As a PocketPC newbie I thought I pen a few words about what I think of the Ipaq H5450.

 

 

So far so good! :-)

 

 

In terms of on paper specification the 5450 is pretty much top dog, with Wireless LAN, Bluetooth, SDIO, 400Mhz Xscale CPU, 64Mb RAM, 48Mb ROM and Biometric security as standard and then there are the majority of exiting Ipaq expansion jackets to choose from as well.

 

 

Ergonimically the 5450 is very nice to look at and and comfortable to hold, seems people are fussing over the size of the D button but I've not got any issues as it's the first Ipaq I've used :-) To my mind everythig is nicely laid out.

 

The display is every so nice, very sharp and bright with no bluring that I can see. Sound quality from the built in speakers isn't brilliant but plugging some head phones into the unit gives excellent sound (when the 5450 is not playing sound there is no background hissing or interference).

 

 

The software bundle with the Ipaq is a bit dissapointing, you don't get many toys to play with out of the box and you end up resorting to the internet to find something to show off demos. I'm also quite unimpressed with the way PocketWord and PocketExcel import Word and Excel documents, them seem to have deliberatly limited feature set.

 

 

As to performance, well it doesn't seem hugely impressive. From what I understand HP used a new graphics processor for which none of the graphics libraries are taking advantage of, combined with the fact that PocketPC2002 isn't yet properly optimsed for the Xscale processor, appliactions you'd expect the 5450 to cope with easily are a bit sluggish ... like movie playback and games. Better drivers and optimised applications would almost certainly improve matters in leaps and bounds but how long will it take HP and Microsoft to pull their fingers out and release them ? There are also a few niggles where the WiFi or Bluetooth drivers wouldn't load because of "Insufficient driver memory" not good QA there.

 

 

On the WiFi & Bluetooth front : BlueTooth works a treat, paired up with my Sony-Ericsson T68i a treat. Wifi I havn't used much, but again once it's switched on the 5450 tracks down the nearest and strongest AccesPoint and attempts to log in ... I had good fun driving down my local high street and having 8 seperate access points offer their services to the Ipaq ... silly people should really learn to secure their networks better! :-)

 

 

Bettery life: Not actually done much testing on this, seems pretty good and lasted most of a day of me playing with it constantly and passing it to friends to play with.

 

 

Conclusion: Well I like it, as a first PocketPC it's good, a doddle to use and I'm sure that once new drivers and bug fixes are done it'll be a cracking machine to have.