HP iPAQ 600 Series and iPAQ 900 Series
Discontinued 11th September 2007
Back in the dim and distant past (well,
about 7 years ago), the iPAQ name was synonymous with
state-of-the-art Windows PDAs. Originally badged under
the Compaq name, iPAQ devices were very widespread and
probably the market leader in that segment, pitched
head-to-head with Palm and their popular range of "Palm
Pilots".
However, the original iPAQ range was
little more than a glorified diary/address book. Functionality
was strictly limited and PDAs such as the iPAQ lacked
any cellular or WiFi connectivity. This changed in 2002
with the O2 XDA (made by HTC), which was actually
useful to a wide variety of customers as they could
access email and browse the web while on the move. Against
this sort of competition, sales of PDAs collapsed and
the iPAQ brand (now owned by HP) almost vanished from
view.
It has taken HP five years to
get to the point where it can truly say that it is back
on a par with HTC in technological terms.. and that's
no small achievement as HTC have continued to wow us
with the advanced technologies they manage to squeeze
into their products.
So here are the HP iPAQ 600 Series
Business Navigator and HP iPAQ 900 Series
Business Messenger smartphones. At first glance,
these two devices look quite different - but in fact
underneath they are very closely related.
Both the iPAQ 600 and 900 Series run
Windows Mobile 6 Professional, they have WiFi, tri-band
HSDPA (3.5G), quad-band GSM with GPRS and EDGE and they
also have built in A-GPS navigation. On the back is
a 3 megapixel camera with autofocus, it comes with a
microSD slot, Bluetooth and a range of HP-specific applications
on top of the standard Microsoft Office Mobile suite.
This is all pretty promising.
On the negative side, the video capture
resolution of the iPAQ 900 and 600 Series is just 176
x 144 pixels, at a time when Nokia's flagship E90
and N95
phones can manage 640x480 pixels. They're also quite
heavy at around 145 grams each.
HP
iPAQ 900 Series Business Messenger
The flagship in the iPAQ range is the
clumsily named HP iPAQ 900 Series Business Messenger -
this has a 2.46" landscape touch-sensitive display
with 320x240 pixels in 65,000 colours. There's a QWERTY
keyboard underneath, and navigation can also be done
using the iPAQ 900's thumb wheel. HP have appended the
"Business Messenger" moniker because clearly
this is aimed at heavy email users. To make life more
complicated, there are likely to be many slight variants
of 900 Series phones - the 914 is one model we've seen
mention of.
We wrote about weight earlier -
the iPAQ 900 comes in at 146 grams which is perhaps
a little heavy. On the plus side there's a whopping
1840 mAh battery which should keep the iPAQ 900 going
for some time.
It's a very sober looking device - the
straightforward and tidy layout looks quite usable,
and it's certainly nicer than some of the smartphone
horrors
we've seen in the past. The iPAQ 900 measures 113 x
63 x 16mm.
HP
iPAQ 600 Series Business Navigator
Featuring another wordy product name,
the HP iPAQ 600 Series Business Navigator is
essentially the same as the 900 with a different screen
and form factor. Here the display is a large 2.8"
portrait 240x320 pixel touchscreen panel. The screen
can be flipped between landscape and portrait orientations.
There's a slightly smaller battery in
the 600 Series, at 1590 mAh, but overall the screen
and battery differences cancel each other out when it
comes to weight, and it weighs 145 grams.
Navigation on the iPAQ 600 is done by
using the touchscreen, or smart touch wheel on the front.
This gives the iPAQ 600 a distinctive but purposeful
appearance. HP have designed the iPAQ 600 so that it
can be used with a single hand.
The "Business Navigator" tag
is used to emphasize the iPAQ 600's Assisted GPS (A-GPS)
capabilities, although they do appear to be identical
to the 900's. The switchable landscape/portait function
will be particularly useful for satellite navigation
assuming that you have a car kit that can switch between
the two orientations.
At 117 x 60 x 18mm the iPAQ 600 is larger
than you'd expect, but do remember that there are a
substantial number of features crammed into it.
As for model numbers, well they might
vary and so far we've heard of an iPAQ 610 and 614 although
this is likely to be carrier dependent.
Can HP break HTC's stranglehold?
HP's brand recognition is huge, but
it's not something that consumers generally associate
with smartphones. However, you could say the same about
Apple who are completely new to the same market and
have just shipped their millionth iPhone.
And although HP have been through some tough times in
the past few years, recently everything has started
to come together and things are on the way up. It's
very hard to predict if HP can actually carve a niche
for itself, but this is certainly going to be an interesting
fight.
HP
iPAQ 600 Series Business
Navigator
|
Available:
|
Not
stated
|
Network:
|
GSM
850/900/1800/1900 UMTS
850/900/2100
|
Data:
|
GPRS
+ EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSDPA
+ WiFi
|
Screen:
|
320x240
pixels, 65k colours
|
Camera:
|
3
megapixels
|
Size:
|
PDA-style
device 113 x 64 x 16mm
/ 146 grams
|
Bluetooth:
|
Yes
|
Memory
card:
|
microSD
|
Infra-red:
|
No
|
Polyphonic:
|
Yes
|
Java:
|
Limited
|
Battery
life:
|
Not
specified
|
|
HP
iPAQ 900 Series Business
Messenger
|
Available:
|
Not
stated
|
Network:
|
GSM
850/900/1800/1900 UMTS
850/900/2100
|
Data:
|
GPRS
+ EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSDPA
+ WiFi
|
Screen:
|
320x240
pixels, 65k colours
|
Camera:
|
3
megapixels
|
Size:
|
PDA-style
device 113 x 64 x 16mm
/ 146 grams
|
Bluetooth:
|
Yes
|
Memory
card:
|
microSD
|
Infra-red:
|
No
|
Polyphonic:
|
Yes
|
Java:
|
Limited
|
Battery
life:
|
Not
specified
|
|
|