September 6, 2001 -- By timing the introduction of the Jornada 565/568 to coincide with Microsoft's announcement of the Pocket PC 2002 software platform, codenamed "Merlin," Hewlett Packard beat the competition to the punch. The Jornada 568 is the first Pocket PC device specifically built for the new revision of the OS. It is, in my opinion, also far and away the best Palm-size/Pocket PC HP has ever built.

Unlike the metal housing of the 540 series, the 560s (there is a 32MB Jornada 565 and a 64MB Jornada 568) use a combination of plastic and metal. The main body is charcoal-gray plastic; the back is silver metal as is the front fascia. The contrast between the matte silver and the gray plastic and the neatly symmetrical design give the 560 a clean, elegant look. The cool, solid metal feel of the 540 is gone, but so are almost two ounces of weight--the new model weighs in at just 6.1 ounces even though dimensions remain virtually unchanged (3.0 x 5.2 x 0.68 inches versus the older model's 3.1 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches). The 565 is thus still a bit bigger and heavier than, say, a Palm V or a Handspring Visor Edge, but not by much.

Following an apparent trend away from side-mounted controls, the 560 has a navigation pad on the front, in addition to four function keys that launch the HP home menu, the address book, the calendar, and the to-do list. Below the navigation pad is an action/return button. Part of the nav pad's function is duplicated with an up/down control on the left side where you also find the audio record button.

Kindly donated by David Missen

Manufacturer: HP
Date: 1st September 2001

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH2580. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.

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