HP iPAQ 5450 Color Pocket PC

• Transflective TFT LCD, over 65,000 colors 16-bit, 240 x 320 resolution, 3.8-inch diagonal viewable image size
• Removable/rechargeable 900 mAh Lithium-lon battery
• Secure Digital memory card slot for transferring and storing music, picture and more
• Intel 400 MHz processor with XScale technology
• What's in the box: iPAQ 5450, slim removable battery, protective cover pack, universal cradle for USB or serial connection, extra stylus, AC adapter, charger adapter, Getting Started Guide, PC Companion CD

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.

Buy HP iPAQ 5450 Color Pocket PC Now

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!

Read Best Reviews of HP iPAQ 5450 Color Pocket PC Here

I'm a diehard Palm fan and still am. However the PocketPC filled an itch that I have never been able to scratch with the Palm namely web browsing.

With the 5450/5455 I have been able to (within an hour) hook up to my WIFI system in my house, setup wireless synching and get up and browse the web. Something that I think would have taken multiple steps with my Tungsten.

Here are the things I like and dislike about the 5450/5455:

LIKES:

1. Integrated WIFI The wave of the future. No need to slap add-on cards or boards to the unit. It is all built in.

2. Color screen Bright and readable.

4. Active Synch Everything you enter to the unit can be automatically synchronized to your computer as you work -not just when you hit the synch button.

DISKLIKES:

1. The early 5450/5455 have intermittent problems with WIFI "Out of Memory" error messages.

2. The battery life is shorter than Palm-although I AM using the WIFI capability so will live with it (and I'm sure that is why the battery depletes faster).

Overall I am a little sorry to say that after a month of usage I CANNOT recommend the iPaq for anyone but the most diehard enthusiast. The device is wildly buggy on WIFI (reported in just about every iPaq discussion forum, requires numerous soft resets ever day and frequent HARD resets (ie All data gone bye-bye).

After about a month I've found this platform to be buggy, slower than Palm and just not as convenient. It does not break any new ground whatsoever for the average user. And to top it all off, the web browsing that I loved initially turns out to be dog slow -even when connected wirelessly to my DSL. Avoid this product.

Want HP iPAQ 5450 Color Pocket PC Discount?

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...

The unit DOA less than 3 months. At first, the price was great but now it sit as a paper weight on my table. If you see this item for less than what it used to be, forget about.