Hewlett-Packard 1816A Reviews, Best Prices, Compare
 |
Hewlett-Packard 1816A Reviews, Best Prices, Compare.
Product: Hewlett-Packard 1816A Amazon Price: Too low to display Availability: In Stock |
Compare Prices on Hewlett-Packard 1816A
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 have feedback for those calm 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 reply all the questions for you, but as a non-techie person, here's how I made my decision. Let's begin with the easiest question: Keyboard or handwriting?
I deem 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 grunt recognition. Do you look a pattern here? It's called evolution. I perceive handwriting recognition as going backwards. People hold 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 collected occupy keyboards. Believe about it. If you need to write more than one paragraph, say a 3-page article, letter, or picture, would you rather handwrite or type? Ask the many writers who employ the J720 if they'd rather handwrite their stories and they'll judge you've gone nuts.
Okay, so you're one of those people who like handwriting too distinguished 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 place it. Even longhand. Contrivance things on it (your house conception? ), or play tic-tac-toe on it, or scribble the snappy dictated phone number of the cute guy you honest met. Or pretend to earn handwritten notes to preserve awake during monotonous office meetings.
Next quiz. Built-in or stowaway keyboard? If you follow the reasoning for wanting keyboard over handwriting, you'll realize the only method 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 mighty, then it makes sense for it to be built-in. Of course, you could catch a Compaq Ipaq and carry the keyboard separately. But why punish yourself?
Palm or Windows? Personally, I despise learning unique ways of doing things unless they improve on how I already do it. I'm familiar with the Windows platform. I exhaust it in the office, I exhaust it at home, and I expend 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 recede abroad frequently, you will soon peek that the rest of the world has learned to go with a good bet. They will not extinguish little dollars on something that might be worn in a matter of years. You can call it cattle mentality, but they sight 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 opinion to preserve. 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 quickly, extremely lightweight and portable, and easy to pack (not a site 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, acquire that two. I missed the paranoid feeling that someone might take my laptop when it's out of my see because I can't stash it in a pocket, purse, or hotel edifying. In sum, I don't need a second laptop and the one I have will end home from now on.
Pricewise, there's not great incompatibility 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 exhaust 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 bustle of 35 mph for a daily 5-mile commute. What a extinguish. Obtain those cheap and accepted 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 peaceful exiguous enough to fit into a miniature purse. In fact, I was surprised at how itsy-bitsy 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 lift 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 camouflage 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 incompatibility if all you do is watch 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 jubilant your J720 has a wider hide. And because the J720 has a clamshell construct (the camouflage closes/folds over the keyboard), you don't have to utilize the extra $$ for a leather case to protect the conceal.
By now - if you're unexcited reading - you're probably wondering if there's anything I detest at all about this gadget. Yes. It bugs me that the J720 doesn't have a latch to snap it halt. Don't net me contaminated... it does end, 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 dinky 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 grand American unusual, 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 impartial a chapter at a time, the J720 will do. Detached leaps and bounds over handwriting.
Lastly, it bugs me that the J720 comes only in one uninteresting, tiresome, shadowy 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 unexcited a bargain for what it delivers. But would it be asking too powerful to want it in red?
There's my 2 cents' worth. By the diagram, I'm typing this on my J720's built-in keyboard. Would I handwrite this? No blueprint! Would you?
I wanted something that would fade and let me preserve my business in order and allow me to write personel letters etc... But starting this review I want to be impartial. The HP-720 is an expensive speciality procedure being neither laptop or pocket map, 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 perform them arrive useless if away from a waddle) . .... Anyhow to my thoughts:
PROS: It's puny, considerable, battery really does last 7-9 hours, does everything music,word processing( with spell check), surf the earn,calander,task,contacts,speak recorder and as an excessory to my desk computer automatically syncronizes everytime I tumble it into the charging/communications cradle that it came with.Also when you hit the "on" button it's on proper then...no boot up time. Easy to station up and race...physically a tough dinky machine.I can say with confidence that I do schedule and have access to more data when I need it than I ever understanding possible.It has freed me up mighty. 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 belief 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 choose a laptop with that.The keyboard IS NOT touch typeable!You can type and snappily, but it's with two fingers. I do type letters so it's ok, but I almost sent it wait on 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 maintain 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 stout 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 extinct it for a [price] laptop. And yes while the games and extra software is minute. There was enough for me (10 games, a narrate viewer and a book reader) .
The only advice I have about buying is that this machine is large if you have the specific needs it can address. For me I would win 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 accept, taking meeting notes, drafting memos and other documents, and accessing all those usual organizer functions. I now leave my heavy and chubby laptop brick at the office and retract 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 colorful 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 minute. I employ a two-finger or two-eraser heads poking technique to minimize keyboard errors. Stout battery - 9 hours! I do appreciate it!
