Review: HP iPAQ hw6515 – A Little Bit of Everything

As our earlier preview of the important new iPAQ hw6515 Mobile Messenger made clear, the new hw6500 series of smartphones from Hewlett-Packard sets out to do everything, or almost everything—and pretty much succeeds. We recently had a chance to review another preproduction unit.
This one came with a GSM SIM card for the Rogers Wireless network in Canada, making it possible to test more functions. The Canadian carrier and Cingular Wireless in the U.S. officially announced the hw6500 series yesterday.
HP's hw6515 is at least four devices in one: Pocket PC, phone, camera and, best of all, a GPS device capable of providing turn-by-turn navigation with audio guidance. (A second version of the smartphone, the hw6510, does not include a camera.) While there are lots of Pocket PC phones and a few Pocket PC GPS devices, this is the first that combines phone, PDA and GPS functions.
While the hw6515 has a Bluetooth radio, the smartphone lacks Wi-Fi, which is just about the only major want-to-have feature missing. It runs the Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition operating system, and comes with all the usual Pocket PC applications.

The cellular-wireless handheld packs only middling power, though—a 312 MHz Intel PXA272 processor, 128 MB total memory—and features a smaller-than-typical 3-inch, 240 x 240-pixel resolution screen. Like the earlier h4350 Pocket PC, the hw6515 features a QWERTY "thumb keyboard." The screen is smaller and square to make room for the keyboard below it.