Welcome to Palmistry...
The palmtop computer has become a social as
well as a technological institution, altering the way in which
thousands of people organise their lives and work. An electronic
successor to the Filofax©, palmtops typically provide diaries,
address books, to-do lists and memo functions, whilst databases
and financial programs can also be added. This site aims to
provide a modest introduction to palmtop computing, embracing
both the Palm© and Pocket PC© operating systems,
and now focuses in paticular on the Compaq iPAQ© as
an exemplar of the latter.
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Founded: 1 May 2000
Updated: Irregularly
Last update: 17 January
2003
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WHAT'S NEW
Makes and models
New palmtops are appearing thick and fast. Our guide
to makes and models has now been
reorganised to give direct access to devices available from Amazon.
My quest for a useable iPaq
FIRST UNIT - FAULTY DIGITIZER
Seduced by its screen clarity, I bought a Compaq iPAQ H3630
in December 2000. It was Christmas after all. Spikey lines started
appearing on the digitizer in under a month and the unit was returned
to the supplier who replaced it.
SECOND UNIT - FAULTY DIGITIZER
The second unit also developed the digitizer problem, but I soldiered
on for a few months before it became totally unuseable and I replaced
it under a Compaq Carepaq in July 2001.
THIRD UNIT - FAULTY DIGITIZER
The third unit developed the digitizer problem after 3 months and
was replaced in November 2001 under the Carepaq scheme.
FOURTH UNIT - DEAD BATTERY
The fourth unit was scratched and discoloured on the rear and obviously
second-hand. More particularly the internal battery was totally
dead. At least I couldn't complain about its digitizer!
FIFTH UNIT - FAULTY DIGITIZER
I received this soon after in November 2001. It was another obviously
second-hand, presumably reconditioned, unit. This had a new problem:
a dead patch in the upper left quarter of the lower-case input area.
It seems that every iPAQ has its idiosyncracies. Although no obvious
squiggly lines were apparent, this unit had a tendency to run away
with itself right from the start, entering two or three characters
when I was attempting to enter only one. By February 2002 it was
'exaggerating' the characters being entered, turning 'a' into 'd'
and extending 'p' downwards so that it triggered the menu at the
bottom of the screen. It also exhibited other strange behaviour,
but as my main gripe is the digitizer I won't go into that here.
SIXTH UNIT - LOOSE STYLUS, FAULTY DIGITIZER
AND BATTERY FAILURE
I received this in February 2002, my sixth unit in 14 months. By
mid-September 2002 it was showing some signs of the digitizer problem,
but it was certainly the best unit to date. Interestingly, I discovered
that on one very cold morning the touchscreen problem went away,
but it was not really practical to keep it in the fridge or devise
an iPAQ ice-pack! It also developed a loose stylus, however, another
early production problem. By January 2003 the battery was failing.
It was replaced under the Carepaq scheme (Compaq is now part of
Hewlett Packard), but I did not receive next day delivery.
SEVENTH UNIT
I received this in January 2003. So far so good, but I've only been
using it for a few hours!
CONCLUSION
I use a palmtop for up to about an hour a day. I don't know
if this counts as being a heavy user, but I'm certainly not a particularly
heavy-handed user.
If Compaq cared to refund the cost of my iPaq, as
well as all my investment in peripherals and software, I would probably
go back to a Palm device!
RIK - 17 January 2003
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