Customer Reviews

Hewlett Packard Jornada 720 Handheld PC

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I read the customer comments here before I bought my Jornada 720 and found them useful. So I'll return the favor by writing my own feedback for those still shopping around.

Some of you are probably asking the same questions...Palm or Windows? Keyboard or handwriting recognition? Built-in keyboard or stowaway? E-mail or no e-mail? Compaq Ipaq or HP Jornada 720?

I cannot answer all the questions for you, but as a non-techie person, here's how I made my decision. Let's start with the easiest question: Keyboard or handwriting?

I think most people are faster typists than they are writing long hand. This is why we went from drawing on cave walls, to writing on paper, to typing with a manual typewriter, to typing with computers, and to voice recognition. Do you see a pattern here? It's called evolution. I see handwriting recognition as going backwards. People assume that handwriting recognition works as smoothly as touted. It doesn't and it is terribly frustrating. Sooner or later, you'll need a keyboard, which is why most people with palm or pocket PCs still buy keyboards. Think about it. If you need to write more than one paragraph, say a 3-page article, letter, or report, would you rather handwrite or type? Ask the many writers who use the J720 if they'd rather handwrite their stories and they'll think you've gone nuts.

Okay, so you're one of those people who like handwriting too much to give up on it. Enter the J720's Inkwriter. It's like a pad of paper that you can scribble anything on and then save it. Even longhand. Draw things on it (your house plan?), or play tic-tac-toe on it, or scribble the hastily dictated phone number of the cute guy you just met. Or pretend to make handwritten notes to keep awake during boring office meetings.

Next question. Built-in or stowaway keyboard? If you follow the reasoning for wanting keyboard over handwriting, you'll realize the only way to avoid the frustration of handwriting is to have a keyboard 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. And if you need it that much, then it makes sense for it to be built-in. Of course, you could buy a Compaq Ipaq and carry the keyboard separately. But why punish yourself?

Palm or Windows? Personally, I hate learning new ways of doing things unless they improve on how I already do it. I'm familiar with the Windows platform. I use it in the office, I use it at home, and I use it on my PDA. I'm going for consistency. This OS rivalry reminds me of the Mac vs. PC and the Betamax vs.VCR (I'm dating myself). If you travel abroad frequently, you will soon discover that the rest of the world has learned to go with a safe bet. They will not waste limited dollars on something that might be obsolete in a matter of years. You can call it cattle mentality, but they see it as safety in numbers (i.e., the millions of Windows users worldwide).

Why not a laptop? Well, I already have a lightweight laptop at home which I plan to keep. But there is no laptop in the market today that is lighter than a PDA. I can go anywhere with my J720 and do practically everything that I need my laptop for. The J720's instant on/off feature alone is enough to convince me to leave the laptop at home. Cheaper than a laptop, better battery life, no need to boot up, blazingly fast, extremely lightweight and portable, and easy to pack (not a space hog). I've had the J720 for almost two months and has brought it on trips already (bravely left the laptop at home). The only thing I missed was the backache I would have gotten from lugging the laptop. Actually, make that two. I missed the paranoid feeling that someone might steal my laptop when it's out of my sight because I can't stash it in a pocket, purse, or hotel safe. In sum, I don't need a second laptop and the one I have will stay home from now on.

Pricewise, there's not much difference between a Compaq Ipaq and J720 after you factor in the added costs (for Ipaq) of a separate keyboard and something else (modem?) that the guy in the store told me but which I forgot. He said the J720 is about $100 more expensive than the Ipaq. And there are discounts if you want to spend the time finding them. However, the J720 is not for you if all you need is a gadget to store addresses and phone numbers. It'd be the equivalent of buying an expensive sportscar only to drive it at a top speed of 35 mph for a daily 5-mile commute. What a waste. Get those cheap and common calculator-like gadgets for $150. But if you want a PDA/organizer that can be a mini-laptop, this is it.

Sizewise, the J720 is slightly bigger than the Ipaq but still small enough to fit into a small purse. In fact, I was surprised at how small it was when I finally got it. I eyeballed the size based on the specifications given. It turned out to be smaller, which was what I wanted. If you buy a pocket PC or palm organizer and then carry the separate keyboard, the whole package will be bigger and bulkier than the J720.

The J720's screen is almost twice wider than the Ipaq's or other pocketpcs. This eliminates the annoyance of having to scroll left-right-top-bottom when looking at documents. Not a noticeable difference if all you do is look up addresses or phone numbers. But when you're working on a Word or Excel document (PocketWord/Pocket Excel), reading e-mail, or browsing the web, you will be glad your J720 has a wider screen. And because the J720 has a clamshell design (the screen closes/folds over the keyboard), you don't have to spend the extra $$ for a leather case to protect the screen.

By now - if you're still reading - you're probably wondering if there's anything I dislike at all about this gadget. Yes. It bugs me that the J720 doesn't have a latch to snap it close. Don't get me wrong... it does close, but I miss the comforting "click" sound of a latch. I almost returned the darn thing. But I was assured that the hinge has a wheel mechanism designed to withstand repeated opening and closing of the lid.

Also, the keyboard seemed tiny at first, but after a week of typing on it, it felt very comfortable for touch-typing documents, spreadsheets, etc. But if you're planning to write your first great American novel, you'll be pushing the limits of the keyboard (and your fingers). Do yourself a favor and write your magnum opus on a desktop or full-size laptop. If you want to work just a chapter at a time, the J720 will do. Still leaps and bounds over handwriting.

Lastly, it bugs me that the J720 comes only in one boring, unimaginative, dark blue grayish corporate color. I would have gladly chosen a more pretty-looking gadget (there's plenty out there), but the J720 beats them where it matters the most to me -- substance. The J720 is still a bargain for what it delivers. But would it be asking too much to want it in red?

There's my 2 cents' worth. By the way, I'm typing this on my J720's built-in keyboard. Would I handwrite this? No way! Would you?

I wanted something that would travel and let me keep my business in order and allow me to write personel letters etc... But starting this review I want to be honest. The HP-720 is an expensive speciality device being neither laptop or pocket device, but for what I wanted to do it seemed the only choice.(I didn't want to lug around all that laptop suitcase of bits and pieces...plus the battery life on the laptops make them near useless if away from a plug). .... Anyhow to my thoughts:
PROS: It's small, powerful, battery really does last 7-9 hours, does everything music,word processing( with spell check), surf the net,calander,task,contacts,voice recorder and as an excessory to my desk computer automatically syncronizes everytime I drop it into the charging/communications cradle that it came with.Also when you hit the "on" button it's on right then...no boot up time. Easy to set up and run...physically a tough little machine.I can say with confidence that I do schedule and have access to more data when I need it than I ever thought possible.It has freed me up considerable. I don't know if that will apply to everyone else as I am self employeed and out of the office alot, but for me it has actually done more than I thought it could.
Cons:I bought 256 meg compact flash card (if you want lots of MP3 music you'll need it) so with that I'm at over a [price]. You could buy a laptop with that.The keyboard IS NOT touch typeable!You can type and fast, but it's with two fingers. I do type letters so it's ok, but I almost sent it back when I got it because of that.Last they're not alot of extra programs out their for the HP_720. I'm no computer guy, but I believe it has to do with the ARM processor. I have found games, JPEG viewers etc... as freeware ....but they were few and far between. So all that great Palm stuff and CE software doesn't necessarily have a version that works on the HP-720.
Overall I would recommend it to anyone who needs the keyboard but doesn't want to be tied down with a laptop. For me I wouldn't trade it now that I've had and used it for a [price] laptop. And yes while the games and extra software is limited. There was enough for me (10 games, a picture viewer and a book reader).
The only advice I have about buying is that this machine is great if you have the specific needs it can address. For me I would buy another because I value size and battery life over other features .

The HP Jornada 720 does everything I need to do for on-the-road computing. Checking and responding to e-mail, surfing the net, taking meeting notes, drafting memos and other documents, and accessing all those usual organizer functions. I now leave my heavy and bulky laptop brick at the office and take the 720 instead when traveling for business or pleasure. Lots of bundled software tools are included making the Jornada 720 a versatile machine. It's flexible allowing for expansion and scalability. I especially like adding PCMCIA Type II, compact flash and smart cards. The audio recorder and built-in speakers are also nice. The standard 32 MB of memory is an improvement over the older 600 series models. The improved Windows for HPC OS will be very familiar to Windows NT/95/98 users and the sync capability makes the 720 a logical extension of my desktop machine. Some minor drawbacks: it is somewhat pricey compared to the Jornada 548 and other Pocket PC handhelds; the keyboard (although nice) is a bit tiny. I use a two-finger or two-eraser heads poking technique to minimize keyboard errors. Great battery - 9 hours! I do love it!

The HP Jornada 720 (the final model of this line was the 728) is the finest, practical design mobile Handheld Computing device ever made. The Jornada rival is the NEC MobilePro 780-800 line. Both clamshell, mini-laptop looking, devices were high quality and expensive (average retail was over $1,000).

These devices are authentic handhelds and they are true mobile PCs. In comparison, PDAs are very expensive toys. Both NECs & Jornadas have practical data input technology-- a truly useable keyboard & a touch screen. Both Jornadas and NECs have built-in card slots. Being PDA type devices, handhelds have no moving parts & they are instant on - off. They come with built-in phone modems & infrared wireless ports. Neither line, the Jornada or NEC, was designed for modern radio type wireless Internet but both lines are fully capable of it.

By the way, the chief reasons laptops break down are all related to their being moved about. Damaged screens (from being dropped or handled roughly) & hard drive failure are the major problems. Own a 720 and like me you will soon consider a laptop the lug-a-bout portable desktop computer it is. Make a home made insulator envelope of bubble wrap envelope for your Jornada or NEC and they should be O.K. to take with you. A discount CD wallet can be easily found and adapted to serve as an inexpensive case. I carry my Jornadas and NECs in a hipsack. There is no hard drive to fail from chuck hole caused rough movement in a car, or from dropping.

Don't let the apparent memory limitations throw you off. Your basic productivity programs are permanently hardware loaded in ROM & Many mobile Windows CE programs can be installed and run from CF cards and both Jornada & NEC lines can handle up to one gig or bigger CF cards. Some enthusiasts report success runing CF micro drives. There are also inexpensive CF card slot adapters that allow considerable additional adaptability.

Some of the software that comes with these devices is severely outdated, especially the Microsoft syncing software, Microsoft Activesync. No problem. The best version is Activesync 3.8 anyway and it is freely available. Download and install it to your XP system and you'll have no problem syncing with a Jornada or NEC

These handhelds were never meant for the general consumer market. They are enterprise devices, which is why few consumers know about them. Had HP & NEC marketing included the handhelds I think most college students would sport one today instead of the lug-a-bouts.

I own a Jornada 680e (under $90 like-new refurbished)& a 720. I also own a NEC Mobilepro 780, 790, & the last real handheld PC, the NEC 900c. My favorite is the NEC 780 - 900c line because NECs have a larger keyboard than Jornadas do. I have big hands but I am able to two-finger touch type with the Jornada models (680 - 728). I can two hand touch type with an NEC Mobile Pro.

Among handheld enthusiasts the Jornada 720 and 728 are the clear favorites. While both Jornadas and NECs are high quality engineering and make, the Jornada is the best, provided you can get along with the keyboard. People with large hands will like the NEC case & keyboard better. The 720 & 728 has external voice record and playback buttons and they have a stereo headphone jack.

Get this: Both Handheld lines get 7 or more hours active use time per battery charge and they weigh less than 2 pounds including the Li-ion battery. The Jornadas are more energy efficient so you can be a little more sloppy about leaving a CF or wireless card plug in the off state. The NECs need to be plugged in if you leave cards plug in. No problem. I simply make sure my cards are disconnected when I am not using them.

I do about everything with a computer that computers are used for. When I leave my house, I never take a laptop. I always take either my NEC 780 or NEC 790. I connect with public access points automatically without any problem. I like the Jornada 720 better but I can type much easier and faster on the larger NEC.

There are a lot of things you can do to update a Jornada or an NEC and there is a very active, quality user support group whose members will help you as you have never before received information and assistance for a Computer. The site? HPCFactor.com... Registration is easy and free and the site is a storehouse of free software and drivers for handheld computers.

The site again for everything handheld is hpcfactor.com

I give the Jornada 4 stars because I consider the Sharp Zaurus SL 3500 the best handheld made. They are Sharp Linux devices, are not sold in USA, are cheaper than current HP and Dell PDA toys. The Zaurus line is king in Japan and Asia as they come installed with a Sharp version of Linux. The big downside is size. While the screen and keyboard is too small for most westerners, they work fine for most Asian people.

I've been holding off buying a Palm-esque organizer for years, due to its various limitations, notably an inability to compose documents of any length in any reasonable amount of time without a cumbersome and annoying attachable keyboard.

I saw the Jornada 720 and the bullet list sounded like just the thing. In particular, the picture on Amazon showing the unit in relation to an adult males hands looked promising. Browsing the reviews in this section, I saw at least one testimonial that one could type near full speed on the keyboard.

Now that I own one, I can confirm that it is true. Although I am engineer by trade, I have a hobby of writing and I was able to load and work on a fairly large story with little problem.

The bundled apps are about all one would expect for the units target application (presumably, a highly mobile professional). In particular the Inkwriter is a nice way to take notes in a meeting and make drawings at the same time. Some might be surprised that Powerpoint is basically playback only, but it sort of makes sense if you consider the probable application.

The sex-appeal (sometimes read geek-appeal where I come from) is extremely high. The thing is cool. I find myself playing with it when I really dont need to be. The screen size and resolution is well chosen.

The internet connnection works great once you realize that a seperate dial-up that supports CE based units is required. The screen size windows nicely into the typical webpage.

the ActiveSynch worked perfectly but I found that I needed to start PC Link on the Jornada the first time I ran activeSynch on a desktop partner or the Jornada would time out.

The RAM-based implementation makes it instant on-off and the battery life of a "real" 9 hours is fantastic.

The size is just a bit large to be something you would carry in a pocket unless you were into aviation Dockers. The carrying case (extra) seems adequate but increases the size further. In general one must relegate oneself to the idea that it is hand carried to meetings and stowed in a briefcase. A minus relative to Palm, but the upside, in my opinion far outweighs the downside relative to Palm and other devices of the now de-facto footprint.

HP Dialer is a little buggy, possibly one of the reasons the reset button is accessible to the user.

The subtraction of the single star is due to the limitations I've described above but overall this seems a beautifully conceived and nicely executed product that is like to catch on expecially if the price point drift South a bit.

My workplace uses the PC platform. At home I am a devoted Mac user. I got very tired of having to convert or email my work documents in order to work on them at home, and vice versa (especially since I used a painfully slow 56K modem at home and often work on large documents). Add to it that I commute by train to and from work (an average of 4 hours a day) and wanted to be able to utilize that time, efficiently. One more factor: when I borrowed the company laptop for powerpoint presentations on the road, I got increasingly annoyed at the bulkiness of the computer, adapters, external drives, laptop case, etc. that became quite a pain to lug around. So something had to be done.

I eyed and coveted the sexy tiny Vaio's but my Mac loyalty said if I want a laptop, get a skiny G4. Realizing that the G4's or IMacs wouldn't solve my problem as well as crossing over to the PC platform would, I considered one more option - the Palm world. The reality was that I wanted a computer that would do everything my old slow Mac and very fast PC did, and could do it seamlessly. About that time the New York Times featured an article that compared Palm OS and Windows CE platforms (worth finding in NYT archives)and I was sold. The handheld PC's are based on very tried and true technology (not withstanding the general societal complaints with Microsoft, which I will not indulge in.)

The next was to choose among the various models. Again, what I wanted was a tiny computer, not a fancy organizer, and the Jornada 720, despite its cost, attracted me. A little shopping around, and I found a new one for about..., when they were retailing at close to $.... I instantly fell in love with it--even though the modem didn't work properly. The general complaints I read on-line about HP was that their service support left much to be desired. After a couple of frustrating rounds, I finally got the matter straightened out (HINT: persistence pays)and got the modem fixed. I have been extremely happy ever since.

I sync it at work and bring my documents with me on the train (and finish what I need to do while comuting, obviating the need to work at home). I do wish it could sync with my Mac- which is the ONLY drawback- but it is actually softening me toward PC's. Here's the best part, I recently accessorized it with a Colorgraphic VGA-Out card and can now run my powerpoint presentations from my J720 (which I named "Jordy," by the way). No more bulk, no more being caught on the road with a powerpoint on a disk but no laptop to run it. I pull out my tiny, light in weight, Jordy and dazzle the crowds with my great graphics and pithy presentations.

This is an extremely functional unit. I have recently been using it as an MP3 player (fabulous!) and have asked my family to grace me with the IBM Microdrive next gift-giving season. The only complaint I have now is that it isn't easy to find the breadth of software programs available for Palms, but they are out there and apparently growing. I highly recommend this product. The price is coming down so go for it!

I wrote an entire novel on this trusty machine - and was able to throw it in a backpack, bike to the library, pull it out and work. Loved being able to sit in my living room and write, also. ActiveSync works perfectly. Infrared works perfectly - sends documents directly to my printer AND I am able to use it to store data from my Quicklink pen.

I LOVE THIS COMPUTER! I am upset that HP discontinued this line...If you're looking for a TRULY portable computer (and don't require all the extra bells and whistles of a laptop) that syncs up beautifully with your desktop - THIS IS THE COMPUTER FOR YOU!

The Jornada 720 is a wonderful idea, beautiful package. Too bad it is not reliable. My first 720 hummed along fine for less than 24 hours, then the modem just quit. Because HP has no 24 hour tech support, I was on the phone with my ISP while they kindly tried to solve the problem--on and off, trial and error--for nearly four hours. Finally the next day when HP was open for its "banker's hours" support for customers, the first two techs were reading to me out of a book. No clue as to why the modem was silent. A third tech finally agreed the modem was defective. Would HP do an express exchange? Not unless I wanted a refurbished 720 when I had just paid for a brand new one. Luckily the vendor was excellent where HP was not, and gave me an immdeiate exchange. The second 720 arrived with the screen loose on the right side and the brightness uneven going from left to right. And, while the modem dialed in and connected, it could not connect to any pages off Jornada's home page. After another hour on the phone with techs, I gave up. It looks great, and when it was working it seemed great. But two out of two machines with problems and absolutely no help from HP and no interest in customer satisfaction...well, that's unacceptable for (an expensive) handheld.

I bought my Jornada 720 three years ago on ebay for a fraction of the "new" price - and I love this machine. The best thing is instant startup (unlike any laptop, which takes forever to start), and of course its size and battery life (again longer than any laptop). I added a 64MB card, and use another Compact Flash card to store and transfer large files from and to my deskotop. ActiveSync works fine too, but it is slower.

I was able to find better business apps than the Microsoft inferior "pocket" products included in the package - Textmaker (from a German software designer) which is a fully functional text editor (including footnotes and embedded objects); the same manufacturer also has a fully functional spreasheet, but I recommend SpreadCE from Bye Design Ltd. in the UK - it is a fully functional spreadsheet that has virtually all desktop Excel functions and some charts too. Cash Organizer (from Inesoft, which I belive is a Russian company) is an excellent addition to manage multiple financial accounts. One Cat Doodler 3 (from the US) is a great graphics program. Mobibook has a wide selection of titles, including dictionaries.

In short, it is a great, very dependable machine with nearly full business functionality, if right third party applications are added. It also doubles as a good mp3 player. The machine clearly has limitations - processing large Excel files can be painfully slow, no external file links, not so great graphics - but it is not a substitute for a desktop. But it certainly has many advantages over a laptop and doubles as an i-pod substitute. Too bad HP discontinued the model - perhaps because it is an effective substitute for other overpriced products such as clunky laptops and even clunkier windows XP - but it is still available here and there.

If you want a put-in-a-shirt-pocket PDA, this isn't for you. If you want or need a keyboarded device, this is the only choice without adding external keyboard. For me, that means it's the only choice. Contrary to the review, it is really difficult to touch type on it. It's got a large form factor, but I can carry it in a pocket (but I'm a size 56;)

You can find the Jornada external keyboard on eBay once in a while (part F1275A.) If you find one, snap it up! It works with an additional free driver from HP, and it adds six times the functionality.

The bad news: The product is discontinued. Additional NiMH batteries (proprietary design) aren't available on HP shopping. HP Parts told me they're backordered, but I did get mine in 24 hours.

The worse news: WinCE/Pocket PC devices are not supported by the software manufacturer after a new revision comes out. As another reviewer mentions, much "Windows CE 2.0" software will NOT run on Windows CE for Handheld PC (H/PC.) Don't expect much additional software to come out; companies just won't have a profit motive to support an obsolete platform.

The good news: There is a LOT of software out there now that works. You just need to find a good forum like Raul Lucky's web pages to help know what works and what doesn't.

The better news: With my Jornada 720 I can just take the unit along and have great functionality as a PDA. Between the add-on keyboard, Accurite 20 GB hard drive which slots into card slot 1, a 64 MB Compact Flash Card, Ansyr's Primer PDF reader, and other goodies which aren't necessary (1 extended batt, 1 reg batt, docking cradle, external charger, etc. - it seems like a lot but really isn't) I have no need of a laptop. I've even got most of my CD library burned to the external HD. I don't need an MP3 player, either. In short, this is much more than just a PDA with lots of flexibility and expansion capability.

The best news: With the flexibility of the system I've always got it with me, in the configuration for whatever I'm doing. It takes a little learning, but far less than the MessagePads did, and I suspect less than your average first-timer using a PDA. This is really more than a PDA, though it is less than a laptop. And with the lower price points, it's even sweeter. If I had the ready cash, there wouldn't be any of them for sale here, because I'd have them as backup units. :)

I'm expecting (batteries willing,) to be using it until Pocket PC 2010 comes out - at least. :)