I should probably provide a wrap-up to my Pocket PC adventures from last month. To recap, my iPaq 4705 died on me suddenly. I've become so used to having a Pocket PC with me that I almost broke down. I acted like my head wasn't screwed on straight. I couldn't keep track of anything. My wife said that we didn't have the money in our budget for a new Pocket PC, so I did the next best thing: I asked my dad if he would be willing to get me one as a graduation present. I hadn't graduated at the time (I still haven't but that's another story) but I was in my final class and I was preparing to finish the program. My dad was willing to buy me one, so I went looking on Ebay. I've always wanted a combined Pocket PC and phone, and I found the Cingular 8125. You can read the details of that from my previous posts. I loved the phone for the 24 hours I was able to use it. The phone was shipped to me with the wrong battery, and it took five days for the correct battery to arrive. The phone had a few glitches that I was prepared to live with, but when the camera button got stuck, that was a deal killer and I sent the phone back for a refund. I borrowed my mother-in-law's iPaq 1945 to get me by until I could find something else.
I finally settled on 
the Pocket PC phone that I now have. It was a long decision process and I had a lot of variables to weigh. I narrowed my choices down based on price and features to the Cingular 8525 and the iPaq 6945. I finally settled on the
6945 for several reasons, one of which is that HP won a contract to supply my company with IT products and the Employee Purchase Plan offered a decent price on this phone. Both devices had limitations and complaints from users, and I had a hard time reconciling them. I spent several days wavering on my choice. I used a trip my wife needed to take to the mall to do some research. I played with the 8525 and asked questions at the AT&T store about complaints and returns. Sadly, no data was available on the 6945, nor was a demo unit available. My two year old, Caleb, and I also took an opportunity to play with an iPhone on display. It's a very good blend of art and engineering, but for my needs I wanted a Windows Mobile phone.
I finally asked my friend Micah what he thought. Micah was sort of my mentor for computer issues. We shared an apartment for our last few years in the Navy and had a lot of fun "geeking out" on weekends. I have a lot of respect for Micah's opinions. I chose the University of Phoenix based on his recommendation. He has a Blackjack, and said that given the choice he would take the 6945. Micah also reminded me that I am not going to find a "perfect" phone. I decided that was good enough for me, so I ordered the 6945 through the EPP page.
I'll probably include a review later. This post is simply a wrap-up of a series of posts that I have so far left unresolved. As for my hx4705? I sent it to PDA Smart.com and found out that a component on the mainboard needed to be replaced. Total repair cost? $33 including return shipping. I can't recommend PDA Smart enough. They bailed me out of an iPaq problem several years ago. They are competent and reasonably priced and offer all kinds of services from upgrades to repairs to parts. If you have a broken Pocket PC, contact them to see if it can be fixed.
I've had my 6945 for a few weeks now, and I'm happy with it. I've also had my 4705 back, but I haven't found much of a use for it. I'm trying to talk my wife into taking it, but so far she's not interested.
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