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Not with a bang but a whimper.
This phrase might easily serve as an epitaph for the iPAQ hx4700, a device that -- until recently -- was HP's flagship handheld.
In the last few days, though, this model quietly disappeared from HP's web store, almost certainly indicating the end of its life.
When this Pocket PC first debuted in 2004 there can be little doubt that it was a cutting-edge device. It ran the latest version of Windows Mobile, had a VGA screen and multiple memory card slots, and was the first handheld ever to include a trackpad.
Despite its auspicious beginning, though, the hx4700 ran into numerous problems.
Easily the most significant of these is the long delay in releasing a Windows Mobile 5.0 upgrade for it.
Many months after other models have had access to an upgrade to the latest version of Windows Mobile, users of the iPaq hx4700 have been forced to carry on with a version of this mobile operating system that came out almost two years ago.
Still, a Windows Mobile 5.0 upgrade is finally expected to be released later this month.
Fans of the iPAQ hx4700 should be aware that HP may never put out another similar device.
Early this month, one of this company's top executives said in an interview that his company is losing interest in traditional handhelds and switching its focus to converged devices.
Unlike most previous iPAQs like the hx4700, these offer support for cellular-wireless networks.
This change has already begun. In the last year, HP has put out many more converged devices than it has traditional handhelds like the hx4700.
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