iPAQ 3850 - A Desktop stuffed into a PDA

Author's Rating:

Pros: Solid design, latest OS, lots of memory, high userability

Cons: No CF slot, the OS sometimes does nutty things. Expensive

The Bottom Line: 
If you want a handheld that will provide you more applications beyond a simple PIM, then this is your PDA.

Author's Review
The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve realized that I need those “gadgets” that I’ve chided my friends for using years ago. You know what I’m talking about… cell phones… PDAs… laptops… The type of stuff that you would never rightly get on your own for school. Well, it’s now time to add another item under my belt of: That will be the day…category.

The day pigs soared at Mach 3:

-Got a laptop (Freshman year)
-Got into CD music (freshman year)
-Got a CD player! (Last year!)
-Got a cell phone (7 months ago!)
-Got a PDA (2 months ago!)

Why a PDA?!

If any of you know me personally, you will know about the crazy 6 months I’ve had to endure at my school last year. With all the projects, papers, midterms, finals, and just day-to-day life-grind, to say my life was a little disorganized is an understatement. This chaos was a major factor to me finally getting a cell phone because I got sick of missing phone calls from friends and co-workers when I was at school studying or going to classes.

So now, it just seems logical to move into the PDA world. As I am back doing my internship, it just is a good time to readjust and learn on how to use a PDA and prepare myself for the time when I return to school.

It also didn’t hurt that my sister asked me if I wanted to have a PDA for Christmas.

Why an IPAQ?

So why in the world did I choose an IPAQ? I’ll tell you why… it’s pretty…

Joking aside, I was first interested in the IPAQ when a couple of guys (naturally it has to be guys) were showing off their IPAQs. They were compact, usable, and very powerful. Their units also looked a whole lot prettier than the Palms I’ve seen before. They actually had COLOR!

The other advantages of the IPAQ is its usability, the design of the unit itself is very solid. It also comes with a whole lot more RAM and ROM than the Palm units. Another advantage is since the OS is the PocketPC 2002 version, made of course by Microsoft, there is little concern of compatibility with my word and excel documents. The unit also comes with a Pocket IE on it to allow the user to surf the web, get his/her mail, and other net functions. All of this is if you have a connection to the Internet of course.

What are the specs?

This particular model, the latest from Compaq, has the key specs that got my attention:

Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 - This means it has the latest PP OS from Microsoft, which includes Word, Excel, IE, Outlook equivalents that would be on your desktop or laptop. It allows greater compatibility and the transferring of your files go much smoother between the PDA and your desktop.

206 MHz Intel 32-bit RISC Processor - This is the fastest processor to date for the handheld market. This allows the IPAQ 38xx to open and close applications with much greater speed than any Palm held hand out in the market today.

TFT LCD 64K color display Touch Screen - The screen is one of the most beautiful factors that came into my decision-making. The colors are vibrant and accurate. The screen’s brightness is excellent and the touch factor is very accurate. Since it is 64K, this will allow you to see pictures and other graphic intense applications with a much clearer and colorful display.

RAM 64 MB - 64MB is a lot of memory for a simple device like this, but it allows you to have more programs open, programs run faster, and it’s great for quick storage of crucial files.

ROM 32 MB - The 32MB of ROM memory is where the OS is stored, so even if you have to do a hard reset, you will not have to reinstall the OS. There is also 6MB free of ROM space so you can put mission critical files on there without fear of losing them b/c of a hard reset.

Battery 1400 mAh Lithium Polymer - Dependent on your brightness setting on the IPAQ 3850, you can get a maximum of 12 hours of use on this PDA. Your mileage may vary, as how intensive the tasks and the brightness on the PDA do affect how much battery power will be used.


Other great features

Since this is my first handheld, I’ve never encountered the type of problems that I’ve heard people have complained about. However, from my experience from this 3850, their complaints were heard and action was taken to correct them.

Dust problem: Apparently the earlier models of the IPAQ had a major dust problem. It seems dust was able to leak into the display through the stylus holder, which is behind the screen. Eventually the screen would be filled with so much dust that users would have to clean them with hairs! Well, let me tell you that there haven’t been any dust in my screen! Compaq has boasted that they have completely sealed the display so now no dust can get in.

Stylus problem: Another issue was about the styluses for the older models. Users had problems with their stylus jamming in the slot, which is on the upper right corner of the PDA. If jamming wasn’t the problem, then the eject button wasn’t working either. Well, after a month of use, I haven’t had a stylus jam at all. Compaq decided to get rid of the eject button and go for a spring load mechanism. So what this does is allow the user to simply push the stylus down and it will pop up for him/her to grab. The jams also haven’t happened because they redesigned the stylus that it now has an hourglass shape to it. So when the stylus is ejecting up, it is completely circular, and there is a slight friction on the sides which prevent it from popping out too much.

Cover pack: I was surprised to learn that the older models never came with a cover pack. Well, fear not, the 38xx series has a cover pack. The IPAQ slips into it very easily and it instantly provides protection for your screen and overall the whole body of the PDA. However, it will not protect your ipaq from a fall. It’s made out of light plastic and it’s just meant to protect the screen from daily wear in your pocket. It also collects scratches and fingerprints a little too easily.

Software package: I have to say I was quite impressed with all the extra goodies that Compaq threw into this handheld. You get an ebook reader, additional games, another input software call WordLogic, PP Streets, PPMS Money, and a Java machine to name a few. It’s an excellent package and you do get your money’s worth. It even has a full version of Outlook XP for you to install if you wish.

SD card slot: Well, I finally broke down and bought myself a 128MB SD card on ebay a few weeks ago. I have to say that it is one of the best purchases I could have made for my iPAQ. The card has allowed me to transfer a bunch of my files off the RAM on my PDA and store them on the SD card. I haven't lost any data and it's been pretty stable for me. I've been able to store a couple of MP3s, word, excel files, and overall it's nice to have a huge increase in storage space without having to use a sleeve and a CF card to get that increase. This allows me to carry my iPAQ with the cover pack only. My only gripe is how I need to turn off the iPAQ first before I insert the card. If I don't, then the thing will freeze and thus a soft reset.

Built-in mic & speaker: Simply put, they're very good! The speaker on the the 3850 is very loud and can produce sound pretty faithfully, even though it is only a mono speaker. The 3850 also has a built-in headphone jack which works great with the MP3s I have on my SD card. The mic is pretty good too. Nice to have Compaq put a little time with the sound on this.


Problems?

There are a few minor gripes I do have on the 3850…

ActiveSync: Occasionally, depending on how you put the PDA into its cradle, it may not be able to sync with your PC. Apparently you have to put the PDA into the cradle first, and then plug the cradle into the PC via USB (that’s what I used). If you don’t, then you’ll either won’t sync with the PC, or your ipaq will freeze on you. If that happens, then you will have to do a soft reset.

Personally, I found that quite annoying as you cannot simply leave the USB cable plugged into your PC when you turn it off. I’ve had occasions when I’ve taken my ipaq out of its cradle for a few minutes and then try to resync, and it always fails.

Duplicate entries: Sometimes I’ve seen my appointments and other items get duplicated on my PDA as well. Apparently it’s a bug with the PP2002 OS, but it is still annoying when you see two entries for an appointment in outlook and they’re for the exact same thing!

Battery bug?: I've only seen this twice, but for some reason the battery will stop charging, but only read at 67% capacity. If I take the 3850 out and put back in the cradle, it'll charge again and then report 100%! I've only seen this bug twice, but it may annoy some people.

Win Media Player bug: On occasion when I'm playing those MP3s, the player would stop in the middle of the song and reset. Other times it wouldn't play anything at all. I'm not entirely sure if it's because the MP3s are on the SD card or if it's just the WMP, but I would like to blame Microsoft for everything.


Other minor features

Finally, to cap this all off, we have a few extras that I didn’t mention before.

-4 user programmable buttons with a directional pad
-Light sensor that can adjust brightness levels on the display
-Can be used with other expansion sleeves

If there is one thing I would suggest that you get besides the SD card, it's to get a screen protector. Right on the first day I bought myself a screen protector for my iPAQ. After two months the protector is still doing its job and has prevented me from accidentally scratching my very expensive screen.


Conclusion

Overall, after two months of use, I’ve come to really enjoy my IPAQ 3850. It has kept my up-to-date on appointments, work on mini-papers and projects, and it’s been just fun using it. It is a tad expensive, but I can foresee myself using this for at least 2 years because of the features it offers. The ability to upgrade is another pleasant feature because all one needs to do is get the latest OS from Microsoft, and you can load a newer OS onto it. It’s a great machine and I sure hope you’ll definitely put this on your list of must gets for this year.