Hewlett Packard - iPAQ 514 Voice Messenger review

Voice Messenger

surprisingly cheap contract-free Smartphone (10/07/2007)

You have two ways of getting hold of a Windows Mobile Smartphone. Go with an operator and you'll find the hardware is fairly low cost, but you have to take on a contract. Decide to go contract-free and you'll find the hardware is a lot more expensive.

Well, that's how it used to be. But Hewlett Packard has broken that mould - shattered it, in fact. The new iPAQ 514 Voice Messenger is well under £200 without a contract, which means it could immediately be an eye-catcher.

To get to this price Hewlett Packard has had to make some tough choices about components and specifications. On the whole, these seem to have been sensible ones. For example, the company has gone with Windows Mobile 6, the very latest incarnation of Microsoft's software for Smartphones.

What that gives you is access to a wide range of improved features (over Windows Mobile 5.0). Now, many of these are only available to people with an Exchange Server-driven office network, and some need Exchange Server 2007. So you may or may not be able to use all the new stuff, but it is there if and when you get around to needing it.

Also on the side of the 'positives' is the presence of Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth. Not only does this give you the possibility to use the iPAQ 514 Voice Messenger on your own network for mobile e-mail and internet access, but it is also useful for voice calling.

Hewlett Packard is pushing the iPAQ 514 Voice Messenger heavily at the business market, and for that sector it is also stressing the 514's ability to use Wi-Fi with IP-based company telephone systems, giving you the opportunity to have a single phone in the office and outside it.

On the other hand, if you want the very latest features all round, then the compromises will put you off. There is a camera, for example, but it is limited to 1.3 megapixels, which pushes it a long way down from the leading edge.

The screen, too, may disappoint. It delivers a mere 176 x 220 pixels in a space measuring just two inches corner to corner. You may find these specifications make it a bit difficult to see some kinds of information satisfactorily. For example, Web pages need a fair bit of scrolling around.

For all its compromises the hardware design has been put together very carefully. This is a small and light mobile whose vital statistics are 107mm tall, 48.6mm wide, 16.3mm thick and 102g in weight. Its black and grey design won't appeal to everyone, but it does look functional. And the number pad keys are made of a rather nice shiny black plastic, and bevelled so that they are comfortable to use.

My review sample had a little under 50MB of free built-in memory for programs and data, and there is a microSD card slot on the left side of the casing for you to bump that up.

And the best feature of all we've saved until last. Hewlett Packard calls it Voice Reply. If you want to use the iPAQ 514 Voice Messenger for mobile e-mail then composing replies on the number pad is likely to be a slow and tedious process. Instead, you can record a voice reply which is automatically attached to an e-mail. Simple, but very effective. Thirty seconds of talk generates a file about 60KB in size.