After owning the iPAQ for over half a year already, I always take it with me wherever I go. My personal experiences with this product have been quite good, but after prolonged use, anybody is able to find the strong points and weak points of a product.

The strongest point of the iPAQ 3650 is of course its ultra-functionality and ultra-portability. Obviously, it helps me stay organized and keep track of upcoming appoints. Speaking from the standpoint of a student, I find the iPAQ most invaluable when I'm taking notes during lectures. Using the Pocket Word applications in conjunction the Targus PA840 Stowaway keyboard I'm able to quickly type my notes.

In terms of entertainment the limited storage of the iPAQ keeps me from hauling around an entire library of music, but Windows Media Player running I can get a good 12 songs in WMA format onboard for those hour-long commutes to University.

The major weak point of the iPAQ 3650 lies within the Pocket PC OS itself. Programs don't have independent "close" buttons as we're used to seeing with Windows XP for example. The iPAQ has a Qstart button that address this problem somewhat, letting you choose from a list of currently running programs what to close.

For some odd reason Windows Media Player 4.1 which comes with the OS is not able to read all the WMA files that I store on the system RAM. Microsoft fixed this issue by providing a patch that upgrades the player to version 7.1, effectively ironing out this bug. After installing the patch, I noticed no problems anymore.

The iPAQ 3650 model is a little less expensive than its other Pocket PC brothers, due mainly to the fact that it does not have any integrated Compact Flash or other flash media support. If you intend to store more files (beyond the onboard 32 MB of RAM) you will have to buy an add-on sleeve and of course the expansion media itself. This bumps up the overall price of Pocket PC, but at least you have the option to expand on your own terms.

Finally, one minor complaint I have is that the iPAQ 3650 bundle does not include any earphones whatsoever, while a hand held is not an MP3 player, it would have been a good addition to the Pocket PC bundle.

iPAQ 3650 Conclusions

As it is based on the older Pocket PC platform, you can expect it to be as much as 50% cheaper than the Pocket PC 2002 based PDA's from retailers that still have it in stock, if you're not willing to shell out almost $1000 CDN, on newer Pocket PC 2002's, the iPAQ 3650 is truly an ultra-value buy.

Although marred by a few problems, keeping it away from a nearly flawless score, Compaq has certainly done an excellent job on their iPAQ 3650, making it the benchmark for which all other competing products are compared by. Packed with a plethora of features, the average user may find the iPaq 3650 a bit overwhelming, but with so many features and capabilities, you can be quite sure this PDA will give you that certain peace of mind of knowing that you're able to keep organized, and on the go.

Based on my experiences with the iPaq 3650, I can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking for a PDA that combines value, function, and sexy product design under one silver roof!