HP iPAQ Pocket PC h6340 review

Bonnie Cha CNET

Published: 07 Sep 2004

The handheld market has been getting squeezed lately, so it's no surprise that HP has finally decided to jump on the smartphone bandwagon with the iPAQ h6340. Available for £511.10 (inc. VAT, or £435 ex. VAT) SIM-free from HP, or from about £186 (inc. VAT) with an O2 or Vodafone contract from Expansys, the h6340 offers four-way wireless capabilities --GSM/GPRS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and infrared. In addition, it sports an add-on keyboard. Purely from a design standpoint, the h6340 can't match the popular Treo 600; the iPAQ is larger and heavier, and it looks much more like an overgrown handheld than a phone. Still, if you're after a Pocket PC with everything but the kitchen sink, the iPAQ h6340 is the device for you.

Design

The challenge with any convergence device is cramming all those multifaceted features into a design that's compact, functional and aesthetically pleasing. The iPAQ h6340 is only partially successful. The h6340 looks more like a handheld than a phone -- Microsoft refers to these as 'Pocket PC Phone Edition' to distinguish them from true smartphones such as the Motorola MPx200. Measuring 7.5cm wide by 11.9cm deep by 1.87cm thick and weighing 190g, many users will find it too bulky to use as their primary mobile phone. And even without the snap-on keyboard, it's larger and heavier than the Treo 600.

The keyboard attaches to the bottom of the device and adds to its overall size. Although handy for punching out quick emails and text messages, we wish HP had seamlessly integrated the keyboard as on the Treo 600. Another gripe: the keys are spaced so close together that we had a difficult time getting into a rhythm when thumb-typing. To be fair, it's faster than a virtual keyboard or other input method, but we'd recommend that you give it a test-drive before you buy, especially if you have large fingers.

The detachable keyboard has its advantages, however. Foremost among them, it frees up valuable space for the 3.5in. TFT 65,536-colour screen, making it easier to read than a typical phone display. Beneath it, you'll find four shortcut keys -- Contacts, Talk, End, and Inbox -- and a navigational keypad.

The h6430's rubberised sides make it easy to grip the handheld with one-touch access to various functions. On the left are a 3.5mm headphone jack (which accepts Walkman-style headphones), a voice-record button, and a Reset button, while the right side has up- and down-volume controls, and the SDIO/MMC slot. The top of the device houses the antenna, the IR port and the stylus holder. And rounding out the chassis are the battery lock and release buttons on the back of the device. HP also throws in a desktop cradle, an AC adapter and an earbud headset.

Features

From a handheld standpoint, the iPAQ h6340 has a respectable set of features. Powered by a 168MHz Texas Instruments OMAP 1510 processor, the device has 64MB of ROM and RAM (55MB of which are user accessible). The OS is Windows Mobile 2003 Phone Edition, and the usual suspects -- Pocket Outlook, Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, and Windows Media Player -- are on-board. You also get a few extras, including Microsoft Reader and a handful of HP utilities, such as iPAQ Backup and HP Profiles for defining profiles for wireless connectivity.

One of the chief selling points of the h6340 is that it offers wireless your way. Want to use Bluetooth (or infrared, for that matter) to synchronise data? No problem. Need to check your stocks using Wi-Fi in a hot-spot? No problem either. And, of course, it's also a true world phone (quad-band GSM/GPRS) for voice and data. No other handheld or phone we know of currently offers all that.

To use the h6340 as a phone, the simplest way to call up the touch-screen dial pad is to press the Talk button on the front of the device. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard to dial, but there's no numeric keyboard, so you have to press the Shift key for every number. From there, you can view your call history, speed dial numbers, and access your contact list. Once a call is active, you can also turn on the speakerphone. Other phone features include vibrate mode, SMS text messaging (up to 160 characters) and MMS multimedia messaging. If you work in a Microsoft Exchange 2003 environment, you can receive email attachments and remotely synchronise with your calendar and contacts. Instant-messaging fans will also be pleased to see that the h6340 allows them to log in to AOL, Yahoo, and ICQ programs.

Performance

Call quality with the iPAQ h6340 was generally good, and callers said they could hear us clearly, even through the speakerphone and headset. Also, volume was quite loud, so you should be able to hold a conversation outdoors with no problem.

As a handheld, the h6340's performance wasn't all that impressive. Equipped with Texas Instruments' 168MHz OMAP 1510 processor, the device was a bit sluggish with multiple applications open. Even the Start menu responded slowly to our stylus taps. However, it did score well in our battery tests. Playing a looped a video clip with all wireless off and backlight set at mid-level, the h6340 lasted 8.35 hours. Rated talk time is 4.5 hours, while standby time is 210 hours.

As noted earlier, the h6340 features four-way wireless capabilities -- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GSM/GPRS, and infrared (IrDA) -- and each one worked well. Web pages loaded with ease, and we were able to pair the device with a Bluetooth-enabled handheld and transfer contacts. We also liked the fact that you can have all technologies on at the same time.

The h6340's screen displays 65,536 colours, but we often thought images looked a bit washed out. We adjusted the screen setting and backlight, which helped, and it was easily readable outdoors.

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