Need help picking a PDA

[rocker935]

Hey guys, I'm new to the Pocket PC Thoughts forum.

I would really appreciate some help purchasing my first PDA. Price is my biggest priority. I would prefer something $250 and lower. I need something with Windows Mobile 5 or 6. I would prefer WM6 or one that I can use a pirated copy of WM to upgrade to 6. As I understand it, not all PDAs will upgrade to WM6. I am currently looking at the one below.

http://www.buy.com/prod/hp-ipaq-rx4240-mobile-media-companion-refurbished/q/loc/111/205510063.html#cRevSec

So basically these are the questions I have.

What cheap PDA would you recommend?
Is WM6 worth spending extra money to get?
What improvements are there from WM5 to WM6
Is the rx4240 compatible with an illegal copy of WM6?

I would truly appreciate any and all help.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Hi rocker935, Welcome to PPCT!

First I'd like to point out that discussions of cracks/illegal software are not encouraged in this forum - while we're not going to disallow references to 'cooked' ROMs, specific discussions are. I will say this though - unless you're a decent programmer or have a masochistic streak, don't bother flashing a 'cooked' ROM unless its specifically for the device you have. There's enough differences in hardware that you risk losing some functionality or worse, brick your device. There are no generic versions of WM6 (or WM5 for that matter), and driver availability will be a serious problem. Now on to your other questions:

1. Have you looked at the latest iPaq lineup? The iPaq 110 (http://www.expansys-usa.com/d.aspx?i=157744) is just a little over your stated budget, but it'd be brand new not refurbished, and has a few hardware improvements. It has a bigger screen, larger internal memory, an SDHC slot (capacities up to 16GB currently available if you have the moolah), and is already WM6.

2. Yes - it's more stable and is less of a pain in many ways.

3. TBH, WM6 should have been called WM5 Second Edition or something like that (it's based on WinCE 5.2) - a lot of the improvements are under the hood, so to speak. But yes, I think it's worth it.

4. Not that I know of - HP never issued an OS update for this model and likely never will. The iPaq lineup has also never been a big target for 'enthusiasts' - most of their efforts target smartphones, rather than pure PDA devices. So the availability of a cooked ROM for the 4240 is rather dubious.

HTH

[ADBrown]

I will say this though - unless you're a decent programmer or have a masochistic streak, don't bother flashing a 'cooked' ROM unless its specifically for the device you have.

Actually, being masochistic, or a programmer, or both doesn't matter: flash a ROM not customized for your device and chances are 99% or better you'll have a brick on your hands.

Rocker, what do you intend to use the device for? That would help us tell you what you might need. At that price range you might consider the Dell Axim X51v. They're older, but you can still get them on eBay and the like, plus it's got more memory and a much bigger, better screen than that iPaq 4240.

[jadesse]

I would buy the new HP for $299 as it will have a full warranty & purchase an extended warranty if available. This is of course you only want a stand alone PDA.

It doesn't make sense to buy some used piece of junk off of ebay that might fail the very next day to save a few bucks. Too many horror stories & yes there are more good than bad stories. I would rather have the piece of mind that if my device breaks I could send it back to HP.