Rating: 
Summary: why all the negative???
Review: Fantastic product-out of the case, power up,hotsync, wlan connect straight away, placed sd card with excel NO PROBLEMS whatsoever.Pricey at [money amount]+ - but brought ex refurbished at under [money amount]. I suppose HP had time to recheck everything before shipping.Dont forget the old saying "innovation dont work" used the tried and tested everytime go refurb.I must admit was a bit put off by the horror stories but then again never believe everything in print.
Rating:
Summary: Great PDA but after the third ROM Upgrade
Review: It is a great PDA after three rom upgrades.. and wlan upgrade.. my 5455 is a very complete PDA.. compatible with 802.11b / g wireless network.. excellent bluetooth connectivity wizard.. and the fingerprint great :) the screen and the backlight wonderful!!And i am waiting for windows mobile 2003 upgrade for a much better performance :):):)
Rating: 
Summary: Impresive Product HP Released before fixing the Bugs
Review: I received this unit 2 months ago. I transferred all my software and data from my older IPAQ 3955. I then left unit off and in drawer over weekend, when I checked it on Monday the unit had completely discharged the battery and lost everything. I investigated this and HP web indicated what the problem and work around till the patch is released. I used unit for a couple of weeks, other problems were discovered, memory error if unit is placed in cradle with WIFI or Bluetooth on, this requires soft reset to correct. Unit locks up several times a day and soft reset needed to get it going, Some times hard resets needed loosing all data. This unit spent 1 month as a drawer queen because it was so unreliable. On June 6 HP released BIOS version 1.11.13, I installed this update, This update fixes the battery, Virtual memory problem, and many other problems that this unit had. After installing this update I have not had the unit lock-up since. HP should have tested the software more thoroughly before releasing it on the unsuspecting public.
Rating: 
Summary: Solid handheld. Solid price.
Review: This is the top of the line of the pocket pc. Get this, and you will have many bragging rights. No other handheld can say it has bluetooth, wlan, and a fingerprint reader included. But make sure you know abut how those features work before you buy. Bluetooth- you can buy a usb bluetooth adapter for your computer. If you're wondering what bluetooth is, it's a new tpe of wireless connection (to put it simply). The usb adapter allows you to activesync your handheld from anywhere within a hundred meteres (also alows for internet). There are also bluetooth printers, GPS units and headsets. It can be a little tricky when you first use it, there are not much instructions (but there is a basic overview) WLAN- Get internet on your handheld! Large pages are hard to scroll, it's more of a special feature than a useful one. Does allow email to be sent directly frm your handhed, which can be useful. Fingerprint reader- 007 style security. If you need security, this one's for you. But it isn't easy. Reader is finicky at times, and depending on how you set it up, a certain number of bad scans results in a complete hard reset. Hasn't happened to me, but sometimes I get scared when it won't take my print. (can be turned off, it asks for print after soft reset, and an amount of time you enter in). Other security methods include password, pin number. The Bluetooth and WLAN can be used on the Ipaq 3955, all you need is the card for them, which ends up being cheaper. It all depends on if you relly need the features or if you want to brag.
The ipaq 5455 does freeze up from time to time, a soft reset is necessary, not a major problem, though. The windows media player allows for mp3 playback (buy a secure digital memory card and you're ready to go!) which is nice to have. Other things that are good are an extra battery, becasue battery life is good, but not the best, especialy on WLAN, and a keyboard for extensive typing. Inputs are okay, but not for alot of typing. Can use keyboard, grafitti (palm)-like block letters, or it can recognize your handwriting.
There isn't much documentation with the unit- just a pamphlet on wlan, bluetooth, and fingerprint reader. But t isn't too difficult to set up. As for weird power errors- it did hard reset itself for no reason after i first got it (so it wasn't turning on, had to re-activate battery). Hasn't hapened since (2 months ago). The ipaq 5455 is the first to have all the features, so there are a few bugs, like some of the other power issues in the other reviews.
Overall, i am pleased with the unit. Don't expect perfection and you will be happy too. 4 stars because of price/function ratio.
Rating:
Summary: INCREDIBLE
Review: I recently purchased the 5455 as an upgrade to my HP Jornada. The screen is fantastic, crisp and clear. I've had no battery life problems as others have said. I have installed many programs without difficulty. I didn't need to "Format" my SD card--all I did was transfer the files I wanted directly to the card and there were no problems. This has been an absolutely flawless, well-manufactured product. I had no trouble with the documentation as others have noted (they may have solved that problem from earlier complaints). The fingerprint reader is a really neat addition and works very well after the 'training' period. I have yet to use the 802.11b or the Bluetooth, and I'll let everyone know if I have problems. No complaints, extremely well designed, solidly built. Nothing but positive things to say. I would give a "10/5" if it was possible.
Rating:
Summary: Too expensive compared to others in it's class
Review: I love the iPaq, but the battery life is really awful compared to everyone elses. I was amazed to learn that some people can have their units on stand buy for weeks, I can't have my iPaq on stand by for days. 2 or 3 days will completely [drain] the battery and cause you to have to restore all your programs and everything. It's slower than others in it's class and it had more memory. The screen is bright and easy to see and the finger print scanner is nice. I don't understand how others have both SD and CF card slots when this unit is actually larger and only has an SD slot. It' a nice unit, just way to [costly] for what you get.
Rating: 
Summary: Lost everything!!!
Review: I turned on my beautiful, new PocketPC this morning to find... Nothing! That's right, everything was gone. Approximately 150 contacts, lists of all my completed tasks, all of the ones I was working on,or had to complete. Everything, gone. Irrecoverable! Apparently, according to Compaq Tech Support, this unit is basically useless as a stand-alone unit. You must synch it to your comptuer, because if you run out of batteries, you lose everything. I'm glad they told me that now. The main problem is that the unit was full charged when I turned it of on Friday, I did not take it out of my briefcase over the weekend, and the battery was dead when I got back to work after the weekend. How did that happen, you might ask? If anyone figures it out, let me know.
Rating:
Summary: Heavy Duty Hand Held
Review: Technically this is a nice machine, it is an expensive machine. Out of the box it is loaded with features. The Microsoft Active Sync is well matched to the MS office. For most of us business guys that is what we use. This was one of the main concerns that I have always had with the Palm OS and the conduits used between Outlook and the attachments can get messy. Installs with my office laptop and guest machines was simple (and painless). A word to the wise in conjuction with your office machine, buy your guy in IT a coffee and let him stand-by with any issues. We run citrix and pocket pc is supported, this is a plus for those of us having it available, the IT guys make it painless. I have the NexiCAM as an add-on for pictures and am very happy with the very ease and convienence of sending a quick email with a quick photo taken. Drawbacks are the price and the necessity to hit reset, but that just takes seconds. In retrospect I bought more machine than I need but when I look back at the Palms I have owned since the mid nineties I paid a lot for those and used the PDA for my advantage. Those machines at purchase were more machine than I needed. - If I get 5 years out of my IPAQ it will owe me nothing. Based on it's rugged feel and my first 5 weeks with it. I will be hard pressed to get rid of it.
Rating:
Summary: Great for School
Review: Yes, its pricy, but it performs many of the same functions as a laptop computer. Its WiFi technology will allow you to connect to any wireless lan with the right ID, and some automatically! It plays movies full screen, and they are small in data size because the resolution can be set small and still be clear quality (because the device is small anyways.) Mp3 player, internet, AIM, MSN messenger, LOTS of free support on the internet, games, utilities, and a fingerprint scan instead of a password, which, as soon as mastered, works very well. Get a 128 MG storage card and a free copy of emZip, and you'll have good storage. or use your Compact flash cards with the optional CF adapter... its awesome its awesome.
Rating:
Summary: HP 5400 Series not ready for prime time
Review: While an attractive package with built in wireless (Blue Tooth, 802.11B), fingerprint recognition (for enhanced security and easy login), HP has in fact delivered a mess. The saga thus far: Upon delivery the unit was delivered with a stack of supplement manuals and addendums describing the add-on features, however there was no manual for the Pocket PC 2003 operating system. The manual is 160+ pages, and hidden on the CD as a PDF file (although my first round with tech support couldn't find it on the CD, and pointed me to the web site - where he couldn't find it either!) It was explained to me that the O/S is provided by a third party vendor (Microsoft), and therefore HP isn't responsible for it! Right... (Never mind that it is essential to the unit, and is useless without it!) Further, attempts to move the PDF to the iPAQ so it can be read with Adobe Acrobat Reader for the Pocket PC when needed proved useless. I personally think this is inexcusable - I shouldn't have to download the file to a PC, keep the PC with me at all times, so I can have access to it when I have a problem with the Pocket PC - or print out a 160 page book on 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper and figure out how to carry it with me. (Kind of defeats the purpose of having a pocket PC!) The unit needs to be delivered with this basic tool. Next: The unit filed after 2 hours of use. It turned itself on while in my briefcase, got extremely hot, and completely locked up. The 5450 would not reset. Turns out that HP will not send a replacement (unless you want to pay for an additional warranty), so it disappeared for a week and a half (vice the 3 days that were promised when I called technical support). When it was returned, I was informed that they couldn't duplicate the error, so they did nothing. I have since determined that the optional leather executive case sold by HP was designed so that it can readily touch the overly sensitive power switch - turning the unit on so it will overheat and run the battery dead. If I don't use the ... leather case (sold by HP for the 5450, it is much less prone to turning itself on and overheating!
The handwriting recognition is poor and difficult to tailor. As often as not, the unit will not exit the keyboard mode without a system reset. (BTW, I find I do 7-8 resets a day at this point between this problem, memory card problems, and wireless problems.)
As for the wireless - I have gottent it to work exactly once. After numerous calls to technical support, I have managed to get it to work with one of four wireless networks. According to tech support, the unit will not tolerate 802.11G in the area. They consider it a problem with the 802.11G standards, never mind that my other 802.11B devices are working with no difficulty! It gets worse! The configuration for each network involves multiple control panels that are scattered throughout the O/S, counter-intuitive and poorly documented. You won't gett any help from the FAQ's or technical support web site either. For instance, if you should manage to get the wireless to recognize a network, you then need to go through the network settings control panel, and indicate in three different drop-down boxes that you are connecting at "work" (rather than the "internet" or "home"). Use of any other setting will effectively prevent the device from using the wireless, and requires you to configure a modem (never mind that the whole point of wireless is to avoid using a modem, or you may need different wireless configuration settings at different locations)! (Why work=wireless has yet to be explained to me by technical support.) Clear yet? I thought not... The latest saga has to do with the SD memory card. It cannot be written to or have the existing files deleted. Suspecting a corrupt file, I tried to find information on formatting the card (or any other information on the memory cards) on the HP web site. There was none. When I called technical support, they informed me that every SD card needed to be formatted before it was used. (Again, nothing in the user guide or the web site). Further, there was no utility provided by HP to do this! I needed to go to a another vendor's web site, and BUY this utility separately (even though it was REQUIRED before I could use the card - even the one HP sold me with the 5450!. Despite my better judgment, I bought the utility - and low and behold - it doesn't work either. Again, how HP can justify not including a basic utility that is required to use the device eludes me. Finally, this was one of two units I bought for evaluation in my laboratory. The other I gave to my network systems engineer. His story isn't any happier. In addition to the issues I have encountered, his problems have centered around that expansion pack, and the fact that they are such a poor fit, that the unit constantly sees the battery in the expansion pack as going dead (because it fits so poorly) that the unit keeps shutting down. Any devices plugged into the expansion pack are constantly seen as being removed and installed - requiring numerous resets as things try to reload. We have also bought the new Viewsonic pocket PCs and Casios for evaluation. They have been an order of magnitude more reliable that the HP iPAQ 5450, despite (because) fewer features, and further came with complete documentation. None of these have failed to date, nor have we had an issue requiring our contacting technical support. Our conclusion: the HP iPAQ 5450 is a poorly executed design, lacking basic documentation, with poor support, and should therefore be avoided at all costs.
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