A mix of really good, and really bad

Category: Review on HP iPAQ rx4240 Pocket PC

Posted by: 10-Apr

Strengths: Extremely Powerful Device once unlocked. Tiny Compared to other PDAs. Bluetooth+Wifi built in

Weaknesses: No D-Pad, dual function hardware buttons (see details)

This is by far my favorite PDA to date, despite having some major issues when it comes to games, this PDA is so powerful its almost unbelievable. Out of the box, the Samsung processor is clocked at 400mhz. For those with no fear, you can comfortably overclock the device to 500mhz without any problems. I personally run mine at 650mhz, thats 162.5% increase in CPU speed! it also puts it at a faster speed than the much more expensive AXIM X51.

This PDA is extremely small, while this means the screen is much smaller than most PDA's, I feel that it is infact the correct size for QVGA displays, the images are clean and crisp. it looks sharp, unlike normal PDA's

CONS :

No D-Pad! At first this might not seem like a big issue, the device has a jog wheel which replaces the D-Pad and functions as the UP/DOWN part of the D-PAD. Unfortunately it is not a direct swap, and almost all games for PDA will recognise the jog movements when setting keys, but will not actually work in the game. also, there is simply NO LEFT/RIGHT on this device at all. I have found that this prevents you being able to play about 20% of available games out there.

Dual Function Hardware buttons! at first this sounds cool, press it once and it does one thing, hold it down and it does another. unfortunately, for games this cripples the device. any game that uses GAPI to link to the hardware buttons will see 2 buttons pressed every time you push in one of the hardware buttons. One key code for pressing the button in, and another for releasing it. This means you cant use the hardware buttons for "hold down" keys, as the keycode is passed only when the button is first pressed in. Games that do not use GAPI rarely have this problem though, and luckily, games are moving away from the GAPI interface.

As a Media Companion, this device is awesome. it fits into any standard pocket, has a standard 2.5mm headphone jack, great battery life of around 6 hours movie time, and 12 hours music time. Its light, and easy to hold when watching movies. The jog dial really shines hear, working as either fast forward/rewind or volume up/down depending on your choice.

Depsite the CONS I have mentioned, I HIGHLY reccomend this device for people who are either looking for something to watch movies and listen to music on, or people looking for an extremely powerful handheld (if your brave enough to overclock)