Customer Reviews

HP iPAQ 910 Business Messenger Unlocked Phone with U.S. 3G, 3 MP Camera, Media Player, and MicroSD Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For those who want the productivity features of a Blackberry with the power of Windows Mobile, here's the device. Here's the good, and the bad in a nutshell.

The Good:

1. Size, weight. This device is the same width as a Blackberry curve, and just slightly longer. Fits nicely in a pocket. Also, it's not too heavy.

2. Excellent Keyboard - Windows Mobile works excellently with an exposed keyboard. Dial numbers quickly, write emails, even filter your music library quickly by typing letters.

3. Plethora of features - Wifi, BT, GPS, a lot of customizable buttons, volume control buttons, and scroll wheel. Gps works well (tried it with TomTom 6) and WIFI and BT both performed well.

4. Speed - The device is snappy. Coming from the AT&T Tilt, it was a welcome experience to have a quick device again.

5. Battery - At 1900 mAH who can ask for more?!

The Bad:

1. Phone call volume is low compared to most other devices I've used

2. Too few backlight/brightness options. The middle setting is too bright, the lower is too low.

In summary, if you need to write and respond to emails 40% of the time or more, then this is the device to get. You sacrifice screen size for more portability and productivity. (Note that you don't sacrifice resolution -the screen is smaller, but the resolution is still 320x240)

*** EDIT ***

After using the device for several days, there seems to be an issue with power drain/battery life. The PDA seems to drop roughly 5% of battery every hour with no use, and only AS Push active. With moderate use, the device seems to lose roughly 10-13% per hour use. Using the device the same way as I use my Tilt, wheras with the til I got roughly 12-14 hours of use, with the HP I get roughly 6-8.

Also, I'm experiencing another strange occurence. Using my 6GB microSDHC card, the device seems to lose its connection to the card when I turn it on, every so often. I'm looking into both of these issues.

Picked up a 910 to replace my old T-mobile Dash which didn't have enough memory to handle my needs.

Overall a very serious, high end business phone.

The good:

* GPS with Live Search & Google Maps is handy,
* Pretty fast with lots of memory (256MB ROM/128MB RAM)
* Ability to handle my 8GB MicroSD card for music/videos, will pick up a * 16GB when they come out
* WiFi, Quad-band GSM, Tri-band 3G, Bluetooth 2.0
* Navigate with keyboard, scroll wheel and/or touchscreen
* Windows Mobile Pro 6.1

The not so good:
* Once I put my T-mobile sim in it appeared to auto-configure, but I couldn't get edge to work until I changed the Edge configuration to [...] from [...]
* Cyberon Voice Commander seems pretty accurate, but not as full featured as Msft Voice Command (no bluetooth support being the biggest...you have to press the voice command button
* Mini-USB charging and included USB headset are good, but no option for connection to my stereo. On my HTC devices I could get a extended USB adapter, but I don't see any options/adapters for the iPaq 910. More and more stereos have bluetooth stereo in, I have a couple, but not all of them.
* T-Mobile's upcoming US 3G is 1700Mhz which isn't supported, but Tri-band UMTS/HSDPA up to 7.2 Mbps via (850/1900/2100 MHz)
* Battery life: while it has a 1940mah battery, it only lasted about 10 hrs for me today. Had DirectPush email and Bluetooth on.

I was waiting for this device since its announcement.
I am a big fan of Blackberry 8810 and 8820.
I was waiting for a Windows Mobile device with GPS and QWERTY keyboard like my Blackberry 8820.
Since I am a Medical Professional I like Windows Mobile because of the medical software availability.
Good built quality. Looks and feels just like my Blackberry 8820
I love the QWERTY keyboard, GPS works great with TomTom 6 and iGuidance 4.0, 1940 mAh lithium-polymer battery gives great battery life.
Works great with AT&T 3G, WiFi is great (WPA2 support). Bluetooth work perfectly with my printer, car and computer.
Works great with SANDISK 8 GB microSDHC.

I owned this phone for about a week. I was pretty excited by how many features it had in such a small package: touch screen (small, but still useful), wifi, 3g, GPS, Windows Mobile 6.1, built-in keyboard, the list goes on...

First off, I actually like Windows Mobile for its similarity to Windows on the desktop. I tried a Nokia e71 with Symbian, and I found the user interface somewhat inconsistent between applications. Windows Mobile apps usually follow a pretty standard way of doing menus and icons. This Ipaq performed very well, though I have had other Windows Mobile devices which are sluggish.

Next, the keyboard. I found this Ipaq's keyboard suffers from one primary problem: the four-way navigation pad is too close to the top row of keys. Time and time again I accidentally hit the "down" button when trying to hit the T or a Y. Apart from that the keyboard was cramped but pretty useful.

GPS: I used Google maps which is a free download if your device doesn't come with it. What an awesome program to have for free. The program itself worked great, but it often took the Ipaq over one minute to acquire the GPS signal. Sometimes it used cell phone towers to get my approximate location, so while it was tracking down the GPS signal the "where am I" dot on the map would jump all over the place. Other times, it would not do this and would just wait and wait until it found the GPS signal to show me where I was. There is some kind of application on the Ipaq (which I forget the name of) that lets you download additional GPS information from the internet so it is faster to acquire the GPS signal. I ran this program numerous times but it did not seem to make a difference in how fast it locked onto the GPS. Once it was locked on, it updated very quickly and very accurately. Given that, GPS would be perfectly useful on this device if you already had it turned on before you started your trip. Or, perhaps another pay-for-use mapping program would not have the same problem Google Maps did.

Battery life: Other reviews have complained the battery life on this device is pretty short and that the battery gets hot while using the device (even when not charging). I did find the battery pack got warm while on a call or using the PDA functions. Battery felt on par with other smartphones I have owned (T-mobile MDA, Cingular 8525). In other words: not very impressive, but good enough to get through one day.

Last: In spite of these minor weaknesses, I really liked this phone. Sadly, call quality was just not up to par. I found I had to have the volume on maximum all the time, and the sound output seemed too grainy/staticky compared to other cell phones. I decided that for the price of this phone, the sound quality should be nothing less than excellent, so I wound up returning it and going back to my incredibly-bulky-but-sounds-good Cingular 8525 (HTC TyTN).

This little guy is exactly what I hoped it would be. WiFi works perfect, bluetooth perfect, Office Mobile with Outlook Mobile helps me carry my work around with no problem.
The phone signal on this little guy is perfect!! I've had a couple of other cell phones but this one beats them all.
Audio is a little on the soft side but I haven't had any problem with it so far.
The only bad thing I've found is that when you have been using the screen for a while and then you have to take or make a call, it feels too hot on the ear and face.
But, so far, I am extremely pleased with it.

I have been looking forward to this phone ever since it was announced by HP last September. Along with the 610 model, I was really excited for an iPAQ for the first time in several years. After the 610 was cancelled for its U.S. release I started to get really worried that the 910 would follow its same fate. After numerous delays it seemed as though the 910 would end up along side the 610. Fortunately, that didn't happen.

I got my 910 on Friday, July 11, only 2 days after ordering it. Opening the box was almost like a child opening Christmas presents on Christmas Day. The excitement was magnified after I actually got a chance to play with this beautifuly designed device. First off, the screen, although a little small (2.46 inches) is beautiful as far as clarity and sharpness go. Also, the form factor is just about as perfect as you can get. It doesn't feel too small or too bulky; it's just right. The back of the device has a surface that makes it difficult to lose your grip on it, almost as if it was covered in a slight fur. I can't describe it any better than that and simply don't know what the actual name of the surface is, but whatever it is, it works well as far as helping users keep a good handle on it.

I'm using it on AT&T Wireless' Edge network and I've gotta say, this thing screams on it. I've had extremely fast downloads and web browsing sessions using the 910. The processor seems to handle multiple running apps well, as there is very little slow down or sluggish-ness when multi-tasking. I had Internet Explorer, Word, Excel and text messaging running at once and the hand held's performance was still outstanding.

The one thing, at this point, that I've got a bit of a problem with is the camera. No, the camera doesn't have poor output of photos; it's quite the opposite, as the picture quality is very good. The issue is the shutter on the camera is VERY slow to respond. You have to keep your arms steady for, what seems like, an eternity (probably closer to 3 or 4 seconds) to make sure that any of your movements don't interfere with the photo's clarity. The camera is 3MP so for a phone, that's really strong. The 910c takes nice pictures, so long as you've got a steady hand that can deal with the shutter's delay. Hopefully a driver will be released eventually that could rectify the issue (not sure if it's possible but here's to hoping). If not, it's not necessarily a deal breaker but it is definitely something to consider.

I haven't worked much with video using the camera but the limited time (maybe 15 minutes) I've had with that feature seems to indicate that there is a bit to be desired as far as photo qualtiy goes, mainly because of some noticeable pixelation. The video is passable but I'd not say that the quality of the video is great; merely passable.

The last point on the camera I'd like to make deals with a feature that allows you to snap your pictures/videos and upload them from your phone to Snapfish, HP's photo service. I thought that was a really cool feature and because I have a Snapfish account (I sing the praises of Snapfish as much as I can because it is an outstanding service) this was a very good selling point for me. I've used it to upload 20+ pictures in the day I've had it thus far and plan to use it extensively throughout the lifetime of my iPAQ 910c.

Well, that's all I have to say about the 910c up to this point. I'm going to continue to play around with this outstanding phone and hopefully learn more cool things to do with it. I'd definitely reccomend this phone to anyone needing a powerful messaging device with a strong processor to help with heavy multi-tasking.

The phone works well and I have no problems with battery life, as I live in Ethiopia and don't use bluetooth, etc. What I want is easy interface with my Outlook (calendar and contacts) and the phone does this even better than my previous ipaq (h6300 series). I hope HP will have sorted out the durability problems of battery etc on the previous h6300 - I got through about 4 batteries in 3 years and eventually both the main charging and the USB charging stopped working.
The negative side is the very quiet ringtone, so I usually miss all calls unless the phone is on my desk - does HP or anyone have suggestions on how to improve this as its a major problem?
Also who can recommend a good case? I wrote to Krusell, who usually supply excellently strong for the last ipaq, but no reply after 7 days.
Looking forward to getting to southern Africa so can try the Internet, email, using it as modem for laptop, etc.

I've had several different Windows based devices over the last 4 years and this one is the best I've used. Yes, the phone dies if you are running bluetooth, WiFi, GPS etc... but what phone with all these features turned on doesn't fade quickly. (come to think of it my 12 cell laptop battery dies with all these things turned on as well)

Keep it charged up and you should get 3 -4 hours of wireless 3G internet surfing, wifi and bluetooth. Turn off all those features and you can use it as a Edge phone for several days without a charge.


Setup with ActiveSync to the corporate Exchange server was painless and the setup for my gmail and hotmail accounts took about 2 minutes each. I love the google maps application with GPS - very cool thing to show the tech weenies at work.

Bottom line - this is a fast, stable business device.

This ipaq delivers for what it was made: a small laptop with phone. The major asset for me is that I can synchronise e-mails with the server, wherewever there is a wifi. I also like that it is not too big, I can fit it in my pocket. If you have largeer fingers, typing will be more difficult than with a normal phone (more keys=more mistakes) eg. I cannot write an sms while walking or at least not yet. The camera is completly useless ( you take the picture, the ipaq staarts to think for a couple of sec and only then it take the picture). So a good office tool, less good for fun.

Phone: Worked well with T-Mobile SIM, very good voice quality
PDA: Installed medical software without trouble
Web: Works well with Wifi, I haven't bought a full data plan yet, I might
Email: Primarily use gmail and have configured device to update periodically, don't need to use web browser
Bluetooth: Works well with laptop
Other software: Office, camera, etc, yet to try
Form factor: Nice sophisticated feel, feels a bit delicate though