Any news on the new Ipaq HX4700 ??

[squale]

I am waiting till this comes out to buy a new PPC because I believe this looks to be the BEST PPC available once it's released... and it will probably cost the same amount as the current H5555 does around $650.

What do you guys think of this one?

I am comparing between the new Asus a730, and the Toshiba e830

As far as I know these are the ONLY VGA ones coming out.

What are your comparitive thoughts?

P.S. -> Has Ipaq always been the leading PPC's?

[woody32]

It will probably be out next week. I wouldn't buy a Toshiba PDA because I think they are getting out of the PDA business.

[Bokkie]

Originally posted by squale
I am waiting till this comes out to buy a new PPC because I believe this looks to be the BEST PPC available once it's released... and it will probably cost the same amount as the current H5555 does around $650.

What do you guys think of this one?

I am comparing between the new Asus a730, and the Toshiba e830

As far as I know these are the ONLY VGA ones coming out.

What are your comparitive thoughts?

P.S. -> Has Ipaq always been the leading PPC's?

The HX4700 does not have a built-in camera like the A730 has which to me is no problem at all. There are question marks about the warranty/service offered by Asus. I believe HP offer a rock solid warranty/service scheme. I'm getting an HX4700 myself.

[woody32]

I am probably going to get HX4700 in a few month after my 5555 gets damaged. I have to wait a while to make sure that Comp USA does not have any more 5555 in their warehouse.

[squale]

lol, good idea... I would really like to hear some technical feedback from the CV staff on this new PDA and whether their graphics are going to be better and utilize this higher resolution or not.

As it stands, I think I might still be leaning towards the Garmin 296 from comparing screenshots of the mapping details/clarity, etc. but I don't see any reason why with the new VGA (640x480 pixel count) PDA's the graphics can't be at least as good as the Garmin 296 if not BETTER...

I would love to see CV take the Aeroplanner actually scanned sectionals and use them as the mapping background for terrain awaness, navigation, etc..

[Sony convert]

I am torn between the HX4700 and Asus A730. I am a little skeptical of the lack of a D-pad on the HX. If you haven't heard, the HX4700 is replacing the D-pad with a touchpad. Also, the A730 will have a USB slot and the design is more compact. Pluses for the HX4700: Faster processor, iPaq name and reliability. Tough choice.

[AnswerDude]

There's a short hand-on review of iPAQ hx4700 here;
http://www.pdagold.com/articles/detail.asp?a=180
And here's site with comparison of vga ppc , mostly about basic specifications;
http://www.firstloox.org/VGAppc.htm

[Bokkie]

Originally posted by Sony convert
I am torn between the HX4700 and Asus A730. I am a little skeptical of the lack of a D-pad on the HX. If you haven't heard, the HX4700 is replacing the D-pad with a touchpad. Also, the A730 will have a USB slot and the design is more compact. Pluses for the HX4700: Faster processor, iPaq name and reliability. Tough choice.

Sony,

my lack of experience with the PPC is shining through here! What is D-pad? Is it similar to Grafitti-2 on Palm?

If the Asus has a USB slot and the HX does not, then what type of connection does the HX use for hot/active syncing? Serial cable?

[Sony convert]

Bokkie,
The D-pad is a directional pad. Many of the newer Palms have them too, other Palms just have up/down buttons. It is a multi-directional button below the screen that functions similar to that of a mouse on a PC. The touchpad I assume will be similar to that on a laptop which assumes the role of the mouse.

I'm still curious about the USB support on the A730 and exactly what kind of USB port it will have. All the latest PPC's sync via USB, but the A730 I read will actually have a USB host port for connecting devices such as USB card readers. I like the idea of being able to transfer pictures from my digital camera's SmartMedia card directly to my PDA.

[squale]

so are you saying that you can actually plug a USB GPS into the A730? you know how for instance Garmin has that new Garmin 18 which is a GPS receiver that has a USB plug on it. This would mean that you can use this same USB GPS on both your laptop and your PPC if the PPC has the USB port on it.. very cool.. I always wondered why these things didn't have this usb port on them

[Sony convert]

Originally posted by squale
so are you saying that you can actually plug a USB GPS into the A730? you know how for instance Garmin has that new Garmin 18 which is a GPS receiver that has a USB plug on it. This would mean that you can use this same USB GPS on both your laptop and your PPC if the PPC has the USB port on it.. very cool.. I always wondered why these things didn't have this usb port on them

I didn't say that you can plug any USB device into it. The truth is I don't know and I'm curious to find out. At the very least, I'm sure drivers will have to be developed for any devices you want to plug into the Asus' USB slot. Garmin may not develop the PPC drivers unless there was a large enough interest to make it worth their while. Besides, they may prefer you to buy the cfQue 1620 rather than develop USB support for PPC. Who knows what other factors might be involved. I'm not a software developer and still relatively new to PPC (long time Palm user) so I don't know what to expect.

[Sony convert]

I just found this review (http://www.mobile-review.com/pda/review/asus-a730-en.shtml) on the Asus A730. The 2nd part of the review talks a little about the USB support and sort of confirms what I said in the previous post about the need for drivers. It says that not all devices will be supported and you will need a special cable to make it work. I assume the cable will just convert the standard USB plug into a more compact plug that will fit the PPC. Maybe the A730 will come with that adapter.

[Bokkie]

Originally posted by Sony convert
Besides, they may prefer you to buy the cfQue 1620 rather than develop USB support for PPC. Who knows what other factors might be involved. I'm not a software developer and still relatively new to PPC (long time Palm user) so I don't know what to expect.

The cfQue does not come with an SDK at this time unfortunately. From the iQue forum it has been established that you can't have multiple apps polling the cfQue but install something called GPSGate and it will create any number of virtual ports that will allow multiple apps to receive GPS polls, and taking it further from there it should be possible to convert the internal PVT structure into NMEA that could be sent down the USB wire.