iPaq 1940 and iPaq 1945 Reviewed at PDABargain

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.bargainpda.com/default.a...owComments=true

"The iPaq 1940 / iPaq 1945 PDA has been eagerly awaited almost since the release of the HP iPaq 1910 last year due to the fact the 1910 was a great device but had a few key features missing. Consumers wanted an SDIO slot and not just the limited SD slot the 1910 came with. A built in wireless communication standard was viewed as being the add-on that would make a 1910 like device an amazing PDA. The wait is over, the iPaq 1940 and iPaq 1945 are here and covered in this review."

This is a decent review, but it lacks any hard performance and battery metrics. Why would you measure battery life playing MP3s with the screen turned ON? That's not a realistic scenario, so the result is almost meaningless.

I should mention that I have a 1940 now, but finding the time to review it is quite another matter. Ditto for the 5550. I'll try to do some basic performance metrics with Spb Benchmark so you can see how they stack up against each other.

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.bargainpda.com/default.a...owComments=true

"The iPaq 1940 / iPaq 1945 PDA has been eagerly awaited almost since the release of the HP iPaq 1910 last year due to the fact the 1910 was a great device but had a few key features missing. Consumers wanted an SDIO slot and not just the limited SD slot the 1910 came with. A built in wireless communication standard was viewed as being the add-on that would make a 1910 like device an amazing PDA. The wait is over, the iPaq 1940 and iPaq 1945 are here and covered in this review."

This is a decent review, but it lacks any hard performance and battery metrics. Why would you measure battery life playing MP3s with the screen turned ON? That's not a realistic scenario, so the result is almost meaningless.

I should mention that I have a 1940 now, but finding the time to review it is quite another matter. Ditto for the 5550. I'll try to do some basic performance metrics with Spb Benchmark so you can see how they stack up against each other.

[Andy Sjostrom]

Great review. This is the nicest looking Pocket PC in my opinion. With SDIO, integrated Bluetooth and great price, it might be the best selling iPAQ thus far. 8)

[dh]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

This is a decent review, but it lacks any hard performance and battery mertrics. Why would you measure battery life playing MP3s with the screen turned ON? That's not a realistic scenario, so the result is almost meaningless.

This is not an unrealistic scenario for me. We often drive between Philadelphia and New Hampshire, about six hours.

My daughter often watches movies on my Axim and a fully charged battery will last for the whole trip. Looking at the MP3 test (I assume that it is much the same as runnning PocketMPV) with the screen turned on, suggests that the 1940 would only last about half way.

For how I use my PPC this is a useful piece of information, especially because I also often listen to music and read at the same time on flights. Battery life under these circumstances is important to me.

[beq]

Did ya'll see PC Mag's PPC2003 roundup? I'm not usually one to notice but ouch, it has rather a lot of embarrassing slip-ups :?

Online version's been out since June so it might've been mentioned here (I just read it recently on the paper mag): http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1138704,00.asp

EDIT: (Some choice tidbits: http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/foru...=137684#137684 )

[kuyars]

jason, can you comment on the yellow hue when the 1940 is tilted? Is it really that bad? How much of a tilt do you need?

The forums on brighthand seem to suggest that it can be anywhere from as little as 5 degrees to 30 degrees tilted in any direction and then the yellow hue will unmistakably appear...

[don dre]

dh, you live near philly?
if so you should check out this site:
www.phillyblog.com
I bought a 2210 myself but I plan on getting my girlfriend a 1940 at some point. I wanted the wifi and storage together otherwise I would have opted for the 1940.

[dh]

I live in Cherry Hill, NJ, so right by Philly.
Checked out phillyblog, looks to be a really useful site.

[Boxster S]

And to think, all of those people were raggin' on the 2215's screen for not being as good as the 1910 and then proclaiming that the 194x's screen would own the 2215's.

Now the shoe is on the other foot Hope they like their yellow screens

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by dh

My daughter often watches movies on my Axim and a fully charged battery will last for the whole trip. Looking at the MP3 test (I assume that it is much the same as runnning PocketMPV) with the screen turned on, suggests that the 1940 would only last about half way.

Video playback is a very different scenario, and has a completely different effect on the CPU and battery life. My point was simply that if they're going to measure battery performance, they should use realistic scenarios:

- MP3 playback with the screen off, headphones plugged in
- WMV playback with the screen on, no headphones
- WMV playback with the screen on, headphones
- regular use with screen on

etc.

Measuring MP3 playback with the screen turned on is akin to me doing a video playback test with the screen turned off. :lol:

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by kuyars

jason, can you comment on the yellow hue when the 1940 is tilted? Is it really that bad? How much of a tilt do you need?

I think I see what they're talking about, but I need to compare it to my wife's 1910 before coming to any conclusions. The 2215 screen goes white when you tilt it, the 1940 goes a little yellow - both are sub-optimal when looked at in anything other than a straight-on fashion, so I'm not sure how big of a deal this is.