|
Hi this was what i wrote up elsewhere... just my not so impressive review on ipaq 3100
I had been the frequent user for Ipaq since it first launched the H3630, but lately really has not has much innovation in PDA, be it palm or pocketpc. It does not seem to capture the glory of first ipaq which impress most of the users with 4096 color and its light weight (compare to those time frame handhelds). Just too little innovation to impress me. The only thing might interests me might be the VGA screen. I used the E805 for both WM2k3 FE with VGA hack and WM2k3 SE and the feeling is really good. Just that i wish to have a 5" screen but slightly lighter version of the Toshiba... But seem like all the pending release VGA PPC are in the "fat" family. Not to forget that, all of those VGA still not available but remain on webs review or preview...Let's come back to the rx3100... I almost forgot its existence even at front of me.
I must admit that the rx3100 is light. lighter than i had thought due to its fat thickness. I do not seem to feel its weight on my hand. So it would be good for users as i used to have internet surfing, reading etc on bed moments before my eyes closed.Over time, i find my palm feel tiredness within minutes of holding the PDA especially with my another hand on stylus tapping the screen. The hand holding the pda will feel tiredness and need to switch to another. On the other hand, the right palm with stylus always have joint fatigues... I always complaint of the non ergonomic design of PDA. But most of it really contributed by the PDA weight. So i believed the rx3100 eventhought with its fatness, i guess i can surt net longer with it due to its light weight. Holding on the the ipaq give me good gribing and do not feel its squarish. I like the feel of the grib. The previous sleeve version ipaq always feel too slippery and the H19xx/H41xx are too awkward to hold with thumb grib and operate single handed.
The WM2k3 SE boot up seem to be long...it took ~30s to reach the blue welcome screen. Be careful when you try to calibrate your screen with sylus. The first two click will be sluggish (i believed the loading still in progress) but if you waited for a while before begin the calibration, it went on smoothly. At least i observed this on E405, E805, X30 and rz3100, so it must not be coincident. Resetting the ipaq also took another ~30s! hey MS what is the matter? i expect the PDA to be ready within 10s... It really seem that the software is dragging the hardware...
The brightness of this ipaq seem to be a little too bright to me. It gives me unpleasant eyes viewing after some extended staring onto it. I believed I must be remembering the VGA screen, so i am fairly disappointed with the screen. It just normal ppc screen with the 240x320. nothing special! something good is the less yellow tinted at the angle althought there is still some if you view from bottom. But funny enough is the yellow tint is far less exist if you view from top! so i am always wonder why the screen cannot be rotate at 180 deg to make the yellow tint only viewable at the top angle. I do not think the users will view from atop compare to something from bottom... so am i wrong or the designer did not aware about this??
The program response seem a bit sluggish as i expect it should response slightly better than all previous model. I just cannot agree to the facts that newer hardwares is more sluggish than ex-obsoluted model. The feel of speed and the program response is comparable to E405 at 300MHz but definately slower than 400Mhz ipaq. Even if i compare to my clie TH55, the slow response seem ages althought the clie just operate at 123MHz or slower. I also dislike the new button arrangement that mapped to entertainment, pic, wireless etc. it seems to me that it becomes a entertainment organizer rather than real organizer usages. Well, this might be individual preferences. Also the 5way d-pad is tiny. The program loading upon pressing the buttons seem to be ages again as it start loading the software... another minus! If you want the ipaq to be your one handed organizer, forget it as it take two hand to do this for simple organizer viewing. But i guess the mapping can be changed but i do not bother as it failed to impress me with the button arrangement
Another drawback is the usable memory just merely ~44mb as there is already ~4mb used as installed software(i am sure it can be deleted) and another 10mb is always used by windows. Trust me you will need to always spare ~15mb for other program loading if you plan to have multitasking. It leaves only ~30mb for storage and in nowaday, this is really nonsense. Not to forget is the almost non existence ~3mb filestore...hey ipod already in 40GB, if you call this mobile media, get more memory for me!
I would not touch on battery life etc as i believed some other will definately cover this. Another discourage to me is the USB syn cable... why always the OEM cannot provide the USB syncharge rather than another slot for the charger....
Overall, the ipaq had failed to impress me anyhow and i re-pack it to its original box within just 1 days of trial. Nothing really appealing... I will stick with my H4155 and clie TH55. Sorry HP, but the product is on the way back.
|
