iPAQ 2210 one year down the line / pros and cons

[kosmos]

Greetings all ,

It just under a year that I have been using a HP iPAQ 2210. I would just like to give some feedback of my experiences since I really have made good use of it, primarily as a portable mp3 player, Cell Phone SMS front end, Internet via GPRS (as slow as a 14.4 modem but useful when no other alternative). I have really hammered it, used it at gym 4 x 1 hour a week, MTB cycling (extensively), in the car for audio, pocket Oxford Dictionary (very useful), Pocket Sky Astronomy (still have problems getting that to work). Calender syncs with our office GroupWise system, that works well. I have upgraded to a 4GB CF as a music store.

Problems:
- The Grip covers came off over 6 months ago, I just ripped em off. Tried to order replacement from Expansys in the UK but they got some totally nonsense shipping policy to South Africa that just ends up wasting your time completely. grrrr
- The SD card kept on popping out, eventually I lost a 512MB one with half my apps on
- The Earphone jack started giving problems a few months ago, a bit of wiggling got it right but it has now reached a point where I have had to send it in, and HP here in South Africa are giving me the run around and are stalling about sorting it out.
-I hardly ever use the stylus. got my thumbs nails trimmed to a bit of a point in the middle of the nail and that makes it quite easy to use. (trik gleaned from another ppc junkie Steve D)

Generally I was very happy with the performance and useability of the 2210 after adding SPB Plus and a few other s/w gizmos. Yet I feel the pocket PC o/s is almost but not quite there, very close. I hate the Windoze kludge and idiot proofing 'wizards' that hide basic detail.

Playing mp3's via Pocket Player never skipped a beat, I got 4-6 hours play time (carried a spare battery on long trips).

I tried a D Link DCF-660W CF Wireless n/w adapter. It worked, then it didn't work. Reinstalled. Hard Reset. One has to waste time getting it hooked up, I just want to slot it and it must connect. Not so. I gave up on it.

Pocket Sky not working was a dissapoinment since that is one of the original reasons I got a ppc. Long time user of The Sky on Windows. Even after talking to the author, there was just denial that there was a problem so I gave up on that as well.

Since its now in for repair, I have had a look around for another model/upgrade. The 4700 is a candidate since it has good specs but its a bit of a klunker c/f the slim 2210. I really want CF and SD memory, Wireless, Bluetooth, good screen. Don't know about that touch pad, whats the point.... but I am a HP loyalist (goes back to the HP 41C :) ) so I will see where they go.

Oh, I have been through about 6 sets of headphones. Dream of wireless. How do those HP BT ones work? Battery life? Sound quality?

Anyone in the same boat?

Cheers. 0X

[Don Tolson]

Sorry to hear about all the troubles... I've had my 2215 for over a year now and have had no problems with the grips or the SD or CF card slots. Sounds like you really were working it hard.

I haven't any problem with the headphone jack, and I use mine as a WMA/MP3 player quite a bit -- as well as a CF Radio card as well. I'm hoping to get a pair of the bluetooth stereo headphones to review soon, so I"ll let you know how those work out.

My biggest problems right now are with the 'upgrades' to the Bluetooth services by Microsoft, which seems to disable all the previously working stuff. When I first got the Belkin BT USB adapter for my PC, I was able to Activesync, file transfer and FAX through the BT interface to my Nokia 3650 phone. Since the SP2 upgrade to the PC and upgrades to the BT stack on my 2215, I can't get either of them to talk to each other or to the phone. I just don't have the time to keep playing with it to try to figure out what's going wrong. I know one problem with the PC is MS 're-assigning' the COM port for the BT adapter everytime its unplugged and replaced -- SHEESH!

Other than that, the other bit of a headache is having my 2215 'shared' around the house (most notably with my wife) to play solitare, pocket bubbles, etc. Now, I've got a screen with a couple of small scratches on it. Oh well, I think it's just about time for an 'evolution' and hand-me-down of the 2215 :)

I think I'm going to wait a bit longer to see what HP has up its sleeve. Although they didn't announce anything major @ CES, I have a feeling we're going to see another couple of new devices in the early spring.

[delfuhd]

I have to say I'm sorry to hear your troubles as well..

I've had my 2215 for a little over a year now, I guess it's been. I haven't had many problems at all, actually. The grips I've had showed expected problems, which have been easily dealt with by a constant stream of free replacement grips from HP. Other than that, well, I really can't think of anything my 2215 has been annoying about. A very top notch piece of equipment, if I were to be asked. My headphone jack has met expectations, and my expansion slots have been no trouble.. All the WiFi cards I've used have worked fine, except the Linksys WCF11 card, for which there were no drivers, but an ASUS wifi card driver helped that out.

Even with the new pocket pc's out, I am turning out to be hard-pressed to give myself reasons as tow hy I should get a new pocket pc.

[kosmos]

Good to hear others are enjoying the 2210. Besides the hassles, its really is a good piece of technology and I am missing my 2210 whislt HP South Africa take their time sorting it out. The problem with the earphone socket is the only major hassle though that latching mechanism for the SD card is a design fault, however when I get it back I am going to put a piece of tape across the top to keep it in once I replace the SD card. And that San Disk Wireless/128MB SD card is a waste of time.

Most of the other problems are s/w and config issues, not a fault of the 2210 and that's what I mean about the technology not quite being there yet, esp, Bluetooth which in theory is great but I do struggle as well getting it all to plug'n'play.

The other problem I had is the battery cover latching mechanism broke after I dropped it on a tiled floor. I was happy to pay for a replacement, but they simply don't supply spares here, you have to send the whole unit in for something so trivial. 10 days later still waiting.

As for those grips, those anodised accessory ones look great, but its becoming so difficult to get anyone to ship to South Africa, we are all 3rd world uncivilised animal crooks here you know.

Just been looking at the Dell X50 which has great specs and a nice size but I can't quite bring myself to get a Dell, been in the IT systems integrator business for long time, Dell has always pi$$ed me off big time with its direct sales policy.

Thanks again
:devilboy:

[Ketsugi]

hx2750 is looking good if you can afford it. Got mine through staff discount from a friend working in HP.

[PDANEWBIE]

Well he was mentioning the 4700 so the price range is about the same. I would definitely recommed the HP iPAQ hx2755 according to the specs it has almost everything your require without the touchpad.

[cml]

I too lost a 512 mg card (back when they actually cost a significant amount of money) thanks to a touchy SD slot on my 2215. Other than that, I've had few problems with it. I specifically avoided the bluetooth upgrade after so many others had problems....

[Vincent M Ferrari]

My theory since getting into the Pocket PC has been the following:

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The Bluetooth stack upgrade is one of those situations for me. I had no intention of upgrading the BT stack since everything I wanted to use BT for worked. I can transfer files to my work PC or my phone, and vice versa. I can get online with it when I'm on the run.

Everything works exactly the way I want to, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna start touching it now.

As for the quality of the 2215, I can truthfully say I've had zero quality issues with anything related to my 2215. The only minor issue are the stupid grips, and I just ordered a set of aluminum grips from PPC Techs to replace the crappy rubber ones. My SD cards stay firmly put, and the battery life is pretty good (not great; I had a Dell Axim X5 before; the king of battery life).

I would do a few things though:

1: An up / down roller on the side for volume adjustments and scrolling (like the Axim X5 had)
2: A record button for voice memos.

Other than that, this is one of the best PPC's I've ever played with, and for the price is one of the best values on the PPC market.

[Menneisyys]

- The Earphone jack started giving problems a few months ago, a bit of wiggling got it right but it has now reached a point where I have had to send it in, and HP here in South Africa are giving me the run around and are stalling about sorting it out.

It seems to be a common problem with all 2210 units. Mine did the same, just after the warranty timed out :( This clearly shows it's made of pretty weak metal because my other PDA's didn't have this problem. For example, I've used my iPAQ 3660 as a portable MP3 player for a bit less than 2 years, and its headphone jack is still working OK.

[Menneisyys]

Playing mp3's via Pocket Player never skipped a beat, I got 4-6 hours play time (carried a spare battery on long trips).


The 2210 has outstanding battery life, even with switched-on Bluetooth. For example, if you chat via MSN Messenger via a BT GPRS phone, on a ThinkOutside StowAway BT keyboard, the battery charge only decreases 10% an hour, resulting in a 9-hour-long session time with one charge!

I wish current VGA PPC's were as good as the 2210 power consumption-wise, and I'm also speaking of the BT units... for example, switching on the BT unit on both the Asus A370(w) and the Dell Axim x50v decreases their battery life considerably. Or, taking an example of the Pocket Loox 720, its 1640 mAh battery is able to run NoteM for approximately the same time as the 2210 with its 900 mAh battery with switched-off screen, meaning that without pixel doubling, the Pocket Loox still consumes about 70% more power than the 2210. And the other VGA devices (except for the hx4700) are even worse.

[CDW]

Just subscribed to this Forum.

I had my 2210 for about 15 months now, only problems I had so far was the grip covers, I removed the rubber eventually and now just have the plastic on, and then I have the problem that the screen sometimes lock up. Sometimes when I press the start button, the "New" menu on bottom left popup. And then after a while it seems to work fine again until the next time. I aligned the screen, and that did not help. I also hot reset and uploaded all the updates.

Apart from that, the PDA is fine I syncronise with Outlook on my PC and Notebook, I use CF and SD cards, I sms via bluetooth, and connect a Garmin GPS which works very nice.

Chris

[kosmos]

Relating back to my problems at the begnning of this thread, HP South Africa 'repaired' the headphone socket and replaced the side grips, but ahem the sound problems are back, which has now become intolerable. Strange, the problem sort of filters out the bass, I wiggle it, and the bass is back until it goes away again needing another wiggle and so the cycle continues...

HP now shrug off the issue and tell me its the headphones, which is not true since I have tried three sets (including a new pair). Now its past the year warranty so what's a man to do... its shame since I have finally aquired a 4GB CF and I have really got used to using it for portable music.

ps Mort Player rocks!

[CCollins]

The exented battery design is completely flawed. Pull on it a little bit and it will restart the handheld. After some (hard) use, on some of the handhelds it can reset it after just moving the battery.


This may not affect many consumers who are careful with their investment, but this model was a problem in the enterprise.