HP iPAQ hw6915 GPS Pocket PC

what_car

hi folks im thinking of getting one of these
HP iPAQ hw6915 GPS Pocket PC

from expansys http://www.expansys.ie/p.aspx?i=132494

does anyone have one of these ? what are they like and whats the battery life like?

also is it a bit dated now?


cheers

mkennedy

I don't own one but i'll give you my 2 cents.

this device has been around for a while so i suppose it's "a bit dated" as you say.
generally when it came out first though it was well received because it packed a lot into one device.
however it doesn't have 3g.

it has a lot of features including gps and wifi but afaik the gps is not sirf star III but an older type- so sensitivity/ttff etc may not be as good.

also with all those features it's not a small device unlike some of the more recent pda-phones e.g nokia n95, htc trinity etc.

the screen is square so this may cause problems running some pocketpc software (although most companies have probably updated there apps to accommodate this by now i'd say).

I think it uses mini-sd so you should be able to get 4gb storage cards for it.

hth.

thehomeofDob

Don't get it for GPS unless you have a good data plan with your provider. It uses A-GPS, which means it has to have internet access to help get your position. It is possible to do this at home on your wifi, but not always. Don't have long on, will say more in a bit.

mkennedy

thehomeofDob wrote:

Don't get it for GPS unless you have a good data plan with your provider. It uses A-GPS, which means it has to have internet access to help get your position. It is possible to do this at home on your wifi, but not always. Don't have long on, will say more in a bit.

are you sure it uses A-GPS. I always thought it had proper gps only that it was an inferior type of gps to sirfstar III.

thehomeofDob

Fairly possitive. A-GPS is crap :P They had one of these in work, and IMO, it was just too bulky, and the buttons were too small. There's a lot better offerings out there. The E-Ten Glofish being one of them. Still, OP, what are your needs?

Quote from PDAGold's BIG review

You will never go astray again or Integrated GPS module

The HP iPAQ hw6900 has an integrated GPS module by Global Locate. What is interesting is that unlike the majority of other GPS-enabled devices, the iPAQ's module supports the Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) technology that uses the NMEA communication protocol. If you do not have a clue what this means, do not worry. It was the same for me before I searched it on the web. If you wish to learn more, I recommend this article: Assisted GPS: A Low-Infrastructure Approach. It seems that A-GPS is much more complex than it may seem from Global Locate's website.
GPS module information

What I gather, the difference from the traditional scheme of GPS satellites => GPS receiver, is that A-GPS employs additional servers that the device communicates with over a terrestrial data connection (GPRS, WiFi or another). The receiver does not rely solely on satellites but can draw information much quicker from those servers. Communication with the servers being much faster than with satellites, it takes the system tens of seconds or minutes less than an ordinary GPS to obtain necessary data to establish the initial position. Additional time is saved due to the fact that data from the servers is pre-processed and the device does not have to decode satellite signal and make difficult calculations (which are due to an effect called the Doppler Frequency Shift caused by motion of the satellites relative to the receiver). All this saves energy, increases positioning accuracy and enhances reception.

In the iPAQ's case, you need to download four data files from the internet using Quick GPS Connection. These data will significantly accelerate the initial establishment of position. They are valid for just a few days and need to be kept up to date. The system works great and without the data, the operation takes incomparably longer. Perhaps the most convenient way is to install a special module for the ActiveSync (from the bundled CD-ROM) that will automatically update the GPS data every time you synchronise with the PC.
Quick GPS Connection Quick GPS Connection

The device comes with a pre-installed GPS Navigation application (in reality it is TomTom) but without maps. You can download one map (one city!) from the internet for free but the offer includes only maps for selected countries of Western Europe and North America. Other maps must be purchased.

I worked mainly with TomTom Navigator but tried other navigation applications, too, namely Dynavix, Be-On-Road, and SmartMaps. Everything worked fine with no limitations due to the device's computing power, and recent versions of the applications supported the square display more or less successfully. The receiver's sensitivity is about average, perhaps above average among GPS-enabled PDAs. As long as I had the device in a holder at the windscreen, there were very few dropouts (even though my windscreen has some reflexive coating that makes it difficult for satellite signal to pass through). When I put the device between the front seats, dropouts were more frequent but the navigation was still usable. If you do not have a protective coating on the windscreen and find a meaningful position for the device in the car, you won't have problems with the signal. Otherwise you have to put up with the occasional dropout (or connect an external GPS over Bluetooth, which isn't as cool:).

mkennedy

just because it uses a-gps are you sure that you can't just use the ordinary gps alone.

in this comprehensive review by the lads over at mobiletechreview www.mobiletechreview.com/HP-iPAQ-hw6915.htm they said they only used the ordinary gps in the review without using the a-gps.

that seems to suggest that the a-gps is auxiliary and helps to improve sensitivity etc but that you can also use the ordinary gps alone if you want to.

I also got a device that avails of a-gps to help the ordinary gps but I can also simply use the basic gps on it's own as well.