iPAQ rz1715 Showing up at Circuit City Stores

[Jason Dunn]

Pocket PC Thoughts reader Mystery0 is a Circuit City employee, and guess what they just got in stock? The iPAQ rz1715. However, his initial impressions aren't all that good...<br /><br /><i>"I am an employee at a Circuit City store. I just thought I would let you know that the ipaq rz1715 is already for sale at Circuit City stores. If it is not on display then ask nicely and an employee can check if they have it in stock, and if they do, they can sell it for $279.96. My store only has the ipaq rz1715 but I would not be surprised if other stores had other models. CC is also going to carry the ipaq rx3415 and rx3715. They will proably carry the hx4705 as an online only model.</i><!> <br /><br /><i>We have had it for two days and we have been playing around with what is going to be our display model. I can confirm that it has Windows Mobile 2003 SE, 10MB ROM, built in battery that is not replaceable, an SD slot, and only 25MB RAM avaible to user! That is a pitiful amount of RAM for a PPC. I also have some concerns over the screen. It looks great, but it is not very sensitive. In order to make it respond I had push to hard enough that I felt like I was going to damage the screen. I have been selling ipaqs since the first ipaq 3600s came out and this is the least sensitive srceen to date. I hope that we simply recieved a bad batch. I have some pictures of the box and it contents, and pictures from all six sides of the ipaq itself, plus some of it next to a 5000 series ipaq for size comparison. If you happen to post this on the site then I will email you the pictures too."</i><br /><br />If Mystery0 is reading this, I'd certainly love some pictures - you didn't include your email address in the message you sent us, so I can only ask you for the photos in here. Contact us again, send us the pics, and we'll publish them immediately. :mrgreen:

[arnage2]

jeez. This unit sounds worse and worse ever time i hear more about it. What a huge disappointment from hp.

[Zack Mahdavi]

Wow, HP's not putting anything into its $279 iPaq. I'm kind of shocked since I think that device could be sold for a lot lower, around $199. HP, why not compete with Palm's Tungsten E?

[DVallot]

At CompUSA too

[WyattEarp]

25MB RAM :? . Must be for the appointments only type of people. But not for $279. That would scare of even them.

[bjornkeizers]

25 mb??? My god! 8O And this is shared between storage and memory to run programs? My 1915 has about 45 mb memory available which I can allocate for storage and to run programs...

So, to recap, it has a slow processor, little memory, a single slot, an unresponsive screen, and it's $100 more then what I paid for my 1915?

If it was $100 cheaper, it'd still be expensive, but at least it could compete more or less with the Zire's and low end Clie's... at this price, they're not going to sell more then a handful.

WHAT THE F... ARE YOU THINKING HP???

[Duncan]

How on earth did HP manage to make such a huge miss-step? This is really very odd. Surely they have to be aware that people will not buy a Pocket PC at that price with those specs!?

Sell it at a price to compete with the low end Palm Zires, and it will find a niche...

[manywhere]

Jason, better close the italics since the whole frontpage is in italics below this newspost... ;)

A PDAGold member also said (http://www.pdagold.com/forums/view_topic.asp?t=4461) that CompUSA is carrying this device. He or she belives that the price was around "279 or 299" USD. Anyone else seen the same thing or other places?

[Mystery0]

This is Mystery0, the person who sent in the news. I am having trouble getting the pictures to you guys. They are in a 748kB zip file, but I don't know where to send it.

[SHoTTa35]

you should be able to use even yahoo to upload a file that small.. yahoo's limit is 1MB i thought so i'm sure Jason's email can take 10MB files with no problem...

[Mike Temporale]

This is Mystery0, the person who sent in the news. I am having trouble getting the pictures to you guys. They are in a 748kB zip file, but I don't know where to send it.

Mystery0,

The best thing to do is email them to News (at) PocketPCThoughts.com I would also include the URL of this thread so whoever picks up the email knows what they are for. :D

[PezRadar]

How depressing.. I made a post in the ipaq forums before this official post on the main page :\

Anyways..

I guess ill "double confirm" that circuit city has it.. We did put ours on display.. Circuit City just revamped there PDA display with new signage for PalmOne and Windows Mobile units. And now has spiffy PDA guides so we wont get people who come in and go "WHATS THIS?!"

The Unit.. Really.. I mean Really does suck.. I do like the interface on the destkop.. its kinda sleek and futuristic..


But heres the funny part...

If you look at the box of the unit.. its filled with nothing but jargon for it being a Multimedia PDA etc. To Be Honest.. I wouldnt even use this thing for MP3's =\


But 3264 in Frisco has it on Display if u live in the DFW Area.. Call ahead in your store. They should have them in stock, but I dont think most stores are putting them on display, just because Circuit City hasnt told us too. But the renegade stores that dont listen do.. Like mine :P


Oh and im confirming.. Circuit City will not carry the 4700 series.. Only through Circuitcity.com.. They have never carried a super high end ipaq like the 5400/5500 series in stores..

I have no idea why not :(


EDIT: Btw its 279.99 not .96 :P CircuitCity moved this from class 6 to 9 yesterday afternoon.. Class 6 is for products that are spankin new and are discontinued.. 9 is for normal products that will be coming back in stock.. so if u see a pda with a 6 or 5 at the end instead of a 9.. at circuit city.. then its usually brand new or discontinued.. (im a dork)

[Mystery0]

Wow. It is nice to see another CC employee posting on the site. Our store has not recieved word to put it on display and our managers are very strict about that. In fact we probably won't get permission to untill well after the rumoured Monday launch date. The same thing happened when the ipaq 2215 came out. It was in our store a week and a half before I read on this site that it was officially launched, and with the ipaq 4155 we didn't put it on display untill a week after the official announment even though we had them in stock avalible to sell.

[Duncan]

For those in the UK - the New Argos catalogue (out today) has the rz1710 (as it is here) available for £199.99. As far as I can tell this is the only UK store to have put a price on (and started selling) any of the new iPAQs.

Link: http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=2501&productId=102130

Now don't all rush at once...! :)

[Kevin Daly]

With those specs, I think a fair price would be US$100. Otherwise forget about it...this has shades of the short-lived Jornada 525 (the "Why did they bother?" Jornada).

It's worth pointing out that having only a small amount of available memory would make it pretty useless as a multimedia device.

HP desperately needs some credible competition in the Pocket PC market. 0X

PS. The really annoying thing is that that model is probably the only one we'll see over here for months and months and months...

[crispeto]

What an ugly hunka junk

[huangzhinong]

The correct price for this unit should be $149.99 to compete with zire 31.
HP employed some idiots this time.

[beq]

I was just at CompUSA earlier today, but they had no new units and the employee there didn't know or haven't heard anything. There was a CC right next door but unfortunately I skipped going into it...

P.S. I had to wait in line at CompUSA since there was a pregnant woman with her family there who I let get in front of me, and she was talking about the iPAQ 4150 for a long time (I only heard that she wanted the 4155 instead of the 4150 or something :D)...

[whydidnt]

Sombody please explain the logic of releasing a low end device with worse specs than your previous low end device that is also uglier and bigger than that device. Oh yeah for a more money too! I must have slept through that Marketing 101 class. :evil:

[Duncan]

Ummm... is anyone going to fix the 'italics' problem caused by this news item...

[Steven Cedrone]

Ummm... is anyone going to fix the 'italics' problem caused by this news item...

It's being looked into...

Steve

[tsahnocub]

I'm a Circuit City employee at 3345 in Highlands Ranch CO, and I can also confirm that we go the rz1715 in stock today. Our location also did get a report printout showing the new model and instructing it be put on display.

All the stores here in CO recieved 2 units on our trucks today. We do not have either of the other two models at any of the stores from what I can see, nor do we have any of them at our distribution warehouses.

The hx4705 so far is not a vaild model at any of our locations (store, distribution center, or internet warehouse). I'm continuing to check for that every day I work, but so far nothing. I'm hoping after Monday we'll at least get that model downloaded as an online order item (which we can sell in stores with free ground shipping to your house).

So far, I agree that the rz1715, after toying with it for a few mins today (I actually work customer service) that it is an inferior unit to the h1945 which we just recently discontinued carrying. There's no bluetooth, the poor memory amounts, and I agree on the lack of screen sensitivity, normally I can do basic stuff with my finger on the screen, but I had to pull out the stylus for this one today.

The today screen interface is actually just a today screen plugin they have installed on there by default. So you can disable it and use a normal today screen. It does work in both landscape and portrait modes.

The unit is still a plastic case, and feels very light. No cradle. SDIO, but I'd be reluctant to actually use it for anything other than storage. A pretty crippled unit in my opinion, especially when the h1945 was closed out at the same price as this ($279.99).

Interestingly enough, the box only lists the unit as having Windows Mobile 2003 software, not SE, although SE is what's on it. Thought that was an interesting oversite.

The packaging I thought looked cheap, really basic looking. Just personal opinion there.

--
Ian

[jpjehu]

anyone working at compusa know when the 4700 series should arrive in stores?????

[PezRadar]

Its actually on Circuit City planograms to be placed on display, but not on screen 288 off DPS, so were technically not suppose too, but I run the AOR for PDA's so I was like "screw that" and stuck it up there.. seeing how the 2215 is now gone, and we sold our display.. and the 1945 is open boxed (our display unit) and the only windows mobile device we had left was the 4155.. and thats because our Toshiba Units were sold including displays..

It felt so naked going over to a customer and saying..

"Heres Palms Lineup." and show them like 5-6 pdas, then say

"And heres windows mobile!"

And show them 1 freaking PDA :|

But anyways.. its is really a cheap feeling pda.. and the packaging.. Ill confirm does SUCK :P

It looks like a zire 71/72 box , but in cardboard :|

[Shaun Stuart]

For those in the UK - the New Argos catalogue (out today) has the rz1710 (as it is here) available for £199.99. As far as I can tell this is the only UK store to have put a price on (and started selling) any of the new iPAQs.

Link: http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=2501&productId=102130

Now don't all rush at once...! :)

Just in case anyone is actually tempted by this - take a look at the Ipaq 1940 first. Argos has it listed at £239 but you can get it from www.expansys.com for £173 (in stock), £25 cheaper than the new rz1710.

For £25 less you get a 1940 with

Bluetooth
More memory
Removable Battery
in a smaller (10%) arguably more attractive device.

The only advantage I can see with the rz1710 is that it has Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition. I have SE on my Toshiba E800, it is good but I would not give up any of the above for it.

At first glance this looks to me as if HP feel they can justify higher price tags because the new devices have a newer OS. But, then again, according to some of the posts here HP are not even advertsing the SE OS on the box. This just does not make any sense to me - I think they have made a huge mistake.

Perhaps they think that now Sony have exited the PDA market (and possibly Toshiba not far behind) that people will buy the new device because of limited choice and just because they say "Ipaq" on them.


Does anyone here work for, or know people that work for, HP that can shed any light on this ?

[Paragon]

HP has always been able to demand a few extra bucks on their PPCs over Dell. In the past name and loyalty played a part in that. Availability is a big factor as well. The average guy walks into Cicuit city or wherever and sees Ipaqs firsthand and has no idea he can buy a *better* Dell at a *better* price. I'm not so sure this is going to work on the rz1715. It's the crappiest Pocket PC HP has ever put out. Possible the worst PPC ever, period!

I think the small amount of memory is a great idea on a device like this, having an SD slot to upgrade memory as the customer wishes......BUT ONLY IF IT WAS SELLING FOR 149 bucks....plus occasional rebates bringing it down even lower!!!!

HP has always done a great job with its line of Pocket PCs, unfortunately I think this one will go down as a real "screw up"! The real screw up being , they put the wrong OS on it....It should be a Palm OS. It would seem more fitting. ;)

Dave

[chunkymonkey75]

I personally feel the only real screw-up here is the price then. (a very big one). At $150 this would be a Palm Killer. The price they have on it now is just ridiculus.

[Paragon]

I personally feel the only real screw-up here is the price then. (a very big one). At $150 this would be a Palm Killer. The price they have on it now is just ridiculus.

Exactly!

[bjornkeizers]

I personally feel the only real screw-up here is the price then. (a very big one). At $150 this would be a Palm Killer. The price they have on it now is just ridiculus.

At that price it'd have a fighting chance, nothing more. At that price, there's a ton of competition:

* Palm's Tungsten E, which has more memory, a higher res screen and it doesn't look cheap.

* Zire 72; more memory, faster processor, higher res screen, and a built in camera

* Clie TJ27; more memory, faster processor, higher res screen, built in camera..

It doesn't stand a chance, really. If you go for the ultra cheap segment (Zire 21 & 31) the price gap between those and the HP is too big. In the $150-$200 segment you have all the units I just mentioned, and at the price it'll be selling now, you can get a much better unit at a lower price elsewhere.

Why did they even build it? Why didn't some engineer stand up and said 'we built a better unit last year at a lower price' And what was marketing thinking? It's too low spec even for a Palm user, and it's too expensive for someone who just wants basic PIM, which is all this thing is good for.

All I can think of is that the *good* people at HP went on a long well deserved vacation after making the 1900 series and left these f'ing morons in charge.

[darkfire07]

What's up fellow CCity employees!
I work at store 3240, Fayetteville, Arkansas.
We got the RZ1715 in on Wednesday, and I immediately moved it to display, as it was on the most recent planogram. My store has the same problem with having no Windows Mobile units....just the lone 4155, sitting by itself. No Toshibas, our 2215's and 1945's, including displays, were sold several weeks ago.
My impression: It's a piece. It feels slow, far slower than the 1945, and no Bluetooth? The design is boxy and ugly, in my opinion, and because of the square bottom it feels bigger. The screen isn't very nice. The plastic body feels very cheap. All this for 279.99?? I think not!
DF7

[caywen]

This PDA really sucks compared to, say, the iPaq 19xx. Looks like it's the same price, but it lacks build quality. The 19xx has a silver direction pad that feels solid and is very tactile. This one has a black cheap plastic dpad and doesn't feel like it will last. The 19xx also has a rounded bottom that makes it easy to slide into pockets. And I like rounded bottoms :-)

The screen *might* be about 2% better IMO, but I really couldn't tell the difference.

-Kevin

[tthiel]

You can get a 624mhz Dell with Wireless, bluetooth, more memory etc for about this price. Dell spanks HP on this one. I'm interested in the 47XX but there are so many new features that I assume its going to have a bunch of problems like every new Ipaq from the beginning has had.

[chunkymonkey75]

You can get a 624mhz Dell with Wireless, bluetooth, more memory etc for about this price. Dell spanks HP on this one. I'm interested in the 47XX but there are so many new features that I assume its going to have a bunch of problems like every new Ipaq from the beginning has had.

I guess I'm a little confused by your comment. I don't remember any iPaq having a lot of troubles....especially compared to the competition.

[pdagal]

I just wrote an in-depth review of the rz1715, and it was a disappointing unit. The 1945 is a better unit: more stylish, faster processor and Bluetooth. *sigh* I can't believe HP didn't give it a user-replaceable battery, which was a standard for their previous line!

http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/ipaq_rz1715.htm

[thendless]

I just wrote an in-depth review of the rz1715, and it was a disappointing unit. The 1945 is a better unit: more stylish, faster processor and Bluetooth. *sigh* I can't believe HP didn't give it a user-replaceable battery, which was a standard for their previous line!

http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/ipaq_rz1715.htm

Yea i agree.

the only thign that the rz1715 has an advantage in the h1940 is a 3.5 mm jack (which doesnt matter IMO) and wm2003se. Other than that it is a POS.

[PezRadar]

Great to hear were not the only store with that issue of having 1 pocket pc before the rz1715


and i for one dont recall any hp having horrible probelms early on.. Just i thinkt he 5400 series had some issues i believe but thats about it

[bjornkeizers]

My impression: It's a piece. It feels slow, far slower than the 1945, and no Bluetooth? The design is boxy and ugly, in my opinion, and because of the square bottom it feels bigger. The screen isn't very nice. The plastic body feels very cheap. All this for 279.99?? I think not!
DF7

I really feel bad for you CC guys and others who have to sell this model. I could not in good conscience recommend the unit to a customer. All the people in this thread who've used the unit are negative... There isn't a single positive thing about it.