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Hewlett Packard has been particularly loyal to the Windows CE operating system and has produced devices in most of the revisions available. However, many of its products have lacked aesthetic appeal.
The Jornada 568 is no exception to this and, although it's perfectly functional, its plastic body and small screen aren't particularly impressive.
The handheld features a 206MHz Intel StrongARM processor backed by 64Mb of Ram. A detachable plastic cover folds back to reveal a screen measuring 320 x 240 pixels that can display 16-bit colour, although it's not particularly bright even under normal office conditions.
When we took the product outside in overcast conditions, screen visibility was slightly more impressive, but not outstanding, and mild reflections were still noticeable on dark backgrounds. The two available brightness levels are too close to make a substantial difference.
To distinguish the Jornada 568 from other manufacturers' implementations of the Pocket PC 2002 operating system, HP has added several of its own utilities, including Backup, Display Profile for setting a screen brightness appropriate to your surroundings, and Viewing for displaying common image file formats.
Other features include Quick Menu, which allows you to turn the screen off or go to the align screen menu in one stylus tap; and Task Switcher, which lets you jump quickly to another HP application or close all applications at once. Pocket Camera (£169.36 ex. VAT), which sits in the device's Type II CompactFlash slot, offers basic digital camera functionality.
The removable 1,230mAh battery can be awkward to get out, as you need to keep a little switch held back to pull it out. If you do remove the battery during operation, you have the option to keep or erase data in Ram. We couldn't get the device to retain data successfully and had to choose the 'no' option to clear it from the device.
It's a useful way to reset your device quickly, but could be disastrous if you don't have an up-to-date backup on your PC. You can buy another standard battery for £55.32 (ex. VAT) or an extended battery for £108.94 (ex. VAT).
Overall, we're a little sceptical of the build quality of the Jornada 568 but, if you want a PDA with extra software to increase its usefulness at home and in the office, it's worth considering.
Price: (as reviewed, ex. VAT) £424.68
Contact: Hewlett Packard
www.hp-expo.com/uk/eng/products/jornada/568.html
See also:
All Palm PDAs
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