I replied via an instant message, but I will post here as well. I haven't had the chance to play with the new Ipaq yet, so I do not know about the speaker on that model; but as for the speaker on the new Casio, it seems to be even louder than the speaker onthe EM500 (which seems louder than the E-125, if you ask me), and it doesn't seem to get muffled very much do to the well designed holes on the d-pad. HArd to explain, but you'll have to try it out for yourself I guess
