Windows Phone Thoughts: HP iPAQ 2215 - The New Shining Star in the Pocket PC Galaxy?

Gotchas
Although I really like the iPAQ 2215, no review would be complete without me finding room for improvement in a few areas. ;-)

• No screen cover – am I alone in thinking this is a useful feature that allows you to keep the device as small as possible by not needing a case, yet still protecting the screen? I must be the only one to think that, because other than the just-announced JVC, screen covers are a rare thing.
  
  
• No USB charging like the 5450 - this is a great feature I’d like to see across the entire iPAQ line.
  
  
• There’s no jog dial – this is a deal-breaker for some people. I personally don’t mind that much – the only functional jog-dial I’ve ever seen is the Sony full rotation jog dial. Until Pocket PC OEMs start to license that style of jog dial, everything else seems like a pale imitation to me.
  
  
• The cradle is very light-weight and moves too easily when docking the iPAQ. I’d prefer to see something more substantial like the Dell Axim X5 cradle.
  
  
• There’s no record button. A year ago, I used audio recordings a great deal, so this would have been a deal-breaker for me. But once I started using an XDA full time, I was weaned off this feature. If you live and die by voice recordings, you’ll have to re-map one of the four front buttons to record your audio.
  
  
• The d-pad is hyper-sensitive. I found myself scrolling through multiple MS Reader eBook pages when I only wanted to go ahead one page. UPDATE: I adjusted the repeat rate in the button settings and now everything works as it should. It would be nice if HP set the default a little lower, because most users won't know to do this change (heck, I didn't!).
  
  
• There’s no spare stylus. Come on HP, save your customers a bit of frustration by including a three cent stylus. You know we’re worth it!
  
  
• Poor speaker placement – I want the sound coming from the same direction as the screen. The audio amp isn’t powerful enough to overcome this placement, resulting in poor audio performance if you’re showing someone a video clip and relying on the external audio for them to hear it.
  
  
• When you soft reset the unit, it takes approximately 23 seconds to become usable again. That’s a long time, roughly twice as long as the Dell Axim X5. I guess the good news here is that the 2215 is much more stable than other Pocket PCs I’ve tested, so you shouldn’t need to soft reset very often at all, especially if you’re using a task killer to exit from your applications.
  
  
• Although I know this is a budget device, I'd love to see a bigger battery – if they could reach 1440 mAH like the Axim, the device would be even more usable.

Where to Buy
The iPAQ 2215 can be ordered through our affiliate partner, Mobile Planet, for $399.95. Shipping is free until June 30th, 2003.

Conclusions
In case you haven't figured this out already, even with a few rough edges, the HP iPAQ 2215 is the fastest and one of the most all-around capable Pocket PCs I've ever seen. It's small, light, fast, has built-in Bluetooth, dual-slots and is relatively inexpensive at $399 US. HP did a superb job of creating a device that bridged the gap between the entry-level 1900 series devices and their flagship 5000 series devices.

The 2215 is a well conceived product that properly balances the elements of price, performance and value, with very few compromises. For these reasons, it's the first recipient of the Pocket PC Thoughts Zen Award, our highest honour reserved for products that meet the highest standards of consumer value and technical achievement.

[If we had finished our Pocket PC Thoughts Zen Award logo, this is where we'd put it. Until then, just imagine a cool-looking logo based around the ying-yang concept]