Most *stable* Pocket PC device and "reviews"!

[Sedwo]

To the point:

Which Pocket PC 2002 device has been determined to be *most* stable?

I ask this because it seems that everywhere I go, in my neverending search on deciding which ppc2002 device to purchase, the same crap is being said. Nearly every review states, "there is no perfect Pocket PC".

Granted; regarding perfection in terms of the "feature set". But even given as much features as the new 5450, it seems that all of the devices suffer from various hardware/software crashes. Nearly just as many reviews stated "soft reset" and worse, "hard reset". Oh ya! I definately want *that* paper weight in my pocket. Its a very rare case for a palm user to have to "reset".

While the PPC2002 devices, as matured as they've gotten, still seem to lack such stability. The blame is not entirely Microsoft's fault, as it is the OEM's applied adoption of (what I believe) very poor quality with integrating the hardware, and proper testing. Specs. mean nothing if the shiny unit can't pull it off. What good is WiFi or Bluetooth if it hangs the machine or stops working for no reason? What good is accelerated graphics chips if they mess up the Win32 API and your apps don't look or act the same? What good is any hardware which can't recover from the Suspend mode? It seems that reliability has been sacrificed by adding a greater feature set. I still search for a review that states how stable and rock solid a device is. A device where *all its features work* flawlessly. (or atleast 95% of them).

IMHO I think more reviews of devices should *test* the units more thoroughly and push it till it breaks. See what kind of beating this thing can withstand. Make it scientific and accurate, as opposed to "here's a review of a day in my life with so-and-so model device". If people are expected to store their life on these things, it better be reliable.

So I ask you, with the combined experience of the Pocket PC scene, which device, have you determined (through whatever means) to be most stable?

[Weyoun6]

As a former Palm User (IIIx), I too believed that the PPC was not as stable as a Palm. Actually, the PPC is not that much less stable as a palm. If you compare them straight up, yes a palm is stable*er*. but how many palm users do you know that use just the pim apps? most palm users atleast has one hack, and more if you include the programs that go around os issues like wordsmith. when you compare them then, they are about equal. On my IIIx, it was in fact less stable than my current ppc. But that would be because I am a power user.

As to the most stable device, It certianly is not my Jornada, since I've had 2 hard resets that have had to go back to the shop. But again, I am a power user and tend to abuse my device since it is a tool, not a pet.

[nosmohtac]

I have to agree with weyoun6,
I have never had a palm, but know several people who do.
It seems they have as much or more trouble with lock-ups than I have had.
I have owned 2 jornada models and an iPAQ 3970. I don't use it so much for business, but I would consider myself a power user.
I have played with a few of the Dell's and think it is an awesome device for the price, But if you are a power user I don't think the evidence is quite there yet to recommend that model yet. I would only suggest an iPAQ if you are willing to spend a little more, because they have been in the game the longest with the most success.....so far.

[jimski]

Don't know if you are ever going to get an answer to your questions. A lot depends on the added applications and the way you use the device. Trust me, I can sense your frustration, just coming off a hard reset on my 5450 last night (my second).

While I never needed to perform a hard reset on any of my Palm devices (except when preparing to sell one), being a Pocket PC user for 8 months I would never consider going back.

Pocket PC's are "feature rich" and as a result increase the possibility if different drivers and applications not playing well together. I now know that soft resets are a fact of life and hard resets are possible, but a good backup plan will protect your valuable data.

Pocket PC's are definitely not for the meek. If you can't stand the thought of having to read your manual to determine just how to perform a hard reset then maybe you would be better off with a Palm.

[bigkingfun]

It's been a while since I've used a Palm, but I seem to remember doing my fair share of resets after installing various hacks and other applications. The PPC is similar in as much as the more software and stuff you load on it, the more likely some of them won't play well together.

I've had 4 different PPCs since I switched from Palm and I've only had to do a hard reset a couple of times, one of which was for a ROM upgrade. I soft reset fairly regularly, but I've come to accept it.

As a general rule, from my experience at least, the more bells and whistles you have on the PPC, the more likely you are to run into problems. I started with a Jornada 548 which didn't have any flashy features, and rarely had to reset. With each upgrade I've made to units with built-in wifi, bluetooth, etc. I've had more problems. That's not to say I have a lot though, just more than with the more basic models.

[pocketpc]

I have a Compaq iPAQ H3850 and there stable enough, and the new 3900 series have been really stable too acording to users from other forums.

But the new h5450/55 is the one with all the problems, so many users have had problems with them. Maybe they are the most unstable pda's for now, but hp will surly sort this out soon, especially with the new processer's coming out in March some time.

As for palms, I've never had one before, but dont think much of them as they dont have all the bells and whistles of pocket pc's that I like.

[TopDog]

Well I've had a lot of different PPC's over the last two years, putting them all through hell with reg-hacks and lots of wierd software... and I must say that the one I have now is the most stable I've had!

And the answer is Compaq iPAQ h3970.

Former PPC's I've had is: Jornada 548, iPAQ h3630, Jornada 568, iPAQ h3850, Casio E-200 and LOOX 600.

If you don't need SD or bluetooth and don't mind buying second hand, I would go for the Jornada 568, I loved that machine!

[PapaSmurfDan]

Personally I think most palm users make too big of a deal out of a soft-reset on a PPC. Granted, it can be annoying when an app locks up, but usually it just requires a soft reset which only takes 15 seconds at the most. Also many palm users I have found have a very hard time understanding the differences between a soft and hard reset (mainly due to the fact they never had to reset thier palm). Think of your PPC like a real computer, it needs the occasional kick in the ass.

Also watch out where you read your reviews from. I have noticed lots of bias on PPC and Palm devices (I was choosing between an Axim and an NX60) and if I read a review on a palm site, they prised the NX60/70 while giving the axim a so so review (saying that programs crashed and such). On the other hand on a more PPC centered site, the Axim got flying colors and the NX60/70 was hammerd. I take most reviews with a grain of salt. I read reviews of the Sony SJ10 that said it has a GREAT screen (which has the worst screen I have ever seen in person).

However I will toss in a vote for the Dell Axim as being stable and when compared to the 5450, it kills it in terms of battery life both with wifi and without. The only crashes requiring a soft-reset I have are from badly programed games. Yes I have done a hard reset, but that was after I played around with it for a few weeks and figured out what I wanted on my PDA. Keep a regular backup of at least your PIM data on a SD card or in the extra rom space amd you will be fine.

[Janak Parekh]

I agree with most of the posters above. I can't remember the last time I've done a hard reset on my 3870. I do know that the 5450 has a variety of software glitches, some of which have prompted users to do hard resets. We're hoping a firmware upgrade will resolve that one.

Apart from the 5450, most new Pocket PCs are extraordinarily stable. You might have to do a soft reset then and now, but unless you're using unstable software you should never have to do a hard reset.

--janak

[vincentsiaw]

i'm using 3955, so far haven't have to do a hard reset yet, except when doing the rom update, but it's good, because it flush out all the left over file! oh ya, i really seldom soft reset my device, except if i install a new program, even if i play doom for hours, it never hang....yet!

[guinness]

I've had to hard reset my Dell once since I've gotten this replacement unit, which I've had for about a month. It ticked me off and I hate ActiveSync because it's so slow at restoring, but it happened because I installed a bunch of software on there that made it very unstable. My desktop PC gets the same way though, I think I reinstalled XP a few months ago and it's already teetering on the edge of needed to be reformatted again, start adding a bunch of programs and what not, the thing just gets flaky and I think that a PPC can behave the same way.

[ombu]

I had a Palm Vx and had to hard reset it 7 or 8 times in 18 months, actually I have a Jornada 568, for 14 months now and NEVER HAD TO HARD RESET.
I didn't buy a 5450 :cry: for Christmas after reading here and elsewhere about all issues it has, lack of speed improvement was the major one for me, but after hearing about the new XScale coming soon, I'll wait a few months and buy a brand new 5450 :D , just after being sure it runs with the new CPU which doubles bus speed, sure there will be a lot of bugs fixed, what I mean is, I'm a geek, but I WON'T EVER BUY A PDA FOR IT'S FIRST RELEASE, A SECOND ONE IS ALWAYS BETTER, as my venerable 568 was if you think about the 54x, iPaq users might think the same about some models, do you?

Best.

[TheBacklash]

Personaly I have only had to hard reset my Dell once... after installing jslandscape it hung...

Beyond that the *only* times I have ever had to soft reset a PPC, my casio, Ipaq or Axim, is due to a software program... not the OS itself.

My old Palm, that was a different story. :roll:

[dotcomguy]

. . . but it happened because I installed a bunch of software on there that made it very unstable. My desktop PC gets the same way though, I think I reinstalled XP a few months ago and it's already teetering on the edge of needed to be reformatted again, start adding a bunch of programs and what not, the thing just gets flaky and I think that a PPC can behave the same way.
Well, they are very similar in many respects, so that makes sense.

I have had to soft reset a couple times since getting my PPC a few days ago, mostly because I've been downloading stuff, but as another poster mentioned, a soft reset is no big deal at all.

[Pony99CA]

I have had to soft reset a couple times since getting my PPC a few days ago, mostly because I've been downloading stuff, but as another poster mentioned, a soft reset is no big deal at all.
Exactly -- a soft reset is much quicker than the PC equivalent of rebooting.

I do have to copy any shortcuts that are on memory cards if I want to see their icons in the Start menu, but I only have one, so it's not too bad.

Steve

[gpyetan]

I think that ppc's are no different to any other os (including palm pc/vms/ etc when it comes to stability). Essentially when you chuck a bunch of components together and then ask lots of different people to write software for the bits which have been bolted together and fly in close formation you will find that they all lose stability fairly quickly. Essentially if you want to be the first to run that latest piece of software you will find that you get crashes. I have now settled on the software I use on my palm m515 and I get no crashes at all (haven't had one in 6 months) My ppc, a compaq ipaq was terribly unstable when I was experimenting with software but once I found the right combination which I could live with it too was totally stable. If a machine is unstable and you have found a good usable combination of software then the chances are that either there is an incompatibility with your combination or there is a hardware problem. I suspect all ppc's are pretty much of a muchness stability wise simply because they have to conform to the ppc standard. I suspect also however that as the ppc manufacturers try to differentiate between their machines in order to gain sales e.g. by building in more graphics hardware for example, your ipaq XXX with its nvidia geforce xxx may well have different levels of performance and stability to your tosh XXX with its ati radeon xxxx in spite of the fact taht the basic ppc spec has not been violated.

[yschang]

My ppc, a compaq ipaq was terribly unstable when I was experimenting with software but once I found the right combination which I could live with it too was totally stable. If a machine is unstable and you have found a good usable combination of software then the chances are that either there is an incompatibility with your combination or there is a hardware problem.

I do agree with you about the combination. As a PDA newbie, I do tend to pile lots of softwares onto PPC. Just like the desktop, who knows which program clashes with which. It is almost impossible to know. It's a learning curve and takes time to get there. Now my desktop PCs (running XP and 2000) are stable with all the programs I need. I am playing with my PPC at the moment and I'm still learning about what I'm going to do with it and just like before piling software and trying all of them out. But they will be sorted out and left with the ones I need. I think everybody is pretty much the same.

I am sure that people asking about crashing problems are mostly newbies (like me :oops: ). But I think we just have to deal with it and sort it out along with the tech supports (if they are willing, of couse :wink: )