Welcome to my review of the HP iPAQ Glisten, currently only available on AT&T in the USA, please click the smaller pictures for larger ones if needed. First impressions were mixed, there is nothing highly innovative or new on this device, however with use it grew on me, and does seem like a quality product. This product reviewed is a pre-release, although I understand that the phone is now shipping. The official specs state:

 

Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g with WPA2 security

 

So to put those specs into English, it's a touch screen device with a front facing QWERTY keyboard, running Windows Mobile 6.5, with WiFi, Bluetooth and aGPS all built in. Looking at the device head on it has a send key, the start menu key, a navigation ring with centre select - unlike the previous 2 iPAQs this is a touch button and not optical, which seems nice and precise. Moving on to the right of the navigation ring there is an OK button and end button and then the QWERTY keyboard. To the bottom left of the device is a Microphone. At the top of the device are some notification LEDs and also a sensor which disables the touch screen when you are making phone calls. This is a feature that all touch screen phones should have, I have found many times putting myself onto mute with devices that don't have such a feature.

 

HP iPAQ Glisten

 

Looking around the device on the right hand side there is a 3.5mm headset jack and a micro-USB power/sync connector.

 

iPAQ Glisten right hand side

 

On the left hand side there is a volume up/down control, HP appear to have made some efforts for all the components to have a quality look and feel about them.

 

HP iPAQ Glisten left hand side

 

Looking at the top of the device there is a power/sleep on/off button and a Wi-Fi on off button, around the back of the unit is a noise-cancelling microphone, a speaker, the camera lens and the stylus.

 

iPAQ Glisten front view

 

Taking the back cover off and you can see the SIM slot in the bottom right hand side and a Micro-SD slot supporting up to 32gb cards in the top left hand corner.

 

HP iPAQ Glisten back cover removed

 

The keyboard itself is very nice to use, each key is slightly rounded, and I have found it easy to use with one hand, thumbs only as well as both hands for longer emails or SMS messages.

 

HP iPAQ Glisten Keyboard

 

I was very impressed with the colours that the AMOLED screen produces, it worked very well both inside and outside, hopefully the picture below shows how good the screen is compared with the HP iPAQ Voice Messenger.

 

HP iPAQ Glisten screen

 

There is a vast array of pre-installed software, as I'm not on an AT&T network I couldn't test out all the applications, but it's nice to see things like a money program and a few additional games above the default being installed.

 


 

Battery life has been a highlight for me. Previous recent iPAQS like the data messenger and the voice messenger had a very poor battery life. On the day I got this device, I charged it up on a Friday afternoon, then drove for 2 hours with it connected to my bluetooth hands free, followed by a fair bit of 3G network access, some calls, some text messages, it was also left on for about 14 hours a day. I didn't need to recharge it until the following Tuesday, so it got close to 5 days between charges, albeit with not many voice calls.

 

I've also been very impressed with the stability of the product, I have had no crashes, no lockups, no problems apart from the tip of the stylus crumbling away!

 

In summary I have really liked using this device, if you are in the USA and are looking for a front facing QWERTY phone then I would certainly have this on any shortlist.

 

Agree, disagree, wish to ask a question - please ask away here in the PocketPCSoft forum