The HP iPAQ 5900 - PDA GPS extravaganza

OooooOOohhh I hear you cry - what’s this? It’s the new HP iPAQ rx5915 Travel Companion. At last HP slip under the radar with some good news. A PDA with a built-in SiRFstar III GSC3F GPS chip and a 400Mhz processor (i.e. it’ll find you hiding under a bush in outer Yemen). It also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and will run on a Windows Mobile 5.0 OS on a 3.5″ anti-glare QVGA colour screen. Unfortunately it comes with a teeny 64MB SDRAM but makes up for it with a big ol’ 2.0GB ROM (dependant on model) and an SD/MMC expansion slot.

What else has it got?

Well it comes with TomTom Navigator 6 software. The product will come in 2 European variations - the rx5700 with regional maps, or the rx5900 with maps of Western Europe. I haven’t had a device to try but it’s received a huge 7 out of 10 on the comprehensive CNET review tests, with the only flaw being a low battery life. They claim that it was slow to gain a satellite fix, but other devices I’ve tested with the same spec GPS capabilities and slower processors have worked quickly even in the office, so it’ll be interesting to try it out and see.

They go on to describe it as “sexy and sleek” and as the first device from HP they’ve got excited over in a while. Cool features include: the ability to rotate the screen’s orientation 4 ways; a 9-way navigation pad on the right of the screen; an integrated media player that supports music and video and the all important solitaire and Jawbreaker.

As soon as I get hold of one I’ll let you know how it works out. In the meantime, for more information on the TomTom Navigator 6 series click here.