RichBoston
09-23-2002, 05:00 PM
Last Friday (9/20/02) I came over from the dark side. Yup - I bought an iPAQ 3835 at CompUSA in Boston. It was only a 2 day deal but I assume you may find similar deals elsewhere?
Here's the deal:
Regularly $599.99
Minus $150 "Price Break"
Minus $100 Trade In
Minus $50 Compaq iPAQ 3835 Rebate
Minus $50 Second Compaq iPAQ rebate
----------------------------------------------------
Final total $249.99! ($449.99 paid in store - $200 mail in rebates)
Rather than give up my Palm IIIxe I went next door to K-Mart and bought some piece of junk called a "PDA" in a plastic bubble pack for $9.99. The clerk refused it at first as did the department manager but the store manager OKed it. I pointed out that the ad said PDA without specifics and the package said "PDA" so I knew they'd have to cave in.
So far, I love it. There is somewhat of a learning curve as you go off the Palm OS but nothing traumatic. I DO long for replaceable batteries though. With the brightness turned all the way up it seems to lose 1% of battery strength for each 2 minutes used with the brightness on max as best as I can measure. Of course I'm using lots of power zapping functions as I explore all the new functions.
I just added IBM Via Voice from the CD and will play around with that tonight. I suspect I'll end up deleting it to get my recorder use back.
I don't like the plastic case it comes with. Any suggestions? I'd prefer a zippered leather case.
I'd appreciate hearing from anyone else who owns this or just made the switch as to how they initially liked it and then whether their opinion changed down the road a bit. Also, has anyone else seen the kind of deal like I got? For $250 I couldn't refuse.
I also picked up the Stowaway keyboard for $50 (includes $20 discount and $30 rebate)
After only a few days I can honestly say I do NOT miss the Palm OS. I don't know whether the Pocket PC 2002 OS is so much better than previous versions or whether Palm was spreading rumors about how bad the Pocket PCs were ;-)
Here's the deal:
Regularly $599.99
Minus $150 "Price Break"
Minus $100 Trade In
Minus $50 Compaq iPAQ 3835 Rebate
Minus $50 Second Compaq iPAQ rebate
----------------------------------------------------
Final total $249.99! ($449.99 paid in store - $200 mail in rebates)
Rather than give up my Palm IIIxe I went next door to K-Mart and bought some piece of junk called a "PDA" in a plastic bubble pack for $9.99. The clerk refused it at first as did the department manager but the store manager OKed it. I pointed out that the ad said PDA without specifics and the package said "PDA" so I knew they'd have to cave in.
So far, I love it. There is somewhat of a learning curve as you go off the Palm OS but nothing traumatic. I DO long for replaceable batteries though. With the brightness turned all the way up it seems to lose 1% of battery strength for each 2 minutes used with the brightness on max as best as I can measure. Of course I'm using lots of power zapping functions as I explore all the new functions.
I just added IBM Via Voice from the CD and will play around with that tonight. I suspect I'll end up deleting it to get my recorder use back.
I don't like the plastic case it comes with. Any suggestions? I'd prefer a zippered leather case.
I'd appreciate hearing from anyone else who owns this or just made the switch as to how they initially liked it and then whether their opinion changed down the road a bit. Also, has anyone else seen the kind of deal like I got? For $250 I couldn't refuse.
I also picked up the Stowaway keyboard for $50 (includes $20 discount and $30 rebate)
After only a few days I can honestly say I do NOT miss the Palm OS. I don't know whether the Pocket PC 2002 OS is so much better than previous versions or whether Palm was spreading rumors about how bad the Pocket PCs were ;-)