Hewlett Packard Jornada 540 Color Pocket PC

This is a follow-up to my report of my Jornada 540 connector damaging both my USB cable mating connector and serial cable mating connector. The socket on the Jornada had a very sharp edge that gouged pins on both cable connectors and made them useless. I have since found that some other Jornada's have had this problem. While HP has no toll free customer or tech support, I was on hold for only 1 minute and on the phone for 15 minutes. I still think that the support should be free for in-warranty products, but the rest of the service was excellent. The customer support person (Bill) was very helpful and gave me options for resolution of the problem (entirely my choice). FedEx picked up the package at my door and delivered the repaired product back to me 4 business days later. The tech (Greg Liston) called me to tell me that my Jornada had been repaired, but that that location did not have replacement USB cables. He offered to send me a USB cradle as a replacement, and I of course agreed. It appears that this is still the HP of old that gave them one of the best reputations in the industry.

For my purposes (financial analysis on Excel, tracking expenses on Money, reading books and AvantGo downloads and loading street maps for vacations), this is the best choice of any non-keyboard handheld. The iPAQ is probably better for games because of it's speed, but I do not use it for that. The cover and metal case make the Jornada more rugged and it looks like a professional tool instead of a toy. I would buy it again. The ability to use CF cards without an adaptor is important if you want to load many maps or music. The ability to close the cover and turn off the screen is also a plus to listen to music; just carry the Jornada in your pocket. You probably couldn't go very wrong with the iPAQ, but I know you can't go wrong with the Jornada.

I bought a Jornada 540 over the iPAQ and Casio because of the apparent ruggedness and HP reliability reputation. The built in cover is a plus to anyone who likes to carry the device in their pocket and the rubber grips on the sides work well for securely holding the Jornada during use. Everything worked well until I started having problems syncing with the USB cable that I purchased. I noticed that one of the pins (end that connects to the Jornada) was recessed and didn't know if this was the problem. I tried the included serial cable and it worked fine, until the same pin got pushed in. I discovered that there was a sharp edge on the mating contact on the Jornada connector that gouged the connector plug pin. This caught and pushed the pins back. So much for HP quality. To make things worse, I also discovered that HP has no online technical support and phone support is not toll free. At least Compaq has online and toll free phone support. I'm not sure I would buy the Jornada again after discovering the lack of online or toll free support for a product under warranty. Except for this problem, I like the Jornada.

Buy Hewlett Packard Jornada 540 Color Pocket PC Now

I finally upgraded my Sharp Wizard OZ-9500 organizer,(I know its old!), to a Pocket PC. I shopped and read reviews for months before I bought it... and it's probably the best purchase I've made in a while. Rather than repeat everyone else's comments, I'll ditto them and add the following:

-It's not a Palm, it is truly a Pocket PC. -I waited for the iPaq, but didn't like the add-on CF port which added size and $$ to the unit. Casio was too bulky. -HP works flawlessly, Active Sync was easy to install and works by itself. Perfect sync all the time. -Bought a Sandisk 48MB card which is a great option when considering MP3's and Windows Media.

The only negative is finding accessories in the store... You'll find things on the net, but things like leather cases, you really want to touch it in a store and try it out. Hopefully this will improve in the near future.

Peace

Read Best Reviews of Hewlett Packard Jornada 540 Color Pocket PC Here

I got my Jornada and it really blew me away. As an owner of a Palm VII and V, my Jornada really just made them look stupid. It comes with Word, Excel, Money, Outlook...and that's just scratching the surface. It can play MP3s and, with the right software, even movies. Granted its short on memory; I strongly recommend buying more. I bought a 128MB CompactFlash card (maybe an overkill) and it doubles as an awesome MP3 player. I always have it in my pocket, so I just plug in my headphones and I walk around campus with music.

I downloaded Microsoft Transcriber (which is free) and I can't say enough about it. 10 times faster and easier than using graffiti, you just write as normal. When you're done it converts your writing to text. It even reads cursive! I have pretty mediocore penmanship and it can read things that even other humans cannot.

It has a built-in microphone and speaker. It comes with PeaceMaker to exchange contacts and business cards with Palms. It has Internet Explorer so it can view regular web pages; not just preformatted AvantGo pages. I like the flat stylus better than the skinny Palm one...its wider, so you can grip it more like a normal pen than a toothpick.

Here are the downsides: like every color screen, its hard to see in daylight, though there are preset brightness settings to help you out a bit. It needs more memory, so get a compactflash card. The serial cable is a bit slow; a USB cradle or cable will save you a LOT of time, especially if you transfer a lot of MP3s or web pages. It WILL crash every once in awhile. Its really not a big deal. All you do is take your stylus and tap the button on the back. 3 seconds later its up and running again.

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It's obvious Microsoft wants to take back some of the PDA market share. The new pocket pc offers many major improvements over past WindowsCE models which make it the #1 choice for the tech-savy person. The Palm IIIc is about the same price yet it includes half the memory, speed, and features of the Jornada.

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