IPAQ

This article is about the iPAQ personal digital assistant. For the iPAQ Desktop Personal Computer, see iPAQ (desktop computer). For the NASA center, see Infrared Processing and Analysis Center.

Not to be confused with iPad.

The iPAQ is a discontinued line of Pocket PC devices produced from 2000 until 2010. It was first unveiled by Compaq in April 2000. iPAQ included PDA-devices, smartphones and GPS-navigators. A substantial number of devices were outsourced from Taiwanese HTC corporation.

HP iPAQ HW910 PDA

Modified Hewlett-Packard iPAQ 2210

Compaq iPAQ 3800 series model

Hewlett-Packard iPAQ 4700

Following Hewlett-Packard (HP)'s acquisition of Compaq, the product had been marketed by HP. The devices use a Windows Mobile interface. In addition to this, there are several Linux distributions that also operate on some of these devices. Earlier units were modular. Sleeve accessories were released called "jackets", which slide around the unit and add functionality such as a card reader, wireless networking, GPS, and extra batteries. Later versions of iPAQs have most of these features integrated into the base device itself, some including GPRS mobile telephony (SIM card slot and radio).

History

The name was borrowed from Compaq's earlier iPAQ Desktop Personal Computers.

The iPAQ was developed by Compaq based on the SA-1110 "Assabet" and SA-1111 "Neponset" reference boards that were engineered by a StrongARM development group located at Digital Equipment Corporation's Hudson Massachusetts facility. At the time when these boards were in development, this facility was acquired by Intel. When the "Assabet" board is combined with the "Neponset" companion processor board they provide support for 32 megabytes of SDRAM in addition to CompactFlash and PCMCIA slots along with an I2S or AC-Link serial audio bus, PS/2 mouse and trackpad interfaces, a USB host controller and 18 additional GPIO pins. Software drivers for a CompactFlash Ethernet device, IDE storage devices such as the IBM Microdrive and the Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE 802.11 Wifi device were also available. An earlier StrongARM SA-1100 based research handheld device call the "Itsy" had been developed at Digital Equipment Corporation's Western Research Laboratory (later to become the Compaq Western Research Laboratory).

The first iPAQ Pocket PC was the H3600 series, released in 2000.^[1] It ran Microsoft's Pocket PC 2000 operating system, and featured a 240 x 320 pixel 4096-color LCD, 32 MB of RAM, and 16 MB of ROM.^[2][3] Compaq released a similarly-designed H3100 series Pocket PC in January, 2001.^[4] It was a lower-priced model^[5] with a 15-greyscale monochrome LCD, 16 MB of RAM, and a dark grey D-pad instead of the chrome D-pad of its predecessor.^[6][3] The H3600 series was succeeded by the H3800 and H3900 series, which retained the same form factor, but had a different button layout.

Soon after HP's merger with Compaq in 2002, HP discontinued its Jornada line of Microsoft Windows powered Pocket PCs, and continued the iPAQ line that started under Compaq.

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 August 2004, HP released the rz17xx and rx3xxx series of Mobile Media Companions. These devices were aimed at consumers, rather than the traditional corporate audience. Emphasis was placed on media features, like NEVO TV Remote and Mobile Media. They ran on Windows Mobile 2003SE.

In February 2005, the iPAQ Mobile Messenger hw6500 series was introduced to selected media at the 3GSM conference in Cannes, France. It was replaced a year later by the hw6900 series, running on Windows Mobile 5.

In 2007, the iPAQ rx4000 Mobile Media Companion PDA/media devices and rx5000 Travel Companion PDA/GPS devices were released. Both series of iPAQs work on the Windows Mobile 5 Operating System (WM5), as do the hx2000 and hw6900 series. The first HP Windows Mobile 6 device, the iPAQ 500 Series Voice Messenger, with the Windows Mobile 6 Standard Operating System (WM6), and numeric pad, was released in the same year.

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. The 100 and 200 Series are regular touchscreen PDAs without phone functionality running WM6. The 300 Series Travel Companion 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 a custom user interface. The 600 and 900 series are phones with integrated GPS and 3G capabilities, running the WM6 Professional. The 600 series possesses a numeric pad and the 900 series features a full QWERTY keyboard.

Hewlett-Packard introduced a 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.^[7]

In December 2009, HP released the iPAQ Glisten, running on Windows Mobile 6.5.

In mid-August 2011, HP announced that they would be discontinuing all webOS devices.^[8]

Model list

Jacket-compatible

These older models are compatible with the iPAQ Jacket which can accept 1× CompactFlash, 1× PC Card or 2× PC Card slots.

iPAQ jacket PN 173396-001 PCMCIA (PC port) 1× internal Li-ion battery PN 167648 3.7 V 1500 mAh (upgradable).

Model (variants)	Release Date	RAM (MiB)	ROM (MiB)	Slots	CPU	CPU Clock (MHz)	OS	WiFi	Bluetooth	IrDA	PN 173396-001	Special Feature
H3650 (H3630, H3635)	2000[9]	32	16	None	SA-1110	206	PPC2000	None	None	Yes	Yes	4096-color display [3]
H3150 (H3130, H3135)	2001[4]	16	16	None	SA-1110	206	PPC2000	None	None	Yes		4-bit gray scale display[3]
H3670 (H3660)	2001[10]	64	16	None	SA-1110	206	PPC2000			Yes	Yes
H3760		64	32	None	SA-1110	206	PPC2002
H3830 (Rosella)		32	32	1SD	SA-1110	206	PPC2002 Premium			Yes
H3850		64	32	1SD	SA-1110	206	PPC2002
H3870		64	32	1SD	SA-1110	206	PPC2002		BT1.1	Yes	Yes
H3950		64	32	1SD/IO	PXA250	400	PPC2002 Premium			Yes		NEVO TV Remote Software
H3970		64	48	1SD	PXA250	400	PPC2002 Premium		BT1.1	Yes	Yes	NEVO TV Remote Software
H5150		64	32	1SD	PXA255	400	WM2003		BT1.1	Yes	Yes	NEVO TV Remote Software
H5400		64	48	1SD	PXA250	400	WM2003	802.11b	BT1.1	Yes	Yes	NEVO TV Remote Software, Biometric Fingerprint reader
H5500		128	48	1SD	PXA255	400	WM2003	802.11b	BT1.1	Yes	Yes	Biometric Fingerprint reader

Newer models

• SDIO can support up to 2GB.^[11]

Model	Release Date	RAM (MiB)	ROM (MiB)	Slots	CPU	CPU Clock (MHz)	OS	WiFi	Bluetooth	More
H1910	2002	64	16	1 SD	PXA250	200	PPC2002	No	No	No RS-232 Support
H1915	2002	64	16	1 SD	PXA255	200	PPC2002	No	No	No RS-232 Support
H1930	2003	64	16	1 SDIO	S3C2410	203	WM2003	No	No	No RS-232 Support
H1940	2003	64	32	1 SDIO	S3C2410	266	WM2003	No	BT1.1	No RS-232 Support
rx1950	2005	32	64	1 SDIO	S3C2442	300	WM5	802.11b	No
rx1950 Navigator		32	64	1 SDIO	S3C2442	300	WM5	802.11b	No	GPS
H2100		64	64	1CF 1SDIO	PXA270	312	WM2003	802.11b	No
H2110		64	64	1CF 1SDIO	PXA270	312	WM2003SE	No	Yes
H2210 or H2215[12]		64	32	1CF 1SDIO	PXA255	400	WM2003	No	BT1.1	NEVO TV Remote Software v2.0
H4150	October 15, 2003	64	32	1SDIO	PXA255	400	WM2003	802.11b	BT1.1
H4350		64	32	1SDIO	PXA255	400	WM2003	802.11b	BT1.1	Integrated QWERTY keyboard
hx2100		64	64	1CF 1SDIO	PXA270	312	WM5	No	BT	IrDA, USB 2.0
hx2110		64	64	1CF 1SDIO	PXA270	312	WM2003SE	No	BT1.2	IrDA, USB 1.1
hx2190b		64	192	1CF 1SDIO	PXA270	312	WM5	No	BT1.2	IrDA, USB 2.0
hx2200		64	??	1CF 1SDIO	PXA250	400	PPC2003 Premium	Yes	No
hx2410		64	64	1CF 1SDIO	PXA270	520	WM2003SE	802.11b	BT1.2
hx2415		64	64	1CF 1SDIO 1MMC	PXA270	520	WM2003SE	802.11b	BT1.2
hx2490b		64	192	1CF 1SDIO	PXA270	520	WM5 Premium	802.11b	BT	IrDA, USB 2.0
hx2490c		64	512	1CF 1SDIO	PXA270	520	WM5 Premium	802.11b	BT	IrDA, USB 2.0
hx2495b		64	192	1CF 1SDIO	PXA270	520	WM5	802.11b	BT1.7.1
hx2750		128	128	1CF 1SDIO	PXA270	624	WM2003SE	802.11b	BT1.2
hx2790	October, 2005 [13]	64	192	1CF 1SDIO	PXA270	624	WM5	802.11b	BT1.7.1
hx2790b	2005	64	320	1CF 1SDIO	PXA270	624	WM5	802.11b	BT1.7.1
hx2790c	2005	64	512	1CF 1SDIO	PXA270	624	WM5	802.11b	BT1.7.1
hx4700	2004	64	128	1CF 1SDIO	PXA270	624	WM2003SE	802.11b	BT1.2	VGA, 5.0 officially, may be unofficially upgraded to WM 6.5
rz1700		32	32	1SDIO	S3C2410	203	WM2003SE	No	No
rz1710		25	??	1SDIO 1SD/MMC	S3C2410	203	WM2003SE	No	No	Full RS 232, IrDA
rx1950		64	32	1SDIO 1SD/MMC	SC32442	300	WM5.0	802.11b	unknown	May be unofficially upgraded to WM 6.1
rx3100		64	32	1SDIO	S3C2440	300	WM2003SE	802.11b	BT1.2	NEVO TV Remote Software v2.0
rx3115		64	32	1SDIO	S3C2440	300	WM2003SE	802.11b	BT1.2	NEVO TV Remote Software v2.0
rx3415		64	32	1SDIO	S3C2440	400	WM2003SE	802.11b	BT1.2	NEVO TV Remote Software v2.0
rx3417		64	64	1SDIO	S3C2440	400	WM2003SE	802.11b	BT1.2	NEVO TV Remote Software v2.0
rx3700		64	128	1SDIO	S3C2440	400	WM2003SE	802.11b	BT1.2	Camera
rx3715		64	128	1SDIO	S3C2440	400	WM2003SE	802.11b	BT1.2	IrDA, 1.2 MP Camera, NEVO TV Remote Software v2.0
h6300		64	64	1SDIO	TI OMAP	168	WM2003	802.11b	BT1.1	GPRS/Camera
h6310		64	64	1SDIO	TI OMAP 1510	168	WM2003	802.11b	BT1.1	GPRS
hw6500		64	64	1SDIO 1miniSD	PXA270	312	WM2003SE		BT1.2	GPRS/EDGE, GPS
hw6900 (Sable)		64	64	1miniSD	PXA270	416	WM5.0	802.11b	BT1.2	GPRS/EDGE, GPS
rw6800		64	128	1miniSD	PXA270	416	WM5.0	802.11b	BT1.2	GPRS/EDGE
110/114		64	256	1SDHC/SDIO	PXA310	624	WM6.0	802.11b/g	BT2.0 w/ EDR
210/211/214		128	256	1CF 1SDHC/SDIO	PXA310	624	WM6.0	802.11b/g	BT2.0 w/ EDR	VGA, USB Host Support
614c		128	256	1SDHC/SDIO	PXA270	520	WM6.0	802.11b/g	BT2.0 w/ EDR	QVGA, GPRS/EDGE/3G, GPS
910c		128	256	1microSDHC	PXA270	416	WM6.1	802.11b/g	BT2.0 w/ EDR	QVGA, GPRS/EDGE/3G, GPS
Glisten		256	512	1microSDHC	Qualcomm MSM7200A	533	WM6.5	802.11b/g	BT2.0 w/ EDR	QVGA, GSM/UMTS/HSDPA, aGPS

Alternative operating systems for the iPAQ

OpenEmbedded

The OpenEmbedded distribution is (as of 2016) the only actively maintained Linux distribution for the iPAQ models, by way of the meta-handheld layer.^[14]

Familiar Linux

An alternative Linux-based OS available for the iPAQ was Familiar. It stopped being actively maintained in 2007.

It was available with the Opie or GPE GUI environment, or as a base Linux system with no GUI if preferred.

Both Opie and GPE provided the usual PIM suite (calendar, contacts, to do list, and notes) as well as a long list of other applications. Support for handwriting recognition, on-screen keyboard, bluetooth, IrDA and add-on hardware such as keyboards are standard in both environments.

The v0.8.4 (2006-08-20) version supports HP iPAQ H3xxx and H5xxx series of handhelds, and introduced initial support for the HP iPAQ H2200, Hx4700, and H6300 series.^[15]

Intimate Linux

On devices with added storage (primarily microdrives) there is a modified port of Debian called Intimate.^[16] In addition to a standard X11 desktop, Intimate also offered the Opie, GPE and Qtopia suites. (Qtopia was a QT-based PIM suite with an optional commercial license.)

NetBSD

NetBSD will install and run on iPAQ.

Plan 9 from Bell Labs

Plan 9 from Bell Labs runs on some iPAQs. The nickname of the architecture is "bitsy," after the name of the ARM-based chipsets used in many of the machines. The "Installation on Ipaq" part of the wiki states: "These instructions are for a Compaq Ipaq and have been tested only on models H3630 and H3650 with 32MB of RAM." In regards to iPAQs, the page on the wiki titled "Supported PDAs" only mentions that the "H3630 and H3650 are known to work."

Ångström distribution

See Ångström distribution

Upgrades

The hx2000 series and some later models are upgradeable to newer versions of Windows Mobile. These upgrades could be purchased from HP. Windows Mobile 2003 could be installed on the H3950, H3970, h5450 models and possibly other models of the H3xxx series with sufficient ROM capacity. Other "cooked" (ready to run) roms have been provided by the group known as the xda-developers and are available for the hx2000 series, the hx4700 and others. The upgradeable versions for the hx2000 and hx4700 include Windows Mobile 6.0, 6.1 and 6.5 which are the newest releases of the Windows Mobile platform.

Internal Li-ion battery

iPAQ models 3100–3700 are fitted with internal Li-ion battery PN 167648 3.7 V 1500 mAh which can be replaced with a 2200 mAh unit. The same battery is used in the iPAQ jacket PN 173396-001 PCMCIA (PC port), which may also be upgraded to a 2200 mAh unit. The 3800/3900 series are fitted with a 1700 mAh cell as standard, also upgradeable to 2200 mAh. Compaq presumably upgraded the battery to cope with the faster CPU's power requirements.

RAM upgrades

It is possible to have the internal RAM of an iPAQ H3970 and hx4700 upgraded to 128 MB by using a specialist service to replace the surface-mount BGA RAM chips.

See also

• HP Touchpad
• HP Slate
• Personal digital assistant
• Windows Mobile
• Hewlett-Packard
• Jornada (PDA) – The predecessor of sorts to the iPAQ line.
• HTC HD2
• SuperWaba – Free and open software development kit for Pocket PC and Linux iPAQs
• Pocket PC
• imageon

References

1. "iPAQ H3630 Pocket PC". compaq.com. Archived from the original on 2000-08-17.
2. "iPAQ H3600 Series Pocket PC specifications". compaq.com. Archived from the original on 2000-08-15.
3. "iPAQ H3000 Pocket PC Reference Guide" (PDF). June 2000.
4. "Compaq Unveils Monochrome iPAQ Pocket PC Model with Immediate Availability". compaq.com. 2001-01-29. Archived from the original on 2001-04-01.
5. "iPAQ H3135 Pocket PC". compaq.com. Archived from the original on 2001-06-06.
6. "QuickSpecs - Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC H3100 Series". compaq.com. Archived from the original on 2000-10-27.
7. "Filter News Results - HP Newsroom Filter News Results" (PDF). Hp.com. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
8. "HP gives up on mobile – what next for webOS? - General - Feature - HEXUS.net". Mobile-device.biz. Archived from the original on 25 September 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
9. "Compaq iPAQ H3650 Pocket PC Review – The Gadgeteer". 28 June 2000. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
10. "New iPAQ Pocket PC Models and Options Add Memory, Storage, Software and CompactFlash Options (Advisory)". compaq.com. 2001-03-09. Archived from the original on 2001-03-31.
11. "La technologie SDIO Now! v2.1 pour les Pocket PC HP hx2200 et hx2700". Génération-NT (in French). 17 November 2005. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
12. "REVIEW: HP iPaq h2215 (h2210) Review". Brighthand. Archived from the original on 19 November 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
13. "HP iPaq hx2790 FA677T#ABU WiFi/Bluetooth Pocket PC". UsedHandhelds.com, Inc. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
14. "meta-handheld git repository". Cgit.openembedded.org. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
15. "iPAQ H3900". Sites.google.com. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
16. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-11-14. Retrieved 2012-12-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)