Pros: Fast, dual slots, excellent screen and D-Pad, replaceable batteries, compact... You name it.
Cons: PocketPC 2003 has its share of problems, Case sucks, Itask must die.
The Bottom Line: It's fast, it's great for gaming, and it's even got the capability to get some work done. The only major shortcomings are those imposed by the platform.
zero_'s Full Review: Hewlett Packard iPAQ h2215 Pocket PC
Much to the chagrin of users everywhere, the PocketPC/Palmtop market has shifted again.
The last time the PocketPC world was turned on its ear was when Microsoft released the PocketPC 2002 operating system, complete with stringent guidelines on the layout, design, and processor the then new machines could use.
When the new operating system became so prevalent that it became a hindrance to me not to have it, I finally surrendered the aged but venerable Casio E-115 that I’d been clinging to for far too long in favor of a new Audiovox Maestro.
Now Microsoft has dropped PocketPC 2003 – Which they want us to call “Windows Mobile”, but I’m not going to – And PPC2002 suddenly isn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread. PocketPC 2002 devices are still the norm, thus far, and only a few machines have come out with Windows Mobile / 2003 installed: The Dell Axim, the Toshiba E755, and the HP Ipaq 2215. The new operating system is still uncharted territory for a lot of people, myself included. If you’re looking at a new PocketPC 2003 machine, though, what exactly are you getting yourself into? And to stay on topic, is this particular PocketPC 2003 machine any good?
The quest to upgrade left me with precious few options. If you want a PocketPC with dual expansion slots and the new PXA255 processor (lots more on that later) your options are limited entirely to the three machines I’ve listed previously – All of which come with PocketPC 2003. If you want a manageable form factor and responsive input hardware (for gaming, of course) the Dell and Toshiba go right out the window.
Here’s the bottom line. This summer, the HP 2215 is the PocketPC king. It’s evidently no secret – The things have been selling like hotcakes all over the country and while barely introduced to the marketplace the 2215 is currently sold out at most retailers. I went to the local Staples and bought the last one, and you didn’t. Nyyah.
The HP 2215 (also known as the HP 2210 – they’re the same thing) has a lot going for it. I have previously espoused that I am not a fan of Compaq merchandise. Compaq originally made the Ipaq line of PocketPC's. It is a lesser known fact that I am not a fan of HP merchandise, for very similar reasons. HP’s turned out a lot of shoddy product, moreso in recent years than earlier ones. Of course, just to throw salt in my wounds, HP and Compaq have now merged – Despite this logical twofold increase in crap output potential, HP/Compaq have actually managed to turn out a decent PocketPC.
The original Ipaqs, though technically groundbreaking, sucked by many accounts. Those of them that didn’t have issues with multiple button presses (a big no-no for gaming) or chronic dust accumulation inside their screens suffered from fatal design flaws like impossible to use directional pads (D-pads, if you’re wondering), pointed lack of expansion capability, or horrendous price tags. Personally, I cannot fathom why people bought the early Ipaqs by the millions, but they did.
I admit that I am quite heavily biased, here. I was very, very skeptical of the new Ipaq’s abilities, before I bought it, and did a lot of homework before I did. Given how I’ve painted the Ipaq line already (not to mention the rest of Compaq’s junk I’ve had to put up with over the years), you can understand why I didn’t exactly trust the 2215.
I, however, was forced to eat my words. The 2215 is a fine machine. It has its flaws, but overall I’m quite pleased with it. And I’m going to tell you all about it. Lucky you.
The Good
The Ipaq 2215 has three big fat important features to power users: It has both CompactFlash and SecureDigital expansion slots, it has a very well made and responsive D-pad, and it has the new Intel Xscale PXA255 processor.
The processor’s the big one. The Xscale processor was Intel’s Next Big Thing in mobile chips after the now obsolete ARM chip – Which resides in every other PocketPC 2002 machine ever made. The Xscale chip commonly runs at either 300 or 400 mhz (the old ARM was 206), though there were rumored to be versions made to go faster. It was touted as the big leap that would enable true multimedia integration into PocketPC’s, go faster, do more, use less power, blah blah blah. The original PXA250 Xscales, however, had an obscure flaw: They only ran at a 100 mhz bus speed, which meant the chip couldn’t communicate to the memory (or, indeed, the rest of the system) quite as fast as the “old” ARM chips. This meant that for a lot of things, the supposedly obsolete ARM processor was better than the newfangled Xscale. And verily were a lot of early adopters ticked off.
Intel have made amends with the PXA255 Xscale processor. This version communicates at a 200 mhz bus speed, which puts it a league or three above the old PXA250’s and ARM chips, respectively. The PXA255 is what powers the Ipaq 2215 – Ask for it by name.
To check what processor a device is running on, tap Start, Settings, System, About. The chip will be listed as an ARM, PXA250, or PXA255. Microsoft and Intel, of course, thought it best not to publicize the whole Xscale debacle at all. Keep this in mind when you shop for a new PocketPC. The spec sheet will not list the processor as a PXA250 or 255 – They’re all called Xscales as far as the sales literature is concerned and there’s no way to tell what chip a machine uses without doing your homework first.
As I’ve mentioned, I was very pleased with the 2215’s D-pad. It’s quick and responsive, even if a little small, and has a good positive feedback to it without being too hard to press or going ‘click’ every time you move it. The 2215 has the same less-than-optimal clicky application buttons as every other PocketPC on the market, but the buttons are easy enough to press and arranged such that you can easily press them one at a time or hit two of them together, as the situation in your game dictates. The 2215 makes a very good gaming machine, as these things go.
The 2215 also has a very unique style and form factor, as HP/Compaq machines go. HP have completely done away with the superfluous styling elements of the previous Ipaqs, instead favoring a clean and compact layout with simple lines and logical placement of components. There are black rubber sidegrips on the machine, which I think are a wonderful idea. They follow the same design ideal as those found on the Audiovox Maestro, but are thicker and slightly more textured, and do a good job of keeping your expensive toy in your hand. The 2215’s case is plastic and the machine is very lightweight, but it at the same time feels solid. Nothing on it bends or squeaks or clicks (other than the buttons). The thing’s pretty small, too. While not as tiny as HP’s own Ipaq 1910, which is downright miniscule, the 2215 is quite a bit smaller than HP’s next model down the food chain, the 30xx series, and far smaller than the 55xx series. It’s smaller than my old Maestro, and downright microscopic next to the Dell Axim (which has been described as “bricklike” by multiple sources). It’s not as thin as the Toshiba e335 or the ViewSonic PocketPC, but it’s smaller in the other dimensions. It’s curvy and hard to measure, but it’s about 4.5x3x0.6 at all of its widest points. My scale reckons it weighs about 149 grams, with the battery and two memory cards installed. It’s certainly pocketable.
The screen on the 2215 is no less than excellent. On its highest setting it’s spectacularly, ridiculously bright. This is a transflective display, which shares elements of traditional backlit and the reflective screens found on earlier PocketPC’s. The screen is simply gorgeous indoors with its backlight on, and remains readable outdoors or in sunlight much the way that a Gameboy’s screen does. It has good color depth and contrast, which is good because neither of the above are adjustable. The screen is offset to the left by a tiny amount, presumably to accommodate the stylus slot.
This model has two expansion slots. One accepts type 1 and type 2 CompactFlash cards, including a myriad of CompactFlash modems, wireless cards, network cards, memory cards, and micro hard drives. There’s a SecureDigital slot, too, which is also SDIO complaint. SecureDigital form factor wireless cards and other accessories will work in the 2215’s SD slot, and it’s not just limited to memory cards. Take that, Ipaq 1910 and Dell Axim. It has integrated Bluetooth as well, for wireless connection to devices like GPS units, headsets, mobile phones, and other handheld users. I don’t have any Bluetooth devices to test out, but I did connect to a few display models at the store. Bluetooth file sharing isn’t exactly the pinnacle of user friendliness, but it’s simple enough to get going if both machines are set up properly and far less failure prone than infrared.
Not only does the 2215 feature removable, replaceable batteries (at long last!), it has a little slot in its cradle for you to stick a spare battery, where it will be charged automatically. You can even read out the charge level of the spare battery though the machine’s internal battery meter. Slick.
The 2215 comes bundled with Nevo, which is a powerful and very slick remote control application that uses the machine’s uncommonly powerful infrared hardware to control your TV, VCR, home stereo, and other appliances. You also get a host of other Ipaq specific software built into the machine’s ROM. The Ipaq image viewer is serviceable at best, and that’s all about I can say about it. The asset viewer is primarily a tech support tool, but also displays your unique device ID, owner information, and so on. There’s a self test application, again only for emergency use. You also get all the usual PocketPC suspects built into the ROM – Pocket Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger, Reader, File Explorer, Personal Information Management (PIM) applications, and so on. Yeah, PIM stuff. You can actually use this thing for an organizer… Go figure.
The Bad
This machine isn’t without its flaws. These are, thankfully, few and relatively minor.
HP have chosen to omit the side mounted record button on this model, which has become sort of a de facto standard among PocketPC’s. Granted, most people never use the record function and on some models (like the Toshiba e75x series) the record button gets in the way and gets pressed when you don’t want it to. This is still an application button that can be mapped to something useful, though, and when you get right down to it the 2215 has one less button than the rest of the crowd. It also has no jog dial along the side, which will turn off lots of former Casio and Jornada users.
The 2215 lacks a DC input jack. If you need to charge your machine on the road without the cradle you need to use the provided adapter to plug your wall power into it, which is cumbersome and the little rubberized adapter likes to come undone. Those of us that use battery extenders will be most annoyed by this until a workaround is established. To be fair, the Ipaq 19xx series works the same way.
The 2215’s battery light flashes when your cells are charging, which is annoying, and is a perfectly repugnant shade of gasoline fire orange. I don’t know about you, but this irks me. It’s only a matter of time before I get in there and swap out the LED for a green one.
For such an expensive piece of hardware, the 2215 sure comes bundled with a horrible case. The nylon slipcase job that comes in the 2215's box doesn't provide very good coverage, is entirely too hard to put the machine into, even damages the machine every time you put it in or take it out. The elastic bands inside the case that give it its stretch have their ends heat sealed to prevent fraying, which hardens the material and makes it pointy enough to scratch the rubber side grips on the machine itself. I think HP actually designed this case to fit the 19xx series and then forgot. In any event, your best bet is to find yourself a better aftermarket case, which can be a bit tricky at this point.
The 2215 is so new on the market that there aren't many third party cases available for it. It is very, very similar in size to the marginally more prevalent but laughably underpowered Palm Zire, however, and all of the Palm Zire cases, holsters, and pouches I tried fit the 2215 perfectly. I'm using a Rhinoskin Palm Visor hardcase for mine at the moment, which is just a tad big for the 2215, but it provides plenty of extra space inside for my headphone plug and other accoutrements. Cases that are actually made for the 2215 should be hitting the market anytime from next week to next month, if you can wait.
You get no spare styluses (styli?) with the 2215, and no screen protectors. You do get what basically amounts to a screen protector with “INSTALL ACTIVESYNC FIRST” emblazoned on it applied very meticulously to the machine’s screen, though, which makes me wonder why HP didn’t install a genuinely useful screen protector and had done with it. And maybe, god forbid, done something useful for their customers. As usual, the bundled Microsoft Outlook/Activesync software package sucks, and the installer that runs when you pop the 2215's driver CD into your computer tries to trick you into installing Outlook, just so Microsoft can open a few more security holes in your system. This, as with previous versions, can be skipped. Some of us use real email clients, thank you.
Microsoft have basically patched and polished ActiveSync (the program you use to connect the handheld to your PC) to the point that it pretty much works. You can still only connect to and sync with PC's running Windows, though. The 2215 uses USB and USB only to connect, so you also need a USB aware version of Windows: 98, ME, 2000, or XP. You can only sync email inboxes with Microsoft's very own Outlook, so unless you're packing third party software or some sort of internet access on your PocketPC itself you can't do any offline emailing.
The Ugly
If HP/Compaq shipped a unit that didn’t have anything wrong with it we’d never know it was from them. Most of my gripes are a direct result of the new PocketPC 2003 operating system, so take them however you please.
While a wide majority of PocketPC 2002 programs work under PocketPC 2003(and indeed, PocketPC 2000 and old Windows CE 3x programs) , it seems that the ones that really matter do not. Both of the storage card diagnostic and formatting tools, CnetX Flash Format and Softwinter Storage Card Tools, do not work. I’ve heard reports of various Today screen plugins not working under the new OS, and some taskbar managers also flip out. Calligrapher is another no-go, as is Airscanner, the stable versions of PocketWarrior and Netstumbler, Pocket ColourMe, and a slew of other odds and ends that I haven’t run across yet.
Despite Microsoft’s puffery, very little has changed between PocketPC 2002 and 2003 except for select programs not working. The Connections menu has been slightly overhauled, and the operating system can now automatically configure your network card to work with whatever network it reckons it’s found. Other than that, the OS looks and functions exactly the same, except for the things that are evidently broken for your computing convenience. None of the glaring problems with the operating system have been fixed – The X in the corner of the screen still doesn’t actually close applications (it only minimzes them, and this has been a gripe with absolutely everyone since PocketPC 2000), the calendar and contacts applications have no new functionality, Pocket Windows Media Player is as buggy as ever, Pocket Word and Excel still suck and don’t support formatting, tables, and all sorts of other things, and you still can’t access Microsoft’s very own Hotmail through Pocket Internet Explorer.
I guess the best thing I can say about it is that it’s still better than Palm.
The gamers in the audience will be dismayed to hear that at the moment the 2215 does not allow software overclocking. There is apparently some power saving “feature” on HP’s end that resets the processor speed to 400 mhz every second no matter what you do. The hacker community is currently working on a patch to remedy this (myself included), and as soon as anything develops I’ll post it here immediately. The author of Pocket Hackmaster has made some promising strides – He’s already fixed the same problem on a few other Ipaq models.
And then there’s Itask. Itask is supposed to be some sort of task manager application, and is included in the 2215’s ROM and by default mapped to one of its buttons. It allows the user to close running programs, change the backlight brightness, and launch applications. More or less. It’s tricky to impossible to use without the stylus, which totally defeats the purpose of mapping it to a button. Its options screen is confusing and isn’t documented anywhere, and even once you do figure it out you’ll notice that you can’t set your “shortcuts” menu to display anything other than the set of applications built into the device’s ROM. Once you outgrow those (which you will, almost immediately) Itask becomes useless. WisBar can do the same task switching and closing things better than Itask does, and can also set your X button to actually close things. TdLaunch and PocketLauncher are both perfectly serviceable menu/task launcher programs that can replace the rest of Itask’s functionality and then some. Of course, the inclusion of Itask means that the 2215 doesn’t come with any other menu program, so you’re stuck finding a third party one. Me, I liked the Home application that came included in my Maestro’s ROM better than any of the above. It’s the one thing I miss.
When you get right down to it, the Ipaq 2215 is a great piece of hardware that’s let down a little by the software that it’s stuck with. It’s not a machine without flaws, but time should remedy the flaws on the software level and the hardware’s imperfections are minor. Overall, a very capable machine at a good price, sure to please just about any geek... Until the next big thing comes around.
Recommended.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 399 Recommended for: Business Executives - Powerful and Professional
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