Windows Phone Thoughts: The New iPAQ Mobile Messenger: hw6915 - A Tough Package To Beat

Upon turning the device on, you'll see HP's Today screen, with a wireless plug-in and dashboard of indicators. The GPS indicator is truly just that - an indicator. Whereas the other buttons let you enable or disable a radio, the GPS button simply shows the status of GPS, as the built-in GPS is automatically activated and deactivated by GPS software. I know that GPS software isn't cheap to code, but it would be nice to have a built-in GPS app that would simply show GPS data to the user so they could verify the radio was working without having to fire up a full mapping program (even the included one). The dashboard indicators cycle through available system resources, and the HP Profiles applet will bring up a profiles menu, allowing you to select what pre-defined profile you want to use ("Silent", "Car", etc.).


Figure 6: The default Today Screen.

One thing that shocked me as I was playing with the settings on this device was the Hardware Buttons applet. Yes, hard as it is to believe, the iPAQ only has 1 hardware button! This made me pause and consider that, while the keyboard does go a long way in speeding up text entry and program launching, hardware buttons can still be incredibly useful. If you're a big fan of them, remember that you're limited by the OS to only 2 functions on this 1 button, so unless you invest in a third-party button mapper, you may have to limit your hardware button use!


Figure 7: Hardware Buttons - only one!

Another interesting thing uncovered while going on the settings journey was the headphone equalizer option built right into the device. Kudos to HP for providing native equalizing for those who use their iPAQ for audio enjoyment.


Figure 8: Headphone equalizer.

HP includes on some models in the hw6900 series (those ending in "5", the hw6915, 6925, 6945) a 1.3 MP camera, and their own camera software. Pocket PC cameras (and mobile phone cameras in general) do not have a reputation for having the best quality, although sometimes the old saying "The best camera is the camera you have with you" is very true (just ask an unnamed team member here whose car was vandalized a few months back and snapped a picture with his Pocket PC). The software that HP provides is fairly decent, and the pictures the unit takes are fairly similar to any other 1.3 MP picture you've ever seen. The biggest complaint myself and others have had is the latency in the software shutter. Snapping a picture means you snap, your subject holds still for at least 5 seconds, and the cute shutter sound stutters a bit before completing. I don't know why it seems to take longer to snap a picture on this Pocket PC than others, but if you're a heavy mobile picture snapper, it may just drive you nuts. I also noted a GPS button on the view screen, which will let you geocode your pictures with your location. Certain map provides, such as MapQuest can then read the information and pinpoint where you where when you snapped it. Neat!


Figure 9: HP's bundled camera software, reviewing a picture.


Figure 10: HP's bundled camera software, the GPS button is an interesting feature.


Figure 11: Picture taken with 1.3 MP Camera, lower light conditions, no flash.


Figure 12: Picture taken with 1.3 MP Camera, lower light conditions, flash.