Setup of the Pocket CowCard program on the HP Ipaq 2495b with Bluetooth Headset.

The Pocket CowCard program running on the Ipaq prior to 4/5/2007 wasn’t able to read the SD card serial number for licensing or refresh the herd with USB as the server address. Those issues have been corrected on program builds after 4/5/2007.

The Ipaq also seems to time out more slowly than the Dell Axim, this is only noticeable when the server is mis-configured or not reachable.

The Ipaq does have some advanced features compared to the Axim, in particular it is possible to use a BT headset simultaneously with the RFID scanner. The following procedures documents the setup.

From Start programs, find the “Ipaq Wireless” icon and tap it.

Now on the Ipaq, goto the Start bar, then programs,

Tap the iPAQ wireless icon.

If the Bluetooth button (the lower round one) isn’t green, tap it to turn on Bluetooth, then tap the “Manager” button next to it.

Once in the Bluetooth Manager form, tap the New menu on the lower left.

Scroll down to find the “Hands-free/Headset setup” option, tap it

On the headset, hold the answer button for six seconds until the blue light stays on to put the headset in the ready mode, then tap next on the Ipaq Connection Wizard form.

If your device is ready, it should show up, if it does tap the device icon. If it doesn’t, check the headset manual.

If it worked, you should see the following,

Now you have a connection icon, tap it

It will probably now ask you for the passkey, for the Motorola device, enter 0000 , the tap the enter key. (the one with the arrow)

This should cause the Ipaq to try to connect to the headset, on the Motorola H350, you need to press the earpiece button to “answer”.

Now start the CowCard program, and enable RFID, you should hear the normal audio prompts in the headset.

Conclusion: The Bluetooth headset does work on the iPAQ 2495b, but it probably isn’t for everyone. The headset communicates where it is in the discovery, pairing, connecting, connected sequence by blinking and beeping. It is easy to get lost in the sequence and have to start over.