Yet Another Pocket PC Crisis Averted!

[Brad Adrian]

Like a lot of Pocket PC afficionados, I've got more than "a few" Pocket PCs. And even though I've got several, I still don't have the heart to dispose of some of the older models. In fact, my wife and I still use my old Casio EM500 all the time, keeping it loaded with some of our favorite games. One of the reasons I still like it so much is that the screen on that model is one of the brightest and best I've ever seen.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/adrian/casioem500_1.jpg" /><br /> <br />That's why I almost cried when my wife recently told me that our beloved EM500 was no longer charging correctly. I filddled with it for awhile, trying to fix it, but was unable to revive it. It's been used a LOT since it arrived on my doorstep back in 2000, though, so I couldn't complain too much; it had lived a long and happy life.<br /><br />So, it was with a heavy heart that I began making burial arrangements for my beloved little EM500. Just as I was about to bid it a final farewell, my eye caught the tiny switch next to the backup battery compartment. It seemed strange that it was pointing to the "Backup" label.<br /><br />I held my breath.<br /><br />As I used my thumbnail to move the tiny switch between the "Main" and "Backup" labels, I heard that familiar chime of a Pocket PC springing back to life! My wonderful EM500 was still alive!!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/adrian/casioem500_2.jpg" /><br /><br />So it turns out that my wonderful EM500 has a bit more life in it! I know its features will never be able to stack up to what my newer Pocket PCs have, but it will always be one of my favorites.<br /><br />How about you? What Pocket PCs do YOU have that you'll never get rid of?

[Stephen Beesley]

Well, judging from the fact that I still have two of my old Newtons (both of which still get taken out for a run every now and then) you can probably tell that I hate to part from my old technology.

That said my only previous Pocket PC (a Jornada 545) was a work one, so when I left the job it went to my replacement. As for my current device (a 568) I would love to add it to my collection, but financial reality means I will probably flog it off on ebay (used Jornadas with accessories are still fetching up to €150 or so on ebay uk) to help finance its replacement.

[MarvinSamiano]

I just joined and saw this thread.

I had, once I made the jump from Palm to PPC, originally got a 3955, and loved it. I still can't get rid of it. I don't really use it all that much anymore, now that I got my 5500. It served me long and well, can't really get used to the idea of giving it to my brother or someone else, if that makes any sense.

[stevetooth]

Well, I had a 3630 and a 3970 and I got rid of both of them. :twisted: I have a 4150 now.

[iant54]

When I got my Jornada 568, I passed on my Casio to my sister. When I got my iPaq 3970, I passed on the Jornada to my sister. When I got the iPaq 5550, I decided to keep the 3970 as a back-up. As I've now purchase an i-mate (like the XDA II), I'll keep the 5550 as a back-up, and pass the 3970 to my sister.

However, prior to the Casio, I bought a Jornada 820 (like a sub-notebook, but running Windows CE), which I've kept and still use occassionally.

[sfjlittel]

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/adrian/casioem500_2.jpg

The pin is supposed to be in the middle. If you point it to main the main battery compartment is opened, if you point it to backup the battery compartment is opened. Guess yours does have a faulty switch... If you point it to main it is supposed to not turn on.

I still have mine although it does not work anymore (screen shows horizontal black stipes, sound crackles) but I really like the design.

[Thefo]

I've still got my old Casio E-125 and a Casio E-200 with the PCMCIA sled.....I just hate parting with anything :)

[Paula]

They say you never forget your first love. My first beloved PPC is the 2215. Yes, it is my very first PPC. I waited a long toime before I bought one because up until I layed eyes on paqi, no other PPC seemed right for me. siigh. I will never give paqi up, he is mine forever. :D

Paula

[ntractv]

Still holding on to:

Casio Zaurus 5800 w/fax
Casio E-115
Compaq iPAQ 3635
Compaq iPAQ 3835

[Ken Mattern]

Let's see...

Jornada 678 - Still works but not used much :(
Jornada 548 - Needs to be recharged :(
Jornada 568 - My wife uses for work :D
iPAQ 3650 - My stepson plays games on it 8)
iPAQ 5455 - My main workhorse Love the BT & WiFi :D
Dell Axim5 - Backup to the iPAQ :)
Dell Axim5 - Belongs to work, I use it for demos :)
Intermec SomethingOrOther - On loan to the Army. I'll never see it again :|

[Bajan Cherry]

passed on my Casio to my sister. passed on the Jornada to my sister. pass the 3970 to my sister.
.
Can I be your sister pleeeez! :lol: Lucky sister you have got

[rodh]

I've got a 3100 monochrome ipaq that I still use in my truck. It serves as a gas-mileage tracker, a timer during rifle matches, and a scorecard during rifle matches & rounds of golf. Thankfully the battery lasts a really long time on the mono models 'cause I can never remember to charge it. It gets charged about once every 2 months and I've never lost any data due to a dead battery. It's generally turned on 1 time/week to record gas mileage info.

[TheZodiac]

DEATH TO ALL MICRO SWITCHES!

I still have my hp apalmtop based on MS CE 1 or 2 or something... BW screen.... pretty neat :)

I think I still have one other that runs DOS or something.. pretty insane, to say the least. IF I could sell them I would! I need room for all the cool new stuff :)

[Paladin27]

I still have my old Phillips Nino, it used AA batteries so even after all these years a fresh set of batteries will still make it operate. It had a crappy 4-bit screen and it was slow as molasses, but it was my first PocketPC back when they were still called Windows CE Pocket devices. :D In fact, I actually have two of them because my screen started to fail and I found one used on Ebay to replace the screen.

http://www.handheldcomputerdepot.com/handheld_pda_computers_0302/B00000JCTI.gif

[Snail]

I still have all the Newtons, the m505 and a Jornada 720... The others found their way onto eBay. Still, it's nice to be able to look back and see how things have moved on (or caught up, if you've used a Newton :) )

[yvilla]

Brad, you are so right about that beautiful Casio screen. That's why I couldn't part with my E-125 either, my first and much loved PPC. But I also couldn't part with my second PPC, the Tosh e550G, or its replacement, the e750. And I'll probably never be able to part with my current love, the e800! :lol:

Just the other day it occurred to me that I could tell myself I had a perfectly rational reason for having 4 pocket PCs: OS "research", for I have working examples of PPC 2000, 2002, Windows Mobile 2003, and now 2003 SE. :mrgreen:

[Stephen Beesley]

...Still, it's nice to be able to look back and see how things have moved on (or caught up, if you've used a Newton :) )

Here here.... :lol:

[Solarix]

Well I think the PDA I will never get rid of is my HP Jornada 430SE. Twas the special James Bond Edition, since Denise Richards had on in which Bond flick she was in (World Is Not Enough?) It had a groovy leather case, alot of software to put on there, and 007 keychain, which I still have laying around somewhere. And it had WinCE 2.11! Oh how amazing it was to load that one MP3 on its 16mb of RAM and be able to play it back. Oh how I was the envy of my classmates, when I had super softcore porn on a PDA. The coolest thing was there was an app that came with it, that let you dial you contacts phone number from the PSPC. You would select a contact, place the PSPC next to the phone, hit dial in the Jornada, and it would then spew out the tones from its speaker. Once it was complete, you put the phone to your ear, and the other line was ringing.

http://www.ianfleming.org/mkkbb/contest/jornada.jpg

HP Jornada @ Compuseum (http://www.compuseum.de/e/g/computer/hpjornada430se.html)

My E-125 got a cracked screen and I got screwed on getting a replacement from the guy I bought it from, and then he went bankrupt so I was SOL.

My two Handspring units (Visor & Prism) I sold on eBay.

And I am still using my iPaq 3955. Just holding out for VGA screens to become more popular.[/url]

[Brad Adrian]

The pin is supposed to be in the middle...
You're right; I was so excited that it started working that I wrote it down wrong!

[voodoomachine]

I took my old IPAQ and build a mini pacman machine with it...sits on my desk and everyone loves to try it out.

[Brad Adrian]

the special James Bond Edition...
I've always been a James Bond fan and I ALWAYS wanted one of those special edition devices! That was SOOOO cool!

[Steven Cedrone]

I still have my Jornada 548 and my Aero 2150 (some other non CE based pda's as well)...

Steve

[Solarix]

...I ALWAYS wanted one of those special edition devices!...

Yeah I absolutly loved the thing. Only problem with it was it had no hardware buttons. So some of the early games that required them were completely unplayable.

Amazingly about a year or so ago, I had a need for it. OZ Creations (http://www.ozcreations.com.au) wanted to get their flagship title "Squish" running fine on a WinCE 2 device. So I beta tested it for him and got a free copy of the game. Yay!

[whydidnt]

I still have my Casio E-115 - the one Casio gave us in the "trade-up" program from the E-105 - I think they charged $100 or something like that and you had to send the old one in.

The screen is still the BEST PPC screen I have ever seen. I know it was lousy in Sun light, but I'm a geek - what's the sun? :D

True Story - I was considering the purchase of the E800 - thought it looked big - so compared the demensions to my E-115 and realized the Toshiba was almost as big. Decided no way I wanted to carry somthing that big in my pocket again. So, I'm going to keep it as a reference point for "too big" to be called a Pocket PC. :wink:

[marlof]

I can't depart from my PDAs....

Still have my:
- Philips Velo 1 (although I recently found out it's really dead now.... snif)
- Jornada 548 (running PPC2000; in use with a friend of mine)
- iPAQ 3670 (running PPC2002; in use with a friend of mine)
- iPAQ 3870 (currently running WM2003; test device)
- Palm m505 (PalmOS4; not in use)
- Jornada 720 (running HPC2000; in use)
- Dell Axim X5 (currently running WM2003; in use with a friend of mine)
- iPAQ 2210 (daily usage)
- palmOne Treo 600 (running PalmOS5; daily usage)

The only ones I've used that I no longer have are:
- Jornada 565 (went to a fellow MVP/Jornada lover)
- Jornada 928 (went to meet its maker when a beta EUU killed it)
I still miss both.

And since we're on a sentimental journey: even when they're dead, I don't bury them. I have them in my bookshelves, so sometimes, I just play with them for old times sakes.

[KH]

I still have my original IPAQ 3650s. The 36xx has the best screen ever for outdoor use, and there is nothing better for an outing to the beach or the park, loaded with ebooks and a few games. Add a sleeve for some extra battery life and tunes, and I'm set.

[gohtor]

As I used my thumbnail to move the tiny switch between the "Main" and "Backup" labels, I heard that familiar chime of a Pocket PC springing back to life! My wonderful EM500 was still alive!!

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/adrian/casioem500_2.jpg


I remember the first time I tried pulling out the battery and putting it back in only to find that the unit appeared to be dead and only realize about 10 mins later that it was the switch that caused it.

[SLUG]

Although I hate parting with my older PDA's, their fate is usually the auctioning block on eBay in order to justify the costs of a new one. Otherwise my wife would kill me. :mrgreen:

[marlof]

James Bond fan

Somehow you even manage to look like him when your picture is taken.... ;)

[Jonathan1]

Ahh my EM500. I got it as a Gift from Dale over at Pocketpcpassion. I still use it as my primary e-book reader no other screen comes close. However it has fallen into disuse as the battery no longer holds a charge. I need to go grab a new batt off of Casio's site before they totally disappear. 8O

I also have my Apple Newton which I use when I need to scribble down large amounts of data. Way easier then doing the clickity clickity clickity thing in a meeting. I still think the handwriting recog is better then the Tablet PC's.

[stevey500]

umm... I would say my e755... I Love it!!! Out of the 4 past pocket pcs i have had.. this one is By FAR the greatest.. I mainly use it for vga output and usb host.. ... I hope it will live forever, or at least i could get an e800

[dma1965]

My wife still uses my 3670, since she is a gaming addict and it plays games that she loves that newer models will not play. I had PPCTechs put in the high capacity battery, and I put a CF conerpacle with another battery pack on it, and she can now play games until she falls asleep. She just loves that old ipaq. I swear that thing has the loudest speaker and best headphone sound as well. What amazes me is how huge it looks compared to my 4155.

[Kathy_Harris]

3650 from 2000 still in use with my boyfriend. He uses it to take some notes, make lists, and read e-books. Best outdoor screen AND reflective screen so you can get away with no sidelight to save battery. Battery still holds for up to 8 or so hours w/o backlight. PPC2002. I love that thing.

[Tierran]

My dad inherited my Jornada 565 but I don't tend to keep my old devices around...if I can sell them to get money for the next one, well, that's what I do! :)

[blot]

Compaq Aero 2130
It's been in disuse for quite a while since the battery stopped holding a charge. I should resurrect it and see if I can get it to work again.

[Gavin Henriques]

I have sold or given away most of my old PPC's. One of my favorites was mentioned was the HP 430. I loved that thing!! I still have my HP 728, NEC MP 780 and use them!! However, my main device is the I-Mate. My cousin has my Casio E-105 on loan :roll: ok, well he can just keep it. It sure did have a great screen and button layout! I miss Casio.

[klinux]

Caiso E-125! Many PDAs of mine have gone the way of the eBay, but not the Casio. Beside the great screen and layout of the Casio series, it was my first time overclocking anything by opening it up!

You lucky whipper-snappers now have the luxury of overclocking via software. In my days, we had to open up our beloved $500 to do soldering to get it from 150Mhz to a respectable 200 Mhz!

It was a lot of fun though.

[Weyoun6]

Yah - I wish I still had my Jornada still around (it Died). My Axim X5 just isn't the same.

[ctmagnus]

My iPaq 3670 still hangs around for the occasional software testing. Although it's constantly plugged in as the battery life is horrible now.

[johncruise]

Still got my Casio E-200. I just can't justify replacing a very usuable & dependable unit.

[Brad Adrian]

...and I put a CF conerpacle with another battery pack on it...
???
What's a "conerpacle?"

[Pete Wilson]

Of course, it isn't a PPC, but my Newton 2100 still has a better UI than my 5450.

OTOH, my wife loves the old iPaq 36xx she inherited!

[ctmagnus]

...and I put a CF conerpacle with another battery pack on it...
???
What's a "conerpacle?"

I think that's supposed to be "coverpack" ;)

(I deduced that after dictionary.com came up with no listing for conerpacle.)

[rcf2]

NEC MobilePro 770, small value, great hardware!
Internal modem, great keyboard, no freezes ever.

[wilboy]

I still have my em500 in my computer vintage computer display case along with my atari, commodore, apple IIc, etc. In fact, I have two Casio em500s. I wouldn't mind selling one (bright blue color) in perfect condition. $60 plus shipping and its yours.
[email protected]

[jojo]

I am still using my 3650 from 2001... but it certainly is showing its age, the digitiser is pretty bad with character reckonition now because the "character" jump when I write it in the lower case space, have to use transcriber most of the time.

The Sharp HPC I had before the ipaq simple can't be used outdoor at all (had one of the first ever colour screen around) still remember once while outdoor trying to look up a contact, tried all different brightness and contrast settings and got nothing :( When it was time to get a new one, chose the ipaq over other PPC simple because of the reflective screen. On yea I still use the HPC tho, its battery is fully dead need to be plug in all the time, but it's handy next to my bed for me to write journal on at night :wink:

By reading at this thread, does that mean the transflective screen aren't as good as the reflective screen when being used outdoor? I may have to re-think my planned upgrade to the Asus 730 later this year then... :?

[BobWitt]

I still have mine although it does not work anymore (screen shows horizontal black stipes, sound crackles) but I really like the design.



Sfjlittle - I have a good screen, but something is wrong in the guts - won't turn on unless I remove both batteries for a while and then it will run a little and again die. It is not the charger, or the battery (I have two).

Would you part with your parts? Or would you be interested in getting mine?

My history? Velo 1 (returned), Velo 500 (eBayed), HP 680 (ebayed), Areo 1200 (+ ppc rom upgrade to 1500 - sold), Casio EM500 (still have- dead), Jornada 568 (compUSA Technology guarantee), hp 4150...

Bob Witt

[gorkon280]

My 5555 recently succombed to having a bad sync connector. I know I coudl have fixed it with PPCTechs, but I figured since it was the last time I could walk in and get it taken care of at CompUSA, I would do it. Got a 4355 instead and since they considered it a downgrade, I got a free tap program (new one that requires you to mail it in) and 100 dollar gift card as well. PLUS they had a 50 dollar gift card rebate as well that I will mail in. I made out GOOOD.....but the 5555 was awesome. I can live without the 128MB as it appears that in the US, all PocketPC's now have 64 MB. The e805 is discontinued at CompUSA and the 5555 is as well. They said something about a replacement coming at the end of July, but I though the 5555 replacement was the 6300 series with GSM.GPRS as well and CompUSA may carry it on the cell side. Oh well. The 4355 is a very fine machine and I can't say I miss the ram much. I have gone from being a super program freak to being just someone who wants the damn thing to sink and charge properly and maybe us some programs. Journal Bar is sucking now...anyone else have a weather app plugin for the today screen??.

[Janak Parekh]

By reading at this thread, does that mean the transflective screen aren't as good as the reflective screen when being used outdoor? I may have to re-think my planned upgrade to the Asus 730 later this year then... :?
That's correct, although it's perfectly useable outside. Unless you stay outside 60%+ of the time, transflective is superior as its indoor contrast is excellent.

--janak

[Stephen Beesley]

Of course, it isn't a PPC, but my Newton 2100 still has a better UI than my 5450.

OTOH, my wife loves the old iPaq 36xx she inherited!

No doubt about it - the Newton OS was/is one of the best around on a handheld. Whenever I take out one of my Newtons for a play I find myself wishing for "this feature" or "that feature" to be available on the PPC platform. Still I think the PPC has improved with time and I am looking forwared to replacing my ol' Jornada 568 sometime soon!

[mrkablooey]

Journal Bar is sucking now...anyone else have a weather app plugin for the today screen??.

I can whole-heartedly recommend two:
PocketWeather (http://www.sbsh.net/products/pocketweather/) (Free, in Beta right now, works nicely, GREAT support in their forums (http://www.sbsh.net/forums))
Stocks and Weather Today (http://www.stocksandweathertoday.com) ($20, also just a Weather Today available for less, accepts Juni's beautiful skins (http://www.kolumbus.fi/anders.ruohio/skinz.html)

[Jason Dunn]

Cool thread. I'm doing some basement cleaning and I'm discovering some of my older devices - EM-500, Clio HPC, Nino, iPAQ 3650...some nice memories there. :-)