New 5455 coming?

[Dave Beauvais]

I was in CompUSA today trading my broken Toshiba e740 :( for a new H5455 :) and was given some interesting news by a salesperson. (And if this has been posted somewhere already, I apologize for being redundant.) It seems that HP has released a "version 2" of the H5455 that will be software-upgradable for use as a cell phone. Please note that this info came from a salesperson and his manager at one CompUSA store -- the other store in the area acted like I was a moron when I asked about this.) They did not know if this would become a full-fledged Phone Edition after the upgrade or if the upgrade would simply add some phone features. They did say that previous versions of the 5455 would not work with this upgrade. They also could not tell me when this upgrade would be made available.

Unfortunately, although the boxes they had in stock all indicate on the outside label that they are this new model, the actual iPAQ in the box is the older version. The serial numbers on the stickers match, but the part numbers are different. They told me that HP had ordered the units recalled and would ship them a correct batch next week.

New part number from the box: 264493-002
Part number from my new 5455: 284384-001

Yes, I went ahead and got one even though the part numbers don't match and I'm getting the "old version." I figure I have fourteen days to decide if I want to ever use my Pocket PC as a cell phone since that is CompUSA's return/exchange period.

I am interested to know if this info is, in fact, true, and what hardware has changed inside the new version that makes it upgradeable. Has anyone heard anything about this?

--Dave

[dannyoneill]

from what i know the 54xx has some phone capabilities, like there is a SIM card slot and other bits but i dont think there actually wired in, also dont think there is any hardware inside for phone capabilities.

IT does look like the 54xx will be the form factor for future phone versions but not this one.

[Janak Parekh]

I'm 98% sure this is completely false. While there has been research into reprogrammable software radios, the 54xx units certainly don't have one of those, so I can't imagine how they'd enable phone abilities -- unless they squeezed a second radio into the unit, which I'm pretty sure they haven't. Additionally, the length of the antenna is outright wrong for cellular frequencies, and unless they stuck another internal antenna into the unit, you'd get terrible reception.

What I'm hoping is that this new P/N is a hardware update to address some of the issues people have been reporting. We'll find out soon enough, I suspect. :)

--janak

[mtillett]

You should check the P/N under the battery before going too far with this one. My 5455 that I bought from HPshopping.com before Xmas has P/N 283868-002 ON THE BOX but the P/N inside the casing is 264493-002. My point in raising this that the P/N on the box is not nearly as important as the one on the unit itself.

EDIT: We also shouldn't assume that this is a HARDWARE change. This could be a software swap IF its anything at all.

[davidm5382]

Check out the site below for more details. Apaarently they are advertising it in their coming soon section.

http://www.expansys.us/product.asp?code=IPAQ5000GPRS&asource=

[Eitel]

Don't trust all you see from Expansys. They are well know for having rumors on pre-order.

[riggers]

They are talking complete crap.
I was with HP last week and I was informed that the gsm version of the 54** has been shelved until at least Q4.

[Dave Beauvais]

I cross-posted this message (http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?threadid=70480) in the h5400 series group over at Brighthand and it's gotten quite a few replies. The general concensus there is the same as it is here -- the salesperson had incorrect information. Through some discussions, however, we discovered that I do have newer Bluetooth and Wi-Fi firmware versions. Some believe that -001 part numbers are for iPAQs purchased directly from HP while -002 are retail units. If that's the case, it could explain why HP ordered the recall of the units from CompUSA. I'm still interested to know why the part number on my iPAQ (not the box, but the iPAQ itself) is so different from everyone else's, though.

--Dave

[ipaq38vette]

I heard that the 545x runs Pocket PC Phone Edition, like the one that runs on the T-Mobile.

[Frankie]

I highly doubt that, and im sure people would have noticed that already when looking around in the new handheld...