HP Fansite

HP’s future Pocket PC phones to run Windows Mobile 6.5!!

And it was officially confirmed last week; right from the horse’s mouth too! Now can we see some new stuff, which are more up-to-date, that will be competitive with those other manufacturers (or preferably, with absolutely kick-ass features/specifications) when they get announced?  And please don’t take months to deliver them to store shelves. And maybe we’ll see one of those Windows Mobile UI overlays/add ons…*ahem* use Touchsmart design team *ahem*

For me, even very tiny, subtle hints of future products like this one is good news! (Don’t we wanna see the ex- #1 Pocket PC manufacturer return to its former glory again?)

HP iPAQ Data Messenger Review

I recently got my hands on a retail version of HP’s iPAQ Data Messenger phone (European version).

It’s a nice, simple and stylish looking Pocket PC phone which is a tad smaller than the iPAQ 600 I have. To summarize in one sentence what the HP Data Messenger is all about, it’s actually a slightly smaller iPAQ 600 with a QWERTY keyboard and more fashion sense.

The main features of the HP iPAQ Data Messenger is a 2.8 inch QVGA (320 X 240) touchscreen, a slide-out backlit QWERTY keyboard from the side, with an optical navigation pad and touch sensitive controls on the front, 3 megapixel camera and it runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro. There’s also a 2.5 mm headphone jack for making calls/listening to music and micro USB port for charging and connectivity to your computer.

Sure, I do not doubt what people think about the iPAQ Data Messenger – even at the time of its debut, which was around October 2008, it’s specifications already looked dull, dusty and outdated compared to its competitors with similar form factors (that is, devices running WM 6.1 Pro with slide-out QWERTY keyboards). Both the Sony Xperia X1 and HTC Touch Pro offer either larger/higher resolution screens than the HP Data Messenger and come with their own Today Interface, which attempts to cover, what people brand as hideous and clunky, the Windows Mobile UI.

So what’s the point of the HP iPAQ Data Messenger, you ask? Well, it’s mainly targeted at business people who want a straight forward business Pocket PC phone (And we all know Windows and Windows Mobile mean business). It’s not meant to be a flashy or show-off phone with tons of bells and whistles. I find the Sony Xperia X1 a bit on the pricey side (which Sony product isn’t?) while the HTC Touch Pro is the true competitor of the HP Data Messenger and will probably steal quite a few sales thanks to its superior specifications.

However, what’s going for the Data Messenger, versus the Touch Pro 1, is that it has a 2.5 mm headphone jack (I can easily plug in an adapter for 3.5 mm standard headphones) and the fact that I can start out with a fresh phone and install whichever 3rd party Windows Mobile Today Interface that I want. Compared to the new Touch Pro 2 and other new phones released over the past week this month and it’s a different story; those other phones are much more appealing, sadly.

The only way HP can probably fight for now is by lowering the price of the Data Messenger so more people will go for it… and get off their butts NOW to the design room, then hopefully down the road somewhere, release more appealing and competitive iPAQs which are actually able to stand toe-to-toe against the competition!

I love HP (especially their notebooks) but I seriously think they should actually put in some effort into their Pocket PC/smart phone department!

Nvidia Quadro FX3700M update – Don’t do it!

Being a person who enjoys keeping up with the latest features of products and frequently updates software, I installed an update for the HP Elitebook 8730w’s Nvidia Quadro FX3700M graphics card via Windows Update yesterday. It was called “nVidia – Display – FX3700M”… upon restart, I found the screen brightness of the HP Elitebook 8730w was about 10 to 15% dimmer than usual and the colors became out of whack, even with the brightness cranked up to the max and ambient light sensor off. Only when I plugged the AC adapter in, the brightness and colors went up to normal for about 5 seconds, then it was back down AGAIN! The notebook also no longer detected the display as a DreamColor display and the “Sharpness” option (see the screenshot above) had disappeared from the Nvidia Graphics control panel. I almost panicked as there was no way to remove the update, even via the Windows Update ‘remove updates’ panel.

In the end, I uninstalled all the Nvidia drivers and downloaded the one from HP’s website. Evidently, it’s not the latest driver but at least brightness is back to normal again, colors are accurate again, and the notebook detects the DreamColor display and show the Sharpness option again. Well, HP Elitebook 8730w users, you’ve been warned. If you still feel like installing that update, do it at your own risk!

I love this Elitebook!!

Netbook? Who needs a netbook when you can have THIS! The HP Elitebook 2530p blows away literally any netbook in the market, looking utterly stylish (sexy?) while at it. Of course, such greatness comes at a price – you could buy several netbooks with the price of just ONE Elitebook.

Still, that won’t stop me from comparing the Elitebook 2530p to my humble Mini 2133 and the 2140… (excuse the tiny wireless mouse dongle connected to the Elitebook in the picture above)

The Elitebook 2530p is wider and slightly longer than the HP Mini 2133/Mini 2140. I’d gladly carry a slightly larger bag if I owned one though! Oh, naturally the Elitebook 2530p is about 300 grams heavier than the Mini 2140 but the weight difference wasn’t too significant though.

In terms of thickness, the Elitebook 2530p is a wee bit slimmer than the Mini 2133/Mini 2140. HP says the Elitebook 2530p is 25.2 mm thin while the Mini 2140 is 26.7 mm thin. Put on the Mini 2133/2140′s 6 cell extended battery and it becomes a different story – I like the Elitebook 2530p’s 6 cell battery which sticks out the back of the notebook, as opposed to the Mini’s 6 cell battery which extends downwards so you have a thick bulge at the back that makes the notebook hard to store.

One other thing is that the Elitebook 2530p’s keyboard is about the same size as the one on the HP Mini’s except the arrow keys are larger on the Elitebook while its function keys at the top row are a tad smaller. The Elitebook 2530p also has dedicated Page Up and Page Down keys, something I appreciate a lot. Well, that’s all for today, the Elitebook 2530p is perfect for what it is and dare I say, flawless… with the exception of price and the fact I can’t keep it =( , of course.

HP Elitebook USB flash drive

What’s the perfect match for a HP Elitebook notebook PC? Why, a HP Elitebook USB flash drive with 16 gigs of memory, of course

Sure there are plenty of 16 GB flash drives out there… but this one has a slide in/out connector (in a world of flash drives using caps and covers) which eliminates the need for a separate cap for protection AND it matches any HP Elitebook notebook PC perfectly. And did I mention this thing reads at 40-45 MB/s and writes at 30 MB/s?