Now past its best (HP Jornada 620)

Member Name: dave27

Product:	HP Jornada 620
Date:	08/03/04 (391 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Annoys the neighbours

Disadvantages: Bulky, Unreliable

The HP Jornada is one smart bit of kit - a PDA or palm top, I guess, you'd call it. I've been using one for about three or four years now, through my job. Most people I know who have opted for handheld or palm tops have opted for iPaqs, and they certainly are nice swish little beasties and eminently cooler than the Jornada series which look quite bulky and old fashioned these days. However, I need to have a machine with a keyboard for my particular uses because I've struggled to come to terms with handwriting recognition and never really quite made it. That said, there is really no other choice but to get a Hewlett Packard Jornada, as it's a decent compromise between the powerful and the compact. The keyboard is very small and fiddly and it's easy to miss keying in so I wouldn't advise you to use this for a lot of keying in. However, for most uses it's easy enough as long as you take your time. Also, the box isn't very well weighted and does have a nasty habit of toppling over when you have the screen folded back.

The reason for having a machine like this is to carry round your calendar, inbox and tasks round with you, and you can also keep slimmed down versions of spreadsheets and word processor documents with the neat Microsoft pocket applications, Word and Excel. In theory you also get Powerpoint and Access, but with Powerpoint you can only run presentations rather than composing them and Access can only be used for fairly simplistic flat databases, rather than the relational ones with loads of tables linked together, so there are definitely limitations. However, for Word and Excel the software is quite adequate, although you will have to get used to the drawbacks over the full desktop versions. However, for the basics, this package works fine.

The calendar, e-ma
il, address book and tasks are all modelled on Microsoft Outlook and synchornises the information between your Jornada and your desktop. You can even establish partnerships with a number of desktops, which is useful if (like me) you have a home desktop and want to keep the calendar synchronised on all your machines. Unfortunately you can only synchronise your e-mail between the Jornada and a single desktop, but there are ways round it if you're prepared to work at it.

It's relatively easy to set up the synchronisation software between the Jornada and your desktop and easy enough to set up a relationship, although be warned - the Jornada has a nasty habit after a few months of screwing up the settings, leading to you having to set up a new partnership and a new synchorination. Now that gets to be really annoying if it happens at the wrong time, which it usually does. It's also quite easy to reset by accidentally catching the wrong key and that is also very irritating.

However, the major problem with the Jornada is the extremely fragile hinge linking the flip top screen to the box itself, and unfortunately I'm already on to my third or fourth box by now. It's a good job that work finances this little habit because I definitely couldn't do so myself, with prices round about 600 quid. While them upstairs keep forking out to replace my Jornada, however, I'm only too happy to keep using it as the convenience of having a keyboard is definitely an advantage.

The Jornada is quite heavy and stocky for a handheld and the name itself is a bit of a misnomer because you really do need somewhere to rest it because holding it in your hand for too long will definitely knacker up your arm.

I can't say that I would advise you to get a Jornada because they definitely have a lot of disadvantages, and I'm not half
as enamoured of mine as I used to be. So long as you're prepared to work at getting the handwriting recognition working properly and master that little skill, then I'd probably go for an iPaq instead, although I still love to see the look of distaste on the faces of other workers when I pull out my Jornada beastie and knock their slim little silver credit card machines out of the way...

Summary: