Additional memory can be obtained with Secured Digital (SD) memory cards. These come on 128, 256 and 512MB sizes at reasonable prices.

The HP iPAQ 4155 is a complete, full-featured piece of equipment, well worth its price.

For my money, I'm sticking with my Palm and Toshiba e805.

Since my Palm had basically become a glorified address book, I was torn between a stripped-down device and a powerful machine that could go well beyond storing names and numbers. Although the iPaq cost the same as my old Palm did three years ago, I still balked a bit at the hefty price tag. But I finally bit after reading many glowing reviews. I also sprang for a 256 megabyte card and a foldable keyboard, both of which have turned out to be great accessories.

I'll get my main complaint out of the way first. It takes quite a bit of poking around to figure out how to use this thing, as in being able to find out where files and programs are stored. There are many different folders, some of which have arcane names like "ConnMgr", which I assume is "connection manager" or somesuch, but which contains no readable files. So why even make it visible?

Also, as a Palm user for five years, I was used to the simple interface and unified desktop application. A Pocket PC is basically like another drive for your main computer. ActiveSync is pretty seamless when dealing with Outlook (I have the lastest 2003 version, and it even transfers over Notes and recorded sound files that you can then access from your desktop) but doesn't hold your hand as far as transfering files and programs on to the device.

This is not to necessarily denigrate HP or Microsoft. This iPaq targets power users who should know their way around a file management system. Once you get oriented with the software, it actually opens up a lot of choices my Palm never gave me.

Now a run-down of the good stuff:
-- DESIGN: The size and heft are perfect. Big enough to feel comfortable and sturdy yet small enough to slip in a shirt pocket.
-- SCREEN: Bright and crisp. There is that yellowing when viewed at an angle, but since I always look at the thing straight on I'm not bothered by that.
-- MEDIA: I get much use out of the Media Player as I listen to music during commutes. It is also great to dazzle people with the latest video clip of my young son. Video playback is smooth overall, though there seems to be some dropping of frames. The image viewer is also great for flipping through more photos than my wallet could ever carry.
-- WORK: More than just an ambitious MP3 player, the iPaq has Word and Excel. I've used Word to compose letters and Excel to enter workout data. Both transfer seamlessly over to the desktop. Word is orders of magnitude more powerful than the memo composer on the Palm, and is one of the main reasons why I went for a Pocket PC. I write a lot on a daily basis and wanted something that I could use at meetings or conferences.
-- WIRELESS: I have only used the Wi-Fi and so far only with Starbucks' T-Mobile network. So far it has been easy to use, though that particular service is expensive, and I look forward to the day when wi-fi is ubiquitous and free. I tinkered briefly with Bluetooth, getting the iPaq to recognize my friend's mobile phone, but we didn't have time to actually try to exchange data. Nonetheless, I am pretty sold on the idea of wireless and the iPaq will likely lead to me setting up a home wireless LAN and shopping for Bluetooth gear in the future.
-- OTHER: The note-taking application has proven very useful, and after the media player may be my most-used program. You can type, scrawl, or dictate entries. The voice recorder is of good quality.

Overall this device has proven to be all I had hoped. It has taken my mobile computing to a new level and it was definitely worth the extra bucks to get there.

Why this model? There basically are two other Wi-Fi IPAQs but they both have gadgets attached which make them larger, heavier, and thus not as useful. One model has fingerprint recognition (the IPAQ 5555) which is a pretty unnecessary property unless you are a CIA agent. The other has a little keyboard (the IPAQ 4355) and is for people with good eyesight and tiny fingers. This describes most 2 year olds who unfortunately do not type very well despite those little digits.

Wi-Fi is the key here. It connects easily to any available wireless network. It is also Bluetooth enabled, a feature for which I have no present need, but you may.

So this is the cheapest Wi-Fi IPAQ and the most useful.

As to its other Pocket PC features, its display is awesome, bright and clear. Get a 128MB SD card to vastly increase your storage at a reasonable price.