I am writing this on the train on my way into work and the fact that I am writing using my old psion series 5 (Still the best keyboard system money can
buy) and not my new HP rw6915 perfectly highlights the major shortcoming/trade-off of this smartphone.

Of course, one man’s shortcoming is another man’s advantage, and like all
trade-offs’ the HP’s is one of its biggest advantages.

Also, since the quality of any advice is measured by the experience and knowledge of that person giving it, let me give you a little background to myself before continuing any further. My professional life is that of a Chartered IT manager for a small international bank in the city of London. So I am a both a business user and a techy’ and I need everything; a phone, a PDA, a department management device, Outlook 2007 sync ability, lots of storage space, a media player, a camera, a document reader, wi-fi Internet access and Bluetooth.

On the other hand I am also an artist married to a graphic designer, this means that I insist on form as well as function and this has, for example, led to me rejecting many “gadgets” because they are bulky or do not fit in with the sleek business class look I insist on with my personal carrys. I also HATE iPods.

So, I should be in a very good position to review this PDA phone!

Before buying the HP I owned the excellent, but brick-like Nokia 9500 communicator…

9500: Part PDA, part self-defense weapon, all brick

…as well as the N80 (spit!) and the disastrous N73 (which crashed mid call with an alarming consistency)

 

N73: Eeeeevil!

After that experience I went “old school” and for the last year have been managing my department using the amazingly high tech Hipster PDA.

The Hipster PDA is a paper-based organizer. A tongue-in-cheek reaction to the increasing expense and complexity of personal digital assistants, the Hipster PDA  simply comprises a sheaf of index cards held together with a binder clip.

 

To beat that the HP has a job on its hands!

I bought the HP from a business suppler I know at TET, but it is widely available everywhere now. This is not the first Windows PDA I have owned as I still have, gathering dust in my draw, a Dell Axim PDA that they gave me as an apology in 2003. Coming from the bad experience of that I was ready to tackle the new Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC, Phone Edition, with an eye to the essential problem with Microsoft equipment; the blue screen

The box contained the PDA, a rather poor belt clip case, the software
bundle, a mini-USB cable and a multiadapter charging plug, which was quite
nice and allows you to fit whatever plug suits you country. Of course the
PDA itself with charge from the USB socket, of the power adapter was bunged
in my work bag for use at home.  It also contained a nifty little set of headphones/hands free kit.

The look and feel of the system is a little plasticy, but this is all to the good as it seriously reduces the weight compared with others of its ilk.

Size wise it is similar to a pack of cards and therefore bigger than most phones. The screen is quite large and clear and my first impressions of the clarity and brightness in the dark and sunlight were positive.

Essential specs are:

• Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC, Phone Edition,
  Mobile Versions of Microsoft® software are included (Word® Mobile, Excel® Mobile, PowerPoint® Mobile, Internet Explorer Mobile, Windows Media Player 10 Mobile and Messaging)
• 2.7” transmissive TFT, 65K colours, LED backlight with power save mode
• Integrated WLAN 802.11b, Bluetooth® 1.2, IrDA
• Integrated tri band GSM/GPRS/EDGE phone
• HP exclusive applications: Today Panel Lite, Java Virtual Machine, Auto Configurator , Microsoft Voice Command , Wi-Fi Utility tool, Modem Link
• Integrated HP Photosmart Camera 2 Megapixel with LED light, 1600 x 1200 resolution, JPEG and 3 GP formats
• 2.7” transmissive TFT, 65K colours, LED backlight with power save mode
• 140 g
• 5.8 x 1.9 x 10.2 cm
• Intel® PXA272 Processor 416 MHz
• 192 MB total ROM memory (128 MB ROM available for persistent storage, 64 MB SDRAM), certified up to 1 GB
• Slots Mini-SD slot supports 4-bit mini-SD memory standards
• Operating system applications: Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Voice Recorder, Notes, Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, Internet Explorer Mobile

The stylus is housing is slightly covered by the fold down plastic screen cover and therefore a little fiddley to remove from its slot, but then I guess either HP know that you will permanently remove the screen cover or that the cover protects the stylus from loss.

In any case the cover is a cause of pleasure and pain. Firstly, it took me two days to realise that it is tightly wrapped in two scratch proof packing plastic sheets and only once I removed those could I see through the cover to the screen.

You can use the phone with the cover in either position, but with it up you may touch the screen with your ear and press something by accident, you will also look like you are on Startrek.

Yes, this is the Starfleet Communicator,

 

Scotty, get us out of here!

Windows Mobile 5.0 is the main software in this device.  The today screen is now a well known hub of all the information you need to run your day.  Your latest items in Outlook, any emails or texts, notifications of meetings and incoming call are all displayed here.  A link to skype or MSN, which is excellent, can be added and a graphical readout of the remaining charge and space on the device is slotted along the top. 

My business needs for the machine is a note taker in meetings as well as a storage device for various information.  luckily space on the HP is large.  Over a hundred meg is available from the start and I personally used that for program installs and chucked in a 2GB memory card (mini SD - £15) for data such as podcasts, documents, etc.  With the quick change of the SD cards, it is possible to carry a very large amount of data relatively simply.  Something I use to great effect by having all my departmental management documents on me at all times as well as a complete sync of my emails and attachments.

 

Using the HP as a note taker is easy as well.  The system comes with a variety of text input options, including onscreen keyboard and letter recognition.  Personally, I use the full text recognition and write directly onto the screen in joined up letters, which the system translates incredibly well considering my lack luster handwriting skill.  I have tweaked the options a bit and I can get to about half as fast as my typing, so say 50 words a minute if I pushed it.

The bonus is of course that these notes then sync to the computer automatically and I can create a file for each day, each meeting, or whatever and continue working it on my laptop later.

Other business functions is the use of MS word and Excel and it is very easy to bring up spreadsheets on the move and collect information, something I often do in my meetings when challenged for some data I cannot recall, but don’t want to break out a laptop.  Because the system has Infrared, as well as the now ubiquitous WIFI/Bluetooth, I can print directly to any HP series printer by just aiming at its built in IRDA receiver and the results are fast and smooth.

 

In use my first headache came with setting up Activesync.  I obviously want to sync wirelessly like I would with my old N73.  Setting this up is a little complicated and for me this situation was massively exacerbated as my laptop has a Dell built in Bluetooth module.  This module does not use the standard Microsoft Bluetooth stack and thus it basically did not work at all.  Only after a day for fucking around did I eventually decide to literally open up my laptop and dig out the module.  I then used my old USB Bluetooth dongle and ping Activesync worked immediately.  Clearly M$ only likes M$. However, once that hurdle was jumped it was smooth sailing all the way.

Activesync syncs Outlook message’s status as well as the message itself, so if the message is unread in Outlook it will sync as unread to the PDA.  This is a nice function and very smoothly done by Windows.  I am using the latest Beta version of Activesync but it still has limitations.  Namely that WIFI sync is disabled.  Madness.  The Microsoft developer blog suggests that this is because the WIFI sync is currently inheritably unsecured and they are working on it. 

 

 

The official (and true) reason has always been stated as “We removed it for security reasons.”  But, judging from the number of angry comments I see posted here, that explanation hasn’t really convinced anyone that it was a good idea.  So, let me go into more detail.  The first major issue is this: Exchange ActiveSync is encrypted and desktop ActiveSync isn’t.

Frankly, they don’t appear to be working very hard considering this is something we all want ASAP.  So, at the moment, it is bluetooth or cable. 

Non business functions are also important to me.  I listen weekly to a number of podcasts including Massively Online Gamer and This Week In Tech and I simply drag them to the sync folder and bosh they are copied to the device wirelessly.

 

 

When listening to podcasts, if the phone rings then it pauses while you talk and then switches back, which works very well indeed.

Another fine feature that has come on in leaps and bounds is the voice command software.  In the past this stuff was frankly crap, but now, well you don’t even have to train it.  I was simply playing with all the built in features and before I knew it I was able to call people with a simple:

[push button] *BEEP* “Call Francesca Bell Work”

Bang! The number is dialing.  It is very good and I often use it rather than press through the menus.

This brings me to web browsing.  The WIFI system is not the all singing, all dancing latest, but it is still fast as hell.  I have WIFI at home and often want to grab some info without booting my PC and this is a very quick answer.  I did, however, quickly get fed up with IE and switch to Opera and this has a cost attached, but all in all the web based experience is very friendly and I am very happy surfing my emails or browsing the forums.

So, what is wrong with this device?

Battery life is actually very good.  Like all WIFI devices, you will need to carry a charger with you or have one around on a weekend.

The problems come when combining this essentially PDA functionality with the use of the device as a phone.  So, for example, when browsing your contacts through the phone control buttons on the outside there is no button to close any selected contact or text message.  Instead you need to flip open the cover and press the small cross at the top right of the screen.  This leads to all sorts of mucking around with either getting the stylus out or using your finger.  It also completely breaks the idea of using a phone with one hand only.  Often it is easier to use the voice command than piss about through the menus as you are trying to walk around.  Now, for me, I call the same 10 people over and over and so I have them all set up as speeddials.  However, getting to the speed dial screen is more button presses’s than needed.  In fact it is a bit of a pain.

Also, like all Windows Mobile devices you will very quickly come to love the soft reset. In fact I actually soft reset every night when I go to bed.  Memory leaking is common and M$ have for some insane reason made it that selecting the cross on the top corner of the screen doesn’t actually close the application you are in.  IT merely swaps it into back memory.  I understand that there are reasons for this, but frankly I would prefer it to be otherwise.  When I want something closed; close it!

I have also had problems Bluetooth things to people.  I receive things with no problems, it is just seemingly beyond this device to send someone something.

Finally, the camera is a joke.  My N73 camera was excellent, and this is a very large step backwards.

Having said this, there is a lot of software and hardware out there to help.  I have a set of bluetooth headphones coming that are wireless and I will let you know how I get one with them.  I also have a 3rd party cradle/speakers set coming and that should make podcasting in the office easier.

All in all my last few weeks with this device have made me a bit of a fan.  I was fully aware of the limitations of Windows Mobile used as a phone and wasn’t expecting a Nokia like phone experience.  Which is good because you don’t get one.  What you get is a great attempt to unify many devices into one and I think that 90% of it is successful.

 

 Basho