iPaq 1940 and iPaq 1945 Reviewed at PDABargain

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.bargainpda.com/default.asp?newsID=1485&showComments=true' target='_blank'>http://www.bargainpda.com/default.a...owComments=true</a><br /><br /></div>"The iPaq 1940 / iPaq 1945 PDA has been eagerly awaited almost since the release of the HP iPaq 1910 last year due to the fact the 1910 was a great device but had a few key features missing. Consumers wanted an SDIO slot and not just the limited SD slot the 1910 came with. A built in wireless communication standard was viewed as being the add-on that would make a 1910 like device an amazing PDA. The wait is over, the iPaq 1940 and iPaq 1945 are here and covered in this review."<br /><br />This is a decent review, but it lacks any hard performance and battery metrics. Why would you measure battery life playing MP3s with the screen turned ON? That's not a realistic scenario, so the result is almost meaningless.<br /><br />I should mention that I have a 1940 now, but finding the time to review it is quite another matter. Ditto for the 5550. I'll try to do some basic performance metrics with Spb Benchmark so you can see how they stack up against each other.

[Andy Sjostrom]

Great review. This is the nicest looking Pocket PC in my opinion. With SDIO, integrated Bluetooth and great price, it might be the best selling iPAQ thus far. 8)

[dh]

This is a decent review, but it lacks any hard performance and battery mertrics. Why would you measure battery life playing MP3s with the screen turned ON? That's not a realistic scenario, so the result is almost meaningless.

This is not an unrealistic scenario for me. We often drive between Philadelphia and New Hampshire, about six hours.

My daughter often watches movies on my Axim and a fully charged battery will last for the whole trip. Looking at the MP3 test (I assume that it is much the same as runnning PocketMPV) with the screen turned on, suggests that the 1940 would only last about half way.

For how I use my PPC this is a useful piece of information, especially because I also often listen to music and read at the same time on flights. Battery life under these circumstances is important to me.

[beq]

Did ya'll see PC Mag's PPC2003 roundup? I'm not usually one to notice but ouch, it has rather a lot of embarrassing slip-ups :?

Online version's been out since June so it might've been mentioned here (I just read it recently on the paper mag): http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1138704,00.asp

EDIT: (Some choice tidbits: http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=137684#137684 ) ;)

[kuyars]

jason, can you comment on the yellow hue when the 1940 is tilted? Is it really that bad? How much of a tilt do you need?

The forums on brighthand seem to suggest that it can be anywhere from as little as 5 degrees to 30 degrees tilted in any direction and then the yellow hue will unmistakably appear...

[don dre]

dh, you live near philly?
if so you should check out this site:
www.phillyblog.com
I bought a 2210 myself but I plan on getting my girlfriend a 1940 at some point. I wanted the wifi and storage together otherwise I would have opted for the 1940.

[dh]

I live in Cherry Hill, NJ, so right by Philly.
Checked out phillyblog, looks to be a really useful site.

[Boxster S]

And to think, all of those people were raggin' on the 2215's screen for not being as good as the 1910 and then proclaiming that the 194x's screen would own the 2215's.

Now the shoe is on the other foot :) Hope they like their yellow screens :)

[Jason Dunn]

My daughter often watches movies on my Axim and a fully charged battery will last for the whole trip. Looking at the MP3 test (I assume that it is much the same as runnning PocketMPV) with the screen turned on, suggests that the 1940 would only last about half way.

Video playback is a very different scenario, and has a completely different effect on the CPU and battery life. My point was simply that if they're going to measure battery performance, they should use realistic scenarios:

- MP3 playback with the screen off, headphones plugged in
- WMV playback with the screen on, no headphones
- WMV playback with the screen on, headphones
- regular use with screen on

etc.

Measuring MP3 playback with the screen turned on is akin to me doing a video playback test with the screen turned off. :lol:

[Jason Dunn]

jason, can you comment on the yellow hue when the 1940 is tilted? Is it really that bad? How much of a tilt do you need?

I think I see what they're talking about, but I need to compare it to my wife's 1910 before coming to any conclusions. The 2215 screen goes white when you tilt it, the 1940 goes a little yellow - both are sub-optimal when looked at in anything other than a straight-on fashion, so I'm not sure how big of a deal this is.

[jnunn]

Every time I read a review recently I am left asking what qualifies these people to write reviews. This last review suggests the 2210 as a better screen alternative to the 1940 since the reviewer believes the 2210 has no screen anomalies. An accurate and useful review would compare the screen anomalies according to how the user will use or look onto the device. It is good that this review actually attempted balance but if an author is going to make a comparison then he should know what other people have been complaining out.

The yellow cast to the screen is a definite worry: side by side comparison at Fry's is a must. Again I am disappointed with HP: the iPAQ used to be known for the best screen but HP appears to give the screen a lower priority.

[Scott R]

Regarding the yellow tint issue, I personally have difficulty believing this is a valid problem, though it's possible that it may be a QC issue which affects certain devices more than others. I had a chance to check out the 2215, 1940, and 1910 on two separate occassions. Here's what I found:

1) First test at a CompUSA in Providence, RI. I didn't know about the yellow tint issue so I didn't check for it. This CompUSA had all three models. The 1910 had a dead battery but they had the 1940 plugged in and charged up, so I disconnected the cable and moved it over to the 1910. I mainly did my screen comparisons by looking at the Today screen. IMHO, the 1910 and 1940 appeared to have exactly the same screen. Both were gorgeous and crisp. The 2215's screen had a softness, haze, or gridlike effect. The blue font was not as dark as the 1900-series devices and I found that the font did not stand out enough contrast-wise against the Today background. Now, if I didn't have the 1900-series models to compare it to, would I have thought it was just fine? Probably.

2) Yesterday I went to a different CompUSA in search of the Hitachi G1000. They had the 1910 and the 2215 on display. There was no 1940 on display (though they had new ones in boxes behind the glass). I compared the screens again and again found that I disliked the 2215's screen in comparison to the 1910's. Again, there was that haze/softness/whatever that I described above. Knowing about the yellow-tint issue, I decided to check the 1910 to see if it had this issue or not. Sure enough, it did. I launched the Notes app and tilted the screen. When viewed directly, the screen was white. When tilted, the white background turned yellowish. IMO, this is a non-issue, though, because most LCD screen technology exhibit some form of screen degradation when viewed at an angle.

So, again, it looked to me like the 1910 shared the same "yellow-tint when tilted" phenomenon that the 1940 is being criticized for. As I mentioned at the beginning of my post, it's certainly possible that there are some quality control problems which result in some 1940's showing a yellow-tint when viewed directly or having an unacceptably low threshold for introducing the yellow tint when tilted.

Personally, I found the 1940's screen preferrable to the 2215's. The decreased size and cost, the significantly better application buttons, and the dedicated voice memo button are notable advantages as well. In the 2215's favor are the better D-Pad (IMO), rubber side grips, hope for a flip-cover, supposedly longer battery life, CF slot, and probably better performance in most areas. As a result, if I was going to buy one of these two models, I'm not sure which one it would be.

Scott

[Chris Spera]

This is just my personal opinion, and will involve a (slightly) off topic comparison, but i think it will make sense.

Ever since the Internet crash 3 years ago, the Internet/ electronics economy has changed a lot. In the light of this thread and related to the comments in it, this means that hardware manufacturers are less eager to circulate review units around for review. Only the larger, commercial site(s) are going to get review units. Enthusiest sites might get review units, but in many cases, its going to be after they've made the circuit; and those are usually in really poor condition (again, if they get sent at all).

One of the greatest tributes to sites like Pocket PC Thoughts is that Jason is not a Professional (tho he plays one on TV... :lol: ). Thoughts is an enthusiast site. Jason does most of this with little advertising revenue, though now, hopefully Subscriber Services will be a reliable stream of revenue. Jason has proven that just about anyone with SERIOUS dedication can put up a site, maintain it, and generate traffic.

Most enthusiast sites don't compensate their review teams. If they're lucky, reviewers get a free copy of the software apps they review; and occasionally get to keep accessories they review (however, many manufacturers often expect these to be sent back as well...). As such, if you will remember, Jason recently solicited for new review team members. A sample review was requested from all applicants and if Jason liked your writing style and thought you could handle a production schedule, you were invited to join. None of us (with some exceptions...) are truly writing professionals. Most of the review team participates in sites like Thoughts, The Gadgeteer and pocketnow.com because of our love of the community.

I have written for a number of different sites including WUGNET The Windows User's Group Network (http://www.wugnet.com), CMPnet's File Mine (now called IT Pro Downloads (http://www.itprodownloads.com/)), pocketnow.com (http://www.pocketnow.com/), and The Gadgeteer (http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/). My point: I've been around the block a bit and can say the following with 100% assurity:

Product Reviews are not a site draw.

They do not generate advertising revenue like they did between 1996 and 1999 (i.e. prior to the 'Net crash in 2000). As a result, most sites don't do software reviews any more. WUGNET stopped doing them all together this year, and I said goodbye to a nice chunk of freelancing revenue. Software and Hardware producers want and need the reviews and are clamouring for them. Review sites however, don't make any money doing them. Having hardware and software companies pay for the review generates the appearance of bias and impropriety and most legitimate sites won't take money for reviews they write.

This leaves everyone in a catch-22 situation. The public and vendors want reviews and their products reviewed respectively. However, there's little to no incentive in it for the reviewers to write them. You also have to remember, that these guys probably had to purchase at least 1 iPAQ 1940/45 in order to do this review.

To address your specific comments about going to Fry's and playing with another PPC, trying to make critical comparisons between any devices in question... It might be possible for reviewers to do this with 2 devices (like the 1940 and 2215) but not more than that. Its really difficult to do it with just the two devices because you end up monopolizing them for a great while, making notes, playing, etc. I've tried to do this and its really very difficult. I've been asked to leave a CompUSA because of it.

In my humble opinion (and with a GREAT DEAL OF RESPECT to the guys who wrote this review) the review authors are not professional writers or are, at the very least, still gaining experience. They did a GREAT job on this review! Did they hit everything...no; but honestly I didn't expect them to.

However, the review was more thorough that I thought it was goint to be; and was very well coordinated between the two sets of comments.

Don't be so hard on these guys. While I may have been very frank with some of my comments, they were not meant to be critical, just a statement of fact. The fact that they produced this kind of review, at this level of high quality, and perhaps on their own nickle tells me that their site is one to watch for value-added content in the future!

Most Respectfully,


Christopher Spera

[Programmer]

The yellow cast to the screen is a definite worry: side by side comparison at Fry's is a must. Again I am disappointed with HP: the iPAQ used to be known for the best screen but HP appears to give the screen a lower priority.

I just got my 2215 the other day. My old Ipaq is a 1910 which I plan on selling.

The screen on the 2215 is a bit fuzzier and I bit washed out. My 1910 is very crisp and clear.

Hmm... maybe I should move the screen from the 1910 into the 2215. I think they are the same size and I assume they have the same connectors.


Maybe I can end up having the coolest ipaq in the world. MUAHAHAHAHAHA! :twisted:

[rmasinag]

I was this! close to buying this. This close! 8O

But then student pricing got me a 2210 for $293

I guess school is good for something in the end :mrgreen:

Still can't beat the size, despite the yellow tinge

[beq]

Scott I would've thought the 2210 would have a shorter batt life than the 1940 if anything (given the same W-h batt size)?

[codesmith]

Just purchased a 1940 from CompUSA here in Atlanta. I was able to compare the 1940 side by side to the 1910...lo and behold they both exhibited the yellowish tinting when tilted. I had never noticed it before. For me this is not a big deal...so the lower price made the decision. there is a lot of great hardware in this small package. Cant wait to try out bluetooth sync. Is it tough to set up? What would be a good phone to use with T-Mobile for GPRS access?

[Scott R]

Scott I would've thought the 2210 would have a shorter batt life than the 1940 if anything (given the same W-h batt size)?I would have thought the same thing. The 1945 uses some new Samsung CPU which supposedly integrates a few things onto one chip that presumably the 2215 has to use multiple chips for. And yet, it is my understanding that HP rates the 2215 to have longer battery life than the 1945. I'm not sure if definitive testing has been done to compare battery life between these two devices.

Scott

[SHoTTa35]

Just purchased a 1940 from CompUSA here in Atlanta. I was able to compare the 1940 side by side to the 1910...lo and behold they both exhibited the yellowish tinting when tilted. I had never noticed it before. For me this is not a big deal...so the lower price made the decision. there is a lot of great hardware in this small package. Cant wait to try out bluetooth sync. Is it tough to set up? What would be a good phone to use with T-Mobile for GPRS access?

i'd say the Sony Ericsson t68is or Nokia phones work the best .... So anyone in your price range. Bluetooth sync is easy, enable services on the PC then click the bluetooth manager, click new then connect then ActiveSync Via Bluetooth. Not hard at all huh :)

[Mike Temporale]

Jason,

Where did you get the 1940 from? Is it a review unit? or have you found a Canadian retailer that has some in stock, because I haven't found one!

[jnunn]

I apologize to the review team for the harsh words that I gave earlier in this thread. I was frustrated after reading a review that lacked completeness of context and hence suffered in accuracy. I do believe that it is important for the readers to call foul when a review is in error but I should not have called into question the writer’s qualifications. I apologize for that.

I do have a bit experience in analyzing new technologies and would like offer a piece of advice that will make review writing faster and more objective. A review could be seen as a subset of the common SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) used by technology firms to analyze competing and prospective technologies. It will be useful to determine beforehand the points of a PPC that are important, assign a hierarchy to how the market satisfies the point, and then analyze the hierarchy for strengths and weaknesses. This will give a more complete review while measuring each device equally and while making the review easier to read. You can also very easily assign normalized values to the hierarchy so that you can quantify your analysis. Believe it or not, this technique saves a lot of time and makes the analysis hold up better under scrutiny.

I have considerable respect for PPCT, Brighthand, and other sites that seek to educate the users. The next time a call for reviewers is sent I will try out for the team instead of bashing it. Best regards,

John

[darrylb]

Jason,

Where did you get the 1940 from? Is it a review unit? or have you found a Canadian retailer that has some in stock, because I haven't found one!

I'm in the same position. I ordered my 2210 at the start of the month (and a 1940 for my wife) and the ship date has slipped four times from July 4 to July 31. And of course, I sold my 3970 to buy the new device.... so I am without a PocketPC. How hard is that? A whole month without a PocketPC :!: :evil:

[entropy1980]

Product Reviews are not a site draw.


That's not true whenever I have had a hardware review posted on my site (relatively close to the products launch)my traffic is triple for 1-2 weeks, granted software doesn't get the same effect but hardware is still big news.

[jeff]

jason, can you comment on the yellow hue when the 1940 is tilted? Is it really that bad? How much of a tilt do you need?

The forums on brighthand seem to suggest that it can be anywhere from as little as 5 degrees to 30 degrees tilted in any direction and then the yellow hue will unmistakably appear...

I just bought a 1940 tonight after getting a 2215 a few days ago. The screen on the 1940 is absolutely awful compared to the 2215. I thought all the talk of yellowness was just nit picking by some hard to please PDA geeks, but it's really bad. Here's both side by side with the same Today screen theme. Sorry about the blurriness, my hand isn't entirely steady.

http://users.rcn.com/oscs/screens.jpg

And that's the screen looking its best. Any up and down angular motion causes a huge fluctuation in colors. Far more than any other LCD screen I've ever seen.

I was planning to return the 2215 and go with the more easily pocketable 1940, but that screen has me thinking twice.

Jeff

[kuyars]

Jeff, can you possibly take another shot of only the 1940 in the best possible viewing angle? I want to see if the yellows really show when viewed straight on.

But from the looks of your picture, that doesn't seem like much of a deviation from a straight-on-viewing angle, and that it UNACCEPTABLY yellow.

HP really dropped the ball here. Granted there must be 1940 models whose screens are tolerable and even great, but from what I've seen, if you get an 1940, you really dont know what you're going to get. The quality control on these things seem to be dismal.

[jeff]

That picture up there is about as good as it gets. I might have been able to stand the yellow if I had gone directly from my old e570 to the 1940, but having the 2215 to compare it to is making it totally unacceptable.

[Gregg]

Can anybody get the "facts" on the yellow hue on the 1940. I have a 3870 and I just bought the 1940 yesterday because I needed a smaller profile. I refused to carry the 3870 with extended battery sleeve around all the time (has IBM microdrive in it also).

I am not disappointed with the 1940, I am just trying to understand the facts behind the "hue".

Spoke to customer service last nite and received this answer:
It is "goo" that they used in making the screen and they were not aware of the issue. It will be addressed dependent on the number or complaints. It is a process that is used so that somebody can't read your screen if they are behind you. (My take on that is: they only way they woundn't be able to read it is if they are blind to "yellow hue") :twisted:

Spoke to customer service this morning and received this answer:
HP doesn't know anything about this issue and you should return your unit and get a new unit. :roll: :?:

Concerns:
1. Is this a quality issue or just a need for the engineer who approved this process to be "fired" for letting this get through to the public?

Can somebody please get a concrete answer? (please no supposition)

Thank-Everybody in Advance for their responses. :)

[Ichabod]

Ok, I can't let this go on any further but nobody has mentioned this idea any where, and I am registered here.... maybe the yellow hue seen at certain angles is a light polarizer. The idea is like it will polarize incoming light from these angles that would normally interfere with your outgoing backlight. Adding the "sunglasses" to the 1940 might be to yield better outdoor performance now that reflections are better controlled. I have seen Casio do this between thier devices, where the same screen technology was used but a tinted layer was added.
Someone would need to test both the 1910 and 1940 outside to see if this is a deliberate move.

Everyones complaining about this yellow when you tilt it. This could be something that makes this device more usable outside. :|

[Rudolf]

Hmmm. I just went to a local store to to buy a 1940. I was preferring it over the 2210 because of the size and the presence of record button on the side (one handed reading is a must...) The lady was nice enough to let me play a little bit with the devices. I've almost bought the 1940 but compared to a 2210 or 1910 side by side... Its screen is as yellow as a lemon... Tilt or no tilt.
I have pointed this out and the lady said: Nooo... that cannot be true. This must be a different color scheme.
After careful investigation they decided that it's not using a different color scheme. :D So their final conclusion was: Some will loose his/her head at HP letting this out to the public. And I have regretfully bought an 2210 :wink: . I still miss the record button for paging, but well; You know, I just could not resist... At the end they still got my money.

[jnunn]

I certainly hope that HP would not sacrifice overall screen performance for the special case of glare from outside use. Like most PDA users, I use an anti-reflective screen protector (i.e. WriteRights, etc.) which would make the screen's AR coating redundant.

Since I have been using my iPAQ for years with a screen protector I forget if the screen already has an AR coating itself. Besides, I have never seen an AR coating with a yellow tint before: blue and purple perhaps but not yellow.

When I examine the 1940 I will look to see if the yellow tint is at all apparent when viewed from the normal position. A PPC is a single user device so how the screen looks from an oblique angle is irrelevant. Some tilt will be necessary because you cannot assume that user can perfectly align the screen while in use.

[jnunn]

Thanks, Rudolf. Now we know that the screen is yellow at all viewing angles. I hope that this is just a quality issue that HP can fix in short time span.

I have not seen the tint yet but it sounds like a fatal flaw. I hope that HP can rescue the 1940 before the device is buried either by obsolescence or by reputation.

[Jason Dunn]

Ok, I'm going to take some photos and settle this issue once and for all. But I have to wait for my wife to get home with her 1910 for comparison....

[jnunn]

Thanks Jason, you have a crowd waiting for these pictures. These pictures, however, are something that the original reviewer should have had the market knowledge to cover. The reviewer should have already compared the 1940 to its predecessor and to its competitors just as groundwork before writing the review. Since the reviewer brought up the yellow tint originally, his omission shows a disregard for research.

[bbarker]

Personally, I found the 1940's screen preferrable to the 2215's. The decreased size and cost, the significantly better application buttons, and the dedicated voice memo button are notable advantages as well. In the 2215's favor are the better D-Pad (IMO), rubber side grips, hope for a flip-cover, supposedly longer battery life, CF slot, and probably better performance in most areas. As a result, if I was going to buy one of these two models, I'm not sure which one it would be.
I haven't seen information anywhere that suggests there will be a flip cover. Scott, have you seen information or hints about this?

[Alexandre Baroni]

Hi people.

I´m from Brazil and I just ordered one 1940 at Ecost.com from USA. I liked the size of this product, but I´m worried about this yellow screen problem. Someone that already bought it could tell me if it´s really bother you ? Or if it could be a HP problem to be fixed...

I can change to 2210 if I want.

Thank you...

[jnunn]

Alexandre, I would wait until Jason posts his pictures and gives his thoughts on this. Rudolf already turned down the 1940 due to the screen but the yellow tint may not be so important to you.

I plan on looking at the 1940 in the coming days and will give my impression too since I am beginning to believe that I may be one of the tougher critics. I have a packed weekend (Fri night club, Sat the LA Tofu Fest, Sun regatta) so I will not be able to give a criticism until next week. I think Jason's input will be the most valuable, though, so look for his comments.

[kuyars]

The problem is, whether or not Jason posts comparative pics between the 1910 and the 1940, I think there simply seems to be a great deal of variation of the angle needed to produce the yellows in addition to the amount of yellow produced. Over in the Brighthand forums, several memebers have posted their pics and ALL look quite different. One user there posted a pic that was clearly shot straight-on, but the yellow of the screen was exactly like a Post-It note.

Others reported having no problems at all with the yellow, since it would only show at extreme angles that one would never even use anyway. And again, others have posted that even the slight angle changes caused by pressing on the hardware buttons have caused the tremendous changes in hue.

So it seems too varied to really make a judgement call on the 1940. All that can be said, it seems, is that if you get a yellow screen, keep returning it until you get one that isnt affected as much.

[jnunn]

Thanks Kuyars for bringing us up to date. The device to device variation makes this sound like a QC problem that can hopefully be resolved soon. The upshot may be to only buy the 1940 when you have had the opportunity to look at the exact unit you purchase beforehand like at a retail store. At the retail store, try to use the demo battery since you have not charged your battery sufficiently yet.

I imagine that someone in HP QC is feeling some heat right now. I hope that this problem raises the screen profile enough to port the 1910 screen to the 1940 AND to the 2210. HP needs to show its customers that it cares about their concerns where the screen is the biggest concern for both the 1940 and the 2210. HP already has a screen winner on its hands and it is just odd that the winner is on HP's least expensive iPAQ.

I recall reading that another left coast reader was considering modifying her 2210 with the 1910 screen. I am interested to see if she posts her progress.

[Ratel10mm]

It seems absoultely nuts to me that the consumer flagship H22xx has a worse screen than the 1910. Surely H.P. would have fitted the 1910 screen to the 22xx?????

[Jason Dunn]

Pictures coming up this afternoon - they're all very raw and large, so you can examine them in detail. I will say this much: the yellow hue of the 1940 has nothing to do with the angle. The device simply cannot display pure white - it's a yellowly white.

Edit: In looking at my pictures, the angle DOES matter.