Even with so many brands of Windows Mobile PDA-phones out there, there will still be those wanting a new HP iPaq. The company has a well-established service and support structure and its last few PDA-phones were pretty reliable. Announced last year, the iPaq 612 Business Navigator will hit stores next month. We spent some time with this S$999 GPS-enabled handheld to see if it would satisfy its fan base--a group of people who have waited more than a year for a new iPaq PDA-phone.

Design

The 612 is not the smallest of devices. It has a thickness of 17.5mm and weighs 145g. The chassis is encased mainly in black with a silver strip running around the sides. It comes with a 2.8-inch QVGA display and below that is a numeric keypad flanked by some shortcut keys.

The two scrolling options--one on the keypad, the other on the left side.

Unlike most Windows Mobile PDA-phones, the 612's power button is found on the bottom right. Though this took some getting used to, we had no problems with it and found it to be a convenient location for turning the device on and off. The keypad itself is flush with the front surface of the device. There isn't much space between keys, but that did not affect our use of it for typing. Together with the XT9 text input (this is identical to T9 on regular phones), using the keypad for messaging and email should be a breeze.

The most interesting part of the keypad is a raised ring which spans across all the numeric keys except for the 5 and 8. This indicates where the surface is touch-sensitive, and acts as a wheel for navigation. We are no strangers to touch-sensitive navigation wheels, the most famous of which is found on Apple's iPod music players. Unfortunately, while Apple is well-known for it user-friendliness, HP didn't quite recreate the same experience with its "Smart Wheel". While we had no problems moving between menu items and switching between fields using the Smart Wheel, its main flaw was that you can't select by pressing the center of the wheel. That's where the 5 key is found. Nor does it double as an Enter key. The Enter key is, in fact, found on the right side of the 9 key, which makes choosing and selecting a menu item less than intuitive.

What's more, with the Smart Wheel, you can't do precise left and right movements like you can with a regular directional pad. Say you want to move your blinking cursor to the left to delete a word in a message, using the touch-sensitive wheel takes you only up or down to the next field and won't move the cursor within the message box. The Smart Wheel, we feel, is a gimmick that doesn't work well. A regular directional pad would have been easier to implement and more effective. There is also a jog dial on the left of the device which can be used in place of the Smart Wheel, but it, too, doesn't let you make precise horizontal movements in text editing fields.

One thing we especially liked was the dedicated ringer button on the top. This lets you alternate between vibrate and normal modes quickly, much like how the Palm Treo devices all have a switch, also found on the top.

A single mini-USB connector is found on the base of the 612. Just like on all current HTC devices, this is for charging, syncing and to attach a wired headset. A pair of mini-USB stereo headphones with mic is included with the standard package, but if you want to use your own 3.5mm headphones an optional 3.5mm-to-USB converter will be needed.

Memory expansion for the 612 comes in the form of a microSD card slot. Unfortunately, this is found behind the battery, so turning the device off is necessary if you need to swap out a card.

Features

From a connectivity viewpoint, you can't fault the 612. This handheld has it all--HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and also GPS for navigation. Getting online was a breeze because of a configuration application which detects your SIM card's operator and applies the correct settings.

Though we've been using the model name "612", our review set is more specifically named "612c". The suffix indicates that it has a camera, a 3-megapixel one to be precise. The non-camera version works the same as the one we have here, just without the snapper, making it good for use in places which restrict camera use like military camps and certain work places. Unfortunately, HP has informed us that the non-camera version will not be available in Singapore. This is decided by each country's local office, and the Singapore one has determined that it will not offer the vanilla 612 for sale. We do not have information about the entire region at the moment, so check with your local HP office to find out if the camera-free model is offered in your location.

Aside from the free Google Maps application, commercial software with turn-by-turn driving instructions will be bundled with the 612 for satellite navigation. In Singapore, the software and maps provided will be from MapKing. This may vary from country to country, so once again check with your local HP office.

There aren't many modifications to the user interface, so users of the 612 will mainly be using Windows Mobile 6 Professional in its default form (note: There will be no WM6.1 upgrade for the 612). It does have an HP Shortcuts application which makes it easier to get to commonly used items and also comes with some custom settings found in the Settings page.

Performance

With a 520MHz processor and 128MB RAM, the 612 runs pretty smoothly. Video playback was excellent with no jerkiness in our test video. With nothing running in the background, there is about 75MB of free RAM, which gives it lots of leeway for running other applications.

The 612's battery has a large 1,590mAh battery. This gave us about three days on a single charge, without GPS use. If you are using the device for GPS navigation, expect the built-in SiRFstar III chip to deplete the battery much quicker.

Conclusion

The most disappointing thing, we felt, was the decision not to sell the non-camera version everywhere. HP has always had a reputation for being enterprise-savvy, so fans of its products who also work in places with strict camera rules won't be pleased.

While it has a truckload of features, many other devices have them, too. The lack of a customized user interface and additional security software make it seem less attractive than some of the other offerings from companies like HTC, Asus and i-mate.