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Depending on where you are in the world this is a review of either the HP iPAQ 910, the HP iPAQ 912 or the HP iPAQ 914! The product number changes around the world, in the US it's the 910, in Asia Pacific it's the 912, in the UK and EMEA it's the 914. If it has a c at the end it means that it include a camera.
For all the pictures in this review you can click them to view a much higher resolution image.
This is HP's much delayed product, and whilst very late it has some good specs, as the HP Quickspecs show:
3G wireless broadband connectivity for voice and data
Tri-band UMTS/HSDPA up to 7.2 Mbps (850/1900/2100 MHz)1
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)1,2,3,4
Wireless LAN: IEEE 802.11 b/g with WPA2 security5
Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR1
Multi-mode GPS navigation
Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
Alphanumeric keyboard, scroll wheel, 5-way navigation, 2 soft keys, and four quick access keys
2.46-inch 320x240 TFT color touch panel display
Dimensions/weight: 114 x 64 x 15 mm, 154 g
3 Megapixel auto focus camera
1940 mAh Li-Polymer battery
128MB SDRAM / 256MB Flash ROM
Micro-SD card slot
Mini-USB connector for charge/sync or headset
HP Voice Reply and Cyberon Voice Commander
First off, size wise, this unit was smaller and lighter than I expected, which was a very pleasant surprise.
Looking at the front of the unit, at the top it has a wireless status/charging/notification LED, underneath the screen there are two programmable "soft" keys. From the home screen these are preset to be launch Internet Explorer with the left hand button, and Contacts with the right button. To the side of either button are the start call and end call buttons. Underneath the first row of buttons there is a dedicated calendar button, a windows start key, a 5-way navigation button with a center select button, an ok button and a dedicated email button. The nav button is very useable even one handed, you can scroll through emails, open up an email, read it and go back, all one handed.
Below all that is a QWERTY keyboard, which on first impressions seems a little strange, as the keys feel small and rounded. However after a days use I soon got used to the keyboard and was happily emailing and responding to SMS messages with no issues. There is some intelligence in the keyboard, so that when you are in the phone, the blue numbers are used without having to use the FN key.
At the top left hand side of the unit there is a volume up/down control and a Voice Record/Cyberon Voice Commander button To the bottom left hand side of the device are two slots with a plastic cover over them. These house the Micro SD slot and a Mini-USB sync/charge and headset connector.
I was concerned how the phone would sit into a car holder, however Brodit appears to have come up with a solution.
At the top right hand side of the unit is a scroll wheel, which you can push for select, an OK buttom and a camera button
At the top of the unit there is a power on/off button, the reset recessed button and a Navigation Antenna Port.
Looking at the back of the unit from left to right is a self portrait mirror, a flash LED, a 3MP camera with autofocus, the speaker and down at the bottom is the stylus, like the 614 this is a very comfortable and stylish chrome/plastic extendable stylus.
HP includes a wealth of extra software on the iPAQ, and a few on the included CD. The first thing I do with any iPAQ is install the latest HP iPAQ Setup Assistant, which downloads all my settings for owner info, email, WiFi, Exchange server and Speed dial. The following is a list of the extra software either pre-installed or on the CD.
Value-add applications:
HP Photosmart Mobile
Bluetooth Manager
HP Help and Support
HP Voice Reply
Cyberon Voice Commander
HP iPAQ GPS QK Position
HP Enterprise Mobility Agent
HP Keyboard Indicator
HP iPAQ Tips
HP AssetViewer
HP Keyguard
HP Certificate Enroller
Google Search
Google Maps
HP Printsmart Mobile
ClearVue PDF
Sun Java
MMS Client/Composer
OMA DRM Client (forward lock)
SIM ToolKit
SIM Manager plug-in
HP iPAQ Audio
Ringtone Manager
HP iPAQ Power
HP iPAQ Keyboard
Factory Recovery
The most interesting application for me is the GPS QK Position which was sadly missing on the 614c. Sadly however cold start up lock on times for both TomTom and GoogleMaps are around 2mins 30 seconds. Warm locks up are much, much quicker, within 10 seconds in some cases. There is one problem I have with the QK position program is that there is no option for it to auto update the data. HP provided this years ago with the 6915 and it seems a big step backwards not to have this as an option.
TomTom v6 installed fine, and works fine, despite TomTom telling me the device is unsupported and if they allowed me to migrate my license I would be unsupported and wouldn't be allowed to move the license to another device again!
This device is the first HP device to ship with Windows Mobile 6.1, one of the features that I like the most is threaded SMS. This makes SMS appear more like instant messaging in that the messages you send to one person, and the replies you get are all kept together like a conversation.
The battery on the 914c is an impressive 1940 mAh Li-Polymer battery, which has enabled me to work all day on the phone, using push email, voice and 3G data connections. I have noted a few reports of bad battery life on the net, however I have not experienced this. After the first few charge/discharge cycles it just seems to get better and better. One thing to note is that it takes many hours to fully charge!
Despite having a slow CPU on paper I have not noticed any issues with responsiveness of the device and would say in day to day use it as responsiveness as the 614c which has a faster CPU installed.
The internet sharing application is excellent and allows me to use the iPAQ as a high speed modem for my laptop when sat in a hotel room, or I have even used it succesfully on a long train journey.
Due to the speakerphone placement being underneath the device, it gets muffled if your trying to listen to message whilst the device is sat on your desk, however in car, when sat vertical the speaker is loud enough for voice directions to be heard clearly.
Before getting the device I was concerned about the smaller screen size, however I can say in day to day use this has not been an issue. I am currently trying the Opera Mobile beta, which helps when viewing web pages compared to the inbuilt browser.
Size wise the unit fits into a shirt pocket, and a jeans pocket comfortably. The following pictures show the device lined up against an HP iPAQ 6915 on the bottom, the 910 in the middle and a HP iPAQ 514 on top.
All in all I'm very, very pleased with this device. I have been using it day to day and have no intention of going back to my 514 or 614. The 914c does everything I want in a device, and I find the keyboard makes responding to text and email messages much easier than non keyboard devices.
HP iPAQ 910 Review HP iPAQ 912 Review HP iPAQ 914 Review