First 60 minutes with HP iPAQ rx5935 Travel Companion

October 19, 2006 | Pavel Koza | format - Other (ar.) | viewed - 320x
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First 60 minutes with HP iPAQ rx5935 Travel Companion

CLASS="warning">Please note: This is not a proper review. I have not subjected the device to regular tests in an effort to discover its strengths and weaknesses. Instead, I am presenting my - mostly positive - impressions from the first encounter. So, this is not an objective report but rather a subjective description of a completely new device, full of uncritical admiration and enthusiasm about its great features. If you don’t like this type of article, please wait for a full-fledged review.

It seems that classic Pocket PCs are a matter of the past. Likely survivors include Pocket PCs with an integrated phone module (i.e. communicators) or an integrated GPS receiver (i.e. navigators) or both. Today, I would like to introduce you to a representative of the latter category produced by HP that I was able to play with for several hours. I should warn you though, that it was a pre-production unit, which is why my observations and description of features cannot be taken for granted. Some things may change in the final version due in late October or beginning of November.

At first sight, the HP iPAQ rx5935 Travel Companion resembles a GPS navigation gadget rather than a Pocket PC. One of the factors that contribute to this impression is the landscape orientation of the front panel, which is quite unusual in the world of Pocket PCs. Only the second sight will reveal that the iPAQ actually offers much, much more and that the shiny silver body creates a false impression about the device’s true nature. The unusual form factor makes the device appear larger than it actually is. Nevertheless, with dimensions of 120.5 x 76 x 16.5 millimetres and weight of 170 grams, the device will fit into nay pocket. Controls are located on the front panel as well as on the sides of the device. The front panel hosts a four-directional control and two buttons that are supposed to facilitate comfortable stylus-free operation, as we can guess form their default setting for "OK" and "Start Menu", respectively. Five more buttons are to be found on the sides. Four of them on the left side can be assigned two actions (for a long and short press).

A glance at the device’s technical specifications are likely to cause you a shock. It is not the processor, which is a Samsung SC32442 running at 400 MHz, but the device’s 2000 MB of FlashROM memory for your data and applications. No, it is not a typo, the device really boasts two gigabytes of memory. The user can access slightly less than that as the system claims part of the memory for itself, but considered the total amount, it is just a tiny fraction. An interesting fact is that although the OS is Windows Mobile 5, a large portion of the free memory space (1777 MB) is available as iPAQ File Store, which emulates a memory card. On the other hand, the RAM where applications run is a usual 64 MB.

The display is another surprise. The diagonal of 3.5 inch, 16-bit colour depth, resolution of 320x240 pixels and touch layer are all standard parameters. Unusual is its unbelievable brightness with snow-white backlight, an anti-reflexive coating for better readability in bright light, and before all, the option to rotate the display to all four directions. Whereas other Pocket PCs make it possible to use the display in the portrait mode and turn it 90 clockwise or anticlockwise, this iPAQ can turn the screen also upside down. The enhanced graphics controller probably causes dysfunction of my screen capture utility, so I cannot offer any screenshots for the time being. The anti-reflexive coating improves readability outdoors. You need tpo have the backlight on all the time but visual quality of the display is a cut above the rest. Matt foils that are sometimes used for this purpose cannot compare to the iPAQ’s solution.

The device’s key feature is navigation based on an integrated SiRF Star III module, which is fast and accurate. I did not have time to perform extensive tests, though; I just ran the navigation application and it established my position in a short while. Depending on the model (there should be several of them, according to the HP website), the ROM will include either TomTom 6 or MapKing 12 or some special navigation for the Far East, or nothing:) The huge memory will easily contain complete maps while leaving plenty of space for video and audio files, for instance. If you have troubles with signal, you can connect an external antenna to the iPAQ.

Briefly about audio capabilities: the device features a sophisticated graphic equaliser for playback including 3D sound simulation. Audio input has automatic volume adjustment. The speaker plays loud enough, and if you like, you can plug headphones to a standard 3.5 mm jack.

Unlike other navigators, the iPAQ rx5935 offers a wide range of communication capabilities. The basic communication interface is USB (client only, unfortunately...). However, unlike in other iPAQs (with the exception of brand new hw6800;) the device carries a standard miniUSB connector for both synchronisation and charging. An infrared port is lacking but you can choose from another two wireless technologies: Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and WiFi b/g. I should note here that the series will include two main model lines - rx5700 and rx5900, where WiFi will be implemented only in the latter. Bluetooth implementation is from Broadcom, which guarantees maximum comfort and a wide range of features. I tested the WiFi with my new AP from D-Link. Even though the initial installation was ather lengthy, everything eventually worked flawlessly; sensitivity to signal is excellent.

Although the device is designed primarily to be plugged to a 12 V power source in the car, it won’t surely be the only application. When you are out of reach of mains outlets, you will undoubtedly appreciate its large 1700-mAh Li-Ion battery. The device’s integrated SD slot will work with memory cards (I successfully tested a 4-GB Pretec card) as well as I/O cards (tested with an HP SD camera), which provides for good expandability.

The device ships with a host of accessories, from a robust car holder to leather case, but more on that in a proper review. Summing up my limited experience with the latest member of the iPAQ family, HP designers once again proved their competence. The HP iPAQ rx5935 is an excellent navigator in the first place but its other parameters make it a capable PDA. 2 GB of integrated memory will astonish any ordinary user. If you do not need a complete map of the world for your everyday travels, you will be left with enough free memory to go it without an additional memory card. The overall performance is perfectly balanced, and details such as configuration applets, quality of assembly etc., are at a high level, as is the standard in iPAQs. Even though this is not a device of my dreams – I do not drive very much and use navigation mostly as an enjoyable distraction on the road - I am looking forward to a big review already.