At 4.7 by 2.9 by 0.7 inches (HWD) and 6.7 ounces, the h6315 certainly feels like a Pocket PC, and its 3.5-inch screen ensures that it looks the part. Rubberized sides let you keep a grip on the device, and handy side buttons let you change the volume or turn on the camera or voice recorder with one hand.
The h6315 works just fine as a phone, with a loud-enough internal speaker (but no speaker-phone.) Our unit connected easily to a Bluetooth headset, although the audio was somewhat hissy. The built-in VGA camera wasn't great; images appeared jagged and in somewhat soft focus (but still fine for MMS). In low light, you're pretty much guaranteed blurry pictures.
HP put effort into its networking software, and it shows. Individual, inconspicuous LEDs near the top of the device show which of the 6315's three networks is online. If you're using GPRS and a Wi-Fi network comes into range, a dialog box will pop up asking you if you want to switch. If the Wi-Fi fades, you can keep surfing, and the iPAQ will try to redial your GPRS connection. This worked for us, though we noted that when you switch networks you also switch IP addresses; in other words, you'll have to restart streaming connections. You can also run Wi-Fi and a voice call (or even Wi-Fi, a voice call, and a Bluetooth headset) simultaneously. Alas, the new Pocket PC version of the popular Voice over IP program Skype doesn't work on the h6315 because it doesn't run on the TI OMAP processor, so you'll have to stick to GSM for your voice calls.
We had spotty results with T-Mobile's push e-mail system. The free, Web-based system checks your POP3, IMAP, or Outlook Web Access account to see when new messages arrive, and pings your handheld to pull down the e-mail independently. It didn't work at all with one POP3 account we tried; with another, there was a 10-minute delay between sending a message and the alert arriving on the handheld. The 6315's Inbox program, on the other hand, worked fine, conveniently combining SMS, MMS, POP3, or IMAP e-mail and ActiveSync messages in one application. It handles attachments well, and lets you put pictures in MMS messages by tapping on thumbnails of the images.
The h6315 also comes with a neat, snap-on QWERTY keyboard that adds three-quarters of an inch of length to the device. The keyboard is truly plug-and-play: You can even snap it on or pull it off in the middle of a call. The keys are tiny but usable, about on a par with PalmOne's Treo 600.
As a Pocket PC, the h6315 won't be winning any speed awards: The 200-MHz TI OMAP 1510 processor is optimized to save power, not to provide blazing performance. Our h6315 was even slower than the low-end HP rz1715, and much slower than Dell's Axim X3. Opening a 47K Microsoft Word attachment in the mail application summoned the whirling "wait" cursor for noticeably longer than on our Axim X3, and managing a long mailbox felt a bit gummy.
The processor choice pays off in battery life, though. We got a spectacular 10 hours and 6 minutes of normal use with both the Wi-Fi and GPRS radios on, thanks to the 1.8-Ah battery. (An even beefier 3.6-Ah battery is available as well.) HP estimates 4.5 hours of solid talk time and 210 hours of standby time in phone mode. The balance between phone and Pocket PC is a delicate one, and HP seems to have gotten it right here. For T-Mobile customers, this is one gadget that can really keep you connected in a wide range of situations.
Benchmark Tests
SPB Benchmark: 734
CPU index: 707
File-system index: 656
Graphics index: 1,677
Platform index: 728
Battery life (typical-use test): 10 hours 6 minutes (4 hours, 5 minutes tested continuous GSM talk time with Wi-Fi on).
SPEC DATA :
- Operating System: Windows Mobile 2003
- Type: Pocket PC
- Screen Size: 3.5 inches
- Megapixels: .3 MP
- Flash Memory Type: Secure Digital
- Bluetooth: Yes
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