TamsPPC - the PocketPC Blog

HP’s 214 has been awaited longingly by many - its specs made it an excellent VGA handheld(signaling HP’s return to the very market it abandoned after the failure of its hx4700). But can it stack up? Before we get to physical properties, size, screen quality and the likes, let’s first take a look at the accessory bundle…

The ipaq’s box is styled in the same, “common” branding that we first saw on the rx4240 - the box emphases the 4″ touchscreen:

Opening the box reveals an overview chart showing what part of the device does what(useful for novices):

Flipping away the specs unveils a layer of CD’s(HP stopped to include the original CD’s into samples because my lovely colleagues at other agencies kept stealing them for the Outlook license) - I would personally have preferred to see the device immediately, with the CD’s one level below:

Removing manuals,… finally let’s you access the device - the battery is below. As for accessories, HP included a strange non-USB wallwart, a leather sleeve and a data cable:

I myself am perplexed as to why HP omitted its useful(for charging a bunch of other devices when traveling) USB wall wart from the packet and replaced it with a proprietary one - the 214 can be charged via its MiniUSB port. That aside, the accessory bundle is like on all other ipaq’s we saw recently…stay tuned for a size comparison soon!

So far, the hp ipaq 614 business navigator has presented itself as a well-done and innovative device with a lot of similarities to the rx4240. Unfortunately, HP did not include a VGA screen…can the QVGA display stack up?

Our first test partner was Palm’s Treo 680 - the 614 managed to come out a bit ahead:

Comparisons between it and a rx4240 ended in a tie - as the screens seem similarly big, it looks like HP used the same LCM module in both devices. This explains the excellent contrast…but also leads to potential issues in very bright sunlight:

In the end, it looks like HP recycled the rx4240’s excellent screen here. Insanely high color saturation and bright enough for most outdoor use(I never had any problems using my rx4240 outdoors in Austria) - this definitely is a great display. However, navigators tend to be used outdoors a lot - a device with a reflective display may be better suited for people living in countries with loads of sun..

The folks over at BrightHand’s report that HP does not plan to offer any Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrades for its existing devices. Mike Hockey from HP is quoted as following:

HP will not be offering an operating system upgrade for currently shipping HP iPAQ devices beyond what ships on the device today — Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.

This decision comes after having evaluated the potential for delays in firmware and software updates, device recertification, and carry-over costs to our customers that are often associated with an operating system upgrade.

HP is committed to continuing its long-standing relationship with Microsoft and will deliver HP iPAQs with Windows Mobile 6.1 at a future date.

For me, this is a very bad sign. Originally, HP devices stood for future security - the original iPaq’s always got at least one software update(usually in time, although the hx4700 was a bit, um, late). However, all of this changed when Windows Mobile 6.0 was announced; HP was no longer willing to offer any upgrades for its existing devices.

This definitely is a slap in the face of all device owners; people expecting an upgrade due to HP’s excellent part track record are now standing in the rain.

But HP now has an even bigger problem: the 110 and 210 series. These generally well-done devices are now hampered by their outdated OS - which will make selling them more difficult.

Does this mark the beginning of the end of HP? Will they become a new Acer soon? Or will they understand their mistake and row back?

Please let us know what you think!

Now that you have an impression of the size of the hp ipaq 614 business navigator, it’s time to look at what HP has integrated into the device from a physical standpoint. After the excellent rx4240 and 110 classic, HP must beat itself - can the boys do it?

When looking at the 614, one immediately notes the slightly weird keyboard - no application buttons, no 5way. Instead, HP now graces users with a combined “nav 5way keyboard”. For example, instead of having dedicated 5way keys, you briefly touch the circle in order to toggle a 5way press(center is missing). The two small buttons under the screen can be used as application launch keys or as direct access toggles for the two WM6 softkeys. As for the other keys…the icons are mostly self-explanatory…

Sounds weird - but after a bit of playing around, you’ll eventually become accustomed to the new from of input(and start to like it). Controlling applications works very well indeed - however, gamers will still prefer a dedicated 5way navigator.

The left side of the unit contains a jog dial and two further soft buttons - one doubles the ok key found in the front, whereas the other one is for the voice recorder. The jog dial itself is very well done and handles well - no issues here:

The top of the device features a “silence” button - while this is not quote as comfortable as a Treo’s slider(no visual indication of status - come on, give us a LED), it’s nevertheless great to see HP integrate this into their devices.

On the right side, there is only the camera key. Two pressure points(focus and shoot) - while the first point is very easy to reach, fully pressing the key takes a bit too much pressure for my taste:

The stylus of the box is telescopic and thick enough for my taste(Centro, rx4240, 614 and Treo stylus; from left to right):

Last but not least, the bottom of the 614 contains HP’s classic MiniUSB port, a reset button and the stylus silo(!!!). Unfortunately, HP seems to have omitted all kinds of headphone port from this device(probably because of breakage issues - just ask Palm or Gamepark Holdings) - it seems to be bluetooth only here nowadays:

In the end, HP really seems to be at war with the concept of a 5way. First, the 4700 got that dreaded touchpad. Then, the rx4240 got a scroll wheel(which was insanely cool - but sucked for gamers); now the 614 gets a “touchscreenish” navigator instead of hardware buttons. Nevertheless, the 614 is an excellent machine from a physical perspective - everything is in the right place. If you can live without the 3.5″ headphone jack, all is fine for you - it’s a HP box…

Tune in soon to find out more about the 614’s screen!

Now that the hp ipaq 614 has been unboxed, it’s time to see how big HP’s latest baby is compared to some other units laying around closeby.

The first contender is Palm’s ever-famous Treo 680/750. Our ipaq is a bit thinner(due to the slimmer screen) and a bit higher:

A vintage Palm TX is much bigger, but slimmer:

Our rx4240 is a bit smaller, but wider(more on that box later in this review):

Both the QTEK 8500 and Nokia’s N71 are smaller from the front - however, the N71 is significantly thicker:

Last but not least, here is the device next to an iPod touch(as wide as an iPhone, but approximately 100% slimmer):

In the end, the HP ipaq 614 business navigator is a pleasant device. It definitely isn’t among the smallest machines on the market - but small doesn’t necessarily mean good(especially when smartphones are concerned). HP has struck a very good balance here, the device can be held comfortably for longer timespans. Now if it only had VGA and a proper keyboard…

Tune in soon for a look at what HP chose to do with the space!

Before we even start this review, let’s all thank Stefan Weder big-time for managing to get this device into my claws. Don’t ask me how he did it, but he made it. Perfect work - folks from other companies(Asus, I am looking at you) really can learn a lot from him!

HP’s 614. Delayed multiple times, withdrawn from the USA under dubious circumstances…the 614 has had a pretty active “history” before even shipping. Anyways, now it’s here - can it fill up the void ripped open by hp’s foolish discontinuation of the GPS-enabled rx5xxx devices?

The company has standardized its box design quite some time ago - this box doesn’t really look all that different. However, the designer chose to emphasize the “clickwheel” concept that replaces the traditional 5way on this machine:

As always, opening the box immediately reveals a device overview and basic instructions on getting started:

Once the lids are flipped away, one can immediately reach all accessories found in the box - HP included its standard MiniUSB charge/sync set and a headset:

A short “manual” and some software is hidden below the accessory tray:

As always, HP didn’t make the screen cover transparent to allow usage as a screen protector. Instead, the company used it as a “billboard” for a few extra warnings to novice users:

The camera lens also gets some protection by the way:

So far, so good - the 614 has not disappointed me so far! Will the good impression last? Tune in soon for Part 2 of our review!

P.S. The unit won’t be around much longer. If you wish me to test anything specific, please let me know NOW.

P.S.2 Want to see our HP ipaq 614 unboxing video? Find it over at Google Video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7970787505444739814

I recently ordered some new styli for my Dell Axim x51v, which arrived today. According to the product description, the first one is a 3-in-1 stylus: in addition to the normal stylus functions (tapping on a touch screen - haha) there is a ballpen and a reset pin build in right into the same stylus at the same size.

Ball-point pen
This is quite practical, imagine you have to take a note of something but you can’t use your pocket pc for that (and there are several reasons). The ballpen is located right under the upper black part of the stylus.

Reset pin
Who doesn’t know this situation: you worked or played around with you Pocket PC and suddenly, it won’t respond to any key press. At least then, you remember: Yeah, it’s Windows But anyway, you need to restart the pocket pc in order to continue working, and that’s where the reset pin is for. At several devices, the reset hole at the back of the device is to small to press your stylus into it. Fortunaly, you got a Proporta 3-in-1 stylus, so just screw out the lower part of it and a small pin appears which should fit fine in every reset hole.

With the proporta Stylus, I got a new feeling if I work with my Pocket PC, it lies very smooth in the hand and the cap seems to be softer than the one of the original stylus. If you consider buying a new one, have a look in Proporta’s shop…

Tune in soon for part 2!

The last parts of our review of the hp ipaq 110 shed a business-box look onto the device. This is probably what HP has intended the 110 to be - but that doesn’t hinder your TamsPPC team from running Virtual Spaghetti’s VsBenchmark on the box!

Here are the results:

ipaq 110	ipaq rx4240

In the end, the machine is unsurprisingly fast, ranking on level with the X51v most of the time(it also has a 624MhZ CPU). This is impressive(especially if you keep in mind that this is NOT intended to be a gaming machine) - I think that all currently available games will work well on the 110…

Gaming performance is not everything though - tune in soon for a detailed look at the 110’s real-world performance!

Stylus loss is a common problem for many in the mobile industry - while I have been mostly unaffected so far(lost none but the original stylus of my rx4240), other members of the TamsPPC team can sing a song about that dreaded phenomenon. Using rather expensive 3-in-1 styli as replacement is a very bad idea under such circumstances - can Brando’s 3$ a pop styli stack up?

Brando’s 3-pack ships in their classic envelopes - no need to mention anything here. The styli themselves are packed up in a simple blister:

The styluses are milled out of black plastic in a single piece - this is great, as there are no end caps that can stay stuck in the silo or fall off after some use:

The styluses fit into the rx4240 well, the tip can be used to reset the handheld:

In the end, the Digital Express Styli feel a bit worse than quality 3-in-1’s, but are significantly cheaper and still usable. People looking for a cheap stylus will be very happy with the Digital Express ones - Brando’s price of 9$ for 3 is unbeatable. Additionally, the monolithic nature of the stylus(no pen that can leak, caps that go off,…) can go a far way for people who have ever experienced 3-in.-1 stylus fall-apart horror…

Books on the .NET Compact Framework are very hard to find. Addison Wesley’s classic “Building solutions with the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework” has been on the market for ages and was considered a standard work by many when it came out 2004. Is it still worth reading in the age of .NET CF 2.x?

The book starts out with a broad look at the enterprise device landscape, the development options and at the various flavors of Windows CE. It also gives an overview of what the .NET CF can do well and what it can’t - people who have not programmed for the .NET CF before will definitely benefit a lot from this.

The second part looks at an enterprise application’s “architecture” - that is, at data storage and synchronization. Multiple chapters are dedicated to each of the fields, each one of them presents every possible concept in considerable detail(with a nice bit of sample code). I especially enjoyed the chapters on data synchronization related to the SQL Server CE - knowing this has saved me literally hundreds of man hours on a project that I currently pursue.

Part 3 is a “smorgasboard” of various interesting items. Fox&Box introduce you to things like localization, application deployment and security - topics that are very important in everyday life, but are very hard to get a grip on without proper documentation.

The book is very well written and easily understandable for anyone with a bit of Visual Basic experience. Graphics and tables like the one below help you when it comes to understanding complex problems:

In the end, the ever-famous Fox&Box book IMHO is a tome that belongs into each and every .NET CF coder’s claws. While it does not contain hundreds of step-by-step recipes(or a thorough introduction into Windows Mobile); it gives you a quick overview of the development landscape. This will come in handy when looking for actual sample code - and helps you avoid unnecessary duplication of code already contained in the framework. The price of 40$ at Amazon’s is a bit steep(seeing that small parts of the book are outdated), but still justified…

When one looks at the box or the physical characteristics of the 110, one immediately feels that this machine screams business. Thus, its screen has to be a reflective one; trading extreme color saturation and brightness against outdoor readability. The first reflective screens had horrible saturation and displayed washed-out colors…can the 110’s screen stack up?

TFT screens like the one found on the rx4240 kill transflective ones indoors - photos are much more vivid:

Outdoors(simulated with flash here), the world looks different. The TFT screen needs to be set to highest brightness in order to display a barely-readable image; while the reflective screen can turn its backlight off and deliver almost paperlike images:

Palm’s Treo 680 has been praised to have the best all-round screen - it manages to beat the 110, although the margin is quite a bit smaller:

Outdoors, the two are more-less on par:

In the end, the 110’s screen does not deliver extremely vivid colors - many other handheld’s exceed its screen in terms of color saturation. However, the screen also is extremely big for a handheld - and has pretty good reflective properties. Overall usability is great - the 110 is not a Palm m505… Cutting a long story short: this screen means business…

When a person who knows HP’s ipaq lineup for a long time looks at the 110; he immediately feels reminded of the original 3600/3700 series. These machines offered insane performance - but the flip side of the coin was a very bulky case. Is the 110 as bricky?

Compared to its predecessors, the 110 beats our trusty old 3700 in all aspects. It is smaller, thinner and lighter - but the screen still stays obscenely big. HP’s design masterpiece, the rx4240, is much smaller - but lacks the 5way navigator and the huge amount of screen real estate:

Palms business classic aka Palm TX is a bit bigger, but significantly thinner. The Treo 680 is less wide, but thicker:

The front of the 110 contains the four hardware buttons, 5way navigator, brightness sensor(top right) and dual LED’s for wireless and power supply state(top left):

HP moved the power button to the right side of the unit, and dropped the ‘long press-turns off backkight function’. The button has pretty good tactile feedback nevertheless. Reset and voice recorder buttons are right below:

Memory card slots are usually at the top of a device - HP decided to move the slot to the left side. The device ships with a dummy in the slot - this is no longer a mayor problem, as most users will stick in a fullsize SD card quickly(1gb costs like 7€ nowadays…):

The top of the device contains the headphone port; the bottom contains the miniUSB port and the microphone:

Pushing the button at the back of the unit allows you to slide the battery cover off the back - you can then swap out the battery(which is, incidentially, the same 1200mAH model found on the rx4240):

Last but not least, here”s a picture of the 110’s stylus next to a few other units:

Overall, HP has done a good job at modernizing the form factor of the 110. It keeps all the good features found on the 3xxx series(big screen,…) and is quite a bit smaller. Of course, consumer-oriented handhelds like the rx4240 are smaller and lighter - but the smallness is a significantly smaller screen…

Here are some pictures of the device I took awhile ago back in March. I will be taking more soon.

Let me start off this review by saying that it is an updated review of my old one. I did a review of this handheld back in March when I got the unit. This one will be a longer one with more detail. I will start this review a little different this time. I will start with the specifications of the device.

Wireless: Wi-Fi (802.11b), Bluetooth, serial IR

Operating system: Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC

Processor: Intel PXA270 processor 520 MHz

Memory: 192 MB total memory (128 MB ROM and 64 MB SDRAM)

Display: 3.5-inch transflective TFT QVGA color, 64K colors, LED backlight with power save mode.

Battery: User removable 3.7v 1440mAH battery

Expansion: Compact Flash (Type II) and Secure Digital card slots.

Audio: Internal microphone, speaker, and 3.5-millimeter stereo headphone jack

Dimensions: 4.71 x 3.01 x 0.65 inches / 119.4 x 76.6 x 16.3 millimeters (WxHxD)

Weight: 5.8 ounces / 164.4 grams

Warranty: 1-year parts and labor

In the Box: HP iPAQ hx2495 Pocket PC, USB desktop synchronization cradle, removable/rechargeable lithium-lon battery, AC adapter, charger adapter, stylus, protective plastic flip cover, product information guide, getting started disc

(Parts taken from Amazon)

HP’s entire product line recently underwent a redesign in order to be more ‘consumer-friendly’ . This meant warm colours and easy-to-get-started-packaging for consumer handhelds like our rx4240. The 110; on the other hand; is targeted at business customers…let’s see if the usability improvements made it over.

When unpacking the 110, the box folds open and reveals a load of helpful information for first-time users:

After having unfolded the box, you find a package consisting of a small manual, various warranty-related papers and a slimmed-down software CD that no longer contains a full version of Outlook:

Removing this shrink-wrapped package grants you access to the ipaq and its charger/sync cable combination. HP repeated the classic faux-pas by using a nontransparent foil to cover the screen - other companies like Palm ship their devices with screen covers that can double as screen protectors:

As always, the battery is shipped outside of the machine. Removing the cardboard tray reveals the leather sleeve:

As for charging, this machine ships with the well-done charge/sync system already found on the rx4240 - no need to elaborate here:

In the end, the 110’s package contains everything you need to get started with your ipaq - but hp still didn’t improve on the small but annoying issues found in their last revision. While the lack of a headset is forgiveable for a business handheld, I can not understand why HP still doesn’t make the screen protector usable…

Tune in soon for a look at the 110’s size!

Microsoft’s ‘in-house’ languages(Visual Basic, C#,…) have undergone significant changes with each release of the Visual Studio IDE. The VB found in Visual Studio 2005 was completely different to the one I knew from my VB6 days…can O’Reilly’s Developer’s Notebook get me updated?

Matthew MacDonald starts off by looking at the IDE itself - what changed, and more importantly, what’s in it for me. Many of the hints given herein can be significant time-savers(e.g. the automatic documentation generation). After that, the book goes on to look at various new aspects of the Visual Basic language. VB6 coders like me will find great value in these chapters; as they omit what you already know.

Two chapters on Windows and Web applications follow. These are written in a ‘cook book’ style - if you need what’s described, read it and party. If not, reading the code anyways shows you interesting facets of VB2005(for example, did you know about the IsNot operator?).

A chapter on all kinds of data-related tasks is included - its style follows the chapters before it. Last but not least, a chapter on the .NET framework looks at interesting ‘miscellanea’ like code performance timing and deployment - while I still miss a recipe on the insanely tedious process of creating an installer for a .NET CF application; it made a great read nevertheless.

O’Reilly books traditionally are well-written and easy to read; I am happy to say that this one makes no difference. The paper used is of good quality, too…the unusual page design helps a lot when making notes:

In the end, Matthew MacDonald’s book makes a great ‘hint book’ showing a lot of cool ‘gems’ that a developer could otherwise miss easily. While it cannot replace a structured introduction to VB; the hints contained can be worth their price in gold. If you have 22$ spare, add the book to your next Amazon order!