iPAQ

[ehowton]

Yesterday wardlejew understandably mistook the shiny, illuminated device atop my right speaker for an iPod. But prior to Apple's success with little "i" capitol "P" devices, Compaq released the iPAQ.

I paid $400 for my Compaq iPAQ 3650 (claims its a 3700 in the onboard asset info) in 2002. Today Amazon is selling these wonderous little machines for $522.

The iPAQ's 240x320 screen size predates most current popular handheld device, has a 206MHz Intel StrongARM processor with 64MB of RAM which is shared between system memory and system storage, 32MB ROM and 6MB of user storage. It is expandable, and wireless capable (with expansion pack engaged). The battery is dead but sells for a mere $10. Internet Explorer is built right in Microsoft's PocketPC but it will also run linux.

It has a built-in voice recorder, speaker (which also acts as a touch-pad mouse) and syncs with things like Outlook. My wife used it to play Solitaire in bed when she was pregnant.

So own a piece of history, and save $500.

Who wants it?

Comments

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

My dad bought one of those many years ago from CompUSA. It broke within a few week, nay days. He traded it in for a Kodak digital camera which the family broke something along the lines of three years later.

Prior to that, he asked me if he could load some PC-based software onto the device. I told him no, he couldn't do that because the PC-based software wasn't written for the iPAQ. Curiously enough, the PC-based software retailed for close to $400 and they did make a cartridge that would pop into the iPAQ. Trouble was, they were asking the same price for the mobile version.

I should add that the PC-based software that he wanted to run was so old that it shipped on 16 floppies(!) but yet it was written in VB.

Years after that, I came home from college one day. He had purchased the "new and improved" version of the software that had all the bells and whistles. (Deluxe package) Turns out, he paid ~$400 for that iteration of the package.

It still had the same kludgy, ugly, VB driven interface. Yuk!

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

He was using it wrong. Mine has provided years of flawless service and done everything I needed it to do. "What my dad really required was a laptop and the iPAQ wasn't a laptop" is not a solid defense.

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

He's not a computer guy by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, he's told me on several occasions recently that he might loose his job because of his refusal to learn the system in the hospital.

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

When I went to Guatemala in 2001 with my dad, one of the kids on the trip was working on some interview on a PDA that had one of those portable keyboards that folded into 4 sections. They keyboard essentially had a docking station on the top middle so that the keyboard wound up being a stand for the PDA (at least that's how I remember it.)

Despite the iPod Touch and the iPhone's phenomenal success, I continue to wonder to this day why it is that someone hasn't come out with a similar keyboard for said devices so that you could use them to do some basic word processing with a full size keyboard. You could run a bluetooth mouse as well and BAM! you'd really have a pocket computer.

Why does no one do this?

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Probably because after you do that, and hook up a monitor and a printer and an external harddrive, you have basically what's referrered to in todays parlance as a "laptop."

The Touch (as a mobile computing platform) is for people who don't want this "laptop" I speak of. Hell, following your logic further, you could permanently afix the laptop to a specific location to no longer worry about moving it. We have those as well, they're called, "Desktops."

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

The biggest gripe against both the iPhone and the Touch is the soft keyboard. I can't believe that you're on the other side of this argument, especially given your comments about tactile response in the past.

Yes, the Touch and the iPhone are wonderful in that they are a full solution in your pocket, no accessories required. On the other hand, I don't see why someone hasn't tried to capitalize on my angle as I'm sure there's a section of the populace who would like to have a laptop replacement they can fit in their pockets but without going backwards in terms of efficiency.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I can't believe that you're on the other side of this argument, especially given your comments about tactile response in the past.

I never considered myself an intellectual giant until I met you.