Anthony Newman has taken a look at the Compaq iPAQ H3970, which in his opinion is the perfect evolution of the H3800 series. It gets a scrape for its high price, though.
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In the light of all the problems with the 3800 series iPAQ, Compaq (now HP) had a lot to prove to regain both consumer confidence and the leading position they held in the PDA market. The 3900 series recently came to an increasingly crowded Pocket PC scene - has it got what it takes to make a good impression?
 | The transflective screen of the H3970 is simply gorgeous
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The 3970 under review here has the same form factor as the 3800 series, yet under the hood sports a host of new features. The screen is now transflective; the processor is Intel's new 400MHz X-Scale; the SD slot now sports SDIO and there's a vastly increased iPAQ file store for non-volatile internal storage (although this is not the case on the 3950). The 3970 also has built-in Bluetooth, just like its 3870 ancestor. Impressive specifications - but they come at a price: at its launch, the 3970 was the most expensive Pocket PC ever, beating quite a few low-end laptops too.
In the box is the handheld itself, the familiar cover pack, a combo USB/serial cradle, an annoying AC adaptor brick, a spare stylus and all the usual documentation. It's good that a second stylus is supplied, but I wish that more manufacturers would learn to make two-part chargers. At least the charger can work without the cradle, though.
All the hype about the screen is true. Turning the 3970 on for the first time is a revelation, especially when coming from a 3800. The transflective screen is astonishing, amazing, wonderful, absolutely brilliant. It is almost worth the asking price in and of itself. Blacks are black; whites are paper white. Contrast is excellent, colours are rich, and the backlight absolutely destroys anything else on the market. What's more, there's no sidelight, so the touchscreen isn't far away from the picture itself - the whole thing feels more immediate. There's also no bright bar that blinds the person next to you. Lighting is totally even, with no shadowing. Need I say more?
Sound quality is typically good, as we've come to expect from the iPAQ. The speaker is loud - as loud as the 3800 - and of fairly decent quality considering it's a mono affair in a PDA. The headphone output is also loud and of capable quality. The microphone also performed well. HP have managed to retain their position as the best of the bunch for PDA sound.
As the hardware is identical to the 3800 series, all your cases, keyboards, styli, screen protectors, cradles and everything else should work just fine. A few exceptions have turned up, but those are due to the X-Scale processor, not the physical device, and many of the major programs (including Pocket TV) are releasing X-Scale compatible / optimised versions. Although smaller devices are appearing on a regular basis, the iPAQ's continuity with its earlier design has consistently given it an advantage by providing an immediate mass of accessories upon launch - and lack of (for example) keyboards is a problem that other manufacturers - and their users - sorely feel.
The X-Scale processor is the other big selling point of the 3900 series. 400 MHz is fast for a PDA - not long ago it was fast for a desktop. Unfortunately, as has been well publicised in various speed tests, most current applications don't run any faster on the new chips, and may in fact run slower. Crucially, Pocket PC 2002 isn't optimised for X-Scale. In the tests I ran (videos, the excellent Motocross Stunt Racer, etc), I didn't notice any super speed increases - any that I did see I think I'll put down to the placebo effect. On the other hand, the 3970 is one of the more sprightly PDAs I've had the pleasure of using: menus pop up quickly and there are no hangs or slow-downs that I've experienced so far. In addition, battery life seems to be satisfactory, even with the fantastic bright screen and the faster processor. In real life tests it seemed comparable to the 3850. It looks like the general 'bugginess' of the 3800 series has been fixed along with its screen and its SD slot.
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