HP iPaq 910

The HP iPaq 910 is a serious business phone for serious Windows Mobile users who want to have very little fun. Battery life was superlative, among the best we've seen on a Windows Mobile phone, and the phone also leads the pack in networking capabilities with super-fast HSDPA 3G data networking as well as Wi-Fi. It's a solid performer with a staid, though proven design. Unfortunately, it never leaves the Windows Mobile path, and so it feels like a modern smartphone with blinders on, oblivious to the desktop-grade Web browsing and advanced multimedia capabilities we're enjoying on other smartphones. While phones from HTC show off their TouchFLO 3D outfits and VGA screens, the HP iPaq 910 is dressed in its best suit (and it's kind of a wallflower at parties). If you're looking for battery life and stability, this is a good choice, but if you want to do anything more with your phone than what your IT department pre-loads, you'll want to find something more entertaining. Release: June 2008. Price: $440.

Pros: Great battery life. Solid Windows Mobile features. Comfortable, well-formed keys on a large keyboard. Cons: Nothing really beyond the standard Windows Mobile system. Calls sounded muddy. Phone is a bit large (though it makes use of the extra space). No advanced media or Web browsing features.

HP has always been known for building large, well-made PDAs and smartphones, and with the HP iPaq 910, the company hasn't veered far from its original course. Of course the device is comparatively smaller than previous HP iPaq devices we've seen, but it remains a large smartphone by today's standards. The phone looks and feels all-business, and it's a classy sort of business at that, with a chrome bumper and a nice, soft-touch paint job around the back. The battery cover and the shell felt a bit loose on our test unit, but this device had "prototype" printed clearly on the back, so perhaps this is still an early build problem.

The HP iPaq 910 has a very nice, large keyboard, with wide keys that are raised high enough to make them hard to miss. The 4-way navigation button is a round, raised donut in the center of the phone, and even the thumbwheel sticks out comfortably from the side of the device. All around, it's a spacious device, and easy to use for its larger size.

The touchscreen is a 2.5-inch, QVGA screen. We would have liked the HP iPaq 910 to use a higher-resolution display, but QVGA is enough for the professional build of Windows Mobile 6.1. In fact, it's pretty much Windows Mobile exactly the way Microsoft designed it, which is unfortunate, as most major manufacturers, such as HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and others, are releasing Windows Mobile phones with some improvements to the interface design to make the system easier to use and add new features. The HP iPaq 910 is built like a truck, it's not one of those fancy-pants phones. While we appreciated the stability and solid hardware features, we miss some of these improvements.

Calling - Very good

The HP iPaq 910 makes phone calls that sound okay, but possessed some static and distortion near the higher end of our callers' voices. On their end, callers reported a generally clean, though occasionally muffled sound. For cell reception, the HP iPaq was on par with other phones we tested on AT&T's HSDPA network in lower Manhattan, averaging about 3-4 bars. For battery life, however, the HP iPaq 910 bested all other smartphones we've seen besides RIM's BlackBerry device. We managed a single call on the HP iPaq 910 that was more than 6 hours long, even while it was connected to the power-draining HSDPA network. That's almost 50% better than most other HSDPA smartphones we've tested.

For calling features, the HP iPaq 910 doesn't venture far beyond Windows Mobile 6.1, which is powerful enough in its own right. The address book synchronized perfectly with our Exchange server, and we've always liked the way Windows Mobile phones start searching our contact list as soon as we start typing a name, even from the Today screen. Conference calling was easy enough, though it required a bit of menu drilling. The phone also uses an advanced Voice Commander app from HP. This made calling a bit less simple, but the Voice Commander can control plenty of other features on the phone. We learned this the first time we tried to dial a name by speaking the numbers, only to have the phone jump to open a song with a similar-sounding title instead.

Messaging - Good

For messaging features, all that buyers can expect with the HP iPaq 910 are the most basic messaging options that accompany Windows Mobile. For e-mail, especially for Exchange server users, this starts strong, and Outlook is a very good e-mail app on a mobile phone, especially if you have time to learn all of the keyboard shortcuts. For SMS and MMS, the phone does just fine, though we would have liked a nicer looking interface and perhaps some more messaging options, though threaded SMS messages have finally made their way to Windows Mobile in version 6.1, and this is a good thing. For Instant Messaging fans, hope you have an MSN account for IM, otherwise you'll be hunting down third-party apps.

The keyboard on the HP iPaq 910 is large and comfortable. It's not just wide, the keys actually have some considerable height to them, and they rise up at a sharp angle, which made pressing them with our thumb even easier. Of course, there aren't a lot of text options beyond standard spell-checking. We'd like to see some advanced features adopted in Windows Mobile, like the ability to choose a symbol simply by holding down the key (the HP iPaq 910 stupidly repeats the letter when held), or even some auto-correcting features, instead of just a helpful spell-checker for after-the-fact editing.

Scheduling and productivity – Very good

For scheduling, Windows Mobile is our favorite business smartphone OS, especially since we use an Exchange server for our corporate e-mail and calendar. The Palm Treo Pro did a fine job synchronizing with our calendar app and scheduling new appointments, though this is one area where some innovation in the OS, at least in the Today screen, would have made the calendar and tasks list easier to read at a glance. For productivity, the phone gets the standard Office Mobile suite. This is probably more than enough for most users, and we had no trouble viewing and creating Word and Excel documents, and even running through some PowerPoint slides on the device.

Multimedia - Mediocre

The HP iPaq 910 includes the most basic multimedia playback options available on a Windows Mobile device. The phone synchronized with our desktops and sideloaded all of our Windows Media Player tracks, but the player itself and the options available were very rudimentary, at best. For memory, the HP iPaq 910 can accommodate microSDHC cards, but only in the small 4GB capacity, which is disappointing. Still, without a 3.5mm headphone jack or any dedicated media playback control, we think most media lovers would do better to simply pass this phone by than lament the lack of memory capacity.

GPS navigation - Mediocre

The HP iPaq 910 comes with built-in GPS, but the software to use the GPS sensor for navigation is not just a poor choice, it's actually hidden from users. Google Maps is available in the Start menu, but it's not listed with the phone's other Apps in the "Programs" window. Perhaps this is for the best, as Google Maps offers good directions, but it can't be called turn-by-turn navigation. In fact, when we tried to locate ourselves using Google Maps, we got an error message saying this phone was incompatible with the "My Location" feature. Like almost all Google services, it seems that "My Location" is still in beta.

Camera - Good

While the camera on the HP iPaq 910 came loaded with snazzy features, we didn't feel the image quality deserved such hullaballoo. Details were mostly present, and we didn't see too much noise or over-sharpening. But images from the 3-megapixel, auto focus camera were dull and drab, with colors that seemed to die on the screen where they should have popped.

E-bay test shot

This test sample is our best example of how the HP iPaq 910's camera sucked the life out of what should have been some exciting color and imagery. Of course, every scratch and fine detail is there, and even towards the edges the camera doesn't lose track of things, probably thanks to the auto focus. But this isn't a very exciting shot, thanks to color tones that came out quite grey.

Grown-Up Soda

Here, this normally appetizing, orange-pink soda came out looking dingy and brown, more like sewer water than fruit juice. Text is completely legibile, but the soda looks undrinkable.

Self portrait

With some sharp studio lights to back things up, the camera did a better job with color. However, even with the so-called self-portrait mirror, we had trouble centering ourself in the shot.

Panorama mode

It's impressive that this phone even has a panorama mode, but the stitching on this shot of laptop editor Chris Coleman hard at work will fool no one. Every seem is visible, and the camera didn't deal well with the natural curve of a panorama.

Web browsing - Good

The Web browsing experience on the HP iPaq 910 comes in at the bare minimum of what we would call good. The browser is the standard Internet Explorer app, which is just barely better than the WAP browser you might find on a standard multimedia non-smartphone. The experience is saved by faster HSDPA network speeds, and in a pinch Internet Explorer can get the job done. However, our page came out looking a bit jumbled, and the Internet experience is a far cry from what we've seen on better Windows Mobile phones with more manufacturer intervention. Definitely seek out the Opera browser before you use this device for real Web surfing.

Price and availability

The HP iPaq 910 is available now online for as little as $440.