I got a iPaq H4150 (H4155 when bought over the net) this weekend I also got the foldable keyboard that turns it into a full pc equivalent keyboard enabled device.
I waited 2 years since my last PDA died – a Palm 505 – since I could not see the use for an unconnected PDA anymore. Initially I wanted to get the H2210 iPaq, it has bluetooth and a SDIO slot for wifi but I had to wait till the end of the year so I am eligible for some company funding again. In the waiting time the H4150 came out and it’s amazing. It has Bluetooth and Wifi (802.11b) built-in and it’s a dream come true.
Being connected to my home access point or via my laptop and phone with either bluetooth or wifi (my laptop has both) is brilliant, you can be on MSN wherever you want and with the addition of some extra software SSH to unix machines etc.
I am still busy evaluating software to purchase (unlike the Palm there is no warez scene for pocket PC) but my needs are as follows:
- SMS Management – so far mPhone Lite is a winner for me
- SSH Client – so far PocketTTY is king, I can SSH to my unix machines, run screen and mutt in full colour no problems. Neil says that makes it better than a Linux console ๐
- File Encryption – The device comes free with a copy of F-Secure File Crypto that provides a encrypted folder for any files you wish to throw in there
- Travel, Time Zones and Currency management – Again the device comes free with Worldmate Standard Edition which does all I need, with online synchronisation for up to date currency and weather information.
- Windows Remote Administration – Pocket Windows 2003 comes with a Terminal Services client that makes this easy especially with the keyboard
- Navigation – I have not started looking much for this, especially in the GPS navigation realm but I know there are some very nice Bluetooth enabled GPS units available. For simple train and bus navigation in more than 200 cities worldwide there is the amasing free Metro that does a brilliant job.
Together with a mobile phone with GPRS support things should be looking pretty sweet for remote admin without needing to shlep a computer around.
Microsoft also provides Visual C style development kits for free in either C++ or .Net flavours, I will definitely have a look at that in the near future.
The version of IE that comes with the device is OK for sites without frames, I found it responsive and usable as long as you do not bring frames into it then it becomes useless. There are some alternative browsers that may be worth looking at.
The Pocket Outlook is happily talking to my IMAP servers without any problems which is more than I could ever say for any Palm device.
The software in the version of Windows is very intuitive and useful with the stylus thanks to some excellent design ideas for example pre-saved phrases in the MSN client and predictive text input, if you write or tap our “bi” it will suggest “birthday” and you just have to click on the suggestion to save some typing, this is available in all applications.
