The follow-up to HP's much-acclaimed iPAQ h1910 is here: the h1940 model adds Bluetooth, SDIO and Windows Mobile 2003 - but does it still cut the mustard? Jørgen Sundgot investigates.
When launching its iPAQ h1900 series in late 2002, Hewlett-Packard managed to stir up the low-end Pocket PC market sufficiently to reignite competition through a combination of adequate power coupled with an excellent display and low price. Now, the h1940 is here - and with it, HP is attempting a feat akin to moonwalking after Michael Jackson. But if the h1940 is as Bad as its predecessor, competitors can just Beat It - it's time to find out in this exciting Thriller of a review.
 | As far as low-end Pocket PCs go, the h1940 comes with all the bells and whistles
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Design
Being as small and neat as its predecessor (in fact, the h1910 and h1940 share similar physical measurements although the latter weighs 4 g more), the h1940 honours its heritage by remaining one of the smallest Pocket PCs on the market. It is, in fact, incredibly minute, and with its sleek shape quite comfortable to hold - although rubber grips would have been preferable.
Its display is of the 3.5", 16-bit transflective TFT variety, capable of displaying 65,536 colours and offering exceptional brightness and clarity. Unfortunately, however, an issue with the display technology opted for by HP leads to a disturbing yellow hue gracing the display when not viewed precisely head-on. Although this does not interfere particularly - depending on personal preference, of course - with normal use, those seeking to do professional image processing should look elsewhere.
On the bright side, stylus travel is very short and as such makes the h1940 a pleasure to navigate by means of its comfortably weighted metal barrel stylus. Likewise, its buttons all provide excellent tactile feedback, with the exception of the apalling top centered power on/off button, which also doubles as an alert notification and Bluetooth status LED. The excellent five-way directional pad of the h1940 is placed centered below its screen, with two hardware shortcut buttons on each side, while a voice record button is placed just below the Infrared port on the upper left side of the device.
Despite its speaker being placed beneath the directional pad, the iPAQ h1940 provides well-balanced and loud speaker output, devoid of distortion and considerably less tinny than many other Pocket PCs. Alas, the unit lacks the bass/treble adjustment options of the h2200 and h5000 series, but instead provides an intuitive microphone gain settings dialog which yields good results as well as a separate control for the 2.5 mm earphone jack of the unit. A set of 2.5 mm earphones is bundled, but audiophiles beware: this will not rock your world - rather use the 3.5 mm converter included in the box and get a proper set.
Connectivity
The original iPAQ h1910 did not offer much in terms of expansion except for a USB synchronization cable, an Infrared port and an SD/MMC Card expansion slot. The h1940 still offers all of this, but adds SDIO capabilities and Bluetooth, increasing its versatility ten-fold: not only can it now connect to a slew of computing devices wirelessly, but is also future proof due to its support for input/output accessories. Also, the line-up of Bluetooth profiles is far from just a basic set, further bolstering a positive impression.
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