iPAQ 5600 Pocket PC on eBay? Apparently!

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3044334772' target='_blank'>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...item=3044334772</a><br /><br /></div>If you're a curiosity seeker, you might want to swing by this eBay auction. The person holding the auction claims to have an iPAQ 5600, a Pocket PC 2002 device capable of either CDMA of GSM phone functionality. I'm a little suspect as to how this person got a hold of such a device, and even whether it would work, but people are bidding, so someone must be interested in it!

[portus]

The guy who put up that device for auction actually posted on some forum (here?) stating that he got it also from an eBay auction but he couldn't get some communication module to work so he is auctioning it off again ... I wonder whether this has become a collectible than a practical PDA...

[UPDATE] OK. The original thread is here (http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum/showthread.php?s=309e76862f037182eba8781d6bf8ebaf&threadid=35503) on pocketpcpassoin.com discussion forum.

[hulksmash]

Given that the seller has a very respectable "power seller" rating, I am confident that he knows the ins and outs of posting an "actual" photo of the product which he is auctioning. However, he has mysteriously "chosen" to instead post a rather dated pre-press photo of a concept model (still has compaq name on it) instead of posting an "actual" picture of the unit to be sold. Puzzling to say the least, since, on one-hand he seems trustworthy according to his positive feedback rating, yet on the other hand he is very obviously hiding something...

[entropy1980]

Given that the seller has a very respectable "power seller" rating, I am confident that he knows the ins and outs of posting an "actual" photo of the product which he is auctioning. However, he has mysteriously "chosen" to instead post a rather dated pre-press photo of a concept model (still has compaq name on it) instead of posting an "actual" picture of the unit to be sold. Puzzling to say the least, since, on one-hand he seems trustworthy according to his positive feedback rating, yet on the other hand he is very obviously hiding something...
Here are pics of it the guy sent to the people at pocketloft....

http://www.pocketloft.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1425

[hulksmash]

Thanks for posting the link to the pics. I'm still not sure why he didn't post the pic. Perhaps because it is obviously a bit worn, has missing pieces or because it looks like a "serial" has been blacked out. I wouldn't buy it, the ones from hp will be coming out soon enough, and they will work. Although, a Sprint rep has indicated that they are working on co-developing one of these units so perhaps a sprint logo will be on it somewhere... Thanks again,...

Cheers!

[yada88]

Being that those modules will have to go inside the device, I would recommend buying this only if you have experience in engineering inside of a pocket pc. Or you might want to offer PocketPCTechs a couple hundred bucks to get it running for you. Either way, it isn't going to be easy.

Me =-)

[entropy1980]

Being that those modules will have to go inside the device, I would recommend buying this only if you have experience in engineering inside of a pocket pc. Or you might want to offer PocketPCTechs a couple hundred bucks to get it running for you. Either way, it isn't going to be easy.

Me =-)

actually the slide into the back it's not too bad an operation... :wink:

[ChristopherTD]

Is it not also curious that the pictures at PocketLoft have the Compaq logo at the top, rather than HP?

[arebelspy]

Only 64 MB?

Anyone else notice that it uses PPC2002? wtf?

-arebelspy

[madbart]

I for one would certainly not be buying a "one off" product that will never be supported let alone have no warranty. I think it is a case of "buyer be very aware". :?

[gohtor]

I saw one on ebay selling a long while back. it had an actual photo of the unit face up on a kitchen table. it's possible this is the same exact one or there could be more of these prototypes lurking around. anyhow I had messaged the guy about weither or not the gsm is fully functional but he could not give me a confirmed answer on it. I take it that the unit probably won't work (or work well) as a cellphone. and since it is a one of a kind nonexistent model. you are not going to be able to use compaq's updaters to update the OS. you can try to be a cool cat and apply your own rom update to the sucker but I would guess that it would bring more unforseen problems than it is worth.

lol no body will tech support a ppc app installed on this sucker... they'll likely blame you for not using a authorized OS. bare in mind there's no ppc phone edition os's for HP/Compaq.

i wouldn't pay more than 300 bucks for this unit. (the price of it as if it was a 5450)

[Pocket PC Dubai]

Starting price is expensive considering this device as test unite, technical people may buy it for experimental reasons. Useless if its gonna stay in the lab forever. Note that the seller didn’t really mention if it works or not!

[van_mierlo]

I am not sure if the seller knows to much about.

On brighthand,ppcpassion he only has 6 posts and they are only related to this sale. :roll:

[TechMage]

This reminds me of that HP Jornada prototype with the XScale processor that was being sold a while ago. What was it called again?


I remember also, before the new PPCs with XScale chips were being made, a guy posted pictures of a prototype of a Loox that he had bought in Japan. Seriously though, why would you want something like this? I can understand if it's just because you are a collector, but seeing how the value of old technology goes down so much over the years, why would you invest in something like this?

I'm one of the only people I know that have an old 286 PC, but I could not even give that thing away even if it was rare.

[dannyoneill]

the value of production stuff goes down but a 1 of a kind prototype of a popular device could go up, or not.

Some boffin might like to get there hands on this to have a play. Some other comanies may want to see how far compaq got. Anyway, dosnt matter what we thing, hes got bids, fairplay to the guy.

[aroma]

Given that the seller has a very respectable "power seller" rating, I am confident that he knows the ins and outs of posting an "actual" photo of the product which he is auctioning. However, he has mysteriously "chosen" to instead post a rather dated pre-press photo of a concept model (still has compaq name on it) instead of posting an "actual" picture of the unit to be sold. Puzzling to say the least, since, on one-hand he seems trustworthy according to his positive feedback rating, yet on the other hand he is very obviously hiding something...

He did post pictures of the actuall device on the auction. There were there yesterday morning, and I just checked and they are still there. Actually, reading all the text, it looks like he posted the actuall pictures on Monday.

- Aaron

[aroma]

Anyone else notice that it uses PPC2002? wtf?

This was a device that was being developed at the same time as the 5450, but it never made it out of R&D and the time. WM 2003 wasn't available at the time, so of course it's running PPC 2002.

- Aaron

[KayMan2k]

It has got to be fake. There isn't enough room in the 5xxx body for BlueTooth, WiFi AND CDMA! Plus the top black thingy doesn't have an extra LED for the supposed CDMA.

[David Prahl]

Whether fraudulent or real and working, this sale is illegal. Did anyone else read the FCC notice on the back? "NOT FOR SALE" was part of it. :wink: Do they mean retail sale, or any sale? Should someone tell E-Bay?

Looks like an old prototype. "Cut edge" insteading of "cutting edge!"

[Paul P]

Whether fraudulent or real and working, this sale is illegal. Did anyone else read the FCC notice on the back? "NOT FOR SALE" was part of it. :wink: Do they mean retail sale, or any sale? Should someone tell E-Bay?

Looks like an old prototype. "Cut edge" insteading of "cutting edge!"

Why should someone tell eBay? hehe Where is the harm? Seller is being forthcoming. I am sure someone at HP knows about it, and clearly, they are not concerned.

[jt3]

This whole line (5600 series) was discontinued by Compaq because they couldn't get the bugs worked out (before being taken over by HP). Judging from the state of the 5400 when it was initially released, and the fact that the cases are identical, it leads me to wonder exactly how much effort HP put in to squash those bugs.

True, most of the bugs were with the Phone modules, and HP hasn't yet released an iPAQ with those capabilities, however, I have the sneaking suspicion that HP simply took out the phone support, and released the unit "as is" without even trying to test the rest of the unit. Those of us who had one of the initial 5400s know what I mean.

At any rate, this auction probably is legit, but this is likely a pre-production model, that won't be supported, won't operate properly (probably equal to the initial 5400s), and won't ever be updated. Basically, that makes this a $400+ novelty item, which is a bit steep for people like me whose money tree refuses to take root, but for someone who is willing to spend the money on a unit more for the "glory of having it" than for any possibility of actually being able to use it... well... knock yourself out.

[guinness]

It isn't the first HP prototype to wind up on ebay though:

The Jornada 575, the Xpander (which was actually pulled off ebay) and now the iPaq 5600.

Someone will buy it, just to mess around with it and say that they have one.

[kfluet]

It has got to be fake. There isn't enough room in the 5xxx body for BlueTooth, WiFi AND CDMA! Plus the top black thingy doesn't have an extra LED for the supposed CDMA.

It looks totally real to me.

There is no WiFi in this unit. Just bluetooth and phone. The phone module goes where the WiFi unit is in the 5400.

For a while you could buy a phone module from foxconn.com (the iPAQ parts store), and it looked a lot like the modules he is including in the auction. People were talking about whether putting one of these modules into an early-model 5400 (with the SIM slot) would work, but the problem was that nobody had any software to make the phone functions run.

The real questions are (1) whether or not this device on eBay has the working phone software for cdma and/or gsm and (2) whether it will work with a cell provider.

I'm sure some prototype collector out there will be very happy with this even if it doesn't work.

[Enderet]

Just to add a little bit more heat to the debate in regards to this "5600", some time ago, a so called "dahmooser" posted here in PPCThoughts about having a 5650". I called him a liar and probably said some mean things and he sent me the following PM:

Enderet,

Believe me, I didn't lie to you. I have a 5650 sitting here in front of me that I cannot even use! it won't sync properly, it doesn't recognize that it has a slot for a GSM chip and WAN capabilities. Ereader won't activate. Its a "goddamn" frustrating shame.

Since my brother's company IS under NDA I shouldn't have posted anything, but I was just so frustrated that I couldn't get it to work that I wanted to see if anyone knew how to.

In my readings of PPC 2003 over the past few days it looks as if what's on the unit I have is a cobbling together of pieces that MS makes to simulate what PPC 2003 is now. This unit is a couple months old (received) but I couldn't use it because the battery was faulty.

I got a working battery (same as 5455) now, but now the truth is I am far more frustrated that before.

You have no reason to believe any of this, so I don't expect you to. But I was raised as believing that a person is only as good as their word, and I am telling you, its sitting right here in front of me - dead.

My only hope is that the 5655 will come out and I'll be able to download or buy some kind of ROM flash to update it. Otherwise, ah well, a $700 paperweight.

feel free to Im me in MSN Messenger, as you are one of the few who uses it.

As it is right now HP hasn't even announced it to the public, which makes me concerned that they may junk it and make something better, smaller, and faster. Then this unit will truly just be a myth.

Then he states his name and that is the end of it. I feel somewhat bad by letting this out, but oh well.

8O :( :? :| http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14025&highlight=

Just decided to go back and look for this. I guess I was a little too harsh, but it wasnt just me. :cry: [/quote]

[JonasGrumby]

It isn't the first HP prototype to wind up on ebay though:

The Jornada 575, the Xpander (which was actually pulled off ebay) and now the iPaq 5600.

Someone will buy it, just to mess around with it and say that they have one.

To be honest, I bought a half dozen pre-production Windows CE machines a while back on eBay, for what amounted to $10 a unit.

A number of Casio A-20's with 320x480 screens, an unmarked NEC, a Casio Aladdin test unit, and two 320lx's in green, unmarked cases and an early version of Windows CE 2.0 installed.

I actually got one working, and later added a backlight.

This and the X25 I'd love to add to my collection, if only I could afford them!

[Aaron Halbert]

Hi,

I am the owner of PocketLoft, and I'd just like to intervene to say that the referenced source, PocketPt, ripped the story and images right off of PocketLoft, and even used images residing on our server. The auction was originally found by our EIC, edeab220. I don't mean to be annoying, but for the little guys, this type of thing hurts. It could have brought a lot of new readers to PocketLoft, but instead, we got blown away and ignored. :| So, if anyone cares to make a correction, I'd really appreciate it.

Aaron

[David Prahl]

We'd be happy to give credit where credit is due. What kind of "correction" do you mean? On the E-Bay auction or on this forum?

[Aaron Halbert]

I meant on this article. Let me try to explain what happened again:

-edeab220 finds the auction (http://www.pocketloft.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1424)

-It's turned into a news article (http://www.pocketloft.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=23330)

-PocketPt uses it w/o giving credit, and uses images on our server, sucking up bandwidth

-PPCT and other large sites post the story, but PocketLoft gets ignored (no fault of PPCT - it's the PocketPt site I'm upset with)

I'm sorry I have to complain, but breaking new stories is a good way for small sites to grow, and the few that PocketLoft has come up with have left PL in the dust. :| Thanks for hearing me out. :wink:

[theone3]

Hi,

I am the owner of PocketLoft, and I'd just like to intervene to say that the referenced source, PocketPt, ripped the story and images right off of PocketLoft, and even used images residing on our server. The auction was originally found by our EIC, edeab220. I don't mean to be annoying, but for the little guys, this type of thing hurts. It could have brought a lot of new readers to PocketLoft, but instead, we got blown away and ignored. :| So, if anyone cares to make a correction, I'd really appreciate it.

AaronThanks for making the correction guys. It's really sad that a site like pocketPT should do such a thing.

If you care to look back through the forums, you'll find i posted here, leading to PL, well before this article was written. :wink:

[PetiteFlower]

Why should someone tell eBay? hehe Where is the harm? Seller is being forthcoming. I am sure someone at HP knows about it, and clearly, they are not concerned.

Well if this unit is not meant for sale or is part of an NDA then it's against Ebay's policies, and they might want to know so they can shut down the auction......If HP were to find out about it after the fact, they could sue Ebay for making money off of an illegal sale, so they really try to keep things legal. Not always successful but if you bring things to their attention then they are usually pretty good about shutting them down.

[dahmooser]

Interestingly enough....I just came back and found this post, since I haven't looked here in months (as you can see).

I never did get my HP 5650 working. Just an expensive paperweight for me!

Since HP/Compaq has never declared to the public they would make a phone capable unit. I have to guess this unit's r&d died long ago.

Be aware that there was no way I could find to update the ROM. Anytime I tried with software from the HP site, the Unit ID was wrong. So I couldn't even flash it with the latest ROM for, say, a 5555.

All in all a big bummer, but at least now you know I was not lying.

The one(s) on EBAY are highly unlikely to function RELIABLY. And without reliability, can you ever really trust your PDA?

[David Prahl]

Would you be willing to write out a mini-review?