Just when you thought it was safe to capitalise an "i" at the beginning of a product name in an Apple article, HP steps in to remind us that they've been in the business of designing hand-held mail devices beginning with a lower case "i" for quite some time (7 years since April, in fact).

There are two flavours on offer from the new hw6900 series; they're largely similar, though the hw6915 features a 1.3 megapixel camera and the option to record voice (features which the cheaper hw6910 lacks). Both feature GPRS, GPS and run Windows Mobile 5. This compares favourably to the iPhone's OS X, though how well will depend on how much of OS X makes an appearance on the iPhone, and how well Apple has managed to do with its first generation product versus Microsoft's sixth.

The hw6900s effectively offer an expansion on the hw6500 series, adding new features where necessary. Most notable among these additions is WiFi, which had until now been sorely lacking and again stands up well alongside the iPhone. More impressive still is the inclusion of the GPS receiver, one of the few features truly separating it from the competition - though this is a slim lead, and pretty soon we can probably expect to see GPS as standard in smartphones... Perhaps even later generations of iPhone's.

The real clinch for business users though is the fact that the hw6900's Windows Mobile 5 includes full use of Windows' Mobile Office Suite, a feature which leaves the standard Blackberry's inability to edit documents on the fly sorely wanting and only highlights the iPAQ's applicability to professionals with a true mobile office need to be constantly available.

Earlier iPAQ's featured a somewhat tragic touch screen typing system; fortunately the hw6900 series features a full hardware "qwerty" keyboard, which means most users will at least be respond to mail at a decent rate and further lends itself to the series' Office applications. This also means that for those of us using a standard Blackberry, there's no real learning curve involved in an upgrade to the hw6900.

Of course, the one respect in which the hw6900 suffers for its panoply of features is its sheer bulk (7.1cm x 11.8cm x 1.8cm). It's not damning, but the unit does feel awkwardly big and cumbersome, particularly compared to competition as slick as the iPhone. Fortunately for those being paid to design ever smaller devices, "awkwardly big" just doesn't cut it any more. The overall size of the hw6900 is perhaps the single least likable statistic; while the smartphone delivers the functionality of both a phone and a Push mail device (effectively neutralising the need to carry a second device) it still feels cumbersome.

Whatever about not matching up to the iPhone on looks, style and grace, this impression of the hw6900 is worsened by the fact that Blackberry's Pearl sports such an attractive form.