Handheld Reviews

The Compaq Aero is a great product in regards to productivity and it's use of the Windows CE software. However there are a few buyer beware issues that you should be aware of which I came to after having mine for a year now:

1. The screen is not resistant enough to scratches to allow for long term writing with the included sylus. If you plan to write on your PDA daily and for long periods, sctaches on the bottom appear, and only get worse with use.You will want to purchase screen protectors from a company like Concept Kitchen to protect your screen.

2. Three of my co-workers as well as myself purchased these products at the same time. In 2 of them, the audio went out and never came back.. The vertict when we compared notes: The 2 of us who lost our audio played alarms and MP3's (using the MP3 player), which were very loud. If your looking for a good audio system, you should consier the Casio model instead, which also features stereo audio (Compaq's Aero is mono only)

3. If this will become a necessary part of your life, and if you find that you are using it the majority of your day, you will want to get one of many PDA Accessory kits that are available at various online retailers. Look for one that includes screen protection accessories and cleaning products. The sooner you get this, the better. I found out too late that my screen was getting scratched with my writing, and even though my screen is now protected I have unrecoverable damage to my screen.

Overall, the system performs well, and is rugged enough to be thrown in a briefcase or a pocket daily. This is most useful to someone who is a Microsoft Windows user at home and work, since the interface is almost identical (There is even a start button). If you are a hobbiest wanting the latest and most feature rich PDA, this is not for you, the Casio and HP models may be better. However, if you are a business professional who wants a reliable system that can live with a mono audio system and an acceptable color visual display, this model is for you.

This is a nice tool with one very basic flaw. The screen is difficult to see in normal indoor light. However, the voice recorder is a real plus for 'in traffic' ideas and reminders to myself. The earphone and the audio book program is a nice addition for tedious airplane travel. The available v.90 modem allows easy e-mail and faxing which sometimes allows me to travel without my heavy laptop.

It's a good pocket pc. It haves many good things like games,color tft 3" screen. I have it too i love it.

The Compaq aero 2110 is nice and thin it has my new things to explore. ...

The CF Exp. Pack Plus is pretty much impossible to find in stores, and quite hard to find it available online at the MSRP (Most sellers know this item is in high demand so they sell it MORE than 99.99, the MSRP). I suggest if you find it at a price bellow a hundred dollars, just buy it!

Why buy it? This product is probably the BEST CF expansion pack out there no questions asked. First of all, I owned a regular Compaq CF expansion pack before.. nothing spectacular. This CF expansion pack however, does a lot more. The main thing of course is the battery. The battery doubles the regular life of the ipaq, which is important since the ipaq battery doesnt really last long. You can also take out the battery and use another battery or an extended battery if you wish to have more power. Secondly, one of my gripes with the old regular CF expansion pack was that it didnt protect the screen of my iPaq, like the Compaq Cover Pack that I also owned. And likewise, the Cover Pack I had didn't have a CF expansion slot. Well, the CF Exp. Pack Plus nails both problems. Not only does it include a CF expansion slot, it is also a Cover Pack. It looks and protects EXACTLY the same as the Cover Pack. There is a small grey plastic door that covers the screen. Basically, the CF Expansion pack plus is just a Cover Pack with a CF expansion slot and a very slim battery pack that doubles the battery life. All this...everything you wanted and needed.. in one sleeve. It might be "a little heavier" but it doesn't bother me a bit. I don't like the ipaq feel so light that it feels like im holding a naked ipaq, and I dont like the ipaq feeling so heavy that it feels like im holding a dumbbell... this one is just perfect, with everything on, it feels like your holding a gameboy. Perfect if you ask me. Oh and by the way, there is also an ejection mechanism to eject out ure CF memory card.. no more pulling out the CF card from the slot, just push the lil trigger and pop comes out the card.

Any problems with it so far? Nope, works perfect. My only problem is that Compaq didnt release this sooner.

For those that use their Ipaq alot, I highly recommend this expansion sleeve. The price may seem a little high, but it has well been worth it to have the extra battery time. I have not had any problems with it at all. I originally was looking for just a CF sleeve when I purchased this. I have had it for about a month now and with some of the software and add ons that I have I am glad to have the extra battery time. The external battery charges extremely fast. The weight was the only thing that I had to get used to, but after a while you won't notice it much.

My only complaint about my iPaq 3765 was it's short battery life (compares with my previous Palm devices). The Compact Flash Card Expansion Pack Plus is the perfect solution. It comes with a battery to boost the time my iPaq can be used, and by adding an inexpensive Compact Flash card, you get more memory too! My iPaq now has the same amount of RAM as my desktop!

It fits great and feels solid. I totally recommend this item!

You have sent the wrong cradle. you sent a palm v series cradle and we ordered a cradle for the palm lllc. The one that was sent
is incompatible with the palm lllc pda. We will be returning this cradle. The seried v has a curved base, and a female connector, the palm lllc base should be straight and have a male connector in the base to fit into the female connector of the pda unit.

this cradle does include the AC Adapter/Power Supply to recharge the Palm in the cradle. It duplicates the one shipped with the Palm IIIc, including the 9 to 25 pin serial adapter. If they would have included a USB adapter, I would have rated it 5 stars.

Just as with the other items, on time as promise and in a sealed
box. Price also was good.

I purchased the EM500 as my first PDA, along with a 64MB MMC card. The card allows me to store vast amounts of data and music on MMC, compensating somewhat for the barebones 16 MB of RAM permitted in this device.

Due to technological changes by Microsoft, the EM-500 and most other Pocket PCs on the market as of August 2001 cannot be upgraded to the new Windows Pocket PC 2002 operating system.

Assuming you need to buy a PDA before the new generation of Pocket PC 2002 PDAs reaches the market, the EM-500 is a great choice.

The video quality is excellent. The unit design is simple, sturdy and elegant. The included applications are more than sufficient for the average PDA or MP3 user. The success of the character and handwriting recognition software in translating simple messages was a pleasant surprise.

For added convenience, buy Casio's EM500 docking cradle.

I love PDA's (and computers in general, for that matter) and this is an excellent device. There was a time when I swore by Palm's pda's, but while Windows CE (now known as Pocket PC) has evolved to near-desktop power, the Palm has remained virtually unchanged. Of the Pocket PC's available, this unit is the best compromise of size and power. It packs a 150mhz cpu (more powerful than the HP Jornada, less than the Ipaq), 16mb of ram, and an amazing screen capable of displaying 16bit color. The Ipaq and HP Jornada can both only do 12-bit color at best. All of that is packed in a comfortable, small device that feels extremely solid in the hand.

While I do believe the EM-500 is probably the best unit available, it does have a few draw-backs. The miserly 16mb of ram is hardly enough... if you buy this make sure to get a 32mb or 64mb memory card to go with it. My other complaints are minimal: lack of hardware volume control, location of IRDA port... but none of these minor issues really impact the usefulness of the unit.

Definitely a great PDA, and well worth the money

This is a great pda for the price and it works well with windows which is a major plus. I am a med student and use mine to reference material quickly (it makes me look like a genius). Anyway, it has lot of other app as well so you can use it to play your fav song... on the train/bus or edit email or read a book... I COULD GO ON AND ON... anyway, good deal especially if you find one used.

I have been a loyal fan of Compaq. I owned 2 desktop presarios, one handheld and one palm size. The Aero has been very disappointing. I bought it May 1999, the internal battery broke Labor day 1999. I cannot recharge it or even turn it on. The only choice that customer service gave me was to send it back. I sent it back to Compaq, they gave me a refurbished unit swapping out my 4-month old unit. The new unit will not sync with my PC. The reason being that Windows CE recognize that it is another Aero with a different serial number. I spent more than 10 hours figuring out what to do and move file by file back to the Aero. Compaq did not restore my data and their customer support is useless. They just hang up on you when they cannot answer your question. When I try to turn the unit on in March 2000 (last week), the same thing happened again. I called customer service and they said the same thing, send it back and they will give me another refurbish unit. Now I tell them that my warranty is going to expire in June 2000, and they told me that if it happens again, it would be $200 to fix it. I have not had a problem with the handheld (C-Series) and I do not know what is wrong with the design of the Aero. I told Compaq that $500 is too much to spend on something that will only last 1 year and breaks down 3 times. I asked for a partial refund and has been denied. I will think twice now about buying another Compaq.

I find this Aero quite a good buy. I got it ...and enjoyed it. After a while something happened to the screen, and after debating with every type of Compaq representative on the phone, they fixed it. This happened again more recently, and I went through the same process.

In conclusion, it is a very good unit. But Compaq is not as good.

If you are as busy Parent like I am, you need this product! At the end of the day, I just pick up my Aero from the pod and I can review all my unread Outlook mail messages at home or at the playground. I can dial in but with kids you never know what room you might be in. I can also review my meeting plan the next day and know how early I need to get everyone up and dressed. The best feature is the recorder. One button and you can record your grocery list or other TO DO's. More Diapers!

I'm not a PC wiz by any means but it was really easy to learn to use. It's a time saver!

It should be noted that this travel charger is for plugging into an AC wall outlet, and not for use in an automobiles DC cigarette lighter.

It works but it is alot slower than your hotsync cradle. .But,it does the job.

Top notch product.

Simply plug it into the bottom of your Prism, wait an hour and your Prism is fully charged and ready to go.

I've used it for three months now with no problems whatsoever. The transformer (Converts the AC to DC) is relatively small and it has a long cord for utility.

I HAD Franklin Covey software. No more.

All told, I lost 24 hours trying to find data/contact knowledgeable tech support reps. Franklin Covey finally agreed upon a $150 voucher for all my trouble.

Hot syncs: create too many appointment repeats, for no seeming or predictable reason. (3 on one day? All-year repeats that were supposed to be one week?)

How do Palm and Franklin Covey work together? Not well. Palm offers so much that you cannot access via FC.

I've been so pleased since I figured out, with not much help from Franklin Covey, how to transfer all my Franklin Covey data to just plain old Palm. Please beware.

At first I thought it would be too hard to get used to it, but after 3 or 4 days using it I really took advantage from the Palm V.

I deal with so many different meetings and such that this is the product that has made all the difference

The case is very nice good fit and the time viewing window is great. The problem was the belt clip! It broke the second day I had it.

I read the reviews before deciding to purchase this case and was forewarned of the problems with the clip that others had experienced. I was optimistic and took a chance that I would'nt be so unfortunate. Oh Well...the clip was broken, right out of the box (guess I'll have to try and substitute with one from an old cell phone). As for the case, it's great. It fits snug & protects the handheld, appears to be well made, sharp design, and the window on the front that allows you to view the clock is nice. With the exception of the clip, absolutely the nicest case I was able to find.

Good product. Other reviewers have stated that the clip broke for them. I have not had that problem. They may have fixed it. The metal spring goes all the way to the bottom of the plastic part of the clip so the plastic should not break now due to the stress of the spring. This case is probably the best belt clip case out there. It is not nessary to be wearing a belt to carry this around, it will clip your pants. It is fairly easy to get off the clip and use. You can also remove the Palm Pilot from the case it self since it is a holster type of case and not one where the Palm is afixed to the case. Overall it is a good product. I would like to have seen a simlar case that is not made from leather to get the price down, after all this case is a 1/3 of the price of the m100.

Hi. I already bought ten of these devices, in order to develop a unique project supported by Microsoft using latest .NET compact framework techs, etc. The first surprise.. our 5450s are like a beta test.. and we are beta testers. WLAN works fine, but they cannot authenticate in an Linksys AP, 802.11G is not supported on early models, this problem was recognized by HP and they released an OS update. In addition, battery indicator shows depletion erroneously, there are several problems with low cost SD memory expansion cards, my device worked with Simple Tech, Wiking or Kingston, other brands didn't worked at all. One of our devices dropped from a loose jacket pocket, a 2-feet fall. Results: the screen exploded and broken in several parts, seems that the screen was made with real glass, not plexiglass nor other transparent thing like early Compaq IPAQs. WE sent it to HP labs, and they said the motherboard was broken as well, so the device is almost unusable. We spent over 8,800.00 USD in these machines, and we think we deserve more robustness, provided at that time the device was sheltered with the supplied screen cover and protection sleeve.
On the positive side, the device is fast, with outstanding pocketDIVX video performance and a sustained 2MBPS WLAN transfer rate (10 meters).
Bluetooth performance is deceiving, in spite of that, the concept of personal area network is quite interesting. But if you want to exchange some MP3s, you can expect transfer times that are comparable to the infrarred connection ones - not much gain at all.
We often have to soft reset our devices, mainly due to WLAN config changes those are not reflected, or WLAN card not properly turned off, or WLAN reconfig not possible or rejected by the device. We certainly think the 5450 is not a mature product. Great concept, state of the art microelectronics and so on, but we think HP released a beta version, not a final release. An expensive one, indeed.

I bought the device as my first Pocket PC. I couldn't get over all the integrated features, integrated 802.11b AND Bluetooth, consumer IR, etc etc. After I got the device and spent a few days playing with it, I started noticing a few quirks with the integrated 802.11b. First of all, every once in a while, when attempting to start the wireless network utility to turn on the wireless radio, I will get an error stating there is not enough driver memory. This is easily resolved with a soft reset of the device, but isn't something I should have to do in the first place. Ah well, that wasn't too big of a deal to me. Second, it uses the Atmel controller, and if you are looking for wireless network stumbling utilities like Ministumbler or Pocketwarrior, they will not work with it until they are ported for this controller. And last, being the biggest gripe about it, there is no integrated 802.1x authentication support, and I haven't found any 3rd party solutions. This basically means that if you plan to use this device in your place of business and 802.1x authentication is required to access your corporate WLAN, you'll have to get an expansion sleeve and a supported card and drivers. HUGE oversight on HP's part seeing as this device seems to be geared toward the corporate market. If your WLAN at work doesn't require 802.1x, you'll be fine. I hope that this will be resolved in a future software update, but for now you might be better getting the cheaper 3900 series, a compact flash adapter sleeve, and appropriate compact flash 802.11b card, especially if you plan on using this device for wardriving or connecting to an 802.1x secured network...

[Supplement on 1-24-2004]
I still have the iPaq and am happy to say all the issues I complained about are resolved. The open source PocketWarrior program is available for wardriving with the Atmel chipset wlan chip built in. And with the Windows Mobile 2003 software upgrade you can purchase from HP, the device gets 802.1x support. New gripe, sometimes I have a hard time getting the device to sync via the supplied cradle, and have to revert to using a straight USB sync cable. This happens on TWO cradles I have. Sync issues aside, I love this thing! Upgrading rating from 3 to 4 stars...

I agonized at the tough choices I had to make: A) Stick to the Palm pilot series which I had been using for the last 3 years; B) Buy the HP 3950, the top model in the 3000 series; or B) Buy the new HP 5450.

The Internet reviews of the HP 5450 were a mixed bag with some people stating that it wasn't a reliable machine, some going as far as saying that they had to make a hard reset every day.

I bought my HP 5450 about a month ago. Overall, I have been positively surprised by it's reliability. Many of the negative points stated in the December/January reviews have been dealt with efficiently by HP. For example the headphone jack on my machine is a standard headphone jack. With a 128 megabyte SD memory card, I have been using the iPaq as an MP3 player with no problems. The finger print reader works impeccably, always on the first time scan (I did have to practice for about 20 minutes using the training program supplied with the machine as you need to use a swift steady motion). The fingerprints are now saved in the ROM of the machine so that even if you do a Hard Reset (i.e. restore the machine to it's original configuration), the machine is still protected with you finger print. This makes your machine useless to any "would be" thief.

If you take the backlighting down to a reasonable level, you easily get 7 to 8 hours of battery use. I have a second battery which I have been using when I travel. I also have the option of charging the machine when I go on long trips as there is a standard adapter which allows you to plug in your power cord straight into the Ipaq (instead of through the cradle). There is also the option of slow charging directly through the USB chord so you could leave your power chord behind without being left completely stranded.

Both Bluetooth and WLAN connections work fine and are relatively easy to set up if your phone and wireless gateway are properly setup. They do use up more battery, especially the WLAN. I turn them on for a few minutes when I need to get/send my emails and turn them off when I am done.

There is also a nifty backup software which allows you to backup all the RAM contents into ROM (the Ipaq file store) so that if you go on holiday, you can backup all your programs and databases to restore them later in case your memory got erased due to an extended "power outage".

Size and design are exceptional. Only a little bit bigger and heavier than my previous Palm m515. The Windows Pocket PC 2002 software is even more user friendly than the Palm OS.

Please note that I bought my Ipaq in Hong Kong where it comes with a 1250Mh battery as standard. It seems that Amazon's is only 900 Mh.

A great machine... Well worth its price!

It's nice and compact, holds a couple of credit cards, IDs, some cash. High quality, the stitching is good and the zipper glides smoothly without catching. It's not as red as it is in the pictures, but I guess that's because it gets dirty with time. It's made of washable material so that shouldn't be a problem. Red isn't all that bad, at least if anyone tries to steal your palm in its case hopefully you'll know who it is!:).. It's light yet has protected my PDA from a couple of drops from my hand beautifully.. buuuut ...

.. I wish they added a belt-loop option for you to carry it on your person. Or a strap option so you can sling it around your shoulder or neck would be nice. The only way you can bring it around is by holding it in your hand, keeping it in a pocket (not as convenient as you think), or putting it in your bag. That's kind of a hassle for me as a medical student, as I'm looking for a hands free case. Maybe I can stitch my own loops at the back but I'll probably ruin the cloth. Or maybe I'll buy that nice affordable silver Sumdex carrying case ...

This is a neat case. Too bad my Cassiopeia E-105 doesn't fit it. I even tried stretching the case around my Casio, still couldn't make it fit.

i did some hacking to attach the cover for my visor via veclro so it wasn't on the unit, write me if you want advice, this is a GREAT case. i've dropped it SEVERAL times and NO DAMAGE! Sometimes as far as 5 feet, works like a charm!