Hewlett Packard IPAQ h5450 Pocket PC

The first part of this review is about the device.
Read on to the 2nd part if you're interested in how I got my great 2nd hand deal!

Review:
Compared to a palm which I used for several years, this thing has a very slow start up, and it's actually quite unstable (I have to do a soft reset at least once a week). But the windows compatibility is amazing.

My unit comes with the Pocket PC 2003 OS. When I installed it for the first time, I didn't even use the manual. I still have not really looked at the manual except to figure out the wireless capability (which is quite a pain).
Syncing with outlook is flawless, as is getting some documents synchronised.

Using Pocket Word is quite a pain, as the screen size is definitely not meant for extended use in this manner. But for reading text files, it is ok (so save documents you need to read on the go in .txt format)

Pocket Excel works brilliantly, especially for checking up sales data (I do sales and marketing for quite a bit). I even have my fuel consumption data all inside. Pity I can't do charting and other presentation stuff on it.

The Windows Media Player works fairly well with MP3s, and plays back wmv files brilliantly. But it DOES NOT do .mpg/mpeg or .avi files. Fortunately there's PocketTV which is FREE, and plays back almost anything (when it's encoded correctly at 320x240 resolution) at about 20fps, which is absolutely brilliant!

NEVO is the shocker. I've never had a universal remote before. I had on my previous Palm IIIxe had a remote application which I had to teach everything, one command at a time. Now I just simply choose a brand, test the signal, and I can control EVERY TV, VCR, VCD/DVD player in the electronics store. When I'm at the local pub, and I don't like whats showing, I can actually change the channel. I can even control Cable TV boxes too! It's like giving a kid a super-soaker 1000XXX. I can't get enough of it!

I've also added Avantgo, Acrobat, Wifofum and many other applications that are FREELY available (if you know where to look for it). I've navigated in a foreign city (Kuala Lumpur) using Mapopolis, which runs very quickly on my 5450.

Using bluetooth and the IR port, I can exchange my business Vcard with anybody with a similar device. I can even surf the net using a bluetooth phone.

At wireless hotspots, I only have to configure it once, and I don't have to remember all the different settings (just the userid and password).

My greatest gripe is battery life. Using it for normal work, I can only get about a day's work, and I need to recharge it every night. If I use MP3s only, I can get about 4 hours before it dies on me. For watching movies, I can get about 3 hours... and I keep the screen brightness low. When using WIFI, it's barely 2hours, and once, when I forgot I had left WIFI on, my 5450 accidentally came on (while it was in my bag). When I reached home, it was completely dead (because I set the power settings to the lowest). Fortunately on the HP site, there was instructions on how to "resuscitate" dead Wifi PDAs!

I am now looking out for the latest 6350.... 2nd hand of course. I think Ipaqs are the best, and only an Axim might dissuade me in future.

2nd part: Story on how I got a second hand 5450 for S$450 (US$260)
I was a firm believer of Palms, and was looking for a Sony Clie. This was about 10 months ago, and the Tungsten T3 was just launched here in Singapore, at more than S$700 (US$400).

Then I realised that there was a growing 2nd hand online market, and I found loads of used PDAs for sale. I started to research Ipaqs, as I saw several 3870s, 3970s, 1940s and a few 5450s for sale.

I had first seen an Ipaq when it was launched several years ago (as a Compaq Ipaq). The owner had also invested in a PC Card sleeve, and had a 340mb microdrive. He showed me how he could watch an entire movie on his Ipaq. I always thought that it was a very expensive portable movie player (S$2000 / US$1150 all items included).

Knowing that a 5450 costs about S$1200 brand new (it was still on sale at that time), I was shocked to see how low some of the used ones were going for (between S$450 to 550).
I also found a 3970 for S$350 but it was already sold. Another one was going for S$380, and I tried to press him down to S$350, but he wouldn't budge.
Then I decided to go for the 5450, and I called up the lowest priced one on sale. It was 9 months old, without any addons. The owner was going for a 2215 (so that he could use a CF card). I already own an SD card, so it didn't matter. I checked it out, and it was in awesome condition. I paid him the cash, and it's been 10 months of sheer pleasure with this thing.

I've even invested in a vehicle charger, as well as an additional connector for my office computer!