HP Discontinue Flagship hx4700 PocketPC

Darren

In a surprising announcement, HP are now listing their flagship hx4700 PocketPC as 'discontinued'. This will come as a shock to those who had thought this would remain their top line product for some time. HP recently announced that a promised WM5.0 upgrade for this unit would not now appear until summer 2006 but the announcement that the hx4700 is now a discontinued model may throw doubt on whether an upgrade will ever appear.

There is no news of a replacement as yet, HP may have a WM5.0 version waiting in the wings but there is no evidence that this is the case to date.

Click here to see HP's announcement...
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Darren Griffin

WeeHappyPixie · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 10:58 am Post subject:

Looks like HP have taken a page out of TomTom's book. Lets build up folk's hope of new features, updates then at the last min take it away. I was looking forward to my HX 4700 running WM5.0. Looks like it will never happen and I aint to happy. Evil or Very Mad

kenok · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 25, 2005 Posts: 2

It does look like the IPAQChoice site still allows you to order the WM5 upgrade for the 4700. If they pull this I will not be happy. I paid over the odds for this top of the line PDA andexpected it to be around for a few more yearsa. I also expected to get a whole set of update to take advantage of its capabilities not for it to be pulled after barely a year on the shelves.

I hope somebody from Twisted Evil

HP

can explain why it has been pulled Question

Darren · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 11:11 am Post subject:

It's early days and always possible that HP will honour their promise to provide WM5.0 for this unit. But I would admit it don't look great! HP are aquiring a reputation in this area, they promised WM2003SE for the h2210 then changed their minds at the last minute.

More suspicious is the lack of any news or rumour of a replacement, the FCC Approvals process normally leaks information of new models but there has been no information on a new flagship product.

Hopefully it may transpire that the discontinuation is simply because a WM5.0 version is on it's way using the same or slightly modified hardware, we'll have to wait and see.
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Darren Griffin

alistairwat50n · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 12:10 pm Post subject: HP IPAQ 4700

This news is disappointing, I’m about to take the leap & get my first PDA & satnav, and I had this model down as a front-runner. I see from the HP US website the 4705 is still for sale & as noted on the UK site the 4700 is still available. I had thought to take advantage of the larger display screen (like all 60 year olds the eyesight is not getting any better) I am a real newby to this field and would appreciate any thoughts on going ahead and buying a 4700 anyway – is it likely prices will drop much as a result of this news, will support and accessories dry up?

Alistair

fabbers · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 12:16 pm Post subject:

Darren · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 12:19 pm Post subject: Re: HP IPAQ 4700

WeeHappyPixie · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 2:11 pm Post subject:

Well I have just called HP customer services and raised hell. They assure me that the update will still be available in Spring 2006 for £26.99 and they are sending me an email with more details and a link to pre-order. Once I have this email i will get back to you all.

John

Oldie · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 2:40 pm Post subject:

WeeHappyPixie · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 3:38 pm Post subject:

Well no email after an hour so another call to HP and got the link http://www.ipaqchoice.com/generic3.aspx?page=wm2005

Not much info though. Might try and pre order it.

John

bowler · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 10, 2004 Posts: 17

This is all very annoying , I have only just bought one, I am however very impressed with the thing at the moment but i would like to know HP's reasons for stopping production of this unit, as was said earlier hopefully its only so that the WM5.0 version will appear if not there must be some reason, I doubt HP will ever tell us why.

mikealder · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 6:36 pm Post subject:

Whatever comes after the 4700 better have more available memory - as that is the significant limiting factor at the moment, how about 256MB as a starter for a top of the range unit in this day and age, I like the 4700 but in use I know find the XDA is easier, partly due to the extra memory made available for use, mobile 2005 I am not too sure about as the TT5 runs the unit hot, giving it the extra burden of a revised OS could cause further problems, is this not just "keeping up with the neighbors" - Mike

Darren · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 7:06 pm Post subject:

Actually whilst most OS upgrades offer little of real value, WM5.0 does have some features which are 'must haves' such as OS support for GPS and the ability to pipe data to multiple 'virtual' GPS ports in much the same way as GPSGate provided.

But for me the biggest 'must have' is persistent non-volatile memory storage. This means that flat batteries will no longer be an issue as data will be retained even when the batteries are dead, something that should have been part of the OS a long time ago.
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Darren Griffin

StevenGourlay · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 8:09 pm Post subject:

I have been advised by HP that is is a mistake on their site and that the 4700 will not be disconnected until mid next year.
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Steven Gourlay
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big-al-13 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 24, 2005 Posts: 8

hi

only had mine a few weeks now but i must say i am very happy with it, the big clear display is great for sat nav

the replacement is going to have to be something special to beat this, i would hope they at least keep giving back up and support also up grades because if they don't any potential buyer for its replacement might think twice and buy from the competitors

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