Mobiles Review

Following the slightly unfortunate communicator that was the iPAQ hw6300 series, comprised of the hw6315 for Europe and hw6340 for the US, HP is back - with a vengeance. Having trailed woefully behind other communicator makers, HP has finally delivered an iPAQ that not only matches the feature set of other devices currently on shelves, but also manages to break new ground. Let’s have a look and see if they got it right this time around.

You don’t look anything like what we’re used to
Ridding itself of the bulky design of its predecessor, the hw6515 comes across as a far more elegant - and pocketable - device than the hw6300 series despite the fact that HP has managed integrate a thumbboard. At 118 x 71 x 21 mm and 165 g, it won’t make your suit pocket look like you’re carrying a couple of decks of cards - and the front doesn’t look cluttered despite the large number of elements residing there.

First off, we find the 65K colour touch screen with its 240 x 240 pixel resolution, marking the very first Windows Mobile based device with a square screen to hit shelves. Bright, clear and with adequate ClearType performance, it’s joined by a rather clicky five-way navigational pad just below, again flanked by dual-purpose, mappable hard buttons for opening the contacts and e-mail applications. These, again, are flanked by large and comfortably backlit send and end telephony hard buttons on either side, and in the upper right corner resides the power on/off button alongside to unobtrusive alert LEDs.

Unfortunately, the thumbboard is a bit of a disappointment. From a hardware perspective, keys are mostly well laid out (with the exception of comma and period having been inexplicably and frustratingly switched) and offer good tactile and audible feedback. A ’sticky’ Caps Lock is present, as is an Fn button which alternates the QWERTY layout to offer a full compliment of numerical operators, a numeric keypad and a four-way keypad. - but unfortunately for Europeans, few accents. For improved one-handed operation, buttons are also present for calling up the start menu and context menu, as well as performing ‘Tab’ and ‘Ok’ presses.

What’s the downside then, you ask? Somewhere along the way from pressing a button, something is pouring syrup in the machinery. In the vast majority of cases, a quick double-press will not be recognized, and despite tactile and audible feedback indicating a key has been pressed there’s a modest chance it will not show up; absolutely marring for heavy thumbboard users.

Rounding off on the note of buttons, we also find a dedicated volume up/down rocker far up on the left side which is a bit too easy activate accidentally, and below this a dedicated button to activate and shoot pictures with the 1.3 Megapixel camera. Said camera, unfortunately, is the epitomy of mediocrity with regard to picture quality, and the application for shooting them with is outright horrid. Video quality is however acceptable at QCIF resolution, and the camera button thankfully also maps to the voice recorder.

Making a connection
Not only harbouring GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz and support for GPRS Class 10, the hw6515 is also the first Windows Mobile communicator to support EDGE for high speed data transfers, where applicable. Performance, both for data and voice, proved very good, with above-par signal reception as compared to previous Windows Mobile communicators as well as favourable speakerphone quality.

Compared to other, recent high-end Windows Mobile communicators, the hw6515 falls somewhat short in the PAN networking area with only Bluetooth and Infrared and USB on its slate. Granted, the selection of profiles is good - including the much-coveted DUN profile - and performance excellent, but Wi-Fi is nowhere to be found. Surprising as this may be, however, there’s a good reason for it: unlike any other communicator presently available, the hw6515 is equipped with an integrated GPS receiver.

To our pleasent surprise, the receiver works very well indeed despite not having a dedicated antenna, although we’ve seen dedicated receivers which are - expectedly - more sensitive. Cold boots can also take some time unless conditions are excellent, but the receiver maintains connections well and is adequately accurate.

The GPS receiver isn’t the only thing concealed behind the exterior of the hw6515, though. Under the hood, we also find an 312 MHz Intel PXA270 processor backed up by 44 MB of volatile memory and 12 MB of non-volatile memory available to users. Also, the hw6515 offers up not only an SDIO capable SD Card expansion slot, but also a miniSD expansion slot, conveniently allowing for the simultaneous addition of of a Wi-Fi card and additional memory.

Unfortunately, the exchangeable, rechargeable 1,200 mAh Lithium Ion battery will not allow for any extended use of an accessory such as a Wi-Fi card as it already struggles to provide sufficient battery life as is. With average use of its entire feature set, the hw6515 barely lasted in excess of a day whereas most competing models will provide a couple of days battery life or more.

A few bumps in the road
Sadly, the battery isn’t the only place in which HP has compromised in order to be able to bring such an advanced set of features together in such a small device. Due to a slow processor, most functionality beyond simple PIM and messaging feels sluggish, and particularly so if one attempts to multitask when the GPS receiver is active. Also, the amount of memory available is restrictively small, negating any heavy multitasking.

Despite challenges in the hardware department, however, HP has managed to deliver a few software nuggets with the Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition powered hw6515. In addition to the standard package of Microsoft applications such as Pocket Outlook, Pocket Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger and the PlaysForSure-compatible Windows Media Player 10, we also find viewers from ClearVue for Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft PowerPoint documents. Furthermore, there’s also a comprehensive backup client and a profiles application which has been handily mapped to the press-and-hold trigger of the power on/off button; a very nice touch.

Based upon software from Netherlands-based TomTom, widely considered the gold standard in GPS add-on software for handhelds, we also find a comprehensive GPS application with 3D maps, routing, automatic redirection and a comprehensive points of interest database. In a stroke of genious, HP chose to include a version of the software which allows for over-the-air purchase and downloading of new maps; an invaluable feature for frequent travelers.

Lastly, it should be noted that the perfectly square display of the hw6515 is something of an oddity - and also a first - for Windows Mobile devices. Due to most third party applications having been written for a 3:4 format, 240 x 320 or 640 x 480 pixel screen, several applications suddenly require quite a bit of scrolling - and poorly written ones aren’t instantly compatible, either. In fact, even some of Microsoft’s own applications have issues, but the most pressing issue is that when the virtual keyboard is called upon, only a fraction of the screen is visible for input between this and the start menu. It still works, but it’s far from painless.

Availability
The HP iPAQ hw6515 is slated for availability in major European markets in June and is to sell for ???????729 EUR. A version of the device without a camera will also be available as the HP iPAQ hw6510, selling for ???????699 EUR. The unit provided to infoSync World was a pre-production device. HP iPAQ hw6515

Conclusion
A Ferrari powered by a Wolksvagen motor - that’s the HP iPAQ hw6515 in a nutshell. An otherwise excellent set of hardware and software harboured in a surprisingly small form factor is hampered by poor thumbboard responsiveness, a modest processor, limited memory and poor battery life. If your needs for frequent text input and heavy multitasking aren’t pressing, and chargers are readily at hand at the end of each business day, the hw6515 presents a tantalizing offer - just beware of its shortcomings.