Hewlett Packard IPAQ hx4705 Pocket PC

NOTE: This review is from the perspective of a Palm owner owning his first pocket PC, so some features I mention may be OS related.

A friend turned me on to this PDA. I was initially going to buy a refurbished Sony CLIE PEG-NZ90, but I saw the light when I started reading the specs on this puppy. Wifi, Bluetooth, Touchpad, SD *and* CF slots, large internal memory. I took the plunge and ordered one.

The first thing I noticed when I held the PDA in my hand was the coldness of the metal shell. It's very solid and there are no breakable parts on the unit that I can see. The other nice feature (which takes getting used to) is the built-in screen cover, which flips off to the side. Your screen is always protected when not in use. The battery only takes four hours to charge on the included dock. The power cord end has a removeable adapter that allows you to plug into peripherals like a keyboard and still have power to the unit through the peripheral.

I've learned quite a few things buyers will want to know. Yes, the SD and CF slots work independently of each other, but software (it may be Windows) only shows available space for one or the other, not both; whichever one you used last. I don't think there's ever been a PDA with both SD and CF slots so Windows may not know how to depict them.

The voice recording feature is very nice and begins recording about 1 second after you press the button (loading the app) and immediately with subsequent presses of the button. Sound quality is crisp and clear once you adjust the default setting. The default 8k sample rate doesn't cut it and ends up sounding tinny, especially through the small PDA speaker.

The PDA speaker itself is very small and you shouldn't expect huge sound out of it. It does a good job with games, but MP3's may have you bending an ear. But that's ok, that's why there's a headphone jack.

Landscape mode takes about a second to switch and comes in handy for browsing web pages and those big spreadsheets. Some older software doesn't support landscape, but you'll find that most do.

The screen keyboard is refreshing to use since it auto-completes words for you. Coming from Palm, I can't stand graffiti at all. This implementation is much better.

Syncing is easy. When you plug your unit into the cradle it turns on and ActiveSync does an evaluation of what's changed. I did have a couple times where the ActiveSync software took forever to evaluate the PDA, but a reset cleared that problem and it hasn't happened since. I think I had too many programs in the internal memory (more on that below).

Another handy feature is the Explore option from ActiveSync which allows you to access your PDA's file structure directly, just like a hard drive. Access to the expansion memory is via "folders" called SD Card and CF Card. Copying/pasting is a cinch. If you've never owned a pocket PC like me you'll want to take heed of the following tips: Unlike Palm all software installation is done via EXE files which you run from your main computer and it in turn installs it to your PDA. I was trying to throw EXE's on the PDA itself before I figured out what I was doing wrong. Software installation is a breeze and only takes a few seconds for a typical app.

Internal memory is used for both storage and programs. In other words, the memory used to load programs into and the memory used for storage is the same and is software adjustable as to which has what amount of the total available memory. If you install too many apps you run out of the RAM part of the memory and can't run your programs. I found this out while installing memory intensive games. There is a separate section called IPAQ Storage which has a sizeable amount of space available out of the box, so you won't need a card right away. My SD card writes extremely slow. Don't know why, may be just how they work, but I do have a 512MB CF and a 512MB SF card in mine (totaling 1gb storage). I have plenty of room to work.

Moving from a Palm to a pocket PC never felt so sweet. The OS is way more intuitive and useful. I was able to connect to my friend's phone via Bluetooth in seconds without ever having used a pocket PC before. Wifi was a no-brainer--it connected to my friend's Wifi router and I was on the internet without any settings tweaking whatsoever. The included software is enough to get you transferring and using your MS Office files. Windows Media Player is your MP3 software and plays WMV files. If you're into movies you'll have to download a separate player since one is not included to support the major formats like MPEG. The WorldMate software is nice for those on the go. It puts time zones and weather on your "Today" (desktop) screen for easy viewing and is always up-to-date if you put your unit on the cradle at night. The Today screen is completely configurable and lists things like appointments and tasks you've set for yourself. It puts everything at your fingertips. I'm happy with the included software. As cheap as PDA software is you'll be buying the apps you want anyway--which is part of the fun of owning a PDA.

Backing up your PDA is as easy as loading the backup utility and pressing a button. Restore works the same way (NOTE: always backup your PDA out of the box).

Battery life is great. I've not had my PDA past 3/4 yet and I've used it an hour here, an hour there. I end up putting it back on the cradle before getting it down too far.

Gamers may be frustrated by the lack of game-style buttons; the buttons are too small and stiff for reflex gaming. The touchpad is nice for waking up the screen but navigation can be a mixed bag. It would take some getting used to. I'm still up in the air about the touchpad and its usefulness. I purchased the IPAQ keyboard but have yet to use it enough to give you an impression.

Everything about this pocket PC is miles ahead my previous PDA's. I love it. It's aimed at a business oriented owner, but in my opinion it's the best all-around PDA. The only reason not to buy this PDA is if you're a PDA gamer. If you're into games that much you've probably already got them on your PC and maybe a console, so this is a moot point really. Most games play great with this PDA as it is with the exception of the ones that require continuous button pressing/reflexes. Somehow I don't think that's a big factor for most PDA owners.

Software I recommend out of the box:

PocketTv - A freeware video player that supports most mainstream formats.

Spb Pocket Plus - An invaluable tool that gives your PDA added functionality, basically things that should've been in the OS... like the close button really closing the app, zip support, added file explorer functions, a Today screen display with the most widely used utilities and functions--which is completely customizeable.

**UPDATE**
I've owned this PDA a couple months or so now. I wanted to let you know an issue I had with my IPAQ folding keyboard for this unit. I had a problem where the K key would stick and keep repeating if that letter was the last letter in a sentence or word. I reported it to HP who sent me another keyboard. The new one did the same exact thing. I found out that the problem was with the drivers for the keyboard. If you set the key repeat to a lower setting the glitch goes away.

Other than that, I've not found anything negative about this PDA except maybe the tendency of your reserved memory to be used by some apps. What this means is if you don't install your apps on a separate area than the main memory you may run out of memory to run programs. So be very careful when installing apps so as not to take up needed space in the main memory. Main memory is used by the PDA as memory and app storage, so if you have too many apps installed in main memory it depletes the memory available for running apps. Thankfully this PDA comes with 80mb of free space in separate memory called "IPAQ Storage". And of course you can install an SD or CF card.