Digital Boomerang Singapore 

What they don’t tell you about the iPAQ

Handheld computers and personal digital assistants are everywhere. In the last year or so, more and more powerful handhelds packed with new features and functions have been hitting the streets.

The Handspring Visor Edge, Sony Clie, Compaq iPAQ and the Palm 505 all promise to enhance your daily life and make life more manageable.

So how does one decide which handheld to go for?

A colleague chose Compaq iPaq because of its cutting-edge design, and its promise of cutting-edge technology too.

Compaq makes this promise to its customers:

“The Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC is a revolutionary device that redefines the palm-size category and gives you instant access to your business and personal life at any given time, in any given place. Take a look at why this product is classified as the cutting edge, new generation technology.”

My colleague did not get much of a chance to try that new generation technology, because not long after she bought her iPaq, it packed up and died.

The funeral was attended by my frustrated colleague and Compaq’s customer service representative who declared that the device was simply beyond repair.

Was it something my colleague did that caused the death of this cutting edge, new generation technology? She explains exasperatedly to me that she hadn’t even put any data into it, let alone attempt to sync the data to her desktop.

Curious, I investigated further.

On Deja’s usenet groups, I found other users faced with the same problem. One user complained that his iPAQ mysteriously died when he was away from home one evening and simply could not turn it on. Thinking the device had run out of power, he charged it till it was full.

No prize for guessing what happened next. Nothing. Zilch. Being a relatively experienced user, he reset the entire device and when it finally came back on, all the data was wiped out.

One user said his iPAQ lasted only for nine days before taking its last breath. Another had her first iPAQ replaced because of lines appearing on the screen only to find that the replacement died on her because of dubious memory problems.

A 20-minute search of Deja usenet revealed more than 12 similar complaints.

On CNET’s user forum, I found yet more complaints. A common one was that synchronizing data was a major problem. It seems that users could only synchronize their data sometimes. Cryptic error messages such as “partnership information could not be accessed on your mobile device” would pop up to frustrate users further.

Interestingly, on April 11, Compaq said it would increase its production of the iPAQ because of 600,000 - 700,000 unfulfilled orders. So much so that customers saddled with defunct iPAQs can’t get their units replaced in the near future.

A “revolutionary device”? Compaq first needs a revolution in its quality control processes.

- First published on IT AsiaOne, This is IT

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