Compaq iPAQ H3975 Color Pocket PC | List Price: $749.00 Discount Price: $399.00

| Brand: Hewlett-Packard Binding: Electronics Warranty: 1 year warranty
Features: - 3.78-inch low power 16-bit color transflective TFT LCD with white backlight, 240x320 resolution
- 400 MHz Intel X-Scale processor, 64 MB SDRAM
- Bluetooth integrated
- SecureDigital card expansion slot
- What's in the box: iPaQ H3975, Stylus pen, AC Adapter, 1400 mAh Lithium Polymer rechargeable battery, USB Cradle, User manual
How did I ever Live without this [Posted on 2002-11-13] We all know that a PDA is a life changing device (just buy one and you'll see)... but this little baby is more than just email, schedule, and contacts. With Pocket Word & Pocket Excel it makes storing and editing popular format files extremely simple. Add to that limitless possibilities of expansions, CF, PCMCIA, GPS... Then with the already integrated SD and bluetooth... you have the head & shoulders above the rest... BEST PDA ON THE MARKET
Palm OS is better [Posted on 2002-12-09] This device has a nice screen and sleek design and a fast processor. I don't like the OS very well. It wasn't as versatile as I was expecting with reading and recognizing file type that Windows 98 or XP reads (ex: .mpeg and some .exe) I was expecting it to be more like Windows on my PC. I don't like that you can't put icons on your desktop with the IPAQ. You can with Palm OS. When you close a program on this device it's still running in the background so you have to go back in and dig to close things once and for all. This is a MAJOR flaw in the OS in my opinion. Functionality-wise this device is not all that impressive either unless you are willing to fork out another few hundred dollars for expansion pack, cards and other add-ons. It's as though they are selling this just to sell you more expansion devices and memory cards and software. If you're teetering between buying the Palm Tungsten or this, I'd say go with the Tungsten. After playing with the Tungsten for an hour or two I was hooked. After playing with the IPAQ I was ashamed to carry it around in my pocket. The Tungsten is comparatively fast, colorful, bright, and durable. It's also smaller and cheaper.
2 Month User [Posted on 2002-12-23] I've had the Palm III, Palm V, Palm VII, and a BlackBerry so I consider myself a long-time PDA user. I've had the 3975 for about 2 months; here are my observations. - Screen is the best I've seen, in all types of lighting. - Battery life is good, but you can not swap out the battery, it is rechargable. - The ac adapter used for charging comes with a small "adapter" that is needed to charge the device when the cradle is not used, e.g. when traveling. On a recent trip, I brought the charger then realized I did not bring the "adapter". I had to go to an electronics store to buy one...at least it was cheap. - It is heavier and bulkier than Palm's, not something you can carry in your shirt pocket. - Includes Bluetooth funcitonality. I was able to download my entire phone list database to my cell phone (also Bluetooth enabled) in about 2 minutes (200-ish numbers). I've also used it with my PC after I got a Bluetooth USB AdapterPairing the iPaq with other devices is a bit klugey but once you've figured it out, it's good. - Comes with infrared also. It DOES NOT work with a PALM (atleast I have not gotten it to). I have used it with my PC however. - It interfaces smoothly with MS Outlook (synched via USB port). I use it to download emails and read/respond in meetings or on planes etc. The emails are dumped back into Outlook and sent off at next "autosynch" when attached to PC. - If it had BlackBerry "always on" capability, it would be much more useful with email. - It uses MS Pocket PC 2002 OS. I have not had any issues with it, one soft re-boot when internet explorer locked up (iPaq still worked fine, but could not launch explorer). - HOWEVER, do not expect this OS to function like PC-based Windows. It does have similar look, but does function differently. You have to get used to cycling through windows that are open to get at what you want...not bad, but not like PC-based windows...I still like it better than PALM OS. - There are several different methods for inputting info; Palm-like character recognition, handwriting recognizer that recognizes long-hand, and a small keyboard-like pad. - Software is decent and a lot is available in places like Avant-go, apps that are usually free for trial, then [a small fee]. - MS Word is good, Excel is difficult to use unless you want to see a handful of cells at a time; I downloaded a program from Avant-go for viewing ppt slided, great unless there's a lot of text, almost impossible to read. MS Outlook is great, email, calendar come across perfectly. MS Reader is good, screen has enough resolution to make reading easy on the eyes. - It comes with SD card for adding memory, programs, etc. An expansion kit for Compact Flash is available, should have been included on a device at this price range. - There are expansion packs that slide on to the device for adding GPS, modem and ethernet hook-up etc. I have not tried them. - Comes with several other features, voice recognizer (you can include audio in notes, docs..), and other things; see the descriptions on sites like Amazon.com, thier all fine and not worth going into. Overall, it's my favorite PDA to date. If it had "always-on" email capability, it would get 5 stars from me.
You'll keep on paying. [Posted on 2003-04-16] In my experience, the problem with Ipaq has been reliability. I bought top-of-the-line at a cost which should have provided me equipment that would work. First the little spring that holds the stylus in place gave out. HP/Compaq did cover this by stretching the warranty, so the only cost to me was the hassle and a couple of replacement styluses at $5 a pop. Then the battery died, after I'd had the unit for about 18 months. What was really distressing was the refusal on the part of the service "support" people to recognize this as any sort of problem -- they were so busy trying to think of creative explanations involving things I might have done wrong that nobody would acknowledge that if customers who buy an Ipaq have to budget $50.00 a year for battery replacement that represents a quality control issue at the old Ipaq factory. Do what my wife did -- order a Dell and include a back-up battery in the package.
Be Careful [Posted on 2003-06-06] I have a similar unit and for the most part it works OK. However, HP decided to use only a SD expansion slot. Very few accessories go into this slot. Most accessories require a larger CF slot which some of the competition offer on their units. For HP you must by a CF slot accessory + the GPS unit or camera, etc.
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