HP iPAQ 5455 Pocket PC

[Archived in Bluetooth, Games, Handhelds and PDAs, Hewlett Packard, Music, Productivity Software, Products, Wi-Fi (802.11b)]

Manufacturer: Hewlett Packard
Price at amazon.com: $579.88
This item is not stocked or has been discontinued.

Product Features:

• Dazzling Transflective TFT color liquid crystal display
• Removable/rechargeable 1250 mAh Lithium Polymer battery
• Secure Digital memory card slot for transferring and storing music, picture and more
• Integrated Wireless LAN 802.11b, Bluetooth, biometric fingerprint reader
• What's in the box: HP iPAQ Pocket PC, Slim Removable Battery, Protective Cover Pack, Universal Cradle, Extra Stylus, AC and Charging Adapter, USB cable, user's guide, HP iPAQ Pocket PC companion CD-ROM

Product Description:

Early Adopters Pick: December 2002. The first and only Pocket PC handheld PDA with integrated wireless LAN (802.11b), Bluetooth technology, and biometric fingerprint security. The powerful HP iPAQ H5455 Pocket PC features a 400 MHz Intel XScale processor, 64 MB RAM, 48 MB flash ROM, and a Secure Digital memory slot for additional memory. Its display is a color transflective TFT LCD, 3.78-inch, low-power, 16-bit touch screen, capable of displaying more than 65,000 colors with 240 x 320 resolution and .24 mm dot pitch. The H5455 is a ready-to-go wireless solution with universal remote control and Bluetooth technology capability, along with cool applications such as WEB, instant messaging, MP3, and online games. It's also compatible with popular Microsoft applications such as Outlook, Word, and Excel. Programs installed on the Pocket PC include: Microsoft Windows CE, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Voice Recorder, Notes, Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, Pocket Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player 8 (for playing MP3 files), Calculator, Solitaire, Inbox (for e-mail), Microsoft Reader (for reading eBooks), File Explorer, MSN Messenger, Terminal Services Client, VPN Client, Infrared Beaming, Clock, Align Screen, Infrared Beaming Memory, Volume Control, iPAQ Task Manager, iPAQ File Store, iPAQ Backup, and iPAQ Image Viewer. The iPAQ H5455 comes with a slim removable battery, a USB synchronization cable, an AC adapter, a charging adapter (tethered to the AC adapter), a quick-start user's guide, and an HP iPAQ Pocket PC companion CD-ROM (with Microsoft Outlook 2000, ActiveSync 3.5, add-on applications, and reference guide). The H5455 comes with a one-year limited warranty. What's in the box HP iPAQ Pocket PC Slim Removable Battery Protective Cover Pack Universal Cradle for either Universal Serial Bus (USB) or serial connection Extra Stylus AC Adapter Charging Adapter (tethered to the AC Adapter) USB synchronization cable Quick-start user's guide HP iPAQ Pocket PC companion CD-ROM (with Microsoft Outlook 2000, ActiveSync 3.5, add-on applications, and reference guide)

Description from Manufacturer:Early Adopters Pick: December 2002. The first and only Pocket PC handheld PDA with integrated wireless LAN (802.11b), Bluetooth technology, and biometric fingerprint security.

The powerful HP iPAQ H5455 Pocket PC features a 400 MHz Intel XScale processor, 64 MB RAM, 48 MB flash ROM, and a Secure Digital memory slot for additional memory. Its display is a color transflective TFT LCD, 3.78-inch, low-power, 16-bit touch screen, capable of displaying more than 65,000 colors with 240 x 320 resolution and .24 mm dot pitch.

The H5455 is a ready-to-go wireless solution with universal remote control and Bluetooth technology capability, along with cool applications such as WEB, instant messaging, MP3, and online games. It's also compatible with popular Microsoft applications such as Outlook, Word, and Excel.

Programs installed on the Pocket PC include: Microsoft Windows CE, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Voice Recorder, Notes, Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, Pocket Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player 8 (for playing MP3 files), Calculator, Solitaire, Inbox (for e-mail), Microsoft Reader (for reading eBooks), File Explorer, MSN Messenger, Terminal Services Client, VPN Client, Infrared Beaming, Clock, Align Screen, Infrared Beaming Memory, Volume Control, iPAQ Task Manager, iPAQ File Store, iPAQ Backup, and iPAQ Image Viewer.

The iPAQ H5455 comes with a slim removable battery, a USB synchronization cable, an AC adapter, a charging adapter (tethered to the AC adapter), a quick-start user's guide, and an HP iPAQ Pocket PC companion CD-ROM (with Microsoft Outlook 2000, ActiveSync 3.5, add-on applications, and reference guide).

The H5455 comes with a one-year limited warranty.

What's in the box

• HP iPAQ Pocket PC
• Slim Removable Battery
• Protective Cover Pack
• Universal Cradle for either Universal Serial Bus (USB) or serial connection
• Extra Stylus
• AC Adapter
• Charging Adapter (tethered to the AC Adapter)
• USB synchronization cable
• Quick-start user's guide
• HP iPAQ Pocket PC companion CD-ROM (with Microsoft Outlook 2000, ActiveSync 3.5, add-on applications, and reference guide)

Average Customer Rating:

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Comment: Not a bad little bankruptcy causing pocket pc Rating:
Overall this is a great device- although I haven't tried the WLAN yet. What you wil see in other reviews about the lack of documentation is true- there is a pamphlet on wireless LAN, bluetooth, and the fingerprint reader- but nothing on the PocketPC itself. There is some information on the CD- but not much. I previously owned a PalmIIIxe so this was a major step up- but I already had the gist of stuff so it wasn't too confusing.
Performance wise this thing is great. The only issue is that when you exit a program- it doesn't close and is still in memory. One must actually close the process by using the one touch button to the Compaq ITask Program or Settings/Memory. Most of the settings aren't to obvious until you start to play around with it.
The Ipaq5455 also works great as an MP3 player- although transfer times for files aren't so great. Sound quality with headphones is CD player quality- the speaker on the unit is pretty darn good also considering its size.
As far as the power issue/couldn't turn it on thing, that did happen to me. I took it out of the cradle 5 hours after getting it and all of a sudden it wouldn't turn on after that. I read the CD info and found this is what happens on a hard reset- the battery must be reactivated in order for it to work (although I did not perform the actions for a hard reset). I followed these instructions for reactivation and at first it didn't work, and I assumed I had also gotten a lemon. But finally it worked, but it had hard reset. Much to my displeasure, the sync software does NOT back stuff up automatically, it must be done manually, which I hadn't done, so I lost all of my settings and programs not still on my computer.
Other than that, its a great unit. Fingerprint reader is a little tricky to get used to (needs a special touch). I rated it four stars because of price to feature- I coud get an Ipaq 3800 series for less and pick up a WLAN Compactflash card for 80- and still save money (also, there is no Compactflash spot on the 5455). But if you want the latest and greatest like I did, this is a good way to go.

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Comment: Not bad... but not knocked out Rating:
On the plus side, I think that the screen quality is phenomenal and the handwriting recognition is quite good. However, there are a number of annoying quirks in my IPAQ that diminish its utility. For one, I find myself soft booting the machine far too often; either the programs hang or I have problems switching from my wireless network at home to the one at work. Perhaps the former is more a problem with Windows Pocket PC than the hardware, but nevertheless, it's annoying. I also have to agree with one reviewer who found it odd that you cannot sync over the wireless 802.1x network (I don't know if this is possible over Bluetooth; I haven't tried it). I don't think that the IPAQ is worth it's list price unless you are an avid e-mailer with constant connection to a wireless network, but it's probably a good buy if you can find it used.

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Comment: Good Value/Powerful Pocket PC Rating:
These guys who are palm lovers just have a hard time switching to the Pocket PC! I am a switcher. The transition was tough at first back a couple of years ago. The Palm OS is surely faster and more user friendly but has much less to offer. This IPAQ is a powerful one and the screen quality, handwritting recognition and wifi options are unmatched by any Palm device. I have not found much use yet for the Bluetooth and the security features are good but I don't know that I need them. Still, what a great tool for word processing, spreadsheets, web surfing and more. Lighten up Palm boy!

Posted at November 11, 2003 07:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)