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Product: Hewlett-Packard 211 Amazon Price: Too low to display Availability: In Stock |
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The HP210 / 211 / 212 / 214 could have been a truly great product. (They’re all the same product: the different numbers indicate the channel and country; i.e., 210 US – Consumer, 214 – Asia, etc.) But it has a few shortcomings that, in my opinion, reduce it to an average product that should be considered carefully.
First, I am a big fan of PDAs and so-called smartphones and have been using them for years. None of them are perfect. In fact, most of them are far from perfect. In recent years the smartphone category, combining the cellular phone, the PDA and a camera, has really taken off. The standalone PDA is probably an endangered species and the HP211 could be the last of its kind. The emergence of the mini-laptop like the Asus Eee and Fujitsu U810 may, in fact, be the final nails in the coffin of the standalone PDA which I think would be a pity.
HP did a lot of things right with the HP211.
The screen is absolutely gorgeous. Photos and videos shine forth in all their glory. Glare from the screen surface has not been a problem. I have not tested it in direct sunlight, but it holds up well in bright daylight. The screen does require a fairly strong touch, but it is something you become accustomed to fairly quickly. Scrolling, however, in Internet Explorer seems to somewhat difficult. You have to apply firm pressure which the device may be interpreting as repeated taps. Something makes navigation in IE more difficult than it has to be.
For those who use the inking capability, once you get the touch done, it is a great experience. The Marvell processor is fast enough to make inking a delight. If you use an onscreen keyboard like TenGo, you’ll be well impressed with how responsive the screen is and how fast your input can be.
Overall, the CPU powers the device with lots of horses to spare. And it is wonderful to have all that memory available, knowing as well that you can add humongous SDHC and CF cards as well. The idea that you can add 32GB of memory with 16GB card in each slot is mindblowing.
WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities are excellent.
The four function buttons are well placed and can be reprogrammed to meet your needs. On left side is another button that starts the recording function. The on/off switch is mounted on the front near the top right corner. While it hasn’t happened to me, I am afraid it can be depressed accidentally, but the auto shutdown should render that moot even if it happens.
The D-pad is a major drawback and could be a dealbreaker for a lot of people. The designers lopped off the top of the D-pad. It is smaller than the right/left and down pads and, mounted just below the screen bezel, feels funny. It is also difficult to toggle precisely which is frustrating. As I use it more, it seems to be becoming more natural, but I consider it a dumb design move. I would strongly suggest that prospective owners either try it in a store or buy from a vendor with an excellent return policy.
The other major flaw – and this could be a deal-killer for a lot of people is the speaker arrangement. There are two speakers, but they do not work together at the same time. The front one is used only, as far as I know, with Skype. It has just barely adequate volume in a quiet room. If there’s any kind of noise, forget it. By the way, the HP211 works very well with Skype.
The rear speaker is just plain horrible. It is inaudible even in a quiet room. It is unusable for playing back voice recordings and trying to use it for music or audio tracks on movies is unthinkable. You can also whistle goodbye to using it for voice prompts for GPS. In a unit this expensive, this design flaw is inexcusable. Making matters worse is that the headphone jack – which is, thankfully, a standard 3.5mm – is located on the bottom of the unit. I haven’t tried it with Bluetooth headphones. one of the big pluses of a standalone PDA like this to me is the recording capability for quick notes. But if I can’t hear them playing back without headphones, what good is it? Another reason for a standalone with Bluetooth is GPS. Obviously, you want GPS with voice prompts. But if you can’t hear the voice prompts, what good is it?
Considering HP’s legendary engineering, I am surprised these flaws made it into the final product, but they did and I think they greatly reduce the appeal of the product.
The unit is pretty big, which I appreciate because I want an ample writing surface and I have big hands. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the surfaces are all slippery plastic. If you intend to use this unit without a case, I suspect it will become a casualty within a matter of days. Overall, the construction feels a little on the cheap side. Not awful, but it doesn’t feel very robust either.
My primary reason for wanting a standalone PDA is to have a way (other than pen and paper) to take notes throughout the day. The HP211 fills this role well. I primarily use PhatNotes and TenGo. The HP211 screen provides an excellent inking experience with no vectoring problems. The stock Windows Mobile Notes and other applications and the letter recognizer also work well. It’s a joy to have a ton of memory with the ability to expand to previously unheard of dimensions. The screen is a marvelous platform for viewing photos or videos. (The CPU, by the way, doesn’t have quite enough ooomph to play video back smoothly. Using TCMP, I had lots of dropped frames.)
If I were ranking the device very narrowly, I would give it 5 stars without hesitation and then take 1 star away for the price, which I think is too high. Thus a net 4 stars. Because of the D-pad design and, in particular, the utterly useless audio, I can give it only 3 stars. Considering the high price in conjunction with these defects and I have to strongly urge that anyone considering this device consider it very, very carefully. One of the reasons I prefer Windows Mobile devices is the wide array of software available for them. The main reason for buying the HP211, on my part, was the large screen, which is admittedly much easier to work with than the one on my smartphone.
But at $400+ for the HP, there are alternatives and I suggest that they be considered. The Nokia N800 is less than half the price and provides WiFi, web browsing and email. The screen is great, though converting video for the N8*0 is dicey. The N800 offers SDHC expansion capability. The N810 adds a sliding keyboard. And both have a rudimentary camera which the HP211 should have, but doesn’t. The big drawback to the N8*0 devices? They’re Linux and apps are still relatively scarce.
On the whole, I think the HP211 is well suited for a notetaking function and moderately well suited for web browsing when Opera is installed. It is an adequate video platform. But the built-in speakers simply stink. The headphone jack is inconveniently placed and the D-pad is something of a design disaster.
The big problem is that there just aren’t that many standalone PDAs out there running Windows Mobile 6 with a ton of memory and a great 4″ screen. At half the price, I’d live with the problems. At $400+, though, I’m still wondering about it. My smartphone does everything the HP211 does: it’s just smaller and more difficult to work on. Is the convenience worth $400+? I’m not sure yet, but am tilting toward saying “no”.
Jerry
I’ve been using Windows Mobile and Windows CE products for almost 10 years. I’ve owned the 4700, 2595 and now the 211. My wife has the 110. I use these devices extensively and have an entire workflow planned around it. It goes everywhere with me. My requirements are such that a converged device doesn’t provide much use to me: processor usually too weak, memory too little, and definitely the screen too small.
I bought the 211 about a month ago. Here are my impressions:
- My first reaction was “BIG!”. It is bigger than all my other devices. It’s thick, more so than the 4700. The weight is ok, though. I don’t think about the size any more. I’ve gotten used to it.
- The screen does require more pressure to operate, but again, I’m used to it now and it’s forgotten. I haven’t noticed different pressure reactions on different screen locations.
- The screen is perfect. To address previous comments about being able to see more stuff: I scan all my documents and commit to PDF. Everything. Then I sync to the 211’s SD card. I have a lightweight PDF reader, and I can read PDFs easily without scrolling horizontally. I can’t come close to doing that with my wife’s 110, or my 2495. Yes, you can fit much more on the screen, and it’s much much sharper than any other device. Yes, the unit takes advantage of the higher resolution: it’s not just bigger pictures on a bigger screen, honestly. Having said that, it’s up to the application to do that. Most do.
- I have *not* noticed any negative performance difference between this and my previous devices. It’s as fast as my 2495 and my wife’s 110.
- I have approximately 30 applications(!) on it. None have had compatibility issues. And because of the impressive amount of memory, I still have approxiamtely 55% of storage memory left.
- Yes, there’s a proprietary cable for sync and power. However, there’s also a mini-USB port, so the proprietary cables aren’t necessary at all. I don’t travel with them. I only use a retractable mini-USB for charging and synchronization. It’s really not an issue.
- Battery life is better than the 4700 and the 2495.
- I love the buttons. I honestly don’t understand the criticisms I have read about them. I’m happy.
- Bluetooth and WiFi have worked without any issues. My only complaint here is for WM6: it can’t connect to my work WiFi network because WM6 doesn’t support WPA enterprise.
Sorry for the rambling review. Just wanted to give my opinion on issues raised here. It’s the perfect device for my requirements: no converged phone/PDA, and I don’t need a camera. BTW, my employer gave me a 8525. I don’t use it at all. It simply can’t do what the 211 does.
got this “monster” this week
the first feeling is “HUGE”, my hand can hold it because I have big palm
the screen is eye candy, 4″ VGA can make a quite difference, the color is very good, not “yellowish” like other HP products, the screen looks dark when the backlight is off, however, it’s pretty viewable under sunlight
the buttons and d-pad are pretty comfortable to press, but up direction of d-pad is a little bit difficult to press because the bottom of screen frame, the arragement is
calendar/contacts (I changed to IE/File Explorer)
Start button (cannot to be changed)
OK and minimize/? (I changed ? to Bluetooth Manager
messaging (not changed)
the application is typical WM, but HP signature application “iTask” is no longer exist, which I can shut down an application with ease, it doesn’t have ipaq backup
Monster Chinese users must read, you must use version 5.3, ver 6.0 will mess up the machine, cause it unable to boot, requires factory reset
all jacks are located on the bottom, even headphones jack, that you may want to use wireless headphones instead, luckily, the updated bt is alot more stable, almost no skip/interruption on a2dp; you can almost forget the new data port, the miniUSB can do both async and charging (1A or higher USB charger is highly recommended, the included AC adaptor has supplied charging adaptor to the data port)
the unit speed is OK, slow down a bit when a2dp is active, video is decent, with TCPMP, no slowdown on mpeg (ripped directly from VCD), Divx is fine (VGA @30fps), wmv has some hiccup
the battery is OK, VGA can use good amount of power, it is recommended to setup screeen auto-off to save power, I tested with Pocket Player, play 160-192kbps ogg vorbis, got around 7 hours when bt a2dp is active
this unit has 2 memory card slots, I put 16GB CF (A-Data) and 16GB SD-HC (A-Data), both work 100%
RF on wifi and bt is pretty impressive, can get signal easily, and give wireless headphones more range (though it’s not good as class 1 bt)
this unit is a big leap from HX2495 and X51v, HX4705 users will find similar pleasure with this unit
I give 95%
pro:
HUGE VGA screen, buttons are comfortable to press, 2200mA/h battery (you can use HX4705 battery), miniUSB port, stable bt, good RF
con:
weak speaker, headphones jack is located on the bottom, no cradle included, kinda bulky
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These speakers will have a home for a long, long time.
