antarctican

I've been doing some research and have determined the iPAQ 4355 is the handheld with all the features I want. Most important being the thumb keyboard (which really narrows it down these days), but wifi, bluetooth, all those "neat" things.

Ultimately I would have gone for the Sharp Zaurus if they hadn't decided to discontinue their North American product line, but anyhow....

So, my question is this, in my research I've noticed that the 4355 is over 1.5 years old since it was released onto the market, I'm finding reviews dated January 2003. In technology terms, that's ancient. Before I invest my money in this device, are there any rumours of an updated version being released? Surely over the past two years handheld technology has made a few leaps and bounds, and I don't want to purchase this unit only to find the new version is released two months from now - 2 years is obviously about time for a company to make an update.

So, any rumours about updates to this product line?

Thanks.

whitelyt

Welcome to the site!

Reviews in January 2003? Maybe possible if it was a pre-production model. The h4355 was release to the general public after the h2215 was released. The h2215 was released in June-July of 2003. The h4355 was more around November of 2003 for the release date. It should be approaching 1 year. Not a far cry from 1.5 years but still a difference. HP has issued a ROM update in August of this year and a WIFI driver update in late September of this year. You will continue to get udates for the h4355 if needed. The only update HP has decided not to do is the WM2003SE update on the h4355.

__________________
Ted Whitely
whitelyt at ipaqhq DOT com

HP rx3715
Dell Axim X50v
HP 2215
Dell Axim X30

antarctican

Originally Posted by whitelyt

Welcome to the site! Reviews in January 2003? Maybe possible if it was a pre-production model. The h4355 was release to the general public after the h2215 was released. The h2215 was released in June-July of 2003. The h4355 was more around November of 2003 for the release date. It should be approaching 1 year. Not a far cry from 1.5 years but still a difference. HP has issued a ROM update in August of this year and a WIFI driver update in late September of this year. You will continue to get udates for the h4355 if needed. The only update HP has decided not to do is the WM2003SE update on the h4355.

Alright... a year old. Still, I've seen reviews quoting January 2003, minor point, moving on....

By updates, I meant hardware updates. Getting something with the design of the 4355 but with say... more memory, or a faster processor, or better battery life. A year is still old in the tech world, so does anyone know if a new model (hardware) is coming out soon? I've seen the 6xxx phone model, but with a larger size, slower processor.... nope, I'd rather sacrifice the phone part (well, I have no desire for the phone part) for a smaller unit.

So.... what's HP's hardware life cycle, being new to the handheld market. Thanks

whitelyt

In terms of hardware updates I don't think you will see any from HP. If you do want to upgrade the hardware there are options through Pocket PC Techs. For example you could get a RAM upgrade to 128MB. This however is totally independent from HP and will void your warranty if you have one. There are also options where you can get battery replacements or an extended battery as well through Mugen or HP.

As far as newer models there is the h6300, rx1715, rx3115, rx3715 and the hx4700 models. Unfortunately none of these models have a integrated or slide on thumbboard except for the h6300 which is a phone. If the h4355 meets your needs I would say go with that. On HPShopping they are still selling the h4355 which tells me if you get it new you will still get the one year warranty. Plus you could get extended coverage as well if you like.

__________________
Ted Whitely
whitelyt at ipaqhq DOT com

HP rx3715
Dell Axim X50v
HP 2215
Dell Axim X30

imported_kate

My company placed an order for five h4355s on last Wednesday (I am receiving one of them! )

Anyway, my IT guy was informed that the units are on backorder. In the last month, our distributor has seen a HUGE demand for the 4355. He told us that nationwide, the unit is is backordered by 6,000.

*anxiously awaiting my new toy*

Bowdrie67

I am the administrator for my office and we have a group of about 3 or 4 that are considering purchasing the IPAQs primarily due to the performance of my 4350. Two of these currently have Palms and are looking to upgrade to the PPC. I have been looking at the HP site and they usually have the 4350 "reconditioned" for around $300 and they still come with the warranty. Since purchasing mine this past spring I have used it practically every day and have never once regretted buying this model. I would have to agree that the lack of similar models from HP might look bad, but as stated by others, HP is still selling this unit so there is obvisouly a customer base for it.

__________________
"I must study politics and war that my sons have the liberty to study mathematics and philosohpy." -- John Q. Adams

flier

I had the same concern before I purchased my 4355 about a month ago. Apparently, until early next year the 4355 will still be breathing from a feature standpoint. The roadmap is to introduce some nice things such as small pixel full-VGA displays (as compared to the 1/4 VGA currently) but as far as the main features like the thumbpad and integrated wifi & bluetooth, there's not a whole lot else to be implemented. Regards

Originally Posted by antarctican

I've been doing some research and have determined the iPAQ 4355 is the handheld with all the features I want. Most important being the thumb keyboard (which really narrows it down these days), but wifi, bluetooth, all those "neat" things. Ultimately I would have gone for the Sharp Zaurus if they hadn't decided to discontinue their North American product line, but anyhow.... So, my question is this, in my research I've noticed that the 4355 is over 1.5 years old since it was released onto the market, I'm finding reviews dated January 2003. In technology terms, that's ancient. Before I invest my money in this device, are there any rumours of an updated version being released? Surely over the past two years handheld technology has made a few leaps and bounds, and I don't want to purchase this unit only to find the new version is released two months from now - 2 years is obviously about time for a company to make an update. So, any rumours about updates to this product line? Thanks.

Tartan

Originally Posted by flier

I had the same concern before I purchased my 4355 about a month ago. Apparently, until early next year the 4355 will still be breathing from a feature standpoint. The roadmap is to introduce some nice things such as small pixel full-VGA displays (as compared to the 1/4 VGA currently) but as far as the main features like the thumbpad and integrated wifi & bluetooth, there's not a whole lot else to be implemented. Regards

I've had my 4355 for a month and I love everything about it but the keyboard.
It is my least favorite thing and if you are buying this model for the keyboard I would reconsider. The keyboard is difficult to use. I find the on screen keyboard much for efficient. Most everything else is excellent including wi fi.
I don't know whether there is an upgrade for the unit in the pipeline.
Good luck

lespignons

I had my 4355 for 2 months now and I love it ! I also like the keyboard very much and I have no problem using it even with my "fat" fingers... I did not do the rom update yet. I chickened out after reading some of the posting on that forum... Everything works so great, I don t want to jinx it ... No regrets so far a great PDA (I had a psion revo plus prior).
Eric

guitareth

Originally Posted by Tartan

I've had my 4355 for a month and I love everything about it but the keyboard. It is my least favorite thing and if you are buying this model for the keyboard I would reconsider. The keyboard is difficult to use. I find the on screen keyboard much for efficient. Most everything else is excellent including wi fi. I don't know whether there is an upgrade for the unit in the pipeline. Good luck

I have to agree. One of the reasons I too went for this model was the keyboard, but I find myself going back to the onscreen keyboard all the time. One of the issues for me - not being a touch typist - is that it's actually quite hard to easily read the letters on the keyboard - particularly the darkened ones in the numeric area.

Great device in every other way, but if I was buying again I'd probably go for the equivalent model without the keyboard, as it's more compact - is that the 4150?

imported_kenn

Originally Posted by guitareth

I have to agree. One of the reasons I too went for this model was the keyboard, but I find myself going back to the onscreen keyboard all the time. One of the issues for me - not being a touch typist - is that it's actually quite hard to easily read the letters on the keyboard - particularly the darkened ones in the numeric area. Great device in every other way, but if I was buying again I'd probably go for the equivalent model without the keyboard, as it's more compact - is that the 4150?

U guys must not have used very many built in pda thumbboards. I've used treos, blackberry's, the new ppc6601, clie's, and a few others and I have to say that the 4355 keyboard is pretty darn good -- one of the best I've used as a thumboard is concerned. If this is "bad", tell me which thumboards you have used that are better... The keys are well spaced for the size of the device, they have have a good feel. I have no trouble typing quickly on it...

phil_white99

I would wait for HP to engineer and release a new keyboard-embedded model, mostly because of their decision not to support OS upgrades on the 4000 series models. No - I am not one of those "HP won't upgrade me so boycott their products" people. I am just saying that, as Microsoft updates the Windows Mobile platform, there may be things you find attractive in those updates, and HP's successor to the 4355 will probably include things like:

VGA resolution - perhaps HP will do one with qVGA and one with VGA

Landscape mode - not great for data entry on the embedded keyboard but nice for browsing Word documents and Excel spreadsheets and Web sites in a friendlier-to-the-eye mode

Lastest WiFi versions - i.e., if you want WiFi Protected Access on a 4000 series you have to download a new ROM and update your system yourself - what a pain.

Windows Media Player - maybe we'll finally get installable codec support with the next version

FLASH-based storage memory - wouldn't it be nice not to lose all of your onboard data and configuration settings in the rare case when the battery drains?

I bought a 4155 in May 2004 with HP's keyboard attachment. It's very nice, and I use it almost daily, but here are the things that disappointed me:

1. I bought the keyboard a week after the 4155 (they were out of stock the day I bought the PDA), got to my car and excitedly opened the package and popped on the keyboard. OOPS! Keyboard didn't work. I had to go home and use the included CD on a PC and ActiveSync the driver to the PDA. HP should have included a $4 readonly 8MB SD card in the package that would let me enable the keyboard without a PC. Sure - not a problem for the 4355 but still lame.

2. I have an amazingly cool Panasonic DMR-E100H set-top MPEG recorder that writes MPEG2 to the 120MB hard disk, DVD-R, or DVD-RAM and MPEG4 onto SD cards! Cool, huh? I record an hour of CNN in the morning while I am getting ready for work, transfer it onto a cheap 256MB SD card in seconds, and watch it on my IPAQ on the train, right? So simple, right? NOPE. The Windows Media Player doesn't support the audio/video codec that Panasonic uses for MPEG4. Maybe Mobile Media Player 10 works? Too bad I can't find out since HP won't give me the cool updates to my OS. Converting to Windows Media 9 acceptable codecs isn't an option in my record-and-run scenario. Eventually I'll find an acceptable alternative to Windows Media but it will cost $. Same issue would be true on 4355.

3. I had to spend an extra $20 for software to be able to do landscape mode. Also true for 4355 users.

4. I was away for a month on a business trip and forgot my charger. Put off buying an extra charger too long and the main and backup batteries drained. Lost all of my onboard data. Good thing the important stuff was backed up on my laptop.

5. WiFi! SO COOL. But I had to turn off WPA on my router since it took a while for HP to release the ROM update that enabled WPA. When it did come out I had to do a complete system wipe to install the update and then reinstall my stuff from backup. If I had to go to all that trouble it would have been nice just to get the latest OS (2003 Second Edition) because then I could browse the Internet in landscape mode without reinstalling add-on software, but HP doesn't offer that option at any price. Even a new 4355 will probably require this process.

That's it for my opinion and comments!
Phil

allklrnoflr

My 4350 is still my primary PDA. Add a new processor and VGA screen and I would get rid of my 4350/4705/X50v. I just hope HP brings out a refreshed version of the 4350.