HP involved int the smartphone market with it’s hw6516 Mobile Messenger, but this series is more targeted at consumers and doesn’t include a keyboard.

After the hw6516, they now introduce the HP IPAQ rw6815 which is feels more like a generic smartphone than a sophisticated piece of hand-crafted hardware. The HP iPAQ rw6815 is a compact PDA/Smartphone, which manages to incorporate all the technologies needed for communication yet weighs just 140g and thick at 19mm.

HP has come up with something that looks rather different from the norm. The rw6815 is all round silver, which these days is the exception rather than the rule. Most of the casing is plastic, and the battery cover feels rather flimsy. There is a nasty plastic cover which protects the screen – but doesn’t stretch far enough down the front fascia to protect the front buttons too.

The rw6815 is a Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE phone and it will keep you in contact with family, friends and access the Internet on the move. Wireless Networking 802.11b, Bluetooth 1.2 and IrDA have all been integrated providing additional methods for connection and communication.

The rw6815 includes a 2 megapixel camera with LED flash, mp3 player, built in WI-FI and Bluetooth. It runs an Intel PXA272 running at 416MHz. The rw6815 has 192 MB total ROM memory (128 MB ROM available for persistent storage, 64 MB SDRAM), certified up to 1 GB. The expansion slot of this IPAQ Pocket PC is a mini SD.

The HP IPAQ rw6815 is in the category of pocket pc phones that do not have a QWERTY keyboard on the front or a sliding QWERTY keyboard or numberpad. That will allow this model to be just 102 mm x 58 mm x 19 mm. Because this smartphone does not have keyboard or numberpad, users will have to dial numbers on its 2.7-inch touchscreen.

Fortunately, Bluetooth is available for hooking up the optional HP iPAQ BT Foldable Keyboard, headphones or virtually any other peripheral, while Wi-Fi is another excellent inclusion. The lack of 3G is a drawback, but at least EDGE and GPRS are on hand.

The rw6815 features a huge display with 2.7 inches transmissive TFT screen (240 X 320 pixels), 65K colours, LED backlight with power save mode. The display is very good with an excellent viewing angle but there are cases that it is hard to read the display especially in bright sunlight.

Windows Mobile 5.0 has been included with its latest applications Word, Excel, PowerPoint and many others. The rw6815 comes with the latest Microsoft Windows Mobile Internet Explorer. Of course, it will also include a web browser and email application, plus Windows Media Player 10.

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