On March 2nd and 3rd I attended the Pocket PC reviewer's workshop put on by Microsoft and Pocket PC manufacturers in Seattle, Washington. I'd been hearing a lot of rumors, and then getting pre-release information from the manufacturers about the new Pocket PC devices. But it's hard to review a product you haven't seen. I was glad to be there.
I saw four Pocket PC devices at the reviewer's workshop: the HP Jornada 545, the Casio E-115, and the Compaq iPAQ. Symbol Technologies was displaying their PPT 2700, a ruggedized Palm-size PC. They will keep the hardware for this device and switch over to the Pocket PC operating system and applications when they become available.
What follows is a first look at these new devices. HP and Casio sent me their Pocket PCs to play with for a couple of days. I was not able to get a Compaq iPAQ or a Symbol PPT 2700 in time for this issue, but I will describe those based on what I saw at the workshop.
Hewlett-Packard has the reputation of being an engineer's company.
You can drop their products on concrete and run over them with pickup
trucks, and they still seem to keep on going. What's surprising about
HP's new Jornada 545 Pocket PC is that it's not only durable, it's very
nice looking!
I got my hands on a pre-release version of the Jornada 545 Pocket PC
for this quick-look review. The Jornada 545 Pocket PC has 16MB of RAM.
(The Jornada 548 has 32MB RAM but is otherwise identical to the 545.)
The Jornada 545 is very different from the Jornada 430se, HP's previous
Palm-size PC. The 545 is just a little heavier than its predecessor, but
the new Jornada is smaller in all other dimensions. It no longer
resembles the small square brick that was the 430se. It's about 1/3
thinner than the 430se, but because of its contoured lines, feels even
more so. It's easier to hold securely in your hand and slips easily into
your coat or shirt pocket.
The Jornada 545 feels more rugged than the 430se. It sports a sturdy
anodized metal case with a protective metal flip cover.
("Anodized" metal is coated with a protective surface). The
flip cover protects the color display and is detachable, which means
that you can remove it to make your 545 even smaller and lighter. That
would probably work fine if you carry your Pocket PC in your shirt or
coat pocket, but not in a purse or briefcase. If you decide to go
without the flip cover, you might want to invest in a thin screen
overlay to protect the display from scratching. (HP lists a six-pack of
screen protectors as an accessory. You might also check out WriteRIGHTs
at www.conceptkitchen.com.)
USB port means faster synchronization
The Jornada 545 has a dual USB/serial port built in, and a USB
synchronization cradle as a standard accessory. A USB connection is much
faster than serial, and the decision to include USB connectivity means
that you can synchronize and download data much faster than you could
with the older Palm-size PCs.
Other improvements and some suggestions
The Jornada 545 uses Lithium Ion battery technology, like the
previous HP Palm-size PCs did. But according to HP representatives, the
new 133MHz SH3 processor draws less power. That and a more efficient
display means that the 8-hour battery life estimate (continuous use on a
fully-charged battery) may be accurate. Remember that battery life
estimates are based on best-case scenarios. If you play
graphics-intensive games and listen to a lot of MP3 music, your Jornada
545's battery life will be less.
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