The HP iPAQ 210 – an in-depth review - Page 2

Menneisyys · 05-07-08, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by JakeRich

One nitpick: in a couple of places you slammed the Axim series pretty hard for Landscape. I never experienced any real problem with that unit in landscape. The screen was polarized, true, but in practical use I had it in landscape every day for GPS use and it worked just fine, even with polarized sunglasses!

As I've also mentioned in the article: about half of the people are overly sensitive to the polarization issues; the other half isn't affected. For example, I almost instantly get a bad headache when I stare at the screens of the x51v (or, for that matter, the MIPS CASIO PPC2k2 PDA's) in Landscape. You're lucky to belonging to the second group :)

Menneisyys · 05-07-08, 10:57 AM

Originally Posted by JakeRich

I got it because, as you pointed out, if you want a VGA screen and WM6, it's the ONLY choice.

*Cough* cooked WM6.1? :) *Cough* ;)

Menneisyys · 05-07-08, 10:59 AM

Originally Posted by sgtommyc

Using the WiFi extencively (streaming video), makes the device run quite hot on the backside.

That's pretty common with all models - not only the 210...

Menneisyys · 05-07-08, 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by hyedipin

More pictures of the unit would be great.

I didn't want to post more - after all, there're several shots in the BrightHand review. I preferred spending my time on really new stuff like measuring CPU load & power usage; real-world multimedia performance (not just some synthetic benchmarks); finding a solution to the button assignment problem etc.

FrinkTL · 05-07-08, 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by Morphy

So, bottom line, do you think the 210 is worth buying?

I do. Provided you don't:

plan on using one of the "problem" CF cards (that aren't sleep mode compliant)
plan on using it in a disco, noisy bar or bowling alley to remind you of your appointments (the speaker is too weak). That said, most of the time (about 98% of the time), I hear my alarm sound since I use very loud sound bytes for my reminders. I even hear them on the fairly noisy public bus.

The screen is simply awesome and I don't notice it being any slower than my old Axim X51v was.

There does seem to be a Quality Control issue at the HP plant making the devices, but I would still recommend that you buy the 211 (if you are in the US) as you'll get it faster, and the Home Office folks are much more customer-friendly. Just don't buy it until you're ready to immediately begin using it so you can discover any defects before the 21 day "free look" period expires.

sgtommyc · 05-07-08, 06:26 PM

Originally Posted by FrinkTL

Sorry to contradict you, but I have successfully been using the Stowaway Sierra (acordion-folding full size) BT keyboard for over a month without a single issue. The WM5 driver works just fine under WM6. Ironically, you are much more likely (I would say, in fact, that it is inevitable) to have problems with the built-in WM6 BT keyboard driver. Before I abandoned it, it frequently crashed the BT radio on my iPAQ 211.

As for games, there are undoubtedly programs of all types (not just games) that don't/won't run under the new file structure introduced by WM5/WM6. However, I have several games (16 in all) installed, about half of which were intended for QVGA WM 2003, and they all work just fine.

Also, I have NEVER experienced anything but negligible battery drain from using my SANDISK 2GB SD. Max overnight battery drop was 2%.

From I-Go support: "Unfortunately we do not have a driver for any Windows Mobile 6 Device. The mouse has been discontinued and there is no further driver development.

Best Regards,

iGo Product Support "

I have no issues with keyboards any more, since I also bought the HP foldable one, along side my 210 :)

I to has some of the older games working, but a few of my all time fav's are "No go" on the new machine, as are my outdated version of Net Front 3.1and PIE+.

My SD card is a 1GB Kingston Elite Pro, and it gives a 5 - 7% over night drain. Well it might not be the only culpret, I'm suspecting that things like the battery meter and memory meter in the HP Today panel might take a bit of the blame, but using 0,8MB of RAM, the SD card is deffinately to blame for some of the draining.

My newest issue is, that my wonderfull machine has planned the next weekend for me, I have to reinstall every thing from scrach because it no longer recognice CF cards and I have to go through Start-> Settings-> Connections, to turn BT on and off

sgtommyc · 05-07-08, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by Menneisyys

That's pretty common with all models - not only the 210...

I know, but my HTC Himalaya didn't run quite as hot, or maybe I'm a bit over sensitive about my new "Precious one" :)

FrinkTL · 05-07-08, 10:13 PM

Originally Posted by sgtommyc

From I-Go support: "Unfortunately we do not have a driver for any Windows Mobile 6 Device. The mouse has been discontinued and there is no further driver development.

Best Regards,

iGo Product Support "
...
My newest issue is, that my wonderfull machine has planned the next weekend for me, I have to reinstall every thing from scrach because it no longer recognice CF cards and I have to go through Start-> Settings-> Connections, to turn BT on and off

Just because there isn't a driver specifically designed for WM6 doesn't mean it doesn't work. In fact, most, if not all, software designed for WM5 will work on WM6 Classic, as they have the exact same core. Nothing tells the truth like experience, and I've been using my Sierra keyboard daily for a month without incident. So what if there isn't a specific driver for WM6? Who cares? What matters is that it works, and better than the built-in BT keyboard driver that comes with WM6.

As for how turn the BT radio on easier, check this thread: How Can I Make Wireless More Accessible?.

rush214 · 05-08-08, 04:09 AM

Originally Posted by sgtommyc

My SD card is a 1GB Kingston Elite Pro, and it gives a 5 - 7% over night drain.

Did you adjust ActiveSync schedule to manual using "fake server"? If not, this is possible reason of battery drain, not SD card.

sgtommyc · 05-08-08, 04:50 PM

Originally Posted by FrinkTL

As for how turn the BT radio on easier, check this thread: How Can I Make Wireless More Accessible?.

Well I have the "iPAQ Wireless" on the Today screen, but the BT icon is grayed out (more than normally), and the red X is gone. When I press the icon, only WiFi is available :(

Something has gone haywire, durring the install of something, or something has messed up the reg.

Have just spend the last 5 hours going through a hard reset, and reinstalling every thing, and activating programs et all, and so far every thing is working again, only 4 more programs to go, and a few minor adjustments, and I'm done, but that's tomorrow :rolling: (10:50PM Local)

sgtommyc · 05-08-08, 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by rush214

Did you adjust ActiveSync schedule to manual using "fake server"? If not, this is possible reason of battery drain, not SD card.

Erhmm.......Now how do I do that? Didn't know I had to do that

05-08-08, 05:43 PM

Excellent and very informative review.

thank u

rush214 · 05-09-08, 07:26 AM

Originally Posted by sgtommyc

Erhmm.......Now how do I do that? Didn't know I had to do that

Instruction can be found in Axim section but works on our iPAQs
This is original post: Solution - Axim not turning on, Disappearing CF/SD Cards and Battery Discharge

I did apply this trick and my fully charged 214 still has 100% battery after many hours in suspend

sgtommyc · 05-10-08, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by rush214

Instruction can be found in Axim section but works on our iPAQs
This is original post: Solution - Axim not turning on, Disappearing CF/SD Cards and Battery Discharge

I did apply this trick and my fully charged 214 still has 100% battery after many hours in suspend

Thanks, will give it a go :)

Theemed · 05-11-08, 01:07 PM

Originally Posted by sgtommyc

Well I have the "iPAQ Wireless" on the Today screen, but the BT icon is grayed out (more than normally), and the red X is gone. When I press the icon, only WiFi is available :(

Something has gone haywire, durring the install of something, or something has messed up the reg.

Have just spend the last 5 hours going through a hard reset, and reinstalling every thing, and activating programs et all, and so far every thing is working again, only 4 more programs to go, and a few minor adjustments, and I'm done, but that's tomorrow :rolling: (10:50PM Local)

I have had the EXACT same problem (which you can find somewhere in this forum with the title "Bluetooth disappeared from iPAQ wireless" or something like that). Because of it I had to disable ipaq wireless as today plugin and use plain Wireless instead for a while.
Solution? GOD KNOWS. It went back to normal by itself after a few days and a few, normal-use, soft-resets. I just tried re-enabling the ipaqwireless plugin again once and it was working smoothly as it was supposed to do

Welcome among us 21x owners :p