HP iPAQ hw6965

The HP iPAQ hw6965 is HP’s option in the QWERTY handheld market that simply represents the BlackBerrys and the Treos. As a feature addition, the latest in the hw6900 series integrates a GPS navigation unit in a feature packed phone that probably won’t ever fall short of connectivity options. Clearly targeted at corporate users, the phone also packs in a few multimedia features to mix business with pleasure—and help you find your way if you ever get lost.

Design
The hw6965 is quite wide and bulky, but existing iPAQ users aren’t used to extremely streamlined, slim handheld drives anyway. It’s like the E61, but its bulkier and heavier. The BlackBerry Pearl has really spoilt us—now we keep comparing all email phones to it. The hw6965 is not really pocketable, and that’s why they’ve provided a belt holder with it. It comes with a cradle for connecting to the PC and syncing/charging.

The hw6965 has a pretty large, 3-inch, 240x240 65k color display. Unlike the E61, the display on this one is a square, 1:1 aspect ratio. The screen is good enough for indoor use, but it gets a little washed out in the sunlight, even at highest brightness levels. The display is touch-screen and the device comes with a stylus and supports handwriting recognition.

The display comes with a flip cover that acts as a screen protector. The large screen on the E61 is also prone to scratches when kept in the pockets with other objects, such as keys and coins, but this won’t be a problem with the iPAQ, thanks to the cover. The cover is transparent, so you can use the device without using the touch screen facilities.

The keypad is full QWERTY, but it’s not as good as the E61. The keys are all around and spaced quite far apart from each other, but they aren’t comfortably big. The keypad on the E61 is the best, followed by the BlackBerry 8700, and then the Sony Ericsson M600i. The soft keys and call/end keys are laid out a little better on this phone and are quite accessible. The 5-way joystick works well, but again it’s not comparable to the Pearl.