HP iPAQ hw6510 Mobile Messenger
Intro:
Positives: The compact HP iPaq hw6515 features Bluetooth, EDGE, GPS radios, and solid battery life. The smart phone also has a QWERTY keyboard and various messaging options. Negatives: Unfortunately, the HP iPaq hw6515 doesn't have integrated Wi-Fi or Windows Mobile 5, and it suffers from sluggish performance occasionally. Facts: The HP iPaq hw6515 offers great tools for the mobile professional, but its poky performance keeps it from achieving smart-phone greatness. Note: This product is part of the HP iPaq hw6500 series. .
HP iPAQ hw6510 Mobile Messenger
HP's latest Windows Mobile-based smart phone, the HP iPaq hw6515 ($449.99) for Cingular Wireless, boasts many advanced features that are sure to please the well-seasoned road warrior. The EDGE-capable world phone comes equipped with a full QWERTY keyboard, a plethora of messaging options, integrated Bluetooth, and a 1.3-megapixel camera. It also has something the competition doesn't: a built-in GPS receiver for making the smart phone a handheld GPS device. That said, the iPaq hw6515 lacks integrated Wi-Fi and suffers from poky performance when multiple applications are in use. It certainly won't topple the Palm Treo 650 as the smart-phone king, but the hw6515 does offer a nice alternative to mobile professionals who favor Windows Mobile. Also, if you don't want a camera or your workplace doesn't allow it, you can opt for the HP iPaq hw6510, which includes all the same great features of the hw6515, with the exception of the camera. Essentially, the HP iPaq hw6515 is a slimmed-down Pocket PC organizer, and thankfully, it's a lot more compact than the company's first Pocket PC smart phone, the HP iPaq H6315. Measuring 4.7 by 2.8 by 0.7 inches and weighing 5.8 ounces, there's no arguing that the device is trim for a PDA. Yet, the hw6515 is wide, and it will appear bulky to those accustomed to the more pocketable Palm Treo devices. You may feel more comfortable clipping the hw6515 to your belt with the included case. The HP iPaq hw6515 rocks a bright 3-inch, 320x240-pixel screen that displays text and images in 64,000 colors. To protect the TFT QVGA screen from scratches, HP throws in a plastic flip cover that's easily attachable. Just below the screen are two shortcut keys to your Contacts and Inbox, Talk and End keys, and a five-way joystick. And like the Palm Treo and the Samsung SCH-i730, the iPaq hw6515 boasts its own full QWERTY keyboard. The rounded backlit keys are tiny but well spaced and responsive, if a bit slippery. Something to write home about: Use the hw6515's QWERTY keyboard to send e-mails and text messages with ease. On the right side of the smart phone, there's an SD expansion slot and a Mini SD card slot just below it. On the left spine, you'll find an infrared port, a volume rocker, and an image-capture/voice-record button. The HP iPaq hw6515 features a 1.3-megapixel camera--the hw6510 doesn't come equipped with a camera--and you can find the lens on the back of the device, along with a flash and a self-portrait mirror. The only thing missing is a camera lens cover. Something to smile about: The HP iPaq hw6515 features a 1.3-megapixel camera, a flash, and a mirror for self-portraits. Aside from the aforementioned belt case and flip cover, HP packages the hw6500 series with a desktop-synchronization cradle, a pair of earbud-style headsets, and an AC adapter. A variety of optional accessories are also available, such as HP's Bluetooth stereo headphones for $100 and a digital FM transmitter for $60. Modestly equipped with a midrange 312MHz Intel PXA272 processor, the HP iPaq hw6515 has a total of 128MB of memory, but only 55MB of that is user-accessible. Fortunately, as mentioned earlier, the phone features both SD and Mini SD expansion slots for extra storage. As a Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition device, the iPaq hw6515 gives you the typical pocket versions of Outlook, Word, Excel, and Internet Explorer. We would have, however, liked to see the phone running Microsoft's latest Windows Mobile 5 operating system, which comes with an improved Mobile Office Suite, including PowerPoint Mobile. That said, you get a couple of extra utilities with the hw6515, such as iPaq Backup and Pocket Panel Lite for one-touch access to device status--battery memory, backlight settings, and so forth. Double trouble: The hw6515 comes equipped with SD and Mini SD expansion slots. When dialing into the phone features, the HP iPaq hw6515 is replete with communication options. First off, the gadget is a quad-band world phone that operates on GSM cellular networks around the globe. Designed to keep travelers in touch on the go, the hw6515 also supports text messaging and POP3-, IMAP4-, and SMTP-based e-mail. In addition, it's compatible with Microsoft Exchange Server so that you can access corporate e-mail--that is, if your IT department allows it. The hw6515 is EDGE capable, so if you live in a coverage area, you can benefit from faster network speeds, topping out at about 130Kbps, to transmit and receive data. However, compared with the maximum 2Mbps throughput of EV-DO on CDMA networks, EDGE is downright slow. In addition to EDGE, you'll find integrated Bluetooth wireless networking to connect to hands-free headsets, laptop computers, and other mobile devices. In an effort to keep a fairly compact form factor, HP opted to forgo integrated Wi-Fi, which is unfortunate. On a positive note, the HP iPaq hw6515 boasts a robust 1.3-megapixel digital camera for a phone. HP thoughtfully included its HP Image Zone photo-management software, which allows you to view slide shows of your photo library. We found the images we took to be sharp, but their color was slightly washed out. For other entertainment features, the hw6515 comes with Windows Media Player 10 Mobile for handling multimedia files, including MP3s, WMAs, and WMV video clips. Interestingly, the HP iPaq hw6515 is equipped with an internal GPS receiver, meaning you can quickly convert the smart phone into a navigation device just by installing your Pocket PC GPS software of choice. The hw6515 ships with Microsoft's Pocket Streets, which doesn't provide real-time driving directions, but you can plan routes ahead of time. This application, however, can communicate with the iPaq's built-in GPS receiver and pinpoint your approximate street-level position. In the tests, the quad-band HP iPaq hw6515 (850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) performed reasonably well as a phone. We used it in New York on Cingular's network, and while callers sounded clear on our end, they knew we were chatting on a cell phone. Also, if we didn't place the earpiece exactly within the audio sweet spot, voices had a tendency to become muffled. As a PDA, the HP iPaq hw6515's application performance was smooth overall, though we did notice significant sluggishness when a multitude of programs were running simultaneously. This is most likely due to the phone's modest CPU speed. Battery life was pretty good, however. The hw6515 managed to get 5.8 hours of power with the device playing a looped video clip and the screen set to half brightness. By comparison, the Palm Treo 650 lasted 4.25 hours. Since our battery-drain tests are designed to zap power as quickly as possible, you'll probably get more mileage with real-world use. By the same token, battery life will be significantly affected if you have all three of the hw6515's wireless radios on at the same time.
Our recommendation: Buy
Provided by Stephanie Struble - Ida, Michigan
Keywords: cell phone toll call records, sagem 3020 mobile phone
In our lab: Limited Edition LRG Sidekick 3
Intro:
Note: This product is part of the T-Mobile Sidekick series. .
Limited Edition LRG Sidekick 3
Quick take: Clothing company Lifted Research Group's (LRG) slogan is "underground inventive, overground effective," and it's these words and LRG's baby tree icon that you will find on the Limited Edition LRG Sidekick 3. Aside from green design, all other specs remain the same as those of the Sidekick 3. Limited quantities of this special-edition Sidekick will be available through T-Mobile starting October 30. For more information on the Limited Edition LRG Sidekick 3, please read our review of the T-Mobile Sidekick 3.
Our recommendation: Undecided
Contributed by Maria Hayes - Belton, Missouri
Keywords: new zealand mobile phone deals, guaranteed acceptance for mobile phone
In the lab: Pharos GPS Phone 600e
Intro:
Positives: The Pharos GPS Phone 600e features a slim design and integrated GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. It also has a 2-megapixel camera and an FM radio. Negatives: The 600e is expensive and doesn't come with navigation software. Call quality was also subpar. Facts: The Pharos GPS Phone 600e isn't a horrible smart phone, but the lack of navigation software and subpar call quality detracts from its overall appeal. Plus, you can get more for your money with other GPS-enabled smart phones.
Pharos GPS Phone 600e
We suppose it was only a matter of time before GPS specialists Pharos broke into the smart phone market. The company has produced a number of navigation solutions for cars, laptops, and PDAs already, so the mobile phone must have seemed like the next natural step. And that is how the Pharos GPS Phone 600 and the Pharos GPS Phone 600e came to be. Both smart phones are equipped with GPS radios for location-based services and feature Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC Phone Edition, integrated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and a 2-megapixel camera. The 600 also ships with maps of the United States and Canada and Pharos's Ostia navigation software. The 600e, on the other hand, doesn't come with any maps and is designed for those who already use and favor other nav applications. Both devices are available now as unlocked phones and carry some hefty price tags; the 600 costs $699.95 while the 600e costs $599.95. Disappointingly, we received only the Pharos GPS Phone 600e, so we couldn't test the navigation features, which we consider to be the main draw of this device. We should be getting a review unit of the 600 soon, but in the meantime, we thought we'd see how the 600e performed as a smart phone. We liked its thin design, and Pharos includes some nice utilities to differentiate itself from competitors like the HP iPaq hw6900 series. That said, call quality was subpar, and if you're going to plunk down that kind of cash for a smart phone, we think you'd be better served by the HP iPaq hw6900 series, which comes equipped with a full QWERTY keyboard for a better messaging experience. Design For a Pocket PC phone, the Pharos GPS Phone 600e is pretty darn thin. It's actually a rebranded version of the E-ten X500 Glofish, which was dubbed the world's slimmest Pocket PC phone; with its dimensions of 4.4 inches long by 2.3 inches wide by 0.6 inch high, we believe it (though probably not for long). It's certainly the sleekest Pocket PC Phone we can remember seeing in years. While the thinness helps, the 600e still resembles a PDA, so using it as a phone will take some acclimation due to the wider body. But the device has a solid construction and feels comfortable to hold; in addition, the 600e features a soft-touch finish that makes it easier to grip. Front and center, there's a 2.8-inch QVGA touch screen that displays 65,536 colors at a 240x320 pixel resolution. The screen is smaller than the one found on the Cingular 8525, but images and text had sharp definition and vibrant colors. The screen is readable in various lighting conditions, including direct sunlight, and you can adjust the theme, backlighting, and font size, and switch between Landscape and Portrait mode. Unfortunately, the 600e isn't equipped with a full QWERTY keyboard, unlike the 8525 and the HP iPaq hw6900 series. There is a full onscreen keyboard that you can use for text message, but for heavy e-mailers, you may want to consider getting an accessory Bluetooth keyboard. Surrounding the display are the 600e's various navigation controls. There are two shortcut keys above the screen: one with a laser-etched satellite icon for GPS and one with a Home icon for the Today screen. You can, however, reassign these buttons to open any other app on the device. Beneath the display are the Talk and End buttons, two soft keys, and a four-way navigation toggle with a center "select" button. The latter is the only control that gave us any real trouble. The toggle is a slim outline of a rectangle so it's hard to press it any direction with your thumb and not press the OK button in the middle. Plus, the toggle is a bit stiff. We found the 600e's four-way navigation toggle stiff and difficult to use. The Pharos GPS Phone 600e is equipped with a 2-megapixel camera, which is located on the back of the device with a flash and a self-portrait mirror. On the left spine, there are volume up and down buttons, a customizable shortcut key, and a 2.5mm headset jack, while a power button, a reset hole, and the camera activation key sit on the right side. Finally, you'll find a microSD expansion slot, a mini USB port, and a stylus holder on the bottom of the device. The Pharos GPS Phone 600e comes packaged with an AC adapter, a USB cable, a belt holster, a wired headset, desktop software, and reference material. The Pharos GPS Phone 600e has a microSD expansion slot on the bottom of the unit for carrying large files like photos and music. Features The Pharos GPS Phone 600e runs Window Mobile 5 Pocket PC Phone Edition, rather than the latest Windows Mobile 6, but you can still view and edit Word and Excel documents and open PowerPoint presentations with the full Microsoft Office Mobile suite. The 600e also supports Microsoft's Direct Push technology for wireless synchronization with Microsoft Exchange and your Outlook e-mail, calendar, contacts, and tasks. In addition to the standard PIM tools, Pharos throws in a handy utility called Spb Menu that, in our opinion, does a better job of presenting and organizing the device's apps. Other goodies include a calculator, a voice recorder, a download agent, a program manager, two games (Bubble Breaker and Solitaire), and an FM radio. As far as voice features, the 600e is a quadband GSM world phone with an address book that's only limited by the available memory (the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts). As with most Windows Mobile smart phones, there's room in each entry for multiple numbers, e-mail, IM, and physical addresses, notes, birthdays, and more. For caller ID purposes, you can assign a photo, a group ID, or one of eight ringtones. The 600e also has a speakerphone, a vibrate mode, voice commands, a SIM toolkit, and a utility called EZDial for easier contact search and dialing. Wireless options on the 600e include Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), and the onboard wireless managers help you get connected to Bluetooth devices or the Web. The phone supports a number of Bluetooth profiles, including wireless headsets, Bluetooth stereo headsets, hands-free kits, dial-up networking, file transfer, and vCard exchange. As far as Wi-Fi, the device was able to find and connect to our test access point, and we were able to easily get on the Web within minutes. Sadly, the Pharos GPS Phone isn't 3G-capable, though it does support EDGE speeds. Now, while the 600e is equipped with a GPS radio, its functions are limited without the inclusion of navigation software. Pharos does include a copy of Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005, so you can transfer maps from your PC to the smart phone. However, it will not give you real-time driving directions. We were disappointed by the quality of the 600e's 2-megapixel camera. Colors looked washed out, and you have to have a really steady hand to get a clear picture. As we noted in the Design section, the Pharos GPS Phone 600e has a 2-megapixel camera with a flash and video recording capabilities. You have a choice of five resolutions and a number of setting options for white balance, special effects, and frequencies. You also can enhance your photos with a frame or add a time stamp. In video mode, you get three quality settings and three resolutions, as well as many of the white balance and special effects option, but you lose the photo frames. Overall, we weren't very impressed with the quality of the photos. They lacked definition and colors were washed out. Plus, we found you really have to keep the device steady, more than usual, to get a somewhat clear shot. Performance We tested the quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; GPRS/EDGE) Pharos GPS Phone 600e in San Francisco using Cingular service. Call quality was OK; there was a lot of background noise and a distracting echo on our end, and while our friends said they could hear us fine, they could tell we were using a cell phone. When we activated the speakerphone, the results were reversed. Conversations were much clearer, but our callers said we were barely audible as a crackling noise disrupted things. The one bright note is that we had no problems pairing the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset. The 600e is equipped with a 400MHz processor and has 128MB ROM/64MB SDRAM with about 40MB
of user-accessible storage and 28MB for running programs. General performance was mixed. The smart phone was quick to perform certain tasks like opening office documents, but it slowed considerably when launching the camera or activating certain wireless features. Obviously, we didn't get the benefit of 3G speeds when browsing the Web on the 600e, but it wasn't horrible, as pages loaded fairly quickly. Music playback through the phone's speakers was, as expected, pretty poor, lacking bass and richness. Watching video, however, was surprisingly good. Though you get some pixilation, video quality was better than some other smart phones we've tested and the picture and audio always matched up. The Pharos GPS Phone 600e is rated for 5 hours of talk time and up to six days of standby time. In our battery tests, the 600e just met the rated talk time.
Our recommendation: Buy
Written by Marshall May - Section, Alabama
Keywords: cell phone dealer, virgin mobile phone plans
Symbol MC70 Enterprise Digital Assistant
Intro:
Product Short Spec: OS provided: Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 Phone Edition Installed RAM: 64 MB Processor: Intel 624 MHzXscale Wireless connectivity: Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g Dimensions (W x D x H): 3 in x 1.5 in x 6 in Input device type: Stylus, Keyboard Weight: 11.9 oz Smartphones ShortSpec: Band/mode: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 RAM installed size: 64 MB
Symbol MC70 Enterprise Digital Assistant
Our recommendation: Buy
Provided by William Moore - El Dorado Springs, Missouri
Keywords: unlock sony 530 cell phone, mobile phone company
Nokia 1100
Intro:
Product Short Spec: Band / mode: GSM 850/1900 (Dual Band) Talk time: Up to 180 min Weight: 3.2 oz
Nokia 1100
Our recommendation: Do not buy
Provided by Linda Holmes - Hettinger, North Dakota
Keywords: free cell phone numbers, niv gobible mobile phone
