FlyJacket i3800+ICAM Review at the Gadgeteer

[Tycho Morgan]

<a href="http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/flyjacket-i3800-review.html">http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/flyjacket-i3800-review.html</a> <br /><br />Sometime in the somewhat near past Adam Zeit sent us an email notifying us of his new article on the Gadgeteer website.<br /><br />This formerly new article is a review of the Fly Jacket, one of the few third party expansion sleeves for the iPAQ. While I'd seen this sleeve around from time to time in my travels, this is the first time that I've been able to get a clear idea of everything that the FlyJacket can do. I must say that this looks really amazing, and while it is defiantly big given that this isn't the kind of jacket that (most) people will use as standard equipment, the size issue is virtually a non-issue. <br /><br />"LifeView's FlyJacket i3800 is probably the hottest expansion sleeve out there for your Compaq iPAQ. The FlyJacket is a mobile multi-purpose multimedia solution which can be integrated with a projector, VGA monitor, TV, Video, DVD, digital camera and many more. It has a built-in Compact Flash slot, a pen-shaped remote control which can be also used as a laser pointer and finally, an additional ICAM module can turn the FlyJacket into a digital still and video camera."

[Rob Alexander]

This certainly sounds like an excellent product. I went back and forth between this and the Voyager CF card before finally settling on the Voyager. In the end, it came down to one thing for me. The Voyager is a standard CF card that I can probably use with my next PPC and the Flyjacket is history once this iPaq form factor is gone. Still, I suppose it depends on how much you expect to use it whether the relatively shorter life span is worth it.

I do have a few questions I wonder if anyone can answer. The review speaks to resolution and colors, but not to refresh rate. I know I was a bit disappointed that the Voyager card can only do 60 mhz refresh rate at 800x600x64K. Just a little up from that would have been perfect. So I'm wondering what refresh rate the Flyjacket uses at 800x600x64K. Does anyone know?

The other thing I noticed is that he said you save money by having the remote control included. Fair enough, but does that mean I can buy a remote control that will work with my iPaq and Voyager card? If anyone knows of such a thing, would you let me know? That is really the major limitation of my current system.