iPAQ h4155 Slow or Buggy? Input Please..

[rprata]

I'm a Palm user now. I have a T3, which is ( and will remain ) my primary PDA, but I want to buy an h4155 as a secondary PDA, and to experiment with PPC. I've been to two different Best Buy's to play with them, and in both cases, the display units wer buggy and seemed kinda slow.

In the first (and second) instance, I would go to Setttings/System/Memory/Running Programs and Stop All to close all the programs. And then I would run the occasional program, always closing it via the Running Programs thing. When I tried running Bluetooth Manager to try a connection to my cell phone, I got a 'low memory, close a program' dialog. Got it on both PPC's at 2 different Best Buy's, all trying to do the same thing.

Is this a dynamic setting, or are the BB units just buggy? I also noticed a Toshiba PPC, not sure the model, on display next to the 4155, and it seemed a LOT faster, even though it only had a 300MHz processor instead of a 400MHz processor. What gives? Is the 4155 a bad choice? I love the form factor, and the dual wireless, as I have WiFi at home/work, and a BT phone with unlimited GPRS, so I'd always be connected.

Thanks for your input.

[Jason Dunn]

I haven't found my 4155 to be slow or buggy, but it's certainly slower than a T3 - you have to remember that the T3 is a single-tasking OS, whereas the Pocket PC is multi-tasking, and as such is inherantly slower. Palms have always been faster and snappier to respond than Pocket PCs. I don't know whether it's the hardware, the inefficiencies of Windows GDI calls, or what, but if there's one thing I admire Palm units for, it's how fast apps open and how fast the screen redraws.

The Pocket PC kicks ass in many other ways though. :mrgreen:

[rprata]

Speed isn't as much of a concern as stability. If the unit will run out of memory, and throw an error, every time I try to run a program such as Wireless Manager or Bluetooth Manager, I don't know if that unit will work for me, as I will mostly use the unit wirelessly for e-mail and PIE.

Thanks for the reply !!

[Jason Dunn]

I use my 4150 for WiFi IMAP + Web acccess very heavily every day, and it works flawlessly. The only issue I have with it is that the Pocket PC doesn't allow you to specify how much storage space the temp Internet files should be limited to. So I can easily find myself using up 10+ MB after a few weeks. :roll: It's easy enough to clear this out every few days, but I wish the OS would take care of it for me.

[koro]

I can heartily recommend the 4150. I've had my unit for a few days now and havent even had to do a soft reset yet.

It has performed flawlessly using Wifi and multitude of different apps including playing MP3s and Videos. I encoded an hour-long Seinfeld episode yesterday (97MB) - that played great running off my SD card in PocketMVP.

I haven't tried Bluetooth yet - I'm waiting for my new GSM Sim card for my T68i to arrive in the post.

[Palmguy]

Speed isn't as much of a concern as stability. If the unit will run out of memory, and throw an error, every time I try to run a program such as Wireless Manager or Bluetooth Manager, I don't know if that unit will work for me, as I will mostly use the unit wirelessly for e-mail and PIE.

Thanks for the reply !!

That should not be a problem for you. My 4150 was perfectly stable under such operations and should not run out of memory due to such use.

[[email protected]]

Jason, I see you have a 4150, what kind of battery life do get with the WiFi? My battery keeps bleeding dry after about 1.5 hours. any thoughts here?

[Chris Spera]

rprata,

You also have to relize that you're playing with display units that are probably in desparate need of a soft/ hard reset in order to clear out the junk.

The 4100 is a great unit and you will be very happy with it.


Kind Regards,


Christopher Spera

[moaske]

And these display units you're looking are probably suffering heavily from a huge notification build-up in the events database (which piles up after every soft-reset, unless you install some utilty in the \startup folder to clear this database out every time).
It's a well known bug in the WM2003 OS, but with some thirdparty apps will fix this once and for all.
I've received my 4150 last week, and i can tell you it's a true speed-demon ! 8O Wireless web acces (being in BT and in WiFi) is indeed very fast and there just isn't one thing i can't do with this super PPC :mrgreen:
I'd say: get out and pick one up :way to go:

[Jason Dunn]

Jason, I see you have a 4150, what kind of battery life do get with the WiFi? My battery keeps bleeding dry after about 1.5 hours. any thoughts here?

I haven't done any metrics on the battery life yet, but 1.5 hours seems quite short. But if you've got the screen set at maximum brightness and have a few other things going on, that might be about right.

[rprata]

On my Palm T3, I keep the brightness almost at it's lowest setting, and that's plenty bright for me. Also, I keep wireless (Bluetooth, in this case) off unless I am USING it, and I imagine I'd do the same with the iPAQ (Brightness fairly low, BT/WiFi off unless I'm actually USING it).

I usually put my T3 in the cradle at night while I'm sleeping, and I imagine I'd do the same with the 4155. From what I've described above, and 'normal' usage, should I get the day out of the battery? (WiFi usage will be minimal, only at home, and very occasionally at the office. BT may be used a little more, with my mobile phone, while out.)

I had one PPC before (I think it was a 3630) and I didn't like it, mostly because of the size (it was huge compared to my m505). Since the 4155 has everything I want, I'm going to try PPC again, and hopefully like it, and use both platforms.

Thanks for all the help in this thread!

[EricMCarson]

Using my 4155 approximately 10-20 minutes per hour, I can get through the whole day (8 hrs) without a battery charge (using the standard 1000 mAh battery). I generally keep Wi-Fi and BT off during the day unless I am in the car and need the BT for GPS or in another office and need to Wi-Fi sync my PPC with my office. Even then, the battery lasts nearly the whole day (probably closer to 6 hours on those days).

[[email protected]]

I do tend to have the brightness turned up. I think that a unit should have at least 4 hours of use, even if all the bells and whistles are going at once. this should be the absolute minimum. I gues I should wake up and participate in the real world.

[joelevi]

Jason, I see you have a 4150, what kind of battery life do get with the WiFi? My battery keeps bleeding dry after about 1.5 hours. any thoughts here?

I haven't done any metrics on the battery life yet, but 1.5 hours seems quite short. But if you've got the screen set at maximum brightness and have a few other things going on, that might be about right.

I cradle my h4155 at night, pull it off in the morning. Get my email, news, and whatever else via in-house WiFi (about 30 minutes). Then go to work (no WiFi) where I'll use it for reference totalling about 15 minutes. Then it's off to school (with WiFi). I'll use it another 15-45 minutes in class (with bluetooth and WiFi turned on). Back to work again... again, no WiFi, but another 30-60 minutes of use. Back home again for email and eBook reading (still lumbering through Fellowship of the Ring) while MSN IM is running in the background (usually another 30 mintues).

By that time, I'm usually at around 25%, and it's time for me to go to bed... so I cradle my iPaq up and we both recharge.

[Badandy]

In the first (and second) instance, I would go to Setttings/System/Memory/Running Programs and Stop All to close all the programs. And then I would run the occasional program, always closing it via the Running Programs thing.

Thanks for your input.

Hey. I didn't read the whole thread, so sorry if this has been answered. In order to avoid doing this long process, you have 2 options. Hit the iTask button on the right side of the ipaq and close it from there, or get WisBar Advanced from www.lakeridgesoftware.com this will make the X on the top right of the taskbar really close programs instead of minimizing them.