h5450

[pocketpc]

hi all, I am looking at upgrading my ipaq 3850 to an ipaq 5450 and wanted some comments on this pda to see how good it really is, if anyone who owns an 5450 could share some thoughts that would be great!
Also if I did buy one, and it has WLAN and Bluetooth intergrated into it, does the WLAN mean that I can connect to the internet straight out of the box, or does that run through a home or office network or something. Im abit of a newbie when it comes to wireless stuff hehe.
I also have a keyboard for my 3850, would the 5450 have the same connector at the bottom as the 3850?

thanks!!

[spursdude]

Also if I did buy one, and it has WLAN and Bluetooth intergrated into it, does the WLAN mean that I can connect to the internet straight out of the box, or does that run through a home or office network or something.

WLAN means you can connect to a wireless network. It does NOT mean that anywhere you can go, you can get online. If your home or work has a wireless network, then you can get online. You can't just pick it up anywhere you are and get online, though.

[BGinWA]

unless you also have a gprs phone preferably with bluetooth!

[pocketpc]

oh ok, so how far is the range of the WLAN?

[don dre]

That really all depends. I have no problems in my 1200 sq ft apt nor do my neighbors who are constantly trying to piggy back. A lot of it depends on your situation. Structural walls block the signal more than interior walls. Open spaces that range is up to 500 ft I think. I love my wireless network and owuld never want to go back. I also think wifi is just beginning to change the way we access the internet. Esp is products like vivato.net really work.

[pocketpc]

ok thanks don dre!

hi all, I am looking at upgrading my ipaq 3850 to an ipaq 5450 and wanted some comments on this pda to see how good it really is, if anyone who owns an 5450 could share some thoughts that would be great!
I also have a keyboard for my 3850, would the 5450 have the same connector at the bottom as the 3850?



Anyone help with these two, thanks!

[cgavula]

I have a 5455 (same thing as the 5450) and I think it's great. I upgraded from a 3835 (same thing as the 3850) and the screen is better and if you use WiFi and/or Bluetooth (which I do) it's a great unit.

The smaller D-Pad takes a little getting used to (and a little breaking in at first). But once you're used to it it works just fine.

The battery life is a little worse - and can be a LOT worse if you're running WiFI and BT (turn them off to save power).

The performance is about the same as the 3835. At first my performance was worse but I saw threads of info on Brighthand and other boards about removing a couple of files that start up when you start your PPC - they were sucking up resources. Removing them made everything run much faster. Plus there are now a couple of overclocking utilities available if you want to make it run a little faster yet.

I can't comment on the keyboard question since I don't have one. I can say the connector is basically the same (you ccan use the same cradle) but the 5450 will allow you to use the cradle through a USB connection only to charge the Ipaq, while the 3835 requires the AC adapter to also be plugged in. I heard that some keyboards might have some problems connecting to 3900s and the 5400s but I can't confirm that since, again, I don't have one.

Also note - some people have said that some games have a problem on X-Scale machines, but patches are often available. I haven't had any problems with any of the games or other programs I've run so far.

--Chris

[pocketpc]

thats great thanks! As for the keyboard question, I have one of those full sized keyboard for the 3600 and 3700 series I think it is and it has another adaptor so the 3800 series can connect, so basically if the h5455/50 can fit into the cradle of a 3800 series then it should have the same connector meaning it should fit with my keyboard I have (hopefully hehe). Do you know if the expansion packs for 3800 series will work with the h5455/50 since I own a compact flash expansion pack.

Also I have heard about this a few times, but whats the difference between the h5455 and h5450? All I know is that one has a trial version of this program, surly this isn't the only difference?!

thanks again for answering my questions!

[cgavula]

I have the original PC Card sleeve and it seems to work so far. I have heard that people have had trouble with some sleeves, notably the Navman (for using GPS).

--Chris

UPDATE: This thread talks about compatability problems that some people have been having.

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7226

[pocketpc]

ok thanks very much cgavula