Danng

 View profile

Great Pocket PC, great 4 inch VGA screen, all Windows universality

Nov 24, 2008

Rating: 9 out of 10 (Spectacular)
Pros: Windows device, great big screen, light and great shape, fast processor, two memory card slots
Cons: battery life could be longer, audio max volume could be higher, basic inbuilt audio controls
Opinion:
I have got my HP iPaq 212 two weeks ago, after owning Asus 696 and few past generations of iPaqs . I think this is the greatest PDA ever. I liked a lot my old iPaq 2100 however it was freezing often and needed soft resetting quite a lot. I bought the Asus 696 with GPS as an upgrade, and even if much more stable I hated the audio qualities and it was slow - I use my PDAs a lot for multimedia play. Than I discovered that it is quite expensive to get a stand alone good Pocket PC GPS software so I sold my Asus 696 and continued to use my old iPaq 2100. The HP iPaq 212 seems to be perfect (at least for now). I did a lot of research before buying and I read about complaints regarding its audio qualities. I find the sound excellent and loud enough (in the earphones) especially when using the TCPMP free software or more recent the CorePlay. The tiny speaker is rubish, but I do not use it anyway. The screen is marvellous, 4” is big enough and crystal clear, VGA resolution indeed makes a difference. The PDA is still pocket size, you can take it anywhere and feels pleasant in the hand. I converted and played few DVD movies, it is actually enjoyable to watch. There is an infinity of software available for Windows Mobile 6 , free or very cheap to buy. I also use it to read eBooks in all formats, listen to music at the same time, check my emails, browse internet etc etc. This is hundred times better than any of the new smartphones with their tiny unusable 2.5” screens or dedicated OS. I read one review saying that PDAs are dead in favour of smart phones - I hope not, as there is no comparison between using a Pocket PC / 4" screen PDA and anything else , either a tiny smartphone or a lite 10" laptop. I believe HP branded wrongly the 212 as business device, of course it can be used by businesses , but it is also the perfect multimedia pocket device and more. I installed a total of 40GB flash memory in the two memory card slots, you can go up to 64GB - great again! The only con I can see is the audio max volume barely enough even using earphones (however it can be significantly improved by software and I currently enjoy the music - this was one important criteria for me in choosing the device). Windows Mobile 6 seems to have even less inbuilt controls over audio than WM5.0 . Overall : great!