Customer Reviews

HP iPAQ RX1950 Pocket PC

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

There is a firmware update for the iPAQ rx1950/1955 that fixes the power on problem when using an SD card. If you go to hp.com, pick Software & Driver Downloads, then type in the product name and continue, then pick Windows Mobile 5.0, you'll see a list of updates for the unit. Right now there is an (OS) ROM update, and a firmware update. The firmware update is the one that fixes this problem, but if you are planning to load the OS/ROM update as well, load that one first, then load the Firmware update. You should always back up all your data before applying an update.
I also had a similar problem when I didn't have the battery cover on and latched just right, but that's OK now too, as long as I don't drop the thing on the ground.

Having read all of the reviews, etc I purchased a Palm TX - junk that was promptly returned (see review there). Despite the reviews here I have had great success with pocket pc devices & this unit had everything I needed. After almost a month I will not part with this device! Initially I had to download and update the unit which was a painless experience. Outlook synch's flawlessly and unlike the TX mail set-up and use is easy. WiFi works great and has better reception than the TX, connects faster and the connection is more reliable. The TX "soft re-set" several times a day and took forever to get going again - the re-sets seemed to be more frequent when I used the web browser. Not a problem with the 1955. Not a single re-set. There is the wierd windows thing where you have to shut down running programs every so often(Start-Settings-System-Memory-Running Programs-Stop All)but you get used to that pretty quick!

For business use the memory is sufficient & the processer is pretty fast. The Office functions work great including running some pretty complex calculations in Excell. Again unlike the TX - which has documents to go.

Memory card issue was apparently taken care of with the firmware upgrade as I haven't had aproblem with it & I use it to store documents, pictures, etc.

I don't use the media functions aside from viewing work photos so I can't speak to the complaints there.

For business users I have found it flawless, sleek, attention getting and very functional.

I have had this iPAQ rx 1955 for almost a year. I couldn't be more pleased with it. I have been reading other reviews here on Amazon that say that the iPAQ shuts down and needs to be restarted. Well, that's because the owners do not know how to use it. iPAQs are complex little things and they have to be understood. If properly used, they are sheer delight.

As soon as I got my iPAQ a year ago, I bought "iPAQ for dummies", read it from beginning to end and learnt a lot. I use this iPAQ to send email,write notes, as a calendar, contact list, as a reminder, love it when the iPAQ sounds its cute alarm!)and I even write my store list on it. I saved money on an ipod; my iPAQ is much more than that! I got a 2.0 GB SD card and have stored no less than 200 music files, four gorgeous games and dozens of big photos that I can now always have with me wherever I go. (This iPAQ can also store videos).The iPAQ synchronization feature (with your computer) manages to compress and resize big files automatically. The music sound is amazing, the photos look great, the games are fun and easy to play. This little cute iPAQ does so many things for me and offers me so many more that I am absolutely thrilled with it. A friend who has an ipod is considering giving it away and get an iPAQ instead. When I am not taking my laptop with me, I am OK because I can check and send email via iPAQ.

It is fun to use the handwriting recognition features as well as the voice recognition feature; this, of course, with the added software for voice recognition. I no longer need to use the stylus on my iPAQ to look for an address or a name. I simply talk to it and "she" responds wonderfully well. The iPAQ also had to get used to my awful handwriting, but it certainly did. It was fun at first to see the iPAQ trying to recognize my "r" and my "v". But it was all part of the learning process for both.

I have also stored two e-books that I can read on the iPAQ anywhere I want.

I recenty got a pair of Bose headphones that go great with the iPAQ. Now (with a little add-on) I am going to also turn it into my personal GPS. There is so much this little cute thing can do that I AM AMAZED.

I suggest the book (ipaq for dummies) be bought together with the iPAQ.There is too much this cutie can do and one might be lost without extra help.

I should start off by saying that I am not a major user of PDAs mainly because I'm in front of a computer most of the day. And even when I'm not in front of one, I'd prefer something along the lines of an Ultra Mobile PC due to the larger screen and more features. However, the UMPC is way out of my budget.

That being said, the HP iPAQ rx1955 has been a good investment for me. I chose this particular model due to the features as well as the price. I was mainly looking for a way to check my e-mail, tasks, contacts, etc while walking around campus. I also wanted something to help me keep track of meetings and appointments. Granted, most PDA's will do these things...but it was the extra features that won me over. The integration with Outlook and Windows XP in general is seamless. I also like the integration with Office and the WiFi works great. I can now take Office documents and spreadsheets of information from place to place and work on them without a computer.

Overall I have been very pleased. My one complaint is the same as many others. Namely that the iPAQ would freeze occasionally. This was indeed fixed with a patch released from HP.

A fine piece of hardware: small, light, good screen, excellent battery life, and does all the basic functions of a PDA (including internet, and Skype works reasonable well). The firmware needs an update to fix frequent crashes, but HP's tech support was great and helped me fix it in a few minutes.

The main defect is the Windows platform. The bundled software (IE, windows media, Word, Notes, etc) are ridiculously stripped down and quite useless in my opinion. If you've used Palm in the past, you'll wonder why Microsoft takes several minutes to Sync a couple of bytes of data with Outlook, or needs a restart every week or two even after all the fixes and updates, or can't let you password protect private records. Luckily I found excellent replacements for most of the software at handango.com/hp and opera.com for a total of about $50, and the machine is now very functional and I'm happy with it. Palm seems to have its own harware issues, so I don't know what's better or worse.

Overall, in an era when most electronic equipment is made in a big hurry and outsourced to the lowest bidder, this PDA does very well compared to others in its price range.

UPDATE OCTOBER, 2009

Had this product 2.5 years now. Still love it. Use it daily for Audiobooks, Contacts, E-Books, Freecell & Sudoku. Also to look up items in the Encyclopedias & very occasional email.
Bought an Ipod Touch to see whether it gives me significant advantages. It is of course a lot jazzier but for above applications it did not give me any major improvements. For example the Sudoku applications on the Ipod had lots of colors and graphics which were actually distracting from the game. So back to the store with the Ipod.

Jake

APRIL 2007
For years I used an IPAQ 1910. Loved its slim size, gorgeous display and its features. It had one fatal disadvantage! When the removable battery discharged it lost all the data and programs stored in memory and there was no way to put Contacts, Schedules etc on Storage Card. So they were erased each time. At home they could be resynched with the PC and the data restored but on trips - when I needed the data worse - it was not possible. To make it worse the data loss occurred even when the secondary battery showed full charge and the battery discharge happened even if the unit was not turned on. Another disadvantage was that it could not handle a Storage Card larger than 1 GB and its earphone socket used the non-standard 2.5 mm plug (standard is 3.5 mm)

So I bought the IPAQ RX1950. It looks and feels exactly the same as the old 1910 but with added WiFi connectivity, persistent memory (data is not lost even if battery is completely discharged), and ability to handle large capacity SD Cards. Installed a 2 GB SD Card and loaded in several favorite programs like Mobipocket Reader, ProWord Dictionary, XnView image display, Conduit Pocket Player and the games Freecell, SuperSudoku and Scrabble. Also tried, unsuccessfully, to add several free utilities to make navigation and the Today screen more useful.

It was heavy going! I found that I had to Soft Reset so many times during use that I considered returning the unit to Amazon. Got in touch with HP Support Professional via chat. He first advised me to download the latest ROM and Firmware updates. It turns out that my device had all these installed from the factory (as they should have been) - so there was no need for additional update. The technician suspected that the added utilities might the culprit. so I uninstalled them. He also advised me to follow the following procedure:

"Open active sync on the iPaq, then tap on menu -> Add Server Source, then you will see a field called "server address", enter anything into this field. Tap on next on the bottom right of the screen. Fill out the three fields with any information, then select next, then finish. This will bring you back to the active sync menu. Tap on menu -> Schedule, you will see two drop downs, "peak times" and "off-peak times". Change both of these from the default of 10 and 4 mins respectively to "manually". Tap on ok in the upper right hand side. Tap on menu -> Options, tap and hold on where it says "exchange server" and select delete."

Did all of the above and for the past 4 days did not do a single Soft Reset and am a happy user. Incidentally the battery on this unit lasts for a goodly length of time - much more than the 1910 though the battery is just a somewhat higher capacity. I presume it has to do something with data and programs being in ROM & not requiring continuous refresh like the RAM in the 1910.

During a recent trip had occasion to test the Wifi connectivity. Used Gmail to get to Inbox. It was surprising how well the messages could be viewed. Of course sending answers was laborious using the displayed keyboard but it could be done. So now I am looking forward to use it extensively on my forthcoming trip to Europe.

I came from a Palm environment but I have to say that even before going to a Windows environment I was a tad bit disappointed and frustrated with some of the Palms features, look and convenience. I KNEW there had to be something better. So after some online research, I decide on an IPAQ and off I go to the store for a new a PDA. What I went expressly to look for was one that was:

Windows based
Relatively inexpensive
Had a great display
Was able to handle at least 3 of the basic Microsoft applications that I use (Outlook, Excel and Word)
Wasn't so small that I would lose it or too bulky to carry
Could replace my paper organizer.......
etc...

and I have to say that I think I've found it!

I've been using this for two months and so far these are some of the highlights..........

PROS

Storage case/ cover - Comes with an amazingly sturdy sleeve which allows you to carry it in a pocketbook or a bag without feeling like it's going to get scratched, slide out or that buttons will be pressed.

The battery life is pretty good. Even when I set alerts on my calendar, I can leave this IPAQ on for 2 days without the battery draining.

Existing software and Microsoft Outlook/Word/ Excel compatibility - The calendar alone has 4 views: daily, weekly, monthly and even yearly views. Palm had a view like that but it did it in a way that still can leave a person confused on what day they were entering info on, how many weeks left in the year or what you have scheduled around a certain date. This left me with no questions. Also, I pretty much in love the fact that I can not only read Word and Excel document but I can edit them too. This may be hard to do when it's in portrait view but.....

Choice between landscape and portrait views - ........being able to change the view from portrait to landscape makes it easier for me to edit Word and Excel documents because there's more room on the screen.

Easy software installation/ Syncing - if you have a Word or Excel document that you want to transfer on to this IPAQ it simply a matter of putting it in to a default folder (on your desktop) and it will be added as soon as you "sync" it with your computer. I also added Pocket Quicken to track my finances and it had no problem installing or updating during the syncing process.

Syncing - Another great thing about the sync is that you can easily eliminate the programs that you do and don't want to update. Not that this feature isn't on most PDA's but the fact that I can isolate it so that I only update say - my finances and nothing else or my calendar and nothing else, lends to more flexibility and control.

WiFi - e-mail and navigating the Internet come with ease. I barely miss the fact that it is not bluetooth compatible.


CONS

The stylus doesn't lock in to the PDA very well. Therefore if you turn the unit upside down while the stylus is inside of it, it could slide out.

Freezing - It has frozen at times when I've checked my e-mail and while it's true that you might have to take the battery out and quickly put it back in to reset it, your information does NOT disappear!! Also this has only happened twice in the beginnning and hasn't happened since. Also, I hear that there is a patch on HP's web site to fix this.

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It does everything they sayt it does. My only quibbles keeping this from 5 star status is Windows Media Player insists on loading media into the small internal memory rather than my 1 gb sd card. And the wireless occasionally does not connect to my access point, dropping th ewep key settings when it doesnt connect right away. One other flaw is the terrible IR range.
On the plus side, it has pretty good sound quality when used with headphones, the video is good (when nothing else is running in the background) , and my new just purchased SDIO GPS (w/512 mem on board the gps, paid $120) works flawlessly with MS Streets and Trips/Pocket Streets. Battery life is great, over 4 hrs with the gps on. MS Active Sync works pretty well.
This is a cheap wifi/gps/media solution for someone who wants a device that can do it all with the right add ons.

I was ready to really love this pda. It's nice and thin, feels good in the hand and was the cheapest PDA with wireless. I mainly needed it to check my email when i'm out and about.

But I have to admit that it's a lemon. It freezes all the time, I have to pull the battery out to reset it at least once a day, sometimes 3 or 4 times. I haven't installed anything on it but what came out of the box. Also, just too little on-board RAM, and if you save your applications on the SD card instead they are SO slow.

HP's firmware and ROM updates from their websites actually made it worst. It's more stable with just the 1.00.00 firmware version out of the box. My only hope is that it's a Windows Mobile 5.0 problem and there will be an update soon. I don't know if it's Microsoft's problem or HPs, but now it's definitely my problem.

I previously owned a palm handheld device for about two years, when I just had enough of it I wanted to try something different, my first impression was negative the pda was absolutely unreliable, it needed to be soft reseted constantly, but soon after I've found that there was an Firmware and Rom update (PPC rules!) then It became a whole new story, It became faster, 1000% more reliable (no more pinching the reset button).
If you want a decent PPC, this is the one but get the updates from the hp web site!.
update, apart from the sdunload update there's a sdhc update cab which allows you to use 4GB cards and removes the anoying ppc slowdown caused by the sdunload update.