HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger : Separating Facts from Rumors
February 27, 2005 [Pocket PC phone] | By Edward J. R.
2nd generation of Pocket PC phones from HP corporation - HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger:
... will be available commercially in about 2-3 months. Let's take a look at facts and rumors that by now appeared about this superb phone, a phone that well may be a Treo killer...
Facts from official HP website (see here for press release):
- HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger will have built-in support for: GPS, EDGE, GPRS/GSM. Wi-Fi is not mentioned at all.
- HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger series name (like 6500 or 6700) is not mentioned at all.
- HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger will feature email-push solution from Good Technology: GoodLink.
Facts from our [very official] discussions with HP (see here for discussion with a guy from HP about HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger and here for real life photos of HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger):
- neither 6500 series nor 6700 series depiction is mentioned, only the name "iPAQ Mobile Messenger"
- commercial availability of this phone: end of April 2005 with price similar to h6300 series, what means: around 700 Euro without subscription (in practice: between 600 and 700 Euro)
- square resolution: 240x240 pixels
- no Wi-Fi
- 2 card slots: SDIO and mini-SD
- Bluetooth is not mentioned
- a version with camera and without camera will be available (as it was with 6300 series) - because this phone is targeting mainly enterprise customers, who sometimes are not allowed to enter premises with cameras
- specifications of HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger will be released in first half of April 2005
- employee of HP clearly mentioned that HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger will be faster than h6300 series but didn't say anything about processor (whether it will be Intel or Texas Instruments or what speed it will have)
Rumors resulted from digging in FCC website:
- some model of HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger with built-in Wi-Fi is coming because in one of measurement set-ups Wi-Fi radio interface is clearly mentioned in a picture
- on some photos antenna socket for the built-in GPS receiver is covered - as if given model wouldn't have GPS at all!
Other rumors from Internet:
- on March 17 2005 (Thursday) HP is supposed to release official announcement with specifications of HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger - a conflict with above official information, that specifications will be released in April 2005
- there will be 2 series of HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger: 6500 (with built-in GPS and 2 card slots and without Wi-Fi) and 6700 (with GPS and 1 card slot [mini-SD] and with Wi-Fi)
- GPS navigation software from TomTom with some limited maps will be pre-installed in the phone
- the built-in keyboard in HP iPAQ Messenger is not backlit
- processor: 520 MHz from Intel - PXA270
Conclusions: in EU nowadays mobile operators (i.e. carriers) are not introducing EDGE (also known as "2.75 G") but instead they go stright to 3G/UMTS. Reason: they invested many billions Euro in 3G licenses and thus going for EDGE makes no business sense for them, because they must recoup their investments in 3G spectrum as soon as possible. This fact and other background information let us conclude that HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger is designed to defeat Treo650 smartphone - particularly in USA! While having inferior display (240x240 compared to 320x320 in Treo650) the HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger offers additionaly built-in GPS and 2 card slots (one more than Treo650). The market situation in USA is such that PalmOS based smartphones, thanks to Treo line, are number one - beating not only Microsoft but also Symbian! On the other hand Canadian company RIM is very succesful with RIM Blackberry devices (and Blackberry Connect software that is licensed and embedded in various cellphones). With iPAQ Mobile Messenger HP wants to fight palmOne's Treo and RIM's Blackberry - mostly in USA market. Since we will start to see, beginning from summer 2005, PDA phones for 3G/UMTS (like MDA IV aka HTC Universal) clearly HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger will not be able to satisfy users in EU (remember: no EDGE in EU! operators are pushing 3G/UMTS only!). However in USA it may well become a Treo killer... unless palmOne will release very soon Treo with built-in GPS and built-in Wi-Fi...
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