Rx1950 On Its Own: A Serviceable PDA At A Good Price

HP's rx1950 is definitely not what you would call a high-end handheld computer. But considering its £165 price tag for a robust device that allows you to carry around PC Office applications in your pocket with Wi-Fi connectivity, you get a lot for what you pay.

HP's intentions were obviously not to design a fun, geek-oriented device either, while its target market of business users will likely appreciate its mix of Outlook, Excel and Internet Explorer applications packed in a device 3" x 1.9" x 1.8" in size and that weighs only 125g. Missing are a camera and Bluetooth capabilities that are standard features in high-end handheld devices. These peripherals can be purchased separately and are accommodated by an SDIO slot.

The relative low clock speed of the 300 MHz Samsung SC32442 CPU also means reduced power consumption and, thus, extended battery life compared to a higher powered, faster processor. SD and MMC memory cards can be used to either port music, photo or work files to make up for the otherwise low 36-MB of available user storage memory. Ironically, thanks to its limited memory capacity, it is impossible for Microsoft and company to cram it full of programs that you do not need and that often only serve to slow down your system.

A teenager will likely not relish showing off the rx1950's video capabilities or be able to find any true fun hacks as the Microsoft Office applications and the iPAQ's stripped down multimedia capabilities do not exactly make this device an iPod contender. However, the rx1950 does get the job done for a professional user running Microsoft Office applications who needs to check and send email and access the Web with the device's Wi-Fi module. It is important to note, however, that the user interface and iPAQ-to-PC syncing capability leave much to be desired as described below.

Here's a quick list of iPAQ rx1950 features.