HP iPaq any good? 4

[marcasii]

I am looking at buying a HP iPaq probably the h4150 (

http://h50025.www5.hp.com/hpcom/au_en/11_26_60_2343_FA174A.html)

I do not know much about them and am wondering firstly how much storage they have? Is it just the included RAM?

Also I want something that will record up to 3 hours of voice, for meetings with clients. Will an iPaq do this and how good would the quality be, i.e. will it pick up all voices in a room or do you have to speak directly into it, also at what quality could you store 3 hours of voice at on an iPaq?

Any info or recommendation appreciated?

 

[Nelviticus]

Well, according to this review, it has 55Mb of user-accessible memory. My PDA, a Viewsonic V37 running the same OS as the iPaq, can only record sound to its internal memory. At the lowest-quality PCM setting (8KHz 8-bit mono) this takes up 8Kb per second, so three hours would be about 84Mb. There's also an even lower-quality setting that's 2Kb per second, which would need 21Mb for three hours, but the quality would be very poor.

You can add extra storage space on a memory card but unless the iPaq uses something other than Windows' built-in sound recorder you won't be able to record direct to a card. Also, any apps that you install to the device will take up some of that built-in memory.

As for how much the microphone will pick up, these aren't dedicated voice recorders so the mic is unlikely to be good enough to capture other voices within the room at sufficient quality for your needs. If I record in a small-ish room without much echo and no background noise, I can pick up what other speakers are saying if they speak clearly, but I wouldn't be able to rely on it.

The mic on the iPaq may be better than on my Viewsonic but I'd recommend getting a separate, dedicated voice recorder with an input jack for a proper room mic.

Nelviticus

 

[marcasii]

Thanks for the detailed information it is a great help! I am looking for fairly high quality voice recording so I might look at a dedicated voice recorder as you say. I was just hoping the get that and more for similar money with an ipaq

 

[chriseubank]

I've found that the microphone on my h2215 is awesome.. it picks up sounds really well.

Just thought I'd add that!
C

 

[wiredwoman]

Oh yea, two thumbs wayyyy up for IPAQ.

You might want to look at the IPAQ 2210/2215 instead. I know the 4000s have built in wireless but ... there are other ways to get that. You will get two additional storage options; SD and CF. I have had mine for a few months and it's amazing. The mic is great. I just added a wireless SanDisk with 128 meg which is handy; although I'd probably go straight wireless next time, as the card boots up the storage side first. . I have used the CF slot a LOT to plug in my card direct from my digital camera and do a quick browse of pictures. A full 126 meg card loads in about 30 seconds. I had expected to have to install software to manage this, but both IPAQ and Microsoft provided two image viewing programs. You're going to need extra storage for that much voice, but with the 2210/2215 you can just buy the extra cards which are getting much less expensive by the day. I use my extra camera cards.

Mobile 2003 allows voice recording on the menu within the email function which is pretty cool.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am woman, watch me code.

 

[airam]

the 2215 has wireless too... I got mine few weeks ago and I love it; the dual memory slots are great; I didn't think you can do so many thigs with it.... move pictures, watch movies ( full movie on lower quality takes around 210 MB...use my cards)

 

[chriseubank]

I suppose the only bummer is that HP won't upgrade the OS. grrrr

C

 

[airam]

You can't have everything!You gain something... you loose something

 

[kjv1611]

Just a matter of user input here.. I ran accross this thread, and noticed you were talking about audio recording. I've tried a couple of free recorders besides the default "Notes" program. The only one I've tried extensively so far is one called NotesM. It records to MP3 format by default, so takes much less space. For example, what would take a little over 700 megabytes (per roxio's easy cd/dvd creator 6 basic) for a recent recording took only about 67.8 megabytes - this was at highest quality settings, as well. You can find it here:

http://zavorine.net/wince/mp3.htm

It has worked really well on my Dell Axim x3, and picks up everything and some. You could also mess around with your microphone settings as to how much background noise it picks up, to see what you want. If you get this, and have at least a small storage card, you can probably get by. The file of mine that took up 67.8 megabytes was recorded at CD quality in MP3 format and was 68 minutes in length.

Another one that sounds silly, but also may be worth while trying is "little snazzy drummer". You have to have the vb run time files on your pocket pc in order to run it, but it seems to work well so far (just played around with it some). You can do audio recordings, and you can create and add in drum lines to it. You won't need the drum part, but it could be something extra to pass the time, whenever you want to just goof off or something. The audio seemed to record okay, but I've not used it that much yet.

Both of these programs are free.

Stephen
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6 KJV

 

[phinchcliffe]

i have an iPaq 3750, and for recording qualities, it is brill. i am in a band and use it to record all the time. its not the best sound in the world but its not bad either. As for recording voices mine is exelent, it can pickup a whole room of people talking very clearly.

As to the question about how long and what quality i dont know, however you can pick up a 1 gig sd card for it which is more than enough space for around £50 at

http://www.ebuyer.co.uk.