HP downplays iPAQ complaints

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.vnunet.com/News/1134150">http://www.vnunet.com/News/1134150</a><br /><br />The <a href="http://www.ipaqpetition.com/">iPAQ Petition</a> is barely a few weeks old, and HP has already responded to it publicly. That's a good thing! Now, what they said wasn't overly encouraging to the people who have had problems, but it's better to be turned down than ignored. What do you think of the HP response?<br /><br />"But in a statement issued this week, HP said that many of the problems in the petition had already been addressed. "The majority of issues noted in the petition appear to have been taken from our Customer Advisories, for which solutions have already been developed and made available to the public," said the company. "Issues are not necessarily experienced by all users and do not affect all units."<br /><br />HP said that it would continue to address specific problems with individual customers and any replacements or repairs that needed to be carried out would be done so under the terms of its warranty and service programmes." Source: James Bodiam

[David McNamee]

I've already given HP my response by buying a Toshiba e740.

[Master O'Mayhem]

Hmm 1000+ Signatures? how many were sold? 1,000,000+ ?

[Sslixtis]

Have any of these issues been carried over to the 39xx series :?:

[Kevin Daly]

While they have a point to some extent, this looks uncomfortably like HP's response "Dust? What Dust?" to the dust problems in the Jornada 56x range - insist on treating everything on a case by case basis, denying there is an overall problem.
I'm dismayed enough as it is by the decision to axe the Jornada, but I do hope the new HP iPAQ era isn't going to be marked by a combination of Compaq's shoddy quality control with the unhelpful high-handedness HP have shown with regard to Jornada problems.

[paris]

i am an ipaq oner since day one of the release of ipaq h3850. So i had one from the first batch that should have all the problems.

I never had a problem with my ipaq that will make it unusable.

They only small prblem i had was with the back light that some time wont come on but that is not quite an isue since you can toggle the backlight by pressing the power button for 2 sec.

My boss owns an H3650 and he never had a problem either. Ony something with the microphone that gets noise but compaq gave a solution to that.

I cant really get why all these people are complaining. Maybe they are axpecting their pocket pc to make coffe for them or something.

[johncruise]

I cant really get why all these people are complaining. Maybe they are axpecting their pocket pc to make coffe for them or something.

My coworker's iPaq is suddenly starts flipping its screen. It's still under warranty (less than a year). He called compaq and they turned him down. So he went to another company to fix that problem.

So what are they expecting from their pocket pc? They expect it to run! PROPERLY! Do you like it when you bought a car and after 1 year your odometer suddenly starts from 140 and goes down as you accelerate? Do you want your windshield to get dust that can't be removed except by turning it over to the manufacturer? I guess it's a far out comparison but nevertheless... people spent $500+ on their pocket pc. It should at least work without those annoying problem for some period of time.

[Chairman Clench]

i am an ipaq oner since day one of the release of ipaq h3850. So i had one from the first batch that should have all the problems.

I never had a problem with my ipaq that will make it unusable.

They only small prblem i had was with the back light that some time wont come on but that is not quite an isue since you can toggle the backlight by pressing the power button for 2 sec.

My boss owns an H3650 and he never had a problem either. Ony something with the microphone that gets noise but compaq gave a solution to that.

I cant really get why all these people are complaining. Maybe they are axpecting their pocket pc to make coffe for them or something.

It is GREAT that your iPAQ and your boss' iPAQ work perfectly. However, what many people such as you fail to realize is that just because YOUR iPAQ works correctly DOES NOT mean that EVERYONE else's iPAQs work correctly as well.

If you aren't having any problems, that is TERRIFIC :D Everyone is very happy that you are happy. However, there are many others (over 1800 and counting) who are unhappy because their iPAQs don't work properly.

[Chairman Clench]

Hmm 1000+ Signatures? how many were sold? 1,000,000+ ?

Actually, we are up to 1800. Your point is still well-taken, however.

We believe that only a small percentage of the worldwide iPAQ community is even aware of the existence of the petition. If HP would kindly give us a master list we would be happy to contact everyone to see....

Just kidding.

Seriously, considering that only a small percentage of the total number of iPAQ users even know about the petition, 1800 (and counting) is a pretty good number.

[Chairman Clench]

Have any of these issues been carried over to the 39xx series :?:

An excellent question!

So far the initial reviews of the 39xx are very encouraging. However, remember that the initial reviews of the 38xx were encouraging as well! Many of the 38xx problems only appeared several months later.

My best advice would be to wait and see. Keep watching these boards, the "early adopters" will post their problems with these iPAQs as they arise.

I do have to say that the 39xxs seem to be better. It could be a good sign that quality control is improving at HP/Compaq/HTC!

[sweetpete]

i am an ipaq oner since day one of the release of ipaq h3850. So i had one from the first batch that should have all the problems.

I never had a problem with my ipaq that will make it unusable.

They only small prblem i had was with the back light that some time wont come on but that is not quite an isue since you can toggle the backlight by pressing the power button for 2 sec.


That's great for you ... I however think differently of this. I payed over $1000 CDN for a 3870 and I have more than a thousand regrets for having done so. I use my PDA A LOT, and that means more than once or twice a day!
&lt;rant>
1. The small problem you describe with the backlight is quite large for me. I have sent it in for repair and still no fix. Why is it annoying you ask?? Because, when you use the iPaq as much as I do and you need that piece of information FAST, while in the dark, and you can't read that piece of information without having to first fumble around with toggling the power switch on and off a couple times, it can be VERY annoying (i.e. I bought it because of its instant on capabilities, not to have to wait a few seconds every time I want to use it!)

2. My Bluetooth synch with my laptop is brutally slow ... much slower than the advertised speeds for BT of 768 kbps. As the petition says, the speeds are more like 115 kbps. So much for paying extra for not needing the extra cables.

3. The annoying speaker crunch problem makes me twitch every time I hear it.

4. The lack of an SDIO slot that only comes with the new 39xx series was quite misleading. I didn't buy the 3870 to have a small memory slot. I was looking forward to be able to use the SD slot for IO expansion instead of the bulky sleeves which I now have to purchase anyway

5. About a minute or 2 after doing a BT sync with my laptop and turning my device off, it will magically turn itself back on and usually stay on until it drains my battery (I've had this happen on flights where I've put it away for a 4 or 5 hours or at night when I have finished charging and put it in my briefcase). It's very furstrating having to restore your iPaq from backup or rebuilding it from scratch :x . I now have to wait for MAGIC ON to happen and turn it back off again, or perform a soft reset if I'm in a hurry. If this is not a major problem, I don't know what is.

6. HP says that they have issued customer advisories with solutions ... if you can call doing a soft reset a solution for all your problems then you're smoking lots of that fine BC stuff!

As you can see, I have a very valid list of complaints that have not, and seemingly will not, be addressed by our friends at HPAQ (and that's not all of them folks). If this is fine with you, then please, go ahead and waste your money purchasing more products from them only to not receive and customer service and support. I for one will NEVER buy or use an HP product until issues like this are appropriately addressed. :evil: :evil: :evil:

&lt;/rant>

[Marc Zimmermann]

It's pretty disappointing. But things will apparently only change when people start to vote with their dollars and purchase other manufacturers devices.

[jdhill]

It's pretty disappointing. But things will apparently only change when people start to vote with their dollars and purchase other manufacturers devices.
Ain't that the truth!!! I won't buy an iPaq because of all of these issues. I'm not buying any more Casio PPCs after the shoddy work they did on the E-200 (but then Casio already made that decision for me).

That leaves Toshiba which seems to be doing good work and who else? Nobody? Aw, shucks!!! We need more choices than HP and Toshiba. NEC doesn't count. Fujitsu, how about selling some of that nice Loox kit over here in the states???

[l0o5er]

A very disappointing but possibly predictable reply from HP. I am now onto Ipaq 6 replaced under warranty since February 2001 - thank goodness I took out the extended warranty. Originally I bought a 3630 but when Number 4 needed replacing I escalated the "incident" up as high as I could & suggested they upgrade me to a 3870. And they did. Unfortunately since then I've needed to return one 3870 & so I'm onto lucky number 6. And still have many inexcusable problems;

* Bluetooth still flakey as
* Activesync sync Guest problem
* Turns on of its own accord randomly & at midnight
* Occassionally when turning off it freezes & requires soft reset
* Storage Card disappears from "view" randomly

The 38XX series in my experience has far more problems than the 36XX & Compaq erred on the time-to-market/QA balance getting the devices out before they had been suffiently QA-ed. If HP can't come up with a more credible response than this then they deserve to lose their market share.

[jsjxyz]

I love my Jornada, how about Jornada Petition for HP to bring it alive... It is more stable, have better battery live, and pretier than the iPAQ.

Jerry
Pocket PC eBooks Watch

[cpoole]

I would like to comment on the annoying speaker crunch sound that the IPAQ is famous for. I have a 3670 upgraded to the 2002 O/S. When I first got the machine, I am 99% sure that the crunch sound was not there. It started immediatly after my upgrade to 2002. I have the patches that are supposed to "fix" the noises... it has reduced them but centainly not elimiated them.

Is my memory faulty here? Are there any other 3600 series users who have done the O/S upgrade? If this is the case, then the blame may sit somewhere between HP/Compaq and Microsoft. Someone needs to fix this problem... who is it?

I use my IPAQ many many times in the day... both at work and home. My main problems have been the speaker crunches and the faulty catch for the stylus. It broke within the first 2 months of use. My stylus now sticks 1/2 inch out of the IPAQ all the time. I have been very lucky not to loose it. Of course I could sent it in for warranty but then I would have to be without it for a week or more.

[Nikhil]

I've had my iPAQ 3970 for 3 weeks now and I still can't find any issues with it! It has a gorgeous screen, Jornada-length battery life, SDIO, and full non-flakey Bluetooth. I've had my 3970 connected over BT to ActiveSync for 12 hours non-stop and the connection was still rock solid.

[Kirk Stephens]

I cant really get why all these people are complaining. Maybe they are axpecting their pocket pc to make coffe for them or something.

I waited to purchase an iPAQ because of the widespread problems associated with the initial release of the 3600 series. I ended up purchasing a H3670 months later in hopes that most of the problems had been resolved with the device. Unfortunately they had not been resolved. My iPAQ slowly started accumulating dust under the screen. My battery life was horrendous and slowly went from bad to worse. At it's worst, it would only last for about an hour until I got a low battery warning. I was very disappointed to say the least. I sent my iPAQ in to Compaq and they supposedly fixed the problems. When I received the unit back, it was scratched and it creaked. Also, slowly but surely the dust has started accumulating again. My stylus won't stay in the silo and to top it all off, my iPAQ now spontaneously hard resets. Gee, wait a minute. I thought people owned these types of devices so they could always have access to critical information. I guess hard resets somehow facilitate this? :x

Well I am very disappointed with my purchase to say the least. The funny thing is that I treated my iPAQ like an egg, always very very careful with it. I always had screen protectors on it, always kept it in it's Vaja case, I even had one of those body decals on it to protect it from scratches. Guess that was all a wasted effort because Compaq didn't do their part to put out a quality product.

Anyhow, on the other end of the spectrum...my Casio E-105 still works as good as it did the day I bought it. It never had a screen protector, it was dropped several times, used by teenagers and confiscated by teachers. It's gone for over a month without being charged and has never done a hard reset. It has a beautiful screen and I never regret buying it. The quality is unmatched.

[jdhill]

Well I am very disappointed with my purchase to say the least. The funny thing is that I treated my iPAQ like an egg, always very very careful with it. I always had screen protectors on it, always kept it in it's Vaja case, I even had one of those body decals on it to protect it from scratches. Guess that was all a wasted effort because Compaq didn't do their part to put out a quality product.

Anyhow, on the other end of the spectrum...my Casio E-105 still works as good as it did the day I bought it. It never had a screen protector, it was dropped several times, used by teenagers and confiscated by teachers. It's gone for over a month without being charged and has never done a hard reset. It has a beautiful screen and I never regret buying it. The quality is unmatched.
Well, there's justice for you !!! :wink:

The iCrap(TM) is still the number one seller, and Casio appears to be getting out of the Pocket PC business in the USA.

Makes perfect sense to me !!! :wink:

[dmkozak]

That leaves Toshiba which seems to be doing good work and who else? Nobody? Aw, shucks!!! We need more choices than HP and Toshiba. NEC doesn't count. Fujitsu, how about selling some of that nice Loox kit over here in the states???

That may very well be the biggest problem facing Pocket PC, only two U.S. providers. While Dell has announced their intention to enter the low end, bare bones Pocket PC market, only H-Paq and Toshiba are selling the full program, and Toshiba even limits its U.S. product line by not selling the bluetooth integrated unit.

Will, or can, MS allow the success or failure of its Pocket PC OS ride on the shoulders of only two suppliers? With one of them having a bad reputation for quality, reliability and service? If you want an upper end bluetooth integrated model, your choices are iPaq (with the above problems), Toshiba (with the expense and "hassle" of an add-in card), or see what the Palm suppliers come up with after OS 5. Slim choices!