I just saw that the availability and in stock numbers have been jumping around on the eXpansys site so I called them up to find out when I would actually receive the device in the US. I was told it would be at least a few weeks so I canceled my order. I see that there is some in stock at Tek n Toys, but it would run me $900 and the manual is in German. They do have an enticing contest going on where you get a Bluetooth headset if you are a winner and the odds will probably be something like 1 in 25 or so by next Friday's close. After thinking about it some more, I just can't spend this kind of money on a device like this. I should be getting a SPV E200 in a while anyway so that may satisfy my mobile urge and will work well with the 4350.

Also, my dishwasher motor just died last night and costs $250 for just a new motor. We can pick up a new dishwasher to replace our 19-year old one for about that same price, so now my funds will be channeled elsewhere. Things like this give a real reality check to my toy purchases and are good to help keep me grounded a bit.

OK if you have been reading my blog for any length of time you know that I switch devices as much as I change my underwear. Well, I am doing it again and will be sending my iPAQ 4350 back to HP in about 10 days or so. I do like the keyboard (integration could have been a bit better), but it really isn't that much different than my 2215 and is too long to really carry around. There look to be some nice cases coming out, but I won't have it around to review any.

What am I getting instead? I lusted after the XDA II at Mobius this year and took the $790 plunge today. After returning my 4350 and selling off a bunch of gear I will have the funds to pay for it and it really should be my dream device (at least for 6 months:)) With the phone built into the devive I won't have to connect or carry two devices any longer. Having 128MB of RAM and 11MB of ROM to use will be wonderful as I have had to manage my 64MB (really only 58MB usable) on my iPAQs way too closely. The device is absolutely beautiful and it will be nice having an integrated camera as well. There will be optional thumb keyboards and foldable keyboards available so that will satisfy that urge as well. I could use a SD WiFi card for WiFi, but only use it at home anyway so I think I'll just use the CLIE UX50 for WiFi and see how that goes. There is a CF expansion pack with extended battery and VGA out coming as well so I'll keep my Viking 512MB CF card for the time being.

Go ahead and give me a call to laugh at my craziness Peter:)

Well all my cases went very quickly and I now just have a NEW unopened 2215 to sell along with an E&B SlipperPaq case. I will give it a couple more days at a reduced price in the forums since it saves the hassle of paying ebay fees, but then I may go to the old dependable ebay to sell it off.

I just ordered bot 512MB Memory Stick Pro and 512MB SD cards from Buy.com to help me get video and larger files on my devices. I plan on using my 256MB SD and 128MB Memory Stick cards for programs and the two 512MB cards for media (music, videos, photos). I am keeping the CLIE Video Recorder and am almost finished with my review for PDAGeek. It is extremely handy for recording TV shows, especially since I do not have the time to spend doing conversion. I just wish there was macro protection on DVDs and I may try some alternatives to record them for my own personal PDA usage.

I have decided on the 4350 and took the thumb keyboard back to Circuit City yesterday. I am now having a fire sale on my 2215 and cases. Here is the ad I placed on the Brighthand and Pocket PC Passion forums:

"Here's the deal I have for a lucky forum member. I just bought a 4350 from HP since Fry's does not yet have them in stock and I am a HUGE thumb keyboard fan. I now have a 2215 to sell that has the Fry's warranty. My current 2215 has major reset issues so I am going to take it back to Fry's and get a BRAND NEW unopened 2215 that I am willing to sell for $325 shipped to the U.S. and Canada. I will also ship anywhere else in the world, we just have to work out shipping cost details.

I also have the following 2215 cases that are BRAND NEW since I just bought or received them to review. The 5 leather ones are the Bellagio Designs, Covertec, E&B Cases SlipperPaq, Piel Frama leather flip cover, and Proporta leather book style case. I also have the Rhinoskin and Proporta Aluminum hard cases that I want to sell. I will sell each one for only $22 shipped to the U.S. and Canada. I will also ship to any other country after we work out the shipping details.

I have 100% positive feedback on ebay under my userid of "yosemsam". I accept PayPal, cashier's checks, and personal checks. Email me at ppcsoloATyahooDOTcom (remove the AT and DOT and replace with symbols)."

The User Group event was enjoyable last night and my daughters had a fun time. My buddy, Peter, won the 2215 and I gave him a case to go along with his new prize.

I have been using the iPAQ 4350 almost exclusively since I received it last week and just finished creating a detailed balance sheet to try to help me make a decision on what way to go, either the 2215 or 4350. Based on specs only, the 4350 (and even the 4150 wins) due to the nicer color display, better playing ability of WMP, integrated WiFi, larger battery, awesome backlit keyboard, speaker on the front that is LOUD, 9 programmable buttons, etc. However, I have a lot of 2215 cases, a new 512MB CF card, a CF landline modem, and a few other things that I could sell to pay for the 4350. After selling things and returning things it turns out there is about a $150 advantage gained by keeping the 2215. This includes buying a new 512MB SD card and a 512MB Memory Stick for my UX50.

So in the end, due to participating in a MS study today, I will end up ahead about $300 or $450 no matter which way I go. I am leaning heavily towards the 4350 because I absolutely love the thumb keyboard and the way in which it has been implemented. I have to return the thumb keyboard for the 2215 to Circuit City by tomorrow so I may just return it anyway to give me more time to decide. Hopefully some others at the Windows Mobile User Group Tour can help me decide tonight.

I am going to a Microsoft Usability Study today and then to the Windows Mobile User Group Tour. I am taking my two oldest daughters and they have their hopes up for winning a new Pocket PC device. At least they will get a T-shirt and a magazine so they'll be happy to "Geek out" with their Dad.

I've been testing the CLIE Digital Video Recorder out a bit more and found that I can actually convert the recorded video files into .WMV format and watch them on my Pocket PC.

I recorded an episode of Seinfeld and then bought the $30 Quicktime Professional version where I converted the .MOV show into .AVI. I then used the free Windows Movie Maker to convert the .AVI file into a .WMV file and it plays well on my Pocket PCs. There is a slight degradation in video quality, but not enough to prevent me from watching shows. The size went from a 122MB .MOV file to a 288MB .AVI file and then down to a 38MB .WMV file. Sound was perfectly maintained all the way.

I am now leaning towards keeping the device because it sure is quick and easy to make recordings. Then again I still would need a larger Memory Stick and can only capture TV shows so I am still a bit undecided.

OK, my excitement for the 4350 is back up a bit as I have found some more tips and tricks that work with the keyboard that now address 95% of my concerns.

You can press the blue FN key and then move the navigational pad left, right, up, or down to select text. You then press the menu (stylus tap-and-hold) key to cut, copy, paste, clear, recognize, or select alternates.

I also found that a press and hold of the center button on the navigational pad will act as a stylus tap-and-hold in several cases.

As you can see in my review I just posted, my excitement for the 4350 wore off fairly quickly. It looks like the device will be going back to HP after another week or so of playing. I really wish that HP would have done the keyboard better and it is a real shame because this could have been a great device.

If you want a first look at the 4350 before I post my first impressions on Geek.com tomorrow, then check out this Brighthand thread I created and uploaded some photos to. So far this thing ROCKS!!!

Well, the 4355 arrived at my house at 9 am and my wife plugged it in for me since I am at work. I am leaving a bit early today because I just can't wait a whole day to check it out and I want to write up a mini-revew/first impressions for PDAGeek to post tomorrow morning. I have a list of things I want to check out on it and will compare it to my 2215 with thumb keyboard attachment. By the way, the thumb keyboard attachment really is a nice accessory and is quite functional.

Call me crazy, but I just ordered the HP iPAQ 4355 from HPShopping with next business day air ($50 ouch!) using their 12 month same as cash plan. There was no tax so if I would have bought it here in Washington I would have paid that much just for the tax anyway. So look for a first impressions review on Monday at Geek.com. I am so excited to get this device because of the thumb keyboard and integrated wireless options. This device is a peer to my UX50 and I hope it lives up to my expectations. I do have 30 days to decided if I want to keep it or not and if I do keep it then I will probably have to do something with my 2215 since I don't think I can really afford to keep both.

I was disappointed to find out that I cannot record any DVDs or every new VHS tape I have tried using the CLIE recorder. It is pretty much limited to TV shows and home videos, which means I do not know if I can keep it for $250, plus the cost of a large Memory Stick ($250). It does record in pretty good quality and is very nice not to have to go through any conversion. I watched a couple episodes of Seinfeld last night and will try it out for the week to see if I should keep it or not.

I don't know what is going on, but my stupid iPAQ 2215 is acting up again. I was just typing away using the new thumb keyboard last night when it just froze and required a hard reset to get working again. I have had to hard reset it about every 4 days. The good news is that the new Calligrapher beta seems to have solved my soft reset issues and my device turns on every time now and alarms seem to work again.

I also installed the Bluetooth update (too bad it takes 2.2MB of my precious RAM) and haven't had freezes or issues like I used to have with Bluetooth.

I just saw that FedEx delivered my new Sony CLIE Digital Video Recorder to my house this morning and I can't wait to go home and try it out. I know it can record TV shows, but I am interested to see how it will do with DVDs since I am sure most are protected. I will also like to see how well it captures my home videos off of our new Digital Camcorder. I know I can put those videos directly onto my PC, but there are steps to take to get it onto my CLIE UX50. I am really interested in seeing if I can take a Quicktime formatted movie (that is what the CLIE Video Recorder works with when the extension is changed from .mqv to .mov on your desktop) and convert it into something I can watch on my Pocket PC or burn onto a CD. I think I can buy Quicktime Professional and convert the video into .avi and then use another program to convert it into Pocket PC format, but the quality may be negatively affected so it may not be worth it.

I could buy a TV capture card for my PC, but there is no cable in our house close to the computer and I don't want to have to pay to activate another line. Also, I can just pop out my Memory Stick from the new CLIE recorder and pop it into my CLIE and go. If it works well then I will have to get a larger Memory Stick and then make sure I have at least a CLIE device in my possession.

I also received the Logitech Bluetooth headset to review and was amazed by how light it is on my ear. It has to be charged up and then I plan on checking out how well it works with my 3650, Pocket PC, and CLIE UX50.

I just received order confirmation that my Sony CLIE Digital Video Recorder will arrive on Monday. I was having problems getting them to say when they were shipping since people who just ordered were getting them while those of us who ordered a couple months ago still had to wait. Then I came to find out that they were shipping them from San Diego and the San Diego offices have been closed for a few days due to the horrible forest fire situation.

I also should be receiving a couple of Bluetooth headsets soon to review. This is one Bluetooth accessory that I haven't yet tried. I did use my Pharos BT GPS with both my UX50 and iPAQ 2215 last night to navigate to a house that was difficult to find and it worked like a charm with both devices. Bluetooth can be awesome once you understand it a bit more, but is still a bit difficult for the average consumer.

I read of many buyers who received emails stating their Tapwave Zodiac had shipped out and just read on The Gadgeteer that both Julie and Judie received their devices already. I had thought about these devices, but really do not play a ton of games on my Palm. I use my UX50 mainly for wireless surfing, email, and document creation and editing. I look forward to hearing some reports on how these device perform.

I was able to get a couple of reviews wrapped up this weekend and have several more that should be complete soon. It looks like I will be getting an Electrovaya Tablet PC to review and I can't wait as I really would love to have one of these devices when I can save up that much cash. I have been thinking of a few book ideas and may pursue writing soon in order to supplement my PDA budget.