iPAQ 4705

Got my new iPAQ yesterday and I'm very excited!!

I've been using an iPAQ 3970 for almost two years and it's been great. In fact, it's still great, which is why I've kept it for so long. I knew some day I'd upgrade, but it was going to take something really special to displace the 3970.

Enter the iPAQ 4705. It's jam-packed full of features - 4" transreflective 480x640 resolution VGA screen, integrated wireless (bluetooth, IR, wifi), integrated SD ad CF slots and lots more.

The iPAQ 4705

The most obvious feature when first powering up the iPAQ is the VGA screen. I knew the screen would be good (having read many iPAQ 4705 reviews before purchasing), but when I actually saw it for myself, I almost couldn't believe how amazing it was! The pictures online really don't do it justice.

Now that I have my new toy, what am I going to install on it? I've had so many things on my 3970 for so long that I almost forget they were 3rd party apps to begin with. Now I am looking at a brand new iPAQ, an 'empty slate' if you will, and it's hard to know where to begin.

Actually that's not true, it's very easy. ;)

To me, the very first thing that has to be installed on any iPAQ is Wisbar. Wisbar and Wisbar Advance 1.x don't appear to be compatible with WM2003SE (i.e. the 4705's OS), so it looks like I will have to purchase Wisbar Advance 2.x. I've just downloaded the trial version to keep me going for now.

Now I can start customising the Today screen. As any iPAQ person will tell you, personalisation of the Today screen is terribly important! Here are a few basics that I have to have on my Today screen:

• a battery/memory monitor
• weather channels, stock channels, news channels
• program bar
• upcoming appointments
• various time zones around the world
• a nice background image

There are various Today screen plugins for all of these things. The ones I use are Battery Pack Pro (includes Program Bar), Journal Bar, Calendar+ and WorldToday. I usually source Today screen themes from Pocket PC Themes, but their VGA selection is fairly limited so I will look elsewhere for this.