Compaq iPaq H3600

Old Gear, still High Tech - Advantages: Good Backlight, Easy to Use - Disadvantages: Poor Battery Life, Little Customization, Memory Costs

Dear Reader, This is the best thing I have ever owned. Frankly I don't give a damn that it costs £350 but doesn't always understand my handwriting. I try not to notice that a full charge will last only 5 or 6 hours. And I put on a brave face every time it occurs to me that if I ever want to increase the storage capacity of my Ipaq, I will first need to shell out about £100 for an ‘expansion jacket’ that seems to double it’s size and weight. All of this is insignificant when you consider that it comes in a swish aluminium case, it has a colour screen, plays music, and most important of all - organises your life better than you ...  Read the complete review

Before you buy, it's worth talking to a few people who have had one for 6 months or so. I don't (yet) own one, but the instant I saw one I wanted it! However, I know 6 people at work who have them, and 4 of these developed problems within 4 months or so of purchase(broken button, broken stylus eject, blank screen, mirror image screen(!)). Two of the four have gone back to their Palm Vs, claiming that the Palms have better build quality. On the plus side, the colour screen is excellent, the supplied software is great and (as you would expect) links nicely to the MS Windows Office Desktop. Battery life is reasonable for a high contrast colour screen. In ...  Read the complete review

Compaq's iPAQ is going to be the gadget to have in 2001. But this PDA isn't just for gadget fans - most people will find it useful and easy to use. In the past PDAs have never done quite enough to make them great value for money. But now the market has evolved. The iPAQ has all the features we've been waiting for. More computing power than you could get for several thousand pounds on a desktop machine a couple of years ago; but it costs under half a grand and you can fit it in your pocket. In addition it comes with mini versions of the familiar Microsoft Office software, plays music and can record voice messages. Compaq have revolutionised ...  Read the complete review

I owned a Compaq IPAQ 3630 for a little over 3 weeks. Initially I was very impressed with the device. It?s capable of playing full-motion video clips, performing impressive handwriting recognition, accessing the internet over a mobile phone as well as running a variety of games. However, when it comes down to being useful the device has some serious limitations. The 3630 has 32mb of ram, which is not enough. This 32mb is used for system memory as well as storage, so if you are storing lots of things on the device it slows down significantly. Also the spreadsheet is too cut-down for the serious user, with key features such as ?cell-protection? missing. ...  Read the complete review