h5450 Real World Review Needed

[usictinc]

I need a "REAL WORLD" review of the 5450. Here are the things that are most important to me. Can anyone tell me if it's worth the investment or should I look elsewhere’s.

1. I need good reliable Wi-Fi. (I purchased a Toshiba e740 and it sucked! I had to camp out on my WAP antenna.) Does the hp make any improvements on range and reliability? I need to be able to walk around my office (proximity of about 50 or so feet on the same floor - commercial (steel / dry-wall) and at home, I need to be able to be on the main floor or upstairs or on my deck (proximity about 50 feet - residential (wood / dry-wall)

2. I need good security - I run a national crime fighting organization and travel very often - I keep very very sensitive data on the device. (I think the thumbprint ID thing would be a plus and sounds attractive) does this actually lock the unit on boot up so that a TP is needed to access the device? Can I TP Lock certain apps that I install so that it is required before launching a particular app too?

3. Accessories, Accessories, Accessories.... It needs to be expandable - Will it take flash cards and other flash compatible devices like GPS or the like?

I don't get out on the forums very much unless I need to get info so if you don't care to just Cc my email at director@usict.org to let me know what you think.

I'm counting on the experience of the forum to keep me in line :) money is not the object here. I don't care to pay for a device so long as it does what I want, when I want. I consider myself to be a power user - will it live up to my expectations or should I look at another device?

Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

:cool: Dave ///

[frozenpeas42]

U run a national crime fighting organisation?

are you Batman? :p

[packfan909]

Hi There Dave!

I have only had mine for a few days, but I am very happy with the capabilities of the unit.

802.11b -- Works very well! I have a D-Link Router/WAP and I am typically getting a better signal with my iPaq than I do with my integrated Wi-Fi on my Omnibook. Range seems to be better and I remember hearing that there is some kind of signal boosting technology embedded in the unit. Easy ability to change location settings (Public Hotspot vs Work vs Home) Reminds me of Netswitcher. The connection is solid during a session. However, when you power off and power it on again, it needs to find the WAP and that takes about 30 seconds.

Security -- The Biometrics features of this unit are great! I have enabled the index finger print security. It is flexible that you can have this as the access or use a 4 digit PIN. I tested the biometrics with some family and they were not able to beat it. One person works in the biometrics field and he thought that for the unit itself that the feature worked really well. I would say that at first make sure you turn up the login attempts to a comfortable number 5 or more until you are used to supplying your finger print properly. I don't think the biometrics can be applied to specific files or programs...however I haven't researched it either.

Accessories -- The 5450 comes with a hard case that blocks the expansion port. This is the same port that prior iPaq models have included. Any of the accessories for that expansion should work with this unit. What suprised me is that this model has a spot to put a GSM SIM Card inside the battery well. It doesn't work currently, however I am hopeful that an upgrade will come soon to upgrade the unit to a PPCPE device. The speaker, mic, and headset jack are all there and positioned in the right spots.

Power - Battery Life -- Not sure what to expect with this. On average, I am getting about 6-8 hours of solid use of the device if I am not using Wi-Fi, turn off sound, and keep the screen brightness down. With WiFi enabled I would say expect about 3 hours use on the device. What I do like is the USB charging feature. I keep my cradle at work and it charges the unit through the ActiveSync connection. I keep the power adapter at home to charge it at night after using it.

I am really enjoying this device. Coming from a Jornada 420 it is lightyears ahead of where I was. Good luck to everyone out there and if anyone knows about the phone features -- please do share! I would like to eliminate having a cell phone if possible.

packfan909

[zap203]

Hi Dave, I work for a wireless manufacturer and had a Palm V for 5+ years. So when the 5400 series came out I was looking at everythgin to justify purchaseing it becuase I could use it to manage all my other wireless devices on many of my customers' networks.

THe weakest part of any wireless network is going to be the radnge of the antenna on the mobile device. But I was pleasantly suprised on what I was able to achieve with this little stub of an antenna. I have a normal Alvarion/Agere AP in my basement of my rancher and I am able to go out to the front of the house and almost to the street 100'+ totally blocked by earth and still have internet access. The multipath is allowing the signal to go around the dirt through the house.

As for security I am using WEP and non broadcast beacon on the AP and for the device I am using an application I found for encryption of individual files on the iPAQ called Lucifer.

There are many GPSes available for it. Including Delormes announcemtn of a Bluetooth one so you will not have to attach it to the GPS. THe problem with that and others will be power. I use GPSes through APRS as a ham radio operator and will be using the iPAQ inplace of my laptop very soon expecially with the Delorme software. There are also many other GPS options.

Hope this helps.