Customer Reviews

Hewlett Packard Jornada 547 Color Pocket PC

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I have had my Jornada for a month now and I have been nothing but pleased. It has exceeded my every expectation. The color (12-bit) is wonderful, the sound from the built-in speaker (and headphones) is surprisingly good, and the functionality is astounding. Make no mistake, you are not buying an organizer --you are buying a COMPUTER. 133 mhz processer, 12-bit color, 32 mb of ram --is it just me, or wasn't that a top-of-the-line desktop computer 5 yrs ago?

Well, I won't go into the basics -other reviewers have done a good job doing so --let me focus on other areas.

Buying extra memory is a must if you download a lot (MP3s or books). (I filled up my memory within 2 weeks after downloading 9 books, 2 songs, and 5 extra games... Books seem to be 500k to 1 mb, MP3s are 4-6MB and games are less than 1MB) I'd recommend going with the maximum upgrade of 128 MB flash-card --you could put 2 hours of MP3s on that card! This is great if you always wanted an MP3 player, as I did, now I can just roll the functionality of my Jornada into my portable music station.

For downloading books I recommend checking out the great FREE selection on Amazon.com. (Another good place is, egads!, Barnes and Nobles.com) There are some great books just worth keeping in the memory in case you are stuck somewhere with time on your hands.

I highly recommend getting the FREE Pocket PC expansion pack offered by Microsoft --it contains some games (Chess is great, Hearts is great, Pac Man is alright --but is meant to be played with a joystick), but more importantly, offers a lot of other great software, free. There is a "paint" program -it offers simple drawing in many colors (but no paintbrush or sprayer), the e-book reader program (allows you to display e-books), a great "slide-shower" program (I put family pictures in here in 5 minutes) --there is a full screen mode which allows you to page-through slides, and is really impressive. There is even an ADOBE ACROBAT reader --quite amazing, though I wonder how documents will look on a small screen.

The best thing about the Jornada is that it is very intuitive. The internal file system is set up just like your home PC -with a version of "explorer". This allows you to open an "explorer" menu (when your Jornada is "synched" with your computer). The advantage of this is you can just open folders on your big computer's screen and drag and drop PHOTOS, E-BOOKS, MP3s, and M-PEGS just as easy as that. One of my best comments about this product is that I didn't need the instruction manual.

Other highlights --the COMPLETE synchronization with Microsoft's products is absolutely wonderful. Outlook is FULLY synched --alerts, contacts, and tasks to remember are added to your home computer (after you've added them to your Jornada). (By the way, you receive the FULL version of Outlook 2000 for free when you purchase your Jornada). Word and Excel allow you to open e-mail attachments as well as create new documents. Microsoft Money requires a separate purchase of Money 2000 (or newer) and is really cool. It keeps your whole checkbook, basic stock information, and lists of Payees and Expense categories available at your fingertips.

The Jornada can be extensively customized, I found THAT very attractive --a variety of sound, backlight, password, and hotkey settings can be changed quickly from the internal menus.

Surprisingly, the calculator is one "widget" that I've used more than anything else. It really feels natural, and gets a LOT of use in restaurants...

The weight is nothing you can't handle, but is noticeable --it is heavier than it looks, and I wouldn't want to put it into a shirt pocket, or try to squeeze it into a pair of jeans. If you drop it on a hard surface, good luck, because it looks like it'd shatter --it is heavy.

The cover is very nice. It is sleek metal, which is great protection. One drawback is that it is not something that is easily removed (though you can --with care), and doesn't move back more than 90 degrees when opened.

I like the stylus. It is very easy to pull out and use, and stores very well.

The best program is the built-in "NOTE taker" function. You write on the screen and your strokes are captured exactly as written--no "graffiti" or "keboard" needed here (though these ARE an option). This is the fastest way to take notes --basically just drawing on a touch-pad. Also, another neat function is that you can press the red button on the side and RECORD voice messages that are saved with specific notes--really cool! You can even record messages when the machine is off --just press the button and you can record for as long as you have memory!

Every morning I plug it in and it automatically downloads 500 web pages for view later --it takes less than 5 minutes on a 28.8 modem. This is the best part --I was astounded how fun it was to read news on the metro on my handheld. (Every time you "synch" outdated web pages are deleted, and new ones stored).

Go to Avantgo.com, and you can choose a variety of web sites to be AUTOMATICALLY downloaded to your Pocket PC --this is just the ultimate in usefulness. I entered my zipcode and now articles are more relevent to me. Just an example --I said I wanted to see Hollywood.com, and now I get all the movie summaries, locations, and movie times downloaded to my Pocket PC --no more looking through the paper... You can download book reviews, news, business, sports, and weather. You can also get ALL of your articles on your MY YAHOO site (if you have one) --this was a REAL plus. The New York times offers a LOT of features, as does MSN.

One last thing --you can download MAPS -this blew my mind -there were maps of all major cities available --you just drag and drop the ones you want onto your Pocket PC. When viewing a map, just click on the spot you want to see, and you can zoom in. You can get to individual streets, and it looks stunning in color --I really love this feature. No more carrying outsized maps with me (and looking like a tourist) when I'm in the city. Wonderful!

More to say, but not today. I am one satisfied customer. A purchase for someone who wants more than just an organizer... a LOT more.

Having had extensive experience with both WinCE and Palm handheld devices, I have to say that in the past I continued to lean heavily toward Palm -- not because it offered anything particularly cooler or better, just that it met my requirements: 1) must be stable hardware & software; 2) battery had to last up to 8 hours at a time; 3) had to have applications that met my needs (now and in the future!); and 4) it had to be "sexy" (yes, I'll admit I'm shallow). To date, WinCE handhelds & palm-helds have had a hard time making inroads in my mind on several of these key requirements.

My new HP Jornada 548 Pocket PC has changed everything for me. The color is sharp and clean (yes, even with the notorious 12-bit vs. the advertised 16-bit technology), the software seems to be extremely stable, and the look of it is way sexier than even the Palm V! But probably the biggest change is the software availability that comes with the Pocket PC and from 3rd party developers. Including Pocket Word, Excel, Money, AvantGo (can't live without it!), Pocket IE, Reader (I'm in the first half of "Timeline"), and support for POP3/IMAP4 email in addition to the included Outlook Inbox -- and still leaving me nearly all 32MB of memory I started with is AWESOME!

Notice my focus on applications? That's no coincidence ... a palm-held PC has become more and more important to me, and it MUST do more than just show my contacts and appointments (something I hear a bit too much from other Palm users). My Pocket PC has become an integral part of my computing day; and will continue to be even more important over the next few years. So having top-notch applications available that are fast, user-friendly (still getting used to the new spot for "Start"<g>), and seamlessly integrated with my desktop PC counterparts is critically important for me.

My heartfelt congratulations & thanks to the teams at HP and Microsoft ... way to go!

The Jornada 548 is not perfect, but for me its the best mix of features so far.

I've had several color palm-sized Windows CE and Pocket PCs. I've had 2 Casio Cassiopeia E-105's, a Compaq Aero 1520, and a Cassiopeia E-10 and A-11. I've also looked at the Compaq iPaq.

The iPaq is fast and light and its display is easily visible outdoors. But once you add a CompactFlash card sleeve it's bulky. And you still need a case to protect the screen, adding further bulk. (Screen protection is important to me because I've broken the display on my Cassiopeia E-10 twice!)

The HP Jornada 548 has a built-in metal screen protector and CompactFlash slot, and a metal case. It looks sleek and its display is very nice indoors (but hard to see outdoors). Since I need screen protection and I always use a CompactFlash memory card, it's the perfect Pocket PC for me.

A word about Pocket PCs vs. Palms: If all you need is an electronic organizer, a Palm is sufficient. It's easy to use, it's convenient, and its organizer functions are simple. But look at one of the Pocket PCs if you need an organizer that's FULLY compatible with Microsoft Outlook (including all contact information fields). Look at a Pocket PC if you want the power of a multimedia PC that you can carry in your pocket. To me there is no question the Pocket PC is the right choice for me. It won't be for everyone.

You can get a color Pocket PC for not much more than the color Palm IIIc. If monochrome is enough for you, the Compaq Aero 1550 Pocket PC is thin and sleek. It's in the same price range as a good Palm, and it's more capable.

As a devoted Palm Pilot fanatic it was disconcerting to use a product so superior to anything Palm offers. Now that the Windows Pocket PC platform has come of age, the functionality of the Jornada simply blows away the Palm. The simplicity of the Palm is no longer an adequate rationale for shunning the CE/Pocket PC platform. The Jornada is easy to use, powerful and far more useful than my Palm. Indeed, the Jornada will permit me to avoid taking my laptop on the road far more often. The Jornada moves the PDA beyond merely being an electronic substitute for a Filofax. My faith in HP is renewed and I won't buy Palm stock until I see something more innovative than simply tacking a color screen on to the Palm III. If the Jornada is not causing some sleepless nights for Palm management the Company is in big trouble. Trust me, 15 minutes with the Jornada and you'll see the future of PDAs.

Notwithstanding that the ipaq has 206 mhz vs the HP's 133, that the ipaq's TFT LCD screen is a little sharper outside, that the ipaq can take PC cards and flash cards (with the help of add-on jackets) vs the HP that can only take flash cards, that the ipaq weighs 6.3oz vs the HP that weighs 9.1oz, that the ipaq's has a 12 hour Lithium Polymer battery vs Hp's 8 hour Lithium Ion battery, and that the ipaq has wireless capabilities, I would still, and without hesitation, choose the HP Jornada 548!

Why? Because of the following- 1. the HP looks and feels better (good old HP quality) 2. the HP, being slightly heavier, and together with rubber linings along the sides, fits snugly and safely into your hand 3. the ipaq's silver/aluminium finish looks cheaper than HP's black finish 4. the record button on the ipaq is reputed to be badly placed 5. the ipaq's internal housing for the stylus could become troublesome 6. the HP comes with a 'built-in' hard cover for the screen - essential for a PDA 7. the HP's flash-slot is integrated - much easier than carting extra jackets around 8. the shape and size of the AC adapter for the HP is far superior to that of the ipaq - compaq have forgotten that the whole motivation of having a PDA is its size - defeated if you need a briefcase to carry the AC adapter! 9. both do the same tasks, one slightly quicker, but the difference is academic; 10. the ipaq's jackets (pc cards and flash) do not clip in tight - this could lead to the PDA sliding out and ending up under feet - is it worth the risk? 11. the plastic wallet that comes with the ipaq does not close properly - another potential disaster So hardware spec-wise the ipaq wins hand down - but quality, finish, appeal and design awards must go to the HP - my ultimate choice.

Sat next to someone on a flight home that had a Pocket PC and had to have one. This thing is truly useful ... I guess I bought into the Palm hype of less is more, but this thing has significantly lightened my briefcase ... I do not carry my laptop as much ... it sync's seemlessly with e-mail and outlook, and I can review and annotate Word and Excel attachments. My minidisc player is now sitting next to my Palm Vx in my desk drawer ... replaced by a couple of flash cards -- the Media Player quality even with the cheap headsets HP ships with it are great.

The handwriting recognition is far and above much better than Palm -- Remember the Palmer method of writing in grade school ... this is it ... I ADMIT IT ... I HATED GRAFITTI!

Only drawbacks I can see so far are hardware. The screen is hard to see in full daylight, I would have liked to see the Compaq iPaq but just couldn't wait to see if the TFT screen is better than the passive screen on the Jornada. And Omnisky needs to hurry up and get a wireless modem out for the Pocket PC. Other than that this thing far outweights the Palm.

I originally wrote this review for a Jornada 545, but the actual unit I am using is the 548, so thought I'd add it here as well.

I have been lucky enough to have a Jornada and lots of add-ons to try out for free. I am a long, long-time user of Palms, and was quite a devoted user, have spent thousands over the years upgrading my Palms, buying software, adding memory, etc. to get the most out of them. And I'm here to tell you...there is WAY more you can do with a Palm than Microsoft would have you believe. You can do more with a Pocket PC out of the box than a Palm, yes, but there is TONS more you can add on to a Palm, and most at a very reasonable price, than you can with the PPC.

Having said that, the Jornada is a great piece of hardware. The color screen puts the Palm to shame. It almost hurts my eyes to look at my Palm IIIc now, it is so pixelated and ugly in comparison. The size is close to the Palm IIIc although slightly heavier. It's very nice to hold, sleek and pretty. My main complaint is the stylus, I find it annoyingly hard to get out and I don't like the flat shape. People are used to round pens and this one is flat. I tend to drop the stylus, and have already lost one of them as a result, and came close a second time already. Would also prefer a cover that flips all the way back.

The Pocket PC OS is much better than CE 2. However, the inability to close programs was a bad omission, and I ended up adding Gigabar, a great freeware program that closes and switches tasks, among other things. But it is a bit buggy, and I would much rather that the OS included that kind of functionality from the beginning. While speed is better than older versions, I still run into things that take time, where on the Palm, everything happens almost instantly. There are a lot more things on the Pocket PC you will have to wait for. Some add-on software I looked at is so slow as to be worthless.

Ability to play MP3s is great, if you even consider carrying an MP3 player around. You can turn the screen off and still listen to them, which saves on batteries. In the car, add the DC adapter and it will charge your Jornada while playing. You can also get small volume boosters that will run on a single AA battery that can help with battery life if MP3s are your thing. However, please note that no matter what you do, listening to MP3s will drain the batteries VERY quickly. Even with the screen turned off, I only get about 2 hours before the batteries die on me. Similar battery drains occured when doing things like using a modem or a CF card.

More bad news. There is not much extra software out there. Compared to the Palm, it's really, really sparse. And a lot of what is there, just isn't that good or as easy to use. This is the biggest problem I have with the unit. I just can't do some stuff I was used to doing, or in some cases, it would cost me WAY more. Some things that I used my Palm for all the time, I can't do now at all. I miss wonderful programs like DateBk4 and HanDBase. So easy to use and low priced. Not much like that for PPC. I am so desperate for an easy to use and reasonably priced database program like HanDBase, that I may go back to my Palm just to have it. The absence of something like Pocket Access on the Pocket PC is a HUGE omission, and one that *must* be corrected if Microsoft expects serious users to switch.

The screen on the Jornada is definitely a little hard to read outside, but if you use the Outdoors setting, it IS readable other than in totally direct sunlight. I often read books while in my car at lunch and find it easier than my Palm IIIc to read.

I also don't like how heavily it is tied to MS stuff. I use Quicken...Pocket Money directions for Quicken users? Switch to Money. Thanks, but no thanks. Pocket Quicken on the Palm does a great job for me. Same with pretty much everything else. I prefer Eudora for email...with the Palm, I can sync...on the PPC, I have to use Outlook. I almost feel like it is trying to force me into using more Microsoft stuff than I already do.

Finally, pricewise, it's going to cost you more. You can now get a Palm for $150. Yes, you can expand memory on the PPCs, but it costs money. However, a lot of times, you are getting more for your money...I do believe the Jornada is worth the price more than the color Palm is. But you still have to be willing to pay the price.

So what do I recommend? It really depends on what you want. If you love cool gadgets like I do, the PPC overall is a winner. I personally would probably recommend the iPaq over the HP for the screen that is easy to read outside, better expandability, and more memory for the price. If you don't expect to need more than the CF I slot, though, the Jornada would not be a bad choice. If you really love everything Microsoft comes out with and use everything they make, this is the one to get. If however, you want more options in terms of what you can work with and what you can do, the Palm is probably the way to go.

I love my Pocket PC. I use this thing more than any device I have ever owned. From the moment it arrived it became much more than a gadget. I have owned lots of gadgets, including the palm. They were great to carry around and show off but the pocket PC is the most useful thing I have ever owned. Here is an example of how I use it through out my day. 5:00 AM: Wake up to the alarm. It plenty loud enough to rouse even me. 7:00 AM: Listen to MP3,s or sometimes audio books on my drive to work.

8:00 AM: Pop it in the cradle and sync with my Outlook at work. All my email, Calendar, task, web pages, files, etc... 9:00 AM: go to daily morning meeting with nothing but my Pocket PC. I have all my status reports in MS word. When we discuss an email someone sent out with an attached excel spreadsheet I just open it on my pocket PC and review. I open up the note pad and take notes through out the meeting.Oh yea, sometimes I get bored and play games with the sound off. It look like I am taking notes. 10:00 AM and throughout the day it goes with me to all meetings. Taking notes on it is a breeze. It is as close to actual writing as you can get. 12:00 Noon: Take it to lunch. If I am alone I read through the days news on Pocket Internet Explorer. Its updates every time I sync so I always have the latest news and movietimes, weather, etc...If it is a business luncheon I exchange contact info with partners and clients via infrared. I can exchange even with Palm owners thanks to Peacemaker. 6:30 PM: Go home and listen to MP3's on the way. 8:30 PM: Read books using the MS Reader. So far I have read. Tom Sawyer, Timeline, Fredrick Douglas, a good portion of the bible, part of the Koran, Thus spake Zarathustra' Albert Einstein's Quotes, Shakespeare's Sonnets and Digital Times.

I own the Jornado and it is in my mind the best. The Ipaq and Casio are great in many respects but no one beats the form factor, styling and slickness of the Jornado

This is an excellent product if you (like me) are replacing a Windows CE 2.0 product (Compaq C120+). The Jornada 548 has a nice, clear well-lit screen but certainly not what was advertised, as we all know) and it has some very nice features.

The protective cover & sleek design make it easy just to slip into your pocket. I have found that a unit is only as good as it is accessible. I take the unit everywhere. Matter of fact I put it in a Rhino Pak & use it to listen to mp3's while jogging.

I also read the bible on it at night & sometimes listen to audible books on my way to sleep. It's great to not require a light when reading. Right now I'm reading "Timeline" using the Reader - very effective for this purpose.

It also comes with a very good calculator that not only does the normal math operations but adds all kinds of conversions as well as financial calculations.

Also, battery life is pretty good. Took a trip to Israel and it lasted about 5 hours until the battery got too low. That was a combination of playing a few games, reading & listening to mp3's.

However, the unit does have some design flaws. There is an annoying click before playing any sound file (wma or mp3)using the media player. This problem was confirmed by HP tech support but there is no way to remedy the problem.

Once turned on the screen takes a few seconds to gain full clarity & light. This is somewhat annoying but it probably saves battery life, which is important to me.

Also, the unit is impossible to see in any direct light at all. There are times when I'd like to be able to use the unit outdoors but that is virtually not possible. You can try to shield the light with something but you still cannot see the screen enough to make it functional.

The character recognition program is decent but not great. I takes notes in church & find that it is faster to type using the screen's keypad, because it makes too many errors.

I have had some problems with the unit. For two days the touch screen would not function at all even after a hard beboot. Tech support could not solve the problem but it finally began to work again after a few hours of toil. This makes me nervous because it could happen again. Just make certain that you use an external CP to backup your unit after you get it how you like it. Then I transfer the backup file to my PC using a CF reader.

All in all, the unit is so far superior to the units of the past and that's why it was worth the purchase. I looked closely at the Casio & Compaq but the casio & Compaq had no hood & the compaq did not have a permanent CF port built in to the unit. I'd have gone with the Compaq if it been built with the CF port. Also, the Compaq & Casio have a few extra buttons that would make games more functional.

HP's next version will undoubtedly make me wish I had waited but for the meantime I am more happy than not. I could not give it 4 or 5 stars because it did not exceed my expectations. Good luck with your purchase.

Despite the complaints of bulk, I believe this is the best product on the market. I personal prefer the weight as I am never afraid that the Jornada will fly out of my hands were a lousy, drunk co-patron at a bar to bump into me while I am jotting. (This happened with a Palm -- a very expensive disaster). It will also never fall out of my pocket (same Palm).

Additionally, the complaints on battery life appear unfounded. I was in Hawaii for a week and forgot the recharger. I was able to use it non-stop the entire time. Maybe it was a miracle or maybe it's b/c I was conscientious enough to close programs I was not using and b/c I wasn't on the darn thing for 8 hours straight.

Finding a case for the Jornada is rough, however. But with the hard cover case, I don't find that I really need one. In any case, I crocheted a case for it and it works fine.

The handwriting recognition is the best on the market, and the ability to re-test the alignment configuration between the device and the stylus is a great back-up to ensure accurate handwriting interpretation.

I did wear out the screen and now wish I had known of the cover protector. Even so, HP was more than happy to repair it so we'll see how that turns out.

The buttons pull-up the important programs rather than junk like some PDAs.

This is almost the Apple of PDAs with the surfing-the-program-for-idiot's intuitive program design lay-out.

All the wires make this device a little crazy-looking when docked at your desk, but that is easily fixed with a twist-tie.

I love the Jornada 548 and can't live without it.