Rating: 
Summary: Best PDA
Review: I am an airline pilot, and searching for the best PDA available I found The Jornada, with it I can surf the web,get my mail, listen to music,watch the pictures of my family or listen to their voice, and even play games. With all the different programs it comes with , its like having your home pc on your pocket. I couldn't ask for a better device for entertainment and information and with the c/flashcard port you can have lots of memory. It really is the best assistant you can have.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Fantastic -continues to surprise me
Review: I have had my Jornada for a month now and I have been nothing but pleased. It has exceeded my every expectation. The color (12-bit) is wonderful, the sound from the built-in speaker (and headphones) is surprisingly good, and the functionality is astounding. Make no mistake, you are not buying an organizer --you are buying a COMPUTER. 133 mhz processer, 12-bit color, 32 mb of ram --is it just me, or wasn't that a top-of-the-line desktop computer 5 yrs ago?Well, I won't go into the basics -other reviewers have done a good job doing so --let me focus on other areas. Buying extra memory is a must if you download a lot (MP3s or books). (I filled up my memory within 2 weeks after downloading 9 books, 2 songs, and 5 extra games... Books seem to be 500k to 1 mb, MP3s are 4-6MB and games are less than 1MB) I'd recommend going with the maximum upgrade of 128 MB flash-card --you could put 2 hours of MP3s on that card! This is great if you always wanted an MP3 player, as I did, now I can just roll the functionality of my Jornada into my portable music station. For downloading books I recommend checking out the great FREE selection on Amazon.com. (Another good place is, egads!, Barnes and Nobles.com) There are some great books just worth keeping in the memory in case you are stuck somewhere with time on your hands. I highly recommend getting the FREE Pocket PC expansion pack offered by Microsoft --it contains some games (Chess is great, Hearts is great, Pac Man is alright --but is meant to be played with a joystick), but more importantly, offers a lot of other great software, free. There is a "paint" program -it offers simple drawing in many colors (but no paintbrush or sprayer), the e-book reader program (allows you to display e-books), a great "slide-shower" program (I put family pictures in here in 5 minutes) --there is a full screen mode which allows you to page-through slides, and is really impressive. There is even an ADOBE ACROBAT reader --quite amazing, though I wonder how documents will look on a small screen. The best thing about the Jornada is that it is very intuitive. The internal file system is set up just like your home PC -with a version of "explorer". This allows you to open an "explorer" menu (when your Jornada is "synched" with your computer). The advantage of this is you can just open folders on your big computer's screen and drag and drop PHOTOS, E-BOOKS, MP3s, and M-PEGS just as easy as that. One of my best comments about this product is that I didn't need the instruction manual. Other highlights --the COMPLETE synchronization with Microsoft's products is absolutely wonderful. Outlook is FULLY synched --alerts, contacts, and tasks to remember are added to your home computer (after you've added them to your Jornada). (By the way, you receive the FULL version of Outlook 2000 for free when you purchase your Jornada). Word and Excel allow you to open e-mail attachments as well as create new documents. Microsoft Money requires a separate purchase of Money 2000 (or newer) and is really cool. It keeps your whole checkbook, basic stock information, and lists of Payees and Expense categories available at your fingertips. The Jornada can be extensively customized, I found THAT very attractive --a variety of sound, backlight, password, and hotkey settings can be changed quickly from the internal menus. Surprisingly, the calculator is one "widget" that I've used more than anything else. It really feels natural, and gets a LOT of use in restaurants... The weight is nothing you can't handle, but is noticeable --it is heavier than it looks, and I wouldn't want to put it into a shirt pocket, or try to squeeze it into a pair of jeans. If you drop it on a hard surface, good luck, because it looks like it'd shatter --it is heavy. The cover is very nice. It is sleek metal, which is great protection. One drawback is that it is not something that is easily removed (though you can --with care), and doesn't move back more than 90 degrees when opened. I like the stylus. It is very easy to pull out and use, and stores very well. The best program is the built-in "NOTE taker" function. You write on the screen and your strokes are captured exactly as written--no "graffiti" or "keboard" needed here (though these ARE an option). This is the fastest way to take notes --basically just drawing on a touch-pad. Also, another neat function is that you can press the red button on the side and RECORD voice messages that are saved with specific notes--really cool! You can even record messages when the machine is off --just press the button and you can record for as long as you have memory! Every morning I plug it in and it automatically downloads 500 web pages for view later --it takes less than 5 minutes on a 28.8 modem. This is the best part --I was astounded how fun it was to read news on the metro on my handheld. (Every time you "synch" outdated web pages are deleted, and new ones stored). Go to Avantgo.com, and you can choose a variety of web sites to be AUTOMATICALLY downloaded to your Pocket PC --this is just the ultimate in usefulness. I entered my zipcode and now articles are more relevent to me. Just an example --I said I wanted to see Hollywood.com, and now I get all the movie summaries, locations, and movie times downloaded to my Pocket PC --no more looking through the paper... You can download book reviews, news, business, sports, and weather. You can also get ALL of your articles on your MY YAHOO site (if you have one) --this was a REAL plus. The New York times offers a LOT of features, as does MSN. One last thing --you can download MAPS -this blew my mind -there were maps of all major cities available --you just drag and drop the ones you want onto your Pocket PC. When viewing a map, just click on the spot you want to see, and you can zoom in. You can get to individual streets, and it looks stunning in color --I really love this feature. No more carrying outsized maps with me (and looking like a tourist) when I'm in the city. Wonderful! More to say, but not today. I am one satisfied customer. A purchase for someone who wants more than just an organizer... a LOT more.
Rating: 
Summary: Suit Against HP for Misrepresenting Functionality
Review: I purchased one of the HP 540 series PDA's (in my case, a 548),only to feel compelled to return it to Amazon because of difficultieswith much of the functionality HP advertised, especially regardingemail. As a registered user, I have recently been informed of aclass-action suit against HP for this very reason... I highlyrecommend that you research other options before choosing this PDA.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent product....
Review: Considering i havent tried any onther pocket pcs i find this one perfect. Its pretty quick at loading programs and processing video. The only things that got me down was the speed of the usb transfer and the 12 bit screen. The screen isnt really bad for normal usage but it shows when you look at a picture and the speed of the usb transfer is pretty slow compareed to my RIO 500 mp3 player which takes 5 secinds to put a song on where the jornada takes 2-3 minutes. Its a great product and i would recommend it to anyone!
Rating:
Summary: Best PDA on the market
Review: Despite the complaints of bulk, I believe this is the best product on the market. I personal prefer the weight as I am never afraid that the Jornada will fly out of my hands were a lousy, drunk co-patron at a bar to bump into me while I am jotting. (This happened with a Palm -- a very expensive disaster). It will also never fall out of my pocket (same Palm). Additionally, the complaints on battery life appear unfounded. I was in Hawaii for a week and forgot the recharger. I was able to use it non-stop the entire time. Maybe it was a miracle or maybe it's b/c I was conscientious enough to close programs I was not using and b/c I wasn't on the darn thing for 8 hours straight. Finding a case for the Jornada is rough, however. But with the hard cover case, I don't find that I really need one. In any case, I crocheted a case for it and it works fine. The handwriting recognition is the best on the market, and the ability to re-test the alignment configuration between the device and the stylus is a great back-up to ensure accurate handwriting interpretation. I did wear out the screen and now wish I had known of the cover protector. Even so, HP was more than happy to repair it so we'll see how that turns out. The buttons pull-up the important programs rather than junk like some PDAs. This is almost the Apple of PDAs with the surfing-the-program-for-idiot's intuitive program design lay-out. All the wires make this device a little crazy-looking when docked at your desk, but that is easily fixed with a twist-tie. I love the Jornada 548 and can't live without it.
Rating:
Summary: Solid gadget!!
Review: The Jornada 548 is a fine gadget. I recommend to anyone from a student to Professional. You can take notes, appoinments, I can read my e-mail and veiw all my news, listen to MP3 and papers off line without any connection after 3 minutes connectivity with my PC. I bought this about 2 weeks ago and still find new things that I can do with this.
Rating:
Summary: How did I get along without this thing?
Review: Yes, it is expensive... but it is worth it! It's not bulky, the Pocket PC operating system is easy to grasp, particularly if you are already a Windows 95/98/Me user, and it has lots of storage! If you use MS Outlook, don't waste your money on a Palm OS. Setting up the partnership with my Windows based desktop PC was as easy as 1-2-3.
Rating:
Summary: Love it.
Review: I love my Pocket PC. I use this thing more than any device I have ever owned. From the moment it arrived it became much more than a gadget. I have owned lots of gadgets, including the palm. They were great to carry around and show off but the pocket PC is the most useful thing I have ever owned. Here is an example of how I use it through out my day. 5:00 AM: Wake up to the alarm. It plenty loud enough to rouse even me. 7:00 AM: Listen to MP3,s or sometimes audio books on my drive to work. 8:00 AM: Pop it in the cradle and sync with my Outlook at work. All my email, Calendar, task, web pages, files, etc... 9:00 AM: go to daily morning meeting with nothing but my Pocket PC. I have all my status reports in MS word. When we discuss an email someone sent out with an attached excel spreadsheet I just open it on my pocket PC and review. I open up the note pad and take notes through out the meeting.Oh yea, sometimes I get bored and play games with the sound off. It look like I am taking notes. 10:00 AM and throughout the day it goes with me to all meetings. Taking notes on it is a breeze. It is as close to actual writing as you can get. 12:00 Noon: Take it to lunch. If I am alone I read through the days news on Pocket Internet Explorer. Its updates every time I sync so I always have the latest news and movietimes, weather, etc...If it is a business luncheon I exchange contact info with partners and clients via infrared. I can exchange even with Palm owners thanks to Peacemaker. 6:30 PM: Go home and listen to MP3's on the way. 8:30 PM: Read books using the MS Reader. So far I have read. Tom Sawyer, Timeline, Fredrick Douglas, a good portion of the bible, part of the Koran, Thus spake Zarathustra' Albert Einstein's Quotes, Shakespeare's Sonnets and Digital Times. I own the Jornado and it is in my mind the best. The Ipaq and Casio are great in many respects but no one beats the form factor, styling and slickness of the Jornado
Rating: 
Summary: Not a bad choice if you want CE, but could be even better.
Review: I originally wrote this review for a Jornada 545, but the actual unit I am using is the 548, so thought I'd add it here as well. I have been lucky enough to have a Jornada and lots of add-ons to try out for free. I am a long, long-time user of Palms, and was quite a devoted user, have spent thousands over the years upgrading my Palms, buying software, adding memory, etc. to get the most out of them. And I'm here to tell you...there is WAY more you can do with a Palm than Microsoft would have you believe. You can do more with a Pocket PC out of the box than a Palm, yes, but there is TONS more you can add on to a Palm, and most at a very reasonable price, than you can with the PPC. Having said that, the Jornada is a great piece of hardware. The color screen puts the Palm to shame. It almost hurts my eyes to look at my Palm IIIc now, it is so pixelated and ugly in comparison. The size is close to the Palm IIIc although slightly heavier. It's very nice to hold, sleek and pretty. My main complaint is the stylus, I find it annoyingly hard to get out and I don't like the flat shape. People are used to round pens and this one is flat. I tend to drop the stylus, and have already lost one of them as a result, and came close a second time already. Would also prefer a cover that flips all the way back. The Pocket PC OS is much better than CE 2. However, the inability to close programs was a bad omission, and I ended up adding Gigabar, a great freeware program that closes and switches tasks, among other things. But it is a bit buggy, and I would much rather that the OS included that kind of functionality from the beginning. While speed is better than older versions, I still run into things that take time, where on the Palm, everything happens almost instantly. There are a lot more things on the Pocket PC you will have to wait for. Some add-on software I looked at is so slow as to be worthless. Ability to play MP3s is great, if you even consider carrying an MP3 player around. You can turn the screen off and still listen to them, which saves on batteries. In the car, add the DC adapter and it will charge your Jornada while playing. You can also get small volume boosters that will run on a single AA battery that can help with battery life if MP3s are your thing. However, please note that no matter what you do, listening to MP3s will drain the batteries VERY quickly. Even with the screen turned off, I only get about 2 hours before the batteries die on me. Similar battery drains occured when doing things like using a modem or a CF card. More bad news. There is not much extra software out there. Compared to the Palm, it's really, really sparse. And a lot of what is there, just isn't that good or as easy to use. This is the biggest problem I have with the unit. I just can't do some stuff I was used to doing, or in some cases, it would cost me WAY more. Some things that I used my Palm for all the time, I can't do now at all. I miss wonderful programs like DateBk4 and HanDBase. So easy to use and low priced. Not much like that for PPC. I am so desperate for an easy to use and reasonably priced database program like HanDBase, that I may go back to my Palm just to have it. The absence of something like Pocket Access on the Pocket PC is a HUGE omission, and one that *must* be corrected if Microsoft expects serious users to switch. The screen on the Jornada is definitely a little hard to read outside, but if you use the Outdoors setting, it IS readable other than in totally direct sunlight. I often read books while in my car at lunch and find it easier than my Palm IIIc to read. I also don't like how heavily it is tied to MS stuff. I use Quicken...Pocket Money directions for Quicken users? Switch to Money. Thanks, but no thanks. Pocket Quicken on the Palm does a great job for me. Same with pretty much everything else. I prefer Eudora for email...with the Palm, I can sync...on the PPC, I have to use Outlook. I almost feel like it is trying to force me into using more Microsoft stuff than I already do. Finally, pricewise, it's going to cost you more. You can now get a Palm for $150. Yes, you can expand memory on the PPCs, but it costs money. However, a lot of times, you are getting more for your money...I do believe the Jornada is worth the price more than the color Palm is. But you still have to be willing to pay the price. So what do I recommend? It really depends on what you want. If you love cool gadgets like I do, the PPC overall is a winner. I personally would probably recommend the iPaq over the HP for the screen that is easy to read outside, better expandability, and more memory for the price. If you don't expect to need more than the CF I slot, though, the Jornada would not be a bad choice. If you really love everything Microsoft comes out with and use everything they make, this is the one to get. If however, you want more options in terms of what you can work with and what you can do, the Palm is probably the way to go.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste more of your time choosing , BUY IT NOW !!!
Review: What more i have to say ? It's an amazing product. Forget about the 12 bit screen issue , it works great. Who needs 16 bit color in a PDA ? Anyway , it comes with great software bundle , it's very fast , beatiful and not too heavy as i think it will be. The Pocket PC OS almost have no crashes and its full compatible with all MS Desktop programs.If you are considering in using it for MP3 playback ,buy a Flash Memory with 32 mega or more.
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