HP iPAQ Pocket PC H5550

I recently bought an IPaq PDA from Hewlett Packard, the H5550 model If there was a king of PDAs, this would be it. Where other Pocket PCs compromise in the name of hitting the right price, HP includes everything in the iPAQ H5550's neat chassis. Not content with 802.11b WLAN, this PDA features Bluetooth and fingerprint recognition. But most important of all - and the key difference between it and the iPAQ H5450 - the H5550 is the first PDA Ive spotted to include Pocket PC 2003."

The H5550 was very easy to set up a connection with my desktop PC which allows you to synchronise your information between both PCand PDA . useing the latest version of ActiveSync software.

The H5550 is a beautiful little gadget, measuring 5.23" (not including antenna nub) x 3.3" x .63" and weighing about 71/2 ounces it has onboard thefollowing technical data:

Display: transflective TFT color LCD, 65,536 colors, Screen Size Diag: 3.8", Resolution: 240 x 320.
Battery: Lithium Ion Polymer rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. 1250mA. 2840 extended battery available for purchase.
Performance: Intel XScale PXA 255 400 MHz processor. 48MB Flash ROM with 17.40 megs available in FileStore for your use, 128 MB built-in RAM (126.63 available).
Size: 5.23" (not including antenna nub) x 3.3" x .63". Weight: 7.50 oz.
Audio: Built in speaker, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack. Voice Recorder and Windows Pocket Media Player 9 included for your MP3 pleasure.
Networking: Integrated WiFi 802.11b (also supporting LEAP) and Bluetooth
Software: Pocket PC 2003 Premium operating system. Microsoft Pocket Office suite including Pocket Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, and Outlook. Also, Terminal Services, MSN Instant Messenger for Pocket PC, MS Reader and Voice Recorder as well as handwriting recognition. 3rd party software:RealOne Player, Jeode Java runtime, F-Secure FileCrypto for Pocket PC Personal Edition, Acrobat Reader, Resco Explorer 2003, Audible Player and several additional trial/demo programs including Cadenza mNotes for syncing to Lotus Notes. ActiveSync 3.7 and Outlook 2002 for PCs included.
Expansion: 1 SD (Secure Digital) slot, 4 bit data bus, supporting SDIO. Can use iPAQ expansion sleeves. 1 Compact flash card slot and bio metric fingerprint reader for added security.

A quick check on the Kelcoo website at the time of writing reveals that you can get a H5550 for as little as 349 quid, although you can normally expect to pay around £400, which is a significant improvement over other similar spec PDAs, which can be priced upto about 700 quid. The PDA is nice slim and sleek looking and slips nicely into your shirt pocket. The protective case that comes with the equipment is both stylish and practical and more than upto the job. The stylus is located in a slot at the top right hand side of your machine and you just push it in to release it for use.

Battery life is good and you get about 4 hours of constant use and a upto 72 hours when the machine is in standby mode. The battery is recharged by sliding the machine into its synchronisation docking cradle, or can be charged direct from the mains using the mains charger and adaptor which again are provided in the initial package.

It's very easy to be up and running very rapidly, and the calendar, e-mail and task facilities are all excellent, coming from Microsoft's Pocket PC family, and you also get Word and Excel as standard, although Excel is a bit fiddly to use because of the way you key in numbers. Word and Notes, however, are exceptionally good versions with this gadget and when powered by the handwriting recognition facilities make note taking a very easy.

You get Wireless and Bluetooth facilities which are nice touches, along with loads of other great features and really the iPaq H5550 is truly wonderful. It's attractive and highly functional and makes you far more productive with your time than you would have thought.

Its the best PDA I have owned so far and is so easy to set up and use with other accessories I link it up with both my Sony ericsson Z600 via bluetooth for checing and sending emails on the hoof it also works very well with my Motorola bluetooth headset the HS8000.

Overall I would unreservedly reccomend this to any executive or just pure gadget buff alike vert practical and easy to use and great value for mony comparing it to others on the market best deals on kelcoo and ebay.

Excellent platform fot sattelite navigation software I use tom tom 2 with it and its absolutly perfect though you will need an SD memory card preferably a 256MB one. go ahead give it a try you can do away with your laptop