Pocket power - and good looking too

Author's Rating:

Pros: Size, power, excellent display

Cons: Looking slightly long in the tooth two years on

The Bottom Line: 
Superb display - great design and reliable.

Author's Review
I've been using the iPAQ H1940 for about two years now and feel well qualified to comment on the device.

The first comment to make about this iPAQ is that this is the first handheld that I have used for two years without feeling an overwhelming urge to upgrade. This in itself is praise indeed for the iPAQ. The iPAQ itself has quite possibly the best quality screen I've ever seen on a PDA and I've used a few. Indeed, colleagues with different devices far more recent than this comment on the superb quality of the display. It is a TFT screen and has 65,536 colours and a 'transflective' display that enables a clear quality in a wide variety of lighting conditions.

The device is slightly smaller than many of the PDAs on the market today but for me this is a positive. It fits very comfortably into the hand and the metal stylus supplied also feels well designed. Instead of the long stylus that comes with many devices this sylus is shorter and more ergonomically suited to the hand. It is also weighted which adds to the quality feel.

Windows Mobile 2003 is a robust operating system and the device has functioned for nearly two years now without a fault. I personally synchronise with my Windows XP using the bluetooth capabilities of the device. This enables fast and reliable synchronisation. There is a USB facility but compared to Bluetooth this is burdensome and I don't like the unsightly wires trailing around the desk.

Importantly, battery life is good. The device is slipping slightly now as the battery fails to get a full charge. Initially the device could be used for a full week on a single charge. Now I get approximately three days out of each charge. (This does of course drop significantly if you make extensive use of the built in speaker - for example listening to MP3 tracks.) The device charges exceptionally quickly and this is a bonus if you need to quickly get the device back into use.

Compared to more recent devices this iPAQ feels slightly sluggish but the 266MHz processor is sufficient for day to day use and consequently I have not yet felt the need to upgrade. The built in RAM is also sufficient for many uses but as with all PDAs you will soon need to buy in a larger memory card. With the price of memory cards so low now, this shouldn't be seen as too much of a burden.

The bundled applications of Mobile Windows 2003 function smoothly despite the age of the device. Surprisingly the device also copes well with full screen video which is a big bonus for a device of this age and specification.

OVERALL
Overall this is an astonishingly reliable device that although slightly long in the tooth now is still performing the role for which it was purchased. When I initially purchased the device I believe I paid $399 - a price which at the time seemed a reasonable investment. This has proven to be a very decent price simply for the hours of use I have had from this device. To purchase now you would be looking at a second hand device and probably an expenditure of about $100. The screen display, battery life and comfortable size of this device make it a definite hit for me and I have no trouble recommending it as a good purchase.