Palm vs. Compaq Handhelds

[VashtheStampede]

I'm trying to decide on which handheld to buy. I have previously owned a Palm V (which I gave away to my dad).
I am currently looking at the iPac H365... which is the new color handheld from Compaq. Anyone know or hear anything about the Compaq handhelds?? and how they may compare to the Palms and Handsprings??? Your info would be much appreciated.

[spigidygak]

Well if you like to have something crash a lot go with the compaq. Windows ce still blows basically. Not sure why you gave up your Palm V. If its too small in memory wait for the new m500 to come out. Or if you badly want a color calendar get the m505. The Palm os is still the best at what its supposed to do. Keeps things simple and gets the job done. But if you like bragging rights about how your pda can play mp3's, media files, and eat up batteries like a mofo. . . go with the compaq.

[Chinpoko_Mon]

so Palm M500 over Handspring Visor Edge??

[spigidygak]

I think so, never really like anything from handspring. And since the expansion port on m500/505 is an SD and MMD cards which is more versatile than the interface used in the handspring. Also the m500/505 will have the 4.0 os version. And it also has a vibrating alarm function where as the visor edge only has a blinking led, which the m500/505 also has. And thats me two humble cents.

[Chinpoko_Mon]

I think I read somewhere that the resolution on the new Palms are still not as good as the Handsprings... anyone know if this is true as well?

I checked out the Edge at my local Fry's the other day, the only thing was that it was a little taller than the Palm Vx (which is suppose to the size as the new Palm M500/505)
Aside from that the edge did perform quite well.

But I think I will wait for the Palm to be released and then go down to Fry's and compare them side by side...
Don't know if I'll need more than 8MB of memory.. but I guess it's always good to have the option for expansion.. =)

[VashtheStampede]

Well, is anyone sure that the Windows CE is crap?? or is this just an assumption since Windows suck?

Well, the iPac has such better colors than the m505. I saw the m505 and it looked like a Gameboy with CGA graphics.

the iPac's color and resolution is pretty good. However, I only tried one out for a few minutes and I never got to fully test the Windows CE and stuff.

oh yeah.. the price is another thing... 599 for the new iPac.. ouch....

[ken]

IPAQ's are great, if you're willing to pay the price.

I have one and have no complaints, except that the os is getting flakier and flakier.

The key reason to get the IPAQ is color. Nothing beats wince color. Handspring has color, but the screen is 2/3 size. Plus, palm os doesn't support color as well as wince.

My other personal reasons include dislike of graffiti. I prefer handwriting recognition

Plus the ipaq looks cool. The handspring, in my opinion, is the only viable alternative to the ipaq, if you don't mind the limited screen size and graffiti

[VashtheStampede]

ken -

When you say that the OS is getting flakier and flakier, what exactly do you mean?? Can you give me some examples? is the Windows CE crashing on you all the time now? That is my biggest concern for getting an iPac.

i just got a sony clie to replace my m100. i love this thing. the memory stick can also support folders and files like windows does. as far as i know, other external cards dont support this. but the downside to memory stick is that its not really compatable with anything other than sony products. its also nice that sony includes a nice case, a usb cradle and an 8 mb memory stick. i really didnt want to have to buy a memory stick right after i bought a new pda. sony also added a few little tweaks to the address book so that you can add pictures to all listings in your book, i havnt figured out how to do this yet, but i havent worried about it yet.
ive also seen some free programs, including an official one from sony, which lets you run programs directly from the memory stick, which i understand you cannot do with other external media (if im wrong about this please tell me).
the jogdial is a handy little tool. it is often limited at times, but as far as most programs go, it is extremely useful. there are also some small free programs out there with increase the useablilty (is that a real word?) of the jog dial with almost all programs.
im testing out some of these programs right now. some of them are really useless, while others are really nice. i tried one which let me run practically anything directly off the memeory stick including most of the apps and games i tried. it is a lot slower at times though. i wonder if there is a way to over clock access to the ms.
another thing i love is the backlight, it has true backlight without reversing the color. i love this thing. they probably did this because if you try to view pics with the reversed lcd they look like garbage. this way you can actually see the image properly.
i really dont have any complaints about this since i upgraded from the m100.

[VashtheStampede]

What in the world is the difference between a compaq iPac3630 and an iPac3635?????

I can't even find the 3630 on the compaq website.. anyone have any ideas??

[Apex]

The newer ones have improved dust sealing, so you won't get little specs behind the screen. You definitely want a newer one.