Customer Reviews

HP iPAQ 1910 Pocket PC

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I have mixed feelings about my HP1910. Overall, I like it and I carry it with me most of the time. What I don't like about it, though, is its battery life - but I am getting a little ahead of myself.

I obtained it to replace my HP Jornada 568 when it malfunctioned. The 568 was a great device that I used primarily as a phone book and a book reader, with occasional MP3 playing, gaming, and note taking. I really liked my Jornada and was upset when it died.

What originally attracted me to the 1910 was its price and its size. At ... list price, it is one of the lowest cost Pocket PC's available. There may be 1 or 2 others avail for less, but I was rushing to find a replacement and this was one that I could obtain quickly.

Sizewise, it is smaller than all Pocket PC's I've ever seen and even smaller than some Palms. For sure, it is smaller than the Palm 100 series, being about ½ inch shorter, about ½ inch thinner, and about the same width. It's very light and is almost unnoticable to carry. I never thought I could be able to say that about any Pocket PC.

So, with the low price and the smaller size, I purchased it with the expectation of fewer features than my Jornada.

One very pleasant surprise was the quality of the screen. Although the 1910 was significantly smaller than my Jornada, the 1910's screen was exactly the same size the Jornada. The best part was the 1910's brightness and vibrancy of the colors. At the lowest backlight setting of the 1910, it's screen was as bright as the Jornada at its maximum setting. Another pleasant surprise was the sound quality, both recording and playback.

Although not a surprise, another good feature is the removable battery. Additional batteries are availible for purchase as well, so I can do this without having to send the device back to HP. My Jornada has this also, but the IPaq family of devices usually didn't provide replacable batteries before the HP-Compaq merger.

As for the compromises, I list as many as I can . This list is kind of long, most of them are minor to me, although a couple of them do bother me. I include them so that someone who chooses this device will have a idea what they are getting themselves into:

- The CPU is an xscale processor running at 200 MHz. This is supposed to have comparable performance to other pocket PC's featuring the arm processor running at 206 Mhz like the Jornada. However, the 1910 is quite noticably slower at some tasks than the Jornada, but not always. For instance, MP3 and game playing seem to be at roughly the same speed, but paging through lists of file names or through documents seems slower. Accessing files on the storage card is slower as well. Some utilities are starting to appear to allow users to change this to a faster setting.

- The total amount of RAM available to users for storage and program running space is a little less (48M instead of 64M) than with other Pocket PC's.

- The ROM memory has also been reduced somewhat from other Pocket PC's. The impact of this is that the Microsoft Media Player and the Microsoft Book Reader applications do not come pre-installed like on the other Pocket PC's. To use them, they must be installed in RAM, which reduces the RAM available for other programs even more.

- Although the device has a SD slot for an SD card, it cannot be used for SDIO devices, only for SD memory at present. There are rumors that a coming update will change this, but don't count on it.

- Although the 1910 has great sound playback, the headphone jack is subminiature rather than miniature. This is not standard for most headphones including all headphones that I own. There are earbuds included with a matching plug, but if you would rather use your own, you will probably need to get an adapter from Radio Shack.

- Due to a missing serial interface, it is unlikely that a external keyboard will ever become available for the 1910 except for one that uses the IR interface as its mode of communication.

- Although a power adapter and a sync cable is included, there is no docking cradle or a case included with the device. The docking cradle must be purchased separately. Cases are just recently becoming available. I've been using a leather case designed for the Palm m100 series that seems to be working well.

- The usable battery life was probably my biggest disappointment with the 1910. Perhaps I am spoiled, coming from the Jornada with lots of battery life, but I am seeing typically between 2-3 hours of usable time per charge. Because of this, I find myself not using the device as often as I might out of concern for using up the battery. This mostly hurts my note taking activities. I may try to obtain another battery to see if the battery life is better. There are some users who are claiming to get 4-5 hours of use per charge. I would be happy if I could match that.

- Most 1910 screens are not completely aligned with its case, causing a very slight amount of tilting. This doesn't bother me, but there are some people that are quite annoyed by this.

I've had my Jornada repaired since obtaining the 1910, but the 1910 is the pocket PC that I carry around with me. It's easier to carry in my pocket and easier to see and it's less conspicuous when I use it in public.

If you are looking to use a pocket PC for networking, internet access, or using other peripherals, then this is not the device for you. However, if you are not looking to connect to other external devices and plan to use this for PIM activities, book or document reading, or light to medium gaming, this device might be just the ticket for you.

I've been a PDA for about 4 years. Started out with a Compaq iPaq running Windows CE and loved it. When I dropped it and the screen broke, my extended warrantee replaced it with a Palm Vx and it did the job but I always wanted a Windows CE again. The newer iPaq models were just too large for my needs. When I saw the 1910 I ditched the Vx and Pocket PC is everything I remembered and more.

The screen on this is fantastic. Super bright and extremely vibrant. Way better than the monochrome on my old iPaq and my Vx.

If you use Microsoft Outlook, Pocket PC is must have. The one thing I really like is when you sync with MS Outlook you get all the information (i.e. multiple address, all phone numbers, etc.) unlike the Palm where it was a partial sync.

The size is amazing. Smaller than my Vx and iPaq, it makes it very nice when you're on the go. The newer iPaqs, although much like a full blown computer, are much too large to carry around daily.

The only thing keeping me from rating this as 5 stars is you to buy the cradle separately, that's bogus. Also, why isn't there a case available? My old iPaq came with a sleeve. My Vx had that flap thing and I had the optional form fitting hard case. HP needs to get with it and offer a case at the minimum and should include some sort of case.

I have owned several pda's including those based on Palm OS as well as Pocket PC. My most recent day-to-day pda was an iPAQ 3835 which I loved. However, I recently purchased the iPAQ 1910 and am really impressed. I originally purchased the unit for its size and screen and thought I would use it to supplement my 3835. But after only a few days, I am now using the 1910 exclusively. Not only does it have the best screen on the market and is really small, but I have been surprised by its battery life, the ability to change batteries, its processing speed despite a less sophisticated processor and the overall quality of the unit. It also uses the same chargers and USB cables as I was using for my 3835. Bottom line, it's a great unit for a reasonable price.

I've been through six PDAs in the past 7 years, Including the latest offerings from Toshiba and Sony. This one blows them all away in "real life" use. NO it's not the fastest, NO it doesn't have a digital camera, NO it's not a phone....but stick it in your pocket and you feel like you're carrying a business card case. It's the kind of PDA that is easy to live with every day - it actually slips in a dress shirt pocket without making it look like you're carrying a deck of cards. It's INCREDIBLY light and thin and it fits perfectly in my hands. I honestly don't know how Toshiba's and Dells PDA division stays in business when its competition is like this.

Battery power blows my mind. Six days use on one charge.

It doesn't come with a cradle - so expect to shell $.. for that.

It's the best PDA I've ever seen.

I've been a Palm and Pocket PC user for several years and have had several of them, and I'm a big believer in them. They are great organizer and productivity tools for the busy business person, professional, student, or anybody who needs to be better organized. Next to my car perhaps, my PDA is the most useful piece of technology that I own.

This is the best PDA HP has come out with yet. It's slightly smaller, lengthwise, than the other major Pocket PCs from Compaq, Casio, Toshiba, and Viewsonic, and at 1/2 inch thick, has one of the slimmest profiles, and is significantly thinner than the Palm Tungsten and Sony SJ30 models, which are about 1/2 inch shorter in terms of length. It would fit nicely in your front shirt pocket, where I like to carry mine, the first Pocket PC really small enough to achieve this.

The unit fixes some of the problems with the early HP Jornada models, which only had 16k colors compared to the other Pocket PCs, which had 64k, and the dimmest screen. I compared this screen side by side with the Toshiba, Palm Tungsten, and Sony PEG T665C and SJ30, and it's just as bright as those. The only problem I could see was that with the unit in power save mode with the backlight off, the screen is somewhat darker and harder to read than the others, but it's okay. The screen doesn't seem to have the slightly milky appearance to it that my Compaq iPAQ 3650 has, which has a partially back-reflective screen. This is supposed to be a transreflective screen, but I'm not sure how that differs from mine, or if it does.

The only shortcomings are it only has one expansion slot instead of two, like the iPAQs do, and some options aren't available yet like on some of the other units, such as a case, keyboard, and so on. There aren't screen protectors specifically for it, but my iPAQ's screen protectors might fit it, since the screens look to be the same size. But you'd need to check that to make sure. Screen protectors are essential because, although normally the stylus doesn't scratch the screen, all it takes is one piece of grit to get trapped under your stylus and then try to write something, and then you have a big scratch on your nice new screen.

Someone here mentioned the 200-MHz processor was slow, compared to the 400-MHz processor in the Compaq, Dell and other models, but I doubt most people would notice the difference. This processor should be more than adequate for most people's needs. It's the same with the Sony PEG models. Although the new T655C and T665C Palm platform models have a 66-MHz processor compared to the earlier T615C, which only had a 33-MHz processor, I've compared all of these and couldn't really seem much difference, if at all, as far as regular use goes.

Overall, this is a fine PDA and should provide some major competition for the popular Compaq iPAQ and other Pocket PCs.

I've had my iPAQ 1910 for about 2 weeks and I am 100% satisfied with the unit and what it came with.

Some of the reviews that complained about the lack of a docking cradle (don't need it) and how the software to hot sync (ok, I'm an old Palm user) with your pc stink are both very much over stated.

The 1910 comes with a charger with a USB connection. I just lay the 1910 on my pc's tower where it is safe and out of the way, when hot syncing. The cradle on my Palm was always in danger of getting knocked over (once after knocking it over I had to buy a new cradle because a little plastic piece broke off and could not be glued back on).

This unit is slimmer and lighter than the Palm Vx. I like that it has the capability to replace the battery. The Palm Vx I had to replace after 3 years has an internal battery and guess what? I found out that lithium batteries typically last about 3 or 4 years and in the Vx can't readily be replaced (supposedly the factory might be able to).

Besides the weight and size, it was the great color that really impressed me. I looked at the Palm Tungsten and other color Palms and they looked washed out to me (and cost about the same as the 1910).

I recieved an HP iPAQ 1915 as a gift at the end of last year, and it's great. The only difference between my 1915 and the 1910 is that the 1915 supports SDIO. But the 1915 is very hard to find, so this is the closet thing to it. If you need Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, this does not have it and a card for that feature will not work without the SDIO slot. So if you need those features, look at higher end models.

I am a big computer person, and this is MY first PDA, although other people in my family have had them, and it's great. One of the things I use mine for is basic organization using the included calander, tasks, contacts, etc. The programs are done very well, the files take up little memory, and it takes little effort to record the info you need. But if you all you need is an organizer, there are much cheaper alternatives. If you use it for more, like me, then read on.

Those tasks don't show this PDA's true cababilities. So what does? Well, games of corse. And I don't mean tetris and solitare. Can you say Nintendo and Gameboy? Yes. If you get one of these, you can get an emulator for it, and it'll play your favorite Nintendo and Gameboy games flawlessly. Of course, to download ROMS, you need to legally own the actal game. But the picture is rich, and there is no lag unless you're multi-tasking or trying to run a more intensive emulator, such as Super Nintendo or Gameboy Advanced, neither of which I have tried. There are many games writen specificly for Windows CE as well, which should run well on it. The display shows all of these beautifully.

It can also play music! Download Windows Media Player from the included CD, and you can listen to WMAs or MP3s on it. Other progams can be downloaded or purchased that can play other formats. I use WinamPAQ to paly 80kbs ogg vorbis files, which maintain CD quality while being smaller than an MP3 file. The sound quality is superb, and under settings and audio, you can adjust the bass and treble. It goes pretty loud, but as any portable music player, heavy bass and high volumes will distort some. But my main complaint comes in here. A 2.5MM HEADPONE JACK. WHY HP!?!?!? This is smaller than most headphone jacks, which are 3.5mm. This means you'll have to use their bad included headpones, or buy and carry around a bulky converter.

An SD chip can be purchased if you plan on putting large programs, music, etc. on your iPAQ. They come in many sizes between 16MB and 4GB. 128MB-512MB should be sufficent for most people.

As far as specs, they are fairly good for the price. The 200Mhz XScale processor can run basic tasks very well, as well as some more complex tasks. But listening to music while doing other stuff can stress out this CPU, and performance will suffer. If you plan on multi-tasking, get a version with a better processor. The 1900 series come with 64MB of RAM, but only 46MB is available for the user because there is only 16MB of Flash ROM. So it requires some essential programs be loaded to RAM. The available 46MB is storage and temporary memory. If you want good performance try to leave at least 1/3 of the memory empty for programs to use temporarily. A slider in the memory setting allows the user to adjust this. But this ammount of memory can store thousands of word and excel documents, tasks, contacts, appoinments, etc.

All-in-all, it should be fast and versitile enough for most people. It is a good comprimise between price and features. And it is one of the smallest PDAs available with a 320x240 display. Those who need to run more intensive programs, have more features, etc. should upgrade to a higher end iPAQ. Those who only need basic organization features can get a low end Palm or dedicated elecronic organizer for a lower price.

I love this PDA! I will not rehash the technical specs everyone else has already talked about, but I would like to mention what I consider its most notable features, both pro/com:

(1) Very small and sleek. Easily fits in even a small pocket without bulging. Reasonable minds may differ, but the size and weight differences between the 1910 and my previous PDA (an iPaq 3650) and my wife's PDA (one of the new Jornadas) is *very* noticeable in day-to-day use.

(2) Decent speed/memory. Frankly, I sort of wish that the 1910 had one of the faster (300-400 MHz) processors. But in actual use I find it to be plenty fast for the uses I actually put it to. E.g., I can listen to MP3s using Media Player while surfing with Internet Explorer at the same time. I got used to the speed of my old 3650, and this one is approximately the same.

(3) Expandability. I bought an inexpensive 256 MB SD card for my 1910 and now I use it as a portable MP3 player (six albums stored in 96 bps WMA format) and photo album. Nice touch. Also frees up main memory for running applications, which keeps its overall execution speed up.

(4) No cover. This is something I am not entirely happy with. On the one hand, no cover/case means a smaller and lighter unit, which is good. On the other hand, no cover means no screen protection, e.g., when leaving it in my pocket playing MP3s, or when rattling around inside my briefcase. I think all in all I would have liked HP to include some sort of screen cover (like in its Jornada series) or at least an inexpensive basic leather(ette) case.

(5) No frills. No built-in wireless, no built-in camera, etc. If had wanted that stuff I would have bought a larger and more expensive model. But for what I use a PDA for (scheduling, contacts, cached Internet browsing and MP3 playing) the 1910 does it all; and I get to pocket a savings of a lot of money that I didn't want to spend on frills I would seldom if ever use.

First, let me make it clear that I have been a "naysayer" about the PocketPC devices for some time. I felt they were too heavy, too clunky, too expensive, and too complex. I also have had 3 different Palm devices over the years, so was experienced enough to know what I wanted.

The HP iPAQ 1910 changes everything. It is lightweight -- in fact, it is a perfect weight and size to carry around in your shirt pocket or in your purse. The screen is brilliant. The OS continues to improve with each iteration, and MS ActiveSync on the desktop is considerably better than using any Palm or third-party product. In fact, if you use Outlook on your desktop PC you are cheating yourself if you use anything other than ActiveSync with PocketPC.

This device, at a great price, is truly useful and worth the investment. Since I have had it, two people have seen it and gotten their own within a week. It has great "coolness"!

Also, if you want a case, do a search online and you can find custom made cases available now.

I have been a pda person for years now. Most of that time was spent using devices running the PALM OS. What drew me to a windows based pda was the multimedia capability. In terms of games, and general multimedia entertainment, the pocket pc easily surpasses the competition. The PALM OS though is much better than the windows OS. It's easier and quicker to use and the PIMS that come with it are excellent while the pocket pc pims are serously lacking.

Now the specifics of this device:

The device itself is nice, very compact and pretty to look at with a beautiful screen. It lacks a little bit in terms of cpu power and why the device does not come with two expansion slots like the rest of the ipaq family is just plane silly - luckily I'm not planning on using wi-fi or I would not have bothered with this pda. Battery life is excellent. I was really expecting poor battery life like my clie had had but I was wrong.

Some problems with this device are due to its being so new. At this time not much has been made for this pda for example: case, keyboard, screen protectors but this will be remedied very soon.

Some parting advice:
If you use your pda strictly for business or life organization and could not really give a fig about the whole multimedia thing than go with a PALM based pda. On the other hand, if you are like me and get bored very easily and always need to be entertained, than a pocket pc is probably for you (Of course when sharp irons out the problems its been having with its linux based pda, the Zaurus, my pda recommendation will be all together different (now that pda has amazing hardware!!)).