Does your life revolve around music, videos, pictures and the net? The HP iPAQ rx3715 could become your new best friend. Anthony Newman makes the connection.
Review summary of the HP iPAQ rx3715:
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 For the growing swathe of users whose mobile life centres around pictures, music and web access, the rx3715 has the potential to become a bit of a digital hub, connecting to phones, networks and consumer devices easily. Although no replacement for a standalone MP3 player or camera, it performs both functions - and a lot more - with aplomb. To really make the Mobile Media Companion concept work, though we'd prefer a VGA screen. Price: $500.
Pros: Dual wireless; 1.2 MP camera; good media applications; bags of RAM and battery life
Cons: We'd prefer it smaller; not VGA; missing dual slots
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Full HP iPAQ rx3715 Review:
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The rx3715 is at the high end of HP's new Media Companion line of Pocket PCs, with the emphasis very much on multimedia and connectivity. Let's see what it can do.
 | The iPAQ rx3715 attempts a slight twist on the software concept of handhelds, and mostly succeeds
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Design
The design favours the boxy, with grey and black plastic the material of choice across the board. Build quality is excellent, as we've come to expect from HP. The rx series isn't quite as small as the 1900 series, but is still extremely compact. Measuring 114 x 71 x 16 mm and weighing 159 g, it's of average size but easy to pocket.
The centre of the unit is dominated by a standard 3.5", QVGA, 16-bit transflective TFT, which offers good colour reproduction and acceptable viewing angles whether inside or out. Just above the screen are two LEDs to convey wireless information.
Below the screen is the array of four application buttons and a 5-way d-pad, all of which are small and made of glossy black plastic with silver labels. Despite their size, they're very easy to press, with just the right level of audible and tactile feedback. By default, the application buttons are bound to Mobile Media, HP Image Zone, Home Control and iTask, which gives a clue as to the intended role of this handheld. The 'normal' application bindings are accessible by a long press.
These buttons are complemented by a dedicated camera button high up on the left side, and a power button on the top face. Also on this side is the 3.5mm headphone jack, which produced very loud, high-quality output, although not with the rubbish included Plantronics headphones. The SDIO-capable SD slot is in the usual place, next to the stylus silo, which holds a decent plastic stylus that we found a little difficult to remove quickly.
The bottom edge of the handheld holds the now-standard iPAQ connector, carried over from the 2200, 3000 and 5000 series. A cradle is supplied..
Lastly, we come to the back of the unit, which plays host to a 1.2 MP camera, complete with vanity mirror and 4x digital zoom. Although not protected by a cover or even recessed, a rubber pad does hold the camera off hard surfaces.
Just below the camera is the replaceable 1440 mAh Lithium Ion battery. The speaker, IR port and microphone are not immediately obvious to the untrained eye, but all are present and very functional.
Connectivity
Part of the rx3715's role as a media companion is communication. Consequently, we find both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi alongside Consumer IR, and an SDIO-capable SD slot for memory expansion or additional functionality.
Both the broad selection of Bluetooth profiles and Wi-Fi are controlled from a single, intuitive application, and were easy to set up and use. The Wi-Fi module is 802.11b and includes support for 128-bit WEP, WPA and 802.1x. The only things we're missing on the rx3715 are dual slots or USB-host connectivity. Or maybe GPS. But none of these are common, or indeed necessary for a handheld in this segment.
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