The positive and nagative of HP Jornada 690 Handheld PC

The handled PC is so popular these days,below is something about the Hewlett Packard Jornada 690.Together with HP's exclusive productivity software, the HP Jornada 680/690 combines the power of desktop computing into a PC companion that's compact, convenient, and ready to work when you are!

Small enough to drop into your coat pocket or handbag, the HP Jornada 680/690 Handheld PC weighs just one pound and yet packs all the features you would need in your busy day away from the desk. With a brilliantly lit color screen, you can work up to 8 hours without recharging while the built-in 56kps modem allows you to stay in touch via e-mail and surf the Web. Work comfortably on the roomy keyboard and when you finally return to your desk, enjoy fast and automatic synchronization with your desktop PC. The Jornada 680/690, give you no-hassle work and personal information management plus fast access and capture of important business information.The advantages continue with Microsoft Windows CE, Handheld PC Professional Edition software and Microsoft Pocket Office preinstalled and ready to go.

Positive users

Before I start my review allow me to say,Please stick with the HP Jornada 820,720,or 728 I will explain why in this review.

At the time the 690 was released it was a great piece of hardware,some people still use there Jornadas for homebrews,Linux etc.. However the Jornada 680,690,690e are possibly the most useless of the bunch here is the number one reason:

The Jornada 680,690,690e are crippled by a Hitachi Super SH-3 133MHz processor,every other Jornada uses an ARM processor. "So what,big deal?" your thinking right? WRONG the SH-3 processor is VERY different from an ARM processor the number one comparison is that its harder to program compared to an ARM and is also not compatible with any ARM programs. Homebrew for the SH-3 is nonexistent whereas homebrew for ARM's are very active (you can play Duke Nukem on every other Jornada but not the ones that use the SH-3!) The SH-3 is also very sluggish compared any ARM CPU's there is a homebrew flight simulator that works on all models of Jornada,but on my 690 it runs to slow to use even at lowest settings whereas a Jornada 820 (older model than a 690) can play it no problem,Even with less RAM!!

The Jornada itself has 32mb of shared RAM/ROM you can set it to either have 16MB of RAM and 16MB of ROM (storage) or to have 31MB of ram and 1MB of ROM. I recommend the latter for better performance.

Nagative users

Jornada 690 is that it has no headphone port,No support for a Windows CE media player (you can try and download it,but it wont be compatible). And no support for any updates to the web browser or anything (HP Jornadas that use an ARM CPU are compatible with all updates,even a Firefox Mini web browser) The Voice recorder is also mediocre at best. The touch screen is decent,but the refresh rate is slow.

The web browser on the Jornada works fairly well IIRC it is Internet Explorer 4 (ARM CPU'd Jornadas can upgrade to IE5 or Firefox Mini) although with the older IE the web pages will look like they have come straight out of 90's. Of course flash is not supported (it is with FFM). You can use the Jornada for LIGHT web browsing.

The only redeeming point of the Jornada is you can install Jlime linux on this machine to give it flash support and just generally bring it into the 21ist century although Jlime is very slow and so is most everything else while Jlime is running. The 'Docking station' is a joke,basically just for looks. And the serial cable to connect your Jornada to your PC is useless today (no computer made after 2002 will have a serial port) The 720 and 728 have a USB port to connect to your computer.

Origin:sanbobo