: Introduction :

I've been using the HP iPAQ h1930 for about a month now and I have to say that I am very very impressed and pleased with it. I mainly use PDAs for contacts as well as it's calendar function... in essence, for PIM. As a doctor, I also use a few medical applications, specifically a drugs database.

Apart from more core functions, I also use my PDAs for eBooks, eNews, personal finance, and the occasional game.

As I have previously been using a Sony Clie PEG-N610C, I will be making some comparisons with this unit and the Palm system in general.

: Who is this device aimed at? :

The HP iPAQ h1930 is now the entry level Windows Mobile 2003 (Pocket PC 2003) model in the iPAQ line up. As it is also basically the least expensive of any of the WM2003 PDAs from the major manufacturers, it can also be considered the entry model for Pocket PCs. As such, it is aimed at budget conscious consumers who want a PDA in the Pocket PC format rather than the Palm.

Due to the remarkable size (slim and light) of this device, it is also aimed at users were portability is of prime import.

The HP iPAQ h1940 (one model up) has a slightly faster processor, an in-built flash memory storage space and in-built bluetooth.

The HP iPAQ h1930/40 are the Windows Mobile 2003 models of the iPAQ h19xx series.

It should also be noted that there are also h1935/45 models. The h1935 is identical to the h1930 and similarly with the h1945. The ending 5 in the model number denotes a model for the OEM distribution line rather than the retail line.

: What you get in the box :
- HP iPAQ h1930 unit with sylus

- 3.7 V 900 mAh rated Li-Ion battery (removable) for the h19xx series

- AC charger (can be used to plug into a sync cradle or into the sync cable)

- AC charger dongle adapter (if you wish to charge the h1930 directly, you
need the adapter dongle)

- USB sync cable

- 2.5 mm to 3.5 mm audio cable adapter.

- Installation CD with ActiveSync 3.7 software and Outlook 2002.

- Warranty card/booklet and EULA

- A "Getting Started" pamphlet

- An "Accessories" pamphlet

- Users manual

HP decided to be fairly minimalist with the h1930 package. This has both good and bad points. The bad points are that you will almost certainly have to purchase a few accessories to go with the h1930 and so you will have to factor in this additional cost.

The good points are the you aren't paying for accessories that you may not use (e.g., docking cradle, or case) and this is reflected in the h1930's price.

: Getting Started :

The presentation of the box when you open it is clean and clear cut. The clear and colourful Getting Started pamphlet is actually very useful particularly for anyone not savvy with such devices. It explains clearly how to install the battery into the device, how to charge the battery and so on.

There is a clear plastic sheet on the device's screen in the box. This not only protects the screen in transit but also conveys an IMPORTANT message for those rushing to get their device started... namely that you have to
install Activesync and Outlook 2002 FIRST before connecting it to the PC.

When you first turn on the device, it basically introduces itself and goes through some set up screens -- including calibrating the touch screen as well as setting up the time, time zones, etc. You are then quickly presented with the Today screen.

As a long term user of PDAs, I actually prefer the Pocket PCs Today screen as it is more functional than what is in essence a screen of program short cuts
on the Palm system. However, the cost of this functionality is that it isn't as obvious how to load programs and settings on the Pocket PC (having to go to the Start bar first). With the Palm system, the icons are staring
at you and what you need to do is clear. This difference in the user interface from right at the beginning underpins some of the differences between a Palm based system and a Pocket PC powered one.

: The device itself :

The HP iPAQ h1930/40 is physically the lightest modern PDA (of the Palm 4/5 machines and Pocket PCs). This is no small feat of engineering considering that Pocket PCs have traditionally been much heavier and bulkier than the Palm based units.

Compared to the Sony Clie N610C, it is lighter, thinner, smaller in both height and width but has a larger screen! Fantastic!

Comparing it to its contemporaries, it is lighter and thinner than the Tungsten T3, but slightly longer (as the T3 has the collapsing design).

The body is made of a silver coloured plastic shell and feels quite robust.

There are four application buttons on the bottom front of the device and the default applications are Calendar, Contacts, Inbox and Today (goes back to the today creen). There is a central wheel button and pressing into
the applicable direction moves the cursor up, down, left and right. In the centre of this wheel is a further enter/select button. There is a fifth button located on the left edge of the device (under the left thumb if held by the left hand) which be default turns on the voice recorder.

The on/off button which also serves as an indicator light (for alarms and charging) is on the top edge of the device.

The buttons have all got good tactile feel and good travel. A problem with the Clie's buttons is that they were a bit wobbly.

The speaker has been cleverly hidden under the central wheel button so that it is forward facing rather than the more traditional back facing speakers on PDAs.

The sync/charging port is placed at the bottom edge of the device.

The IrDA port is on the left edge of the device, immediately above the voice recording button. It would have been more logical (IMHO) for this to have been placed at the top edge like every other PDA as it makes for easy beaming. However, if you ever physically see this device, you can see that there isn't much room left on the top edge!

The top left hand edge has a 2.5 mm stereo audio jack. Although HP had the presence of mind to include a 2.5 to 3.5 mm converter (unlike some other PDA manufacturers), this still annoys me. A 3.5 mm socket is not that much bigger than a 2.5 mm one and I wouldn't have thought that it would be that difficult to design the PDA with the standard 3.5 mm socket instead. My hypothesis is that when the audio capabilities and storage capabilities of PDAs first reached or was approaching the level possible for them to become portable audio devices (like MP3 players), PDA manufacturers though that they could make a quick buck by using a non-standard audio socket and then sell PDA-audio
specific accessories. This, however, has not happened (PDA-audio specific accessories market), and there is now a degree of malaise with PDA designers in returning back to standard 3.5 mm audio sockets.

There is a SD-IO compatible socket on the top edge of the device and the stylus lives in a hole on the top right edge. The stylus is fairly thin and light but quite reasonable to use.

: The Screen :

The HP iPAQ h1910 was renown for its excellent screen and the h1930 doesn't disappoint. The screen is large, bright and clear.

The h1930 uses a transreflective screen which means that it will partially reflect ambient light as well. In practice, I find that it is still dim in full sunlight but for another other situation (indoors), the screen is
absolutely fantastic. Colour reproduction and contrast is very very good and the screen is evenly lit. Indeed, I usually only set the device to half brightness (it's default setting) as it is too bright on the highest!

When compared to most other PDAs (whether Pocket PC or Palm), especially those in the same price range, the h19xx series has a superior screen

As with most Pocket PC devices, the screen resolution is 240 width x 320 height and has 16-bit colour (64 K colours).

Interestingly, this means that the Clie actually has a HIGHER resolution (320 x320), but in practice, the h1930 looks superior in every way -- be it colour, sharpness, etc.

Due to it's Windows heritage, Pocket PCs and hence the h1930 handles on screen fonts very well... indeed, in the same way as desktop Windows. You can use the same common fonts and the h1930 now supports Cleartype(an
advanced anti-aliasing of screen fonts methods optimised for LCD screens) for text in all applications. Simply put, text on the h1930 be it in menus, dialogue boxes, web pages, eBooks all look fantastic. This is in sharp contrast to the Palm system where fonts for hi-res optimised apps look great, but for the vast majority of 3rd party 160x160 apps it looks blocky and ugly.

As Pocket PCs have a 4:3 screen aspect ratio in landscape (unlike 1:1 on Palms unless they have the hi-res plus screens), the h1930 with its great screen is also perfect for showing off portable photos.

: The CPU and memory :

Unlike the majority of other Pocket PCs, the h1930 uses a Samsung processor rather than the Intel X-Scale. The processor runs at 206 MHz. You can find more technical details on the Samsung processor in sites like Tom's Hardware Guide, but it's main advantages are,
(1) price and (2) power profile (uses less power and has better dynamic clocking
capabilities than the X-Scale).

On a number of benchmarks, this Samsung processor is about half as fast as the top running 400 MHz X-Scale processor in terms of pure number crunching, but its graphical capabilities are better... indeed, FASTER than the X-Scale.

Thus, in terms of the general user interface because of the superior graphical capabilities, the h1930 feels as fast (and is as fast if not faster) than other Pocket PCs running the X-Scale 400 MHz chip.

Where you will notice a difference in performance is in CPU intensive tasks... for example, video playback. That being said, I'm still able to play PDA sized DivX 5 clips on the h1930 without issue!

The h1930 has 64 Mb of RAM available -- of which a total of 56 Mb is usable. This is definitely quite good for an entry-level PDA.

: Sound :

The included speaker yields decent audio quality though nothing really special. It is fine for audio alerts. Audio quality through the headphones is quite good though probably inferior to a high quality audio device like an MD player or an iPod.

The included audio recording application works well, though again, you will get much better results from a specific notetaking device.

: Battery life :

The battery life is in the order of around 3-4 hours of continuous use... this is enough for a day's use, but if you plan on going for a long trip, bringing along a charger, second battery, battery extender is a must.

I wish that the battery life WAS a little bit longer (in the realm of 8 hours) as this would mean that the device would be much better for eBooks reading. However, considering the slim profile and weight of the device, I
can live with the existing battery life.

: Available Accessories :

Although the included accessories with the h1930 are a bit thin, there is plenty of choice available on the internet. There are many different and varied types of cases from any number of manufacturers.

As the h1930 has a SD-IO slot, it is possible to upgrade the h1930 with not only SD memory cards, but also SD-WLAN cards as well as nifty gadgets like a digital camera for the HP iPAQ range.

The h1930 does not contain a CF slot and it would not be possible given it's size. This does limit the expandibility of the device as with an SD-IO component inserted, you are left only with the internal memory of the device for
software.

: Included software and third party software :

The h1930 comes with the default Pocket PC 2003 software in the ROM. This includes Pocket Office (Word and Excel) and Pocket Outlook (Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Memo). There is also Pocket Inbox as the mail program and Pocket Internet Explorer and Pocket Windows Media Player.

As part of the Hewlett Packard Package, the installation CD also comes with the Clearvue viewers (for Word, Excel, Powerpoint files) and the HP printer drivers and an image viewer.

As for as Pocket Outlook goes, it is an excellent PIM. All calendar events, contacts and tasks synchronise across well, especially if you use Outlook. Memo/Notes works but it is not as well integrated as the rest of Pocket Outlook.

There hasn't been any significant upgrades in Pocket Word or Excel, and in this regard, the newer Palm systems are ahead in terms of retention of desktop formatting.

Pocket Internet Explorer works well for a PDA browser. The AvantGo client has become a standard part of Pocket PC which is a great addition. It allows for automated synchronisation of content including for me the Sydney
Morning Herald (local paper) as well as Yahoo! Movies (it gives me cinema listings for any local cinema I choose). This is very useful indeed and saves me otherwise installing and setting up the AvantGo client.

Outlook 2002 (for the desktop) is supplied with the installation package and this would be very useful for someone who doesn't otherwise use Microsoft Office. Outlook, despite its faults, is IMHO still the best, or at least
is the benchmark PIM on the PC. Due to its integration with MS Office, it is also rather well supported. One of the problems with the Palm packages is that it expects you to already have a desktop PIM... and if you don't, the
included Palm desktop is, IMHO, trash.

The included Pocket PC software with the h1930 (beyond the standard applications) is definitely not generous... though it would be sufficient again for a entry-level user.

There is a lot of freeware available for Pocket PC
now, and I was able, without too much trouble, to get and install an MP3 player (beyond the capabilities of WMP), a PDF viewer, eBook/eNews programs (MobiPocket). A few programs that I would definitely recommend buying immediately would be Battery Pack 2004... which adds in some very useful additions to the UI (task manager, ability to close programs as opposed to simply minimising, as well as a
well developed applicating launcher from the Today screen as well as system resource information from the today screen -- battery, memory, storage).

For those requiring personal finance software, I highly recommend SPB Pocket Finance.

There is definitely less software available for Pocket PC than compared to the Palm system, but with websites like Handago in place, buying some very high quality Pocket PC software inexpensively on-line is now a smooth affair. Furthermore, I would suggest that there is as much software for Pocket PC as there is Palm software that is OPTIMISED for the high resolution Palms.



Recommended:
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 294
Recommended for: Students - Stylish and a Best Value