Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Has some kinks but has just about everything you could possibly need, July 23, 2006
BASIC COMPARISONS (compared to the Blackberry and Treo):
These are only the basic DIFFERENCES between the latest Treo/Blackberry and the Ipaq hw6515
PROs
-Ipaq has built-in GPS receiver (not software!) the others do not
-Ipaq has two expansion slots (1 mini-SD and 1 SD slot), the others have one
-Ipaq has a 1.3 megapixel camera w/flash
-Ipaq has a terminal services client (allows me to remotely login to my cpu and control it)
CONs
-Ipaq does NOT have built-in WiFi (wireless internet card), the others do
-Ipaq comes with 64 MB of memory (ROM and RAM)
-Ipaq does not come with GPS software
-Ipaq battery life needs major improvements
-Ipaq doesn't support voice dial
NEUTRAL
-Ipaq uses Windows Mobile
One of the main reasons I chose this phone was that all of the CONs were addressable. I could get around the WiFi problem with a WiFi card for my SD slot and I could upgrade my memory by 1 GB with the mini-SD slot. If I didn't want a WiFi card, I could have gotten a 4 GB SD card and used the mini-SD for something else. As for the battery, I could buy another one and the GPS software I could buy as well.
COST
Main point here is that it costs more than just buying the phone.
1) $200 phone: I bought this through my phone carrier (Cingular) and renewed by 2-year plan. I bought it refurbished because I decided paying 400-500 for technology that is still in its infancy is quite ridiculous. When buying a pocket PC (ppc) you pay for much more than just the phone.
2) $32 1GB mini-SD card (Kingston): I bought this on Ebay. This included shipping and taxes.
3) $78 SD WiFi card (Spectec): I also bought this on Ebay. I bought the SDW-821. I bought this for two reasons:
- it supported both 802.11b and g
- it only stuck out of the SD slot aobut 5 mm. All other cards I found stuck out a couple cm.
4) $8 car charger. Bought this on ebay. The phone only comes with a wall charger and a cradle.
5) $150 GPS software (Navteq)
6) $8 extra battery
7) $50 Bluetooth (handsfree) headset MS850 - DO NOT GET THIS because the MS810+ series are the only Bluetooth headsets not supported by the hw6515. You can make calls fine, but the connection gets dropped on incoming calls.
Total: $528
This total was with a lot of bargain shopping. Be careful when buying on Ebay because there are a lot of people selling knockoff technology being shipped from factories in China that break after a couple weeks.
NOTES:
-I only pay 39.99/mo for my cell phone plan.
-I do not pay for internet usage fees because I use my WiFi card for internet access. There are free hotspots jumping up all over the place and hopefully Google gets their way and blankets the US with free wireless internet! I also have a T-mobile hotspot account for places that support this on my travels.
-If you get this and the GPS software you do NOT have to pay Cingular every time you use it. The GPS software and the GPS receiver work independently of Cingular so you never have to worry about getting billed extra by using this.
-Battery life for this phone given the technology is OK. I have to recharge once a night so long as I don't use BlueTooth or WiFi too often
-BlueTooth uses about 5% of my battery for every half hour I have it connected to my MS850 headset
-WiFi card uses about 10% of my battery for every half hour I am surfing the internet
-The Windows platform allows for very good multi-tasking
-I'm a UNIX/Linux fan but at least windows Mobile comes with Word/Excel so you can appease your mgmt team
-You can use .NET and Java apps (games and programs)
-Have to reboot the device on occasion because memory does not get freed up as it should
-After closing applications, they aren't actually closed, you have to shut them down in Memory->Running Programs
-Sound quality actually exceeded my expectations
-Bluetooth connections have been extremely stable
-I live in rural Northern California and have not had any problems with dropped calls or having bad reception. It seems to have the same reception as my Motorola V551.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
High WOW factor, a few coulda shoulda's, March 3, 2006
I am just going to mention things as they come into my head. I am very happy with this unit. Good sound quality, both on regular and speaker phone. Speaker in moderatley loud. Screen is a bit small, I'd sacrific the tiny, tiny keyboard for a larger screen. The 312 mhz chip is noticably slower than my Dell Axim X5 but not an issue for me. Two very big pluses are built in GPS and TWO memory card slots. I have a GPS navigation system program that I use in my car and it's works very well. With the two slots, one is used for map data and other programs while the other is still free to add wifi for example. Yep, no wifi but the EDGE system is pretty good considering I am in New York. I surf the net for my business and even with Cingular's EDGE service, I find that it is equivilent to dial up at best. Battery life is adequate, with standby good for a few days but with the phone on, checking email and surfing the net expect only 3-4 hours. I really love that I don't have to carry my pda and a seperate phone now, but the holster that they provide is uncomfortable to wear at any angle. A cool thing is that you open the address book in outlook and tap on a number and poof, it starts to dial that contact. The handy flip up plate that covers the screen is a good way to keep facial oil off of the screen so viewing is clear. I bought an extra usb cable so that I can sync with my laptop and charge the phone at the same time, no need to cart around the cradle.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great phone but no wifi, March 15, 2006
The best about this phone is dual card slots, GPS, flip cover, and keypad. Most new GPS phones in the market now doesnt support SDIO SD card slot, they only support mini SD. Therefore this hw6515 has a great advantage over all other PDA phone. Wifi can be added with the new Spectec mini SD wifi card, which will save you the SDIO slot for adding extra storage or SDIO devices such as radio, scanner, etc.
The bad things about this phone are no wifi, 240x240 screen, and poor battery life (compare to other PDA phone, although hp released a extended battery of 1800mAh, the standard 1200mAh only support you about 1-2 days).
Quad band and GPS that makes it special among many other PDA phone in market now.
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