IPAQ
iPAQ presently refers to a Pocket PC and personal digital assistant first unveiled by Compaq in April 2000; the name was borrowed from Compaq’s earlier iPAQ Desktop Personal Computers. Since Hewlett-Packard’s acquisition of Compaq, the product has been marketed by HP. The device is the main competition to the Palm, but provides more multimedia capabilities using a Microsoft Windows interface. In addition to this, there are several Linux distributions that will also operate on some of these devices. Earlier, units were modular. “Sleeve” accessories, technically called jackets, which slide around the unit and add functionality such as a card reader, wireless networking, GPS, and even extra batteries were used. Current iPAQs have most of these features integrated into the base device itself.
Hewlett-Packard introduced the first SmartPhone iPaq Pocket PC that looks like a regular cell phone and has VoIP capability. The series is the HP iPAQ 500 Series Voice Messenger
Personal digital assistant
It is mandatory to know about PDA, a personal digital assistant (PDA) is a handheld computer, also known as small or palmtop computers. Newer PDAs also have both color screens and audio capabilities, enabling them to be used as mobile phones (smart phones), web browsers, or portable media players. Many PDAs can access the Internet, intranets or extranets via Wi-Fi, or Wireless Wide-Area Networks (WWANs). Many PDAs employ touch screen technology.
iPAQ models in development
The iPaq was developed by Digital Equipment Corporation Western Research Laboratory (WRL), the internal code name for it was Itsy. The name was used by Compaq to continue their Compaq Aero handheld line. With the acquisition of Compaq by Hewlett-Packard, HP stopped producing their Jornada line of Microsoft Windows powered Pocket PCs and continued developing and marketing Pocket PCs in the iPAQ line.
In June 2003, HP retired the h3xxx line of iPAQs and introduced the h1xxx line of iPAQs targeted at price conscious buyers, the h2xxx consumer line, and the h5xxx line, targeted at business customers. They were sold pre-installed with the Windows Mobile for Pocket PC 2003 Operating System. The h63xx series of iPAQs running the Phone Edition of Windows Mobile 2003, the hx47xx series and the rz17xx series, both running the Second Edition of Windows Mobile 2003 were introduced in August 2004. In February 2005 the iPAQ Mobile Messenger hw6500 series was introduced to selected media at the 3GSM conference in Cannes, France.
In February 2007, HP announced the iPAQ rx4000 Mobile Media Companion devices to work as a PDA/media device and rx5000 Travel Companion series to work as PDA/GPS units. Both series of iPAQs work on the Windows Mobile 5 Operating System. In the same month, HP announced their first Windows Mobile 6 device, the iPAQ 500 Series Voice Messenger, with the Windows Mobile 6 Standard Operating System, and numeric pad. Currently, the only iPAQs being sold which run the Windows Mobile 5 Operating System are the hx2000 series, the rx5900 series and the hw6900 series.
The entire iPAQ line was completely revamped by the introduction of five new iPAQ series to complement the introduction of the iPAQ 500 Series Voice Messenger earlier in the year. The models announced were the 100 Series Classic Handheld, the 200 Series Enterprise Handheld, the 300 Series Travel Companion, the 600 Series Business Navigator and the 900 Series Business Messenger. Of these newly introduced models, the 100 and 200 Series are regular touch screen PDAs without phone functionality, and hence run the Windows Mobile 6 Classic Operating System. The 300 Series Travel Companion is a first for HP since it is not a PDA. Marketed as a Personal Navigation Device, it is a handheld GPS unit operating on the Windows CE 5.0 core Operating System with an HP-built custom user-interface. The 600 and 900 series are phones with integrated GPS and 3G capabilities, running the Windows Mobile 6 Professional Operating System. The 600 series featuring a numeric pad and the 900 series features a full QWERTY keyboard.
Some of Model variations
- HP iPAQ H5100 series
- HP iPAQ hx21xx sequence
- HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger hw6900 series
- HP iPAQ 500 Series Voice Messenger
- HP iPAQ 600 Series Business Navigator
Tags: acquisition, business navigator, compaq, digital assistant, extranet, GPS, Hewlett-Packard, interface, internet, intranet, iPAQ, jackets, Linux, multimedia, numeric pad, Palm, phone edition, procket PC, QWERTY, sleeve, travel companion series, VOIP, web browsers, wireless networking