Rating: 
Summary: great features, poor reliability
Review: I would love the ipaqs if I could ever count on them to work. The 5555 is the third ipaq I have owned in the past three years (The company I work for gets them at a great discount, and I don't have to pay for them, which is why I keep getting them)First off, there are many things to love about this pda. The fingerprint recognition is really cool. It works perfectly for me, and I don't have to worry about remembering a password or having it stolen. The integrated bluetooth and 802.11b is an excellent add-on, and hasn't added to the bulk of the device at all. There is a large amount of built-in memory, the display looks beautiful, the battery is swappable, and there are a lot of nice applications built in. What disappoints me with every ipaq is the low reliability. It is so poor that I would never personally spend my own money on one of these devices. I typically have to hit the reset button on my ipaq several times per day, becuase under heavy use the thing will freqently slow down or completely freeze up. You can't blame third party apps for these faults, since I am commonly using the standard features of my ipaq when these faults occur. My first two ipaqs died within about a year of purchase. The first one had a battery go bad, and since it was built into the device I could not swap it myself. The second one just stopped working. I could turn it on, but it basically just gave me a blue screen of death and nothing more. I love what the ipaqs offer, I just wish HP could get their act together and make them work as they're supposed to.
Rating: 
Summary: Great PDA, especially for the enterprise space
Review: I've had this ipaq for a month now and I'm not sure I could live without it. I wirelessly sync with my laptop and I can browse the net with the wi-fi connection. I've finally made the switch from Palm, and there is no going back now.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty nice unit if you're willing to pay.
Review: If price was a factor, this might be a 3-star review. I'm reviewing it assuming price is not an issue and you are willing to pay for the model. Positives: * Comes with Pocket PC 2003 (Windows Mobile 2003), which has worked out some of the bugs of PPC2002, so I understand. Seems a pretty stable OS.
* 128 MB is just the best (for now!). This is great if you love to install tons of stuff on the unit.
* With the 48MB of ROM and the OS, there is about 17MB left over for Ipaq file store. Another bonus in space.
* Wifi is nearly perfect. Picks up access points without a hitch. Only minor problem might be that it's "too" excited sometimes and forgets that a certain access point is no longer around, so you have to manually remove it from the list.
* Internet apps pretty good: Pocket IE, Messenger, W Media
* Also easily used 3rd party software to browse my network and play tunes off another computer.
* Syncs over wifi. This is so great!
* Easy syncing with outlook, of course. Syncs IE favorites, too.
* Unit ships with a higher capacity battery than the others (1250 vs. 900 mAh)
* Fingerprint reader is faster than entering a PIN or a password. Also many security possibilities (i.e. fingerprint OR pin, fingerprint AND pin, etc.)
* Voice recorder is handy. Negatives: * Price / Value ratio is fairly high. It seems that you could have a comparable unit with the 2215, a wireless card and some extra ram for about $100 cheaper.
* The microphone/headphone jack is not flush with the bottom of the unit, but inset (see angle pic). Some of my headphone jacks sleeves are too fat to push the plug in all the way. This is a big design flaw.
* With all the stuff it's got, it is on the heavier side of the PDA weight spectrum.
* Big processor and battery means it gets very warm!
* It'd be nice if printing over a network was a possibility. Can't seem to be able to do this.
* IE is somewhat boiled down. No easy way to save a picture on a webpage like the desktop version of IE.
* Charging with USB is possible, however the unit seems to wake up and want to sync even though I set syncing to manual. Doesn't go back asleep and won't USB charge while on. No comment: * Haven't been able to test bluetooth for lack of other devices carrying this technology.
* Haven't used SD slot yet.
* Haven't used the ipaq expansion pack, but this apparently allows it do do oh so much more! :) -- Buzz
Rating:
Summary: Best of Breed
Review: It works well every time I turn it on, and isn't that what you want from a PDA? Great screen, powerful processor, flexible and well designed, works with all 5000 series accessories, integrated Bluetooth, lots of software available, integrates perfectly with MS Office, etc. all add up to a wonderful PDA. I have minor quibbles (like not providing a cradle that accepts a spare batter) but nothing that stopped me from buying one. I am a convert from Palm (and an old Psion user) to Pocket PC and I am glad that I switched. It is a more flexible platform, I find. If you can stand the price of the 5555 it is a great PDA.
Rating:
Summary: First one broken, second one great!
Review: My first experience with this Pocket PC was that a connector or something broke inside because I had to giggle to get the backlight to come on, and it would go off as soon as the slightest movement hit it.. needless to say this happening right of the box.. it was like buying a BMW and having it's wheels fall off when you pull out of the dealer's lot. Still, it does what it says, and with the included Resco file viewer accessing your work network and adding network shares is a breeze. I was editing Microsoft Word documents while listening to NPR sreaming on Windows Media Player 9 in the background.. no lag.. no chops.. nothing. This is HP throwing everything it can fit into a pocketPC just for people who can't have enough.. and it's amazing. Some things old PocketPC people will want to know: * Integration with Pocket Word and Excel are excellent in PPC 2003, unlike previous versions where you'd loose formatting and text detail.
* It has integrated ClearType.. nice
* When my backlight did work, it has the quality of a flat panel desktop monitor. Brilliant resolution WORD TO THE WISE: Be paitent with the finger print reader.. it will stuboringly not read your finger prints the first 10 times.. and then all of a sudden the back gets a little hot and it "kicks on" and works for the rest of it's life... dunno why, but it does. This happened on both my old broken one and my replacement. The extras are lacking, but beyond some games and AOL IM, there isn't much you need to buy extra for this incredible device.
Rating:
Summary: Jack of all trades - king of none
Review: Overall, disappointing for the high price. Cons
This device and the associated ActiveSynch software is painful to configure. Synching with both a laptop and a desktop(to ensure your work and home PCs are in synch)is problematic. There is no PC desktop software, which means you enter every appointment/contact directly in on the handheld(or buy an additional keyboard!)and cannot use your desktop to view your calendar/contact list. The scheduling functions take quite a bit to get used to - it is much less ergonomic than the Palm capability. I found the Help functions frustrating - they do not easily produce useful results about half the time. In particular, finding help on managing the connections between the PDA and other devices was maddening. The accompanying help literature is very light on how to actually use Bluetooth to your advantage, get printers to work(have fun finding printers with IR or Bluetooth in your den), or how the expansion pack can be utilized. The IR synch not only doesn't work well - depending on how you've configured, it might wipe out all the data you've stored on the handheld. When it does work, it is very slow. Loading a variety of applications software resulted in both interesting game experiences and incredibly frustrating crashes(some which required hard reboot). I'd be very careful to back things up prior to loading new apps. Battery usage - I'd strongly recommend changing the default power management and screen management settings unless you stay close to an abundant source of electrons. Plan to charge at least every other day. Better yet, get the expansion pack with additional battery. Weight - think heavy - like a small brick. Pros Moving files between the handheld and the desktop is easily accomplished and the PPC OS facilitates easy creation of folders to organize all the different types of files/applications. Microsoft Reader - WOW! I think the strongest application is by far the e-book capability of this device. Easily loaded and activated, the software performed flawlessly. Even after I loaded over 30 classics into the device, I perceived no slowdown in accessing, loading, or viewing a book. This thing is capable of so much - it can be a phone, a PDA, an MP3 player, an ebook, a game device, a movie player, and more...I'm sure when I get it all working, I'll love this thing. Being an IT professional, I'm used to configuring hardware and software, but even my patience has been taxed by the amount of effort required to babysit this PDA.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor Service from HP/IPAQ
Review: PLEASE read this before you buy an HP IPAQ product so you know how you will be treated if you should have a problem. I own about 6 HP products between IPAQ's, printers and scanners, and I always chose an HP before any other product, until NOW.
I purchased 3 IPAQ's within 2 months. One for myself, my husband, and my father to the tune of $1350! There are days I don't even use my IPAQ, so it isn't abused. My IPAQ froze up on Thanksgiving day of 2003. It would not do anything, so on Monday, I called HP service, they said they wouldn't do anything because the 1 year warranty had expired. I purchased two of the three on Oct. 4, 2002 and this was November! I thought, oh, this product is only good for 1 year of use?
So I talked to a few "higher up's" in the service area and got told that I am on my own. Then I had my husband call up there and they agreed to send us a box with shipping paid so we could send the unit back for them to diagnose the problem. Fair enough. They call within a week and left us a message telling us that the mother board is shot and it will cost $217 to fix. I just got done paying $450 for the product just over a year ago!! You have to be kidding!! This unit was obviously DEFECTIVE from the beginning. And because of a few days of warranty lapse, HP won't step up to the plate and help at all.
So my husband calls back up there and talks to another "higher up" again (because obviously he got further than I did the first time), and her verdict was that HP will not stand behind their product at all. We have to pay the entire bill. Well I will tell you what, I will not fix this HP product, nor will I EVER buy an HP product again. And furthermore, I am in one of the hugest business markets in the world and talk to customers all day long, and I will be sure to tell them of how HP treats their customers. They should stand behind their product, Period!
If they haven't figured it out, PEOPLE make a business and HP's people and policies are ludicrous! If I have a customer that has a problem and is 2 months out of warranty, I will make our manufacturer stand behind their product and fight for my customer's rights!! It is obvious that HP doesn't care about their customers at all. Good to know!! Beware of big business.
Rating: 
Summary: Fingerprint recognition poor, otherwise not a bad model
Review: Pros: - It feels solid and well constructed. For example, the stylus holder has an internal spring that gently pops the stylus out of the shell when you press it. The whole unit compares very favorably to something like the Toshiba e755, which both feels and looks cheap.
- Performance is great. Documents and programs open instantly.
- Configuring Wi-Fi is easy, and it's easy to tell when Wi-Fi is active by the green light on the face of the unit. I didn't test Bluetooth, but connecting to my 802.11b network was straightforward.
- Looks great. It's one of the most stylish PPCs around, and people will definitely notice it.
- The "getting started" poster that comes with the unit is useful, and while I wish it had printed docs, the online PDF is well-written and reasonably substantive. The docs weren't an afterthought. Cons:
- It's expensive!
- I couldn't get fingerprint recognition to work reliably. Biometrics contribute to the high price, and they didn't work well enough to justify the premium.
- Wi-Fi signal frequently disconnected. Maybe that's the state of handheld Wi-Fi? I'm not sure, but for the price it should hold the connection more reliably. Overall: I returned it. There are too many units with comparable specs for substantially less, minus the biometrics. Still, if you need to have fingerprint recognition (and if you can get it working reliably), this might be the unit for you. Leaving aside the fingerprint recognition, I was very impressed by the overall quality and will probably purchase a less expensive HP.
Rating:
Summary: IPAQ 5555
Review: The best Pocket PC to date. Does everything except CF cards. Connects to wireless internet without hassle. Clear vivid color screen. Things I would change. Screen scratches too easily, software package is weak. I don't leave home without it.
Rating:
Summary: Where
Review: The ipaq 5555 is great. But try to find any accessories, even from hp, good luck! hopefully this slow start won't let this product stumble.
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