HP offers Pocket PC refunds

Hewlett Packard (HP) is offering refunds to any customers in Europe or the US who bought its recently launched Pocket PC device following a mistake over the product's graphics capability.

Earlier this month, HP apologised for incorrectly stating that its Jornada 540 series can display 16bit or 65,536 colours.

While the screen technology has the ability to display 16bit colours, an electronic component within the device limits the actual resolution that customers see to 12bit or 4096 colours.

This means that Jornada users are not able to view high-resolution images such as photographs or websites using high resolution.

As a result of the misprint, which HP said has now been corrected on all its Pocket PC literature, the company is offering refunds to European and US customers.

Sally Lawlor, HP Jornada business manager, said: "For those customers who have bought the device and have applications that need 16bit colours, we will accept returns and give refunds without question."

She said customers who wish to receive a refund should return the product to the point of purchase.

"We have had some calls since we posted the correction," she said. "But when we explain the implications, most customers have decided to keep the device."

Compaq and Casio also launched Pocket PC devices back in April. Compaq's device can display 12bit colour, while Casio's Pocket PC device is capable of displaying 16bit colours.