HP iPAQ 910c Business Messenger review

As a phone, the quad-band HP iPaq 910c offers world roaming, a speakerphone, speed dial, and text and multimedia messaging. The address book is only limited by the available memory (the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts), and you can store multiple numbers, addresses, and personal information. For caller ID purposes, you can pair a contact with a photo, a caller group, or one of three polyphonic ringtones. Bluetooth 2.0 is onboard for use with mono and stereo Bluetooth headsets, hands-free kits, file sharing, dial-up networking, and more.

We think you'll also be happy to hear that the iPaq 910c supports UMTS/HSDPA (tri-band 850/1900/2100) and has integrated Wi-Fi. Note that you only get the HSDPA support on AT&T and not T-Mobile's 3G network, which operates on the 1700/2100 bands. And if that weren't enough, there's integrated GPS. Since there's a GPS receiver built into the device, you can use the iPaq 910c as a standalone handheld GPS, even if there isn't a SIM card in the phone. HP also ships the smartphone with a couple of navigation extras. First, there's a utility called HP iPaq GPS QK Position that will help speed up the time it takes to find your current position. Second, Google Maps comes preloaded on the device so you can browse its various maps, search for local businesses, check traffic, and so forth; you can, of course, use other third-party navigation software for maps, turn-by-turn directions, and more.

Whether for work or play, the iPaq 910c has a 3-megapixel camera with flash and video recording capabilities. In camera mode, you can choose from six resolutions and three photo qualities. There are also five capture modes as well as 4x zoom, a self timer, and white balance settings. Video can only be captured in H263 format and in one of two resolutions. Once done, you can share your photo with others via e-mail, multimedia message, or Bluetooth. There's also an option to upload them directly to a Snapfish account.

Picture quality was decent. Images looked sharp with pretty good coloring. Our complaint was that there was bit of shutter lag, so be sure not to move the phone immediately after taking a photo, otherwise you might end up with a blurry image. Unfortunately, video quality wasn't so hot, as recorded clips looked very grainy.

Performance
We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900/2100) HP iPaq 910c Business Messenger in San Francisco using AT&T service, and call quality was OK but could have been better. On our end, we could hear a bit of a background hiss during calls and volume could be soft at times. Still, we were able to carry on conversations and use an airline's voice automated response system. Meanwhile, our friends reported good results overall, but said there was an echo at times. The speakerphone was sub-par, as voices could sound garbled, and again, volume was weak even at the highest level. On the bright side, we successfully paired the 910c with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset and the Motorola S9 Active Bluetooth Headphones.

Armed with a 416MHz Marvel PXA270 processor, the iPaq 910c was generally responsive, though there were times when we noticed some delays. The performance issues weren't anything debilitating but more of the typical slowdowns we've experienced on other Windows Mobile devices when too many applications are running at the same time. Web browsing was fast, whether we were using AT&T's 3G network or Wi-Fi, but we do have to say the 910c's smaller screen size didn't add much to the experience.

As for multimedia performance, music sounded weak and flat through the phone's speakers, and unfortunately, the device isn't equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack so you'll have to use the sub-par earbuds included in the box or get a headset adapter. Videos looked OK; again, the small screen size wasn't ideal for watching clips. Still, picture and audio were always synchronized. Moving to GPS, the iPaq 910c took about 5 minutes to get a fix on our location from a cold start, but subsequent starts were much faster and the handheld did a good job of tracking our position.

The iPaq 910c Business Messenger's 1,940mAh lithium-ion battery has a rated talk time of 7.5 hours and up to 10.4 days of standby time. We are still conducting our battery drain tests, but we'll update this section as soon as we have final results. Finally, we are trying to confirm the iPaq 910c's digital SAR rating and will include in our review and FCC radiation charts once we have the information.