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PDA Reviews HP iPAQ rx3115 Pocket PCEditor's rating (1-5): Review posted September 18, 2004 by Lisa Gade, Editor in Chief With its Fall 2004 Pocket PCs, HP has differentiated their iPAQs into three product lines, Digital Entertainment iPAQs, Classic Performance iPAQs and the iPAQ 6315 Pocket PC phone. The iPAQ rz1715 and the rx3000 series models comprise the Digital Entertainment iPAQs, and these target consumers. Here in the US, there are three models, the rx3115, rx4314 and rx3715. Though the rx3415 appears only in HP's US specs pages and not on their main site so we're not sure if it will be available here. The camera-less rx3115 seems to target the US market and hasn't been announced for Europe or Asia, likely because of US corporate rules about cameras in the workplace and even public schools. The rx3115 is a very good unit for the money, offering strong performance, Bluetooth, WiFi and the ever-popular Nevo AV remote. In fact, all the Fall 2004 iPAQs except the rz1715 have both WiFi and Bluetooth. Like the rz1715, it sports HP's new and not very sexy design, but unlike the rz1715, the 3115 does offer a nice set of features for the price. At $70 more than the entry level rz1715, the rx3115 brings a lot to the table, adding a faster processor, Bluetooth, WiFi, more RAM, a user replaceable battery and Nevo. If you can spare the change, the rx3115 is definitely the better buy.
In the Box The iPAQ rx3115 comes with a replaceable Lithium Ion battery, world charger, USB sync cable (not cradle), stylus, earbud headphones, case, software CD and several manuals including a thick "Special Features of the rx3000 series" manual which covers the bundled multimedia software in depth. Features at a Glance The iPAQ rx3115 is a compact device that has a 3.5" QVGA transflective display, an SD slot supporting SDIO, WiFi, Bluetooth and consumer grade IR. It runs Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition (SE) with native support for both portrait and landscape modes, has a 300MHz processor and ~56 megs of total available memory. Unlike its bigger rx brothers, the 3415 and 3715, it doesn't have a digital camera. Design and Ergonomics While the rx series doesn't have the style and curvy good looks of the last generation iPAQ 1945 and 4150 models, it isn't bad looking either. It's thicker than the rz1715 and the wider, shiny black side insets do much to balance the device's angular silver and black front face. The unit is compact for a Pocket PC, and as you can see from our comparison photo, it's one of the smallest Pocket PCs. All rx3000 models use the same casing and are the same size, they vary only in color.
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The device has a clean design, and the only button you'll find on the sides is the record button on the upper left. The SD slot is located on top as are the IR window, power button, headphone jack and stylus. On the front you'll find an LED that indicates wireless radio status and another for charging status and reminders. The iPAQ has a 5-way directional pad flanked by two buttons on each side. By default, these buttons launch, from left to right: iPAQ Mobile Media, HP Image Zone, Nevo AV remote and iTask. On most other Pocket PCs, these buttons launch the PIM apps, but since this is a multimedia oriented device, HP went with their multimedia apps. As with all Windows Mobile devices, you can re-map the buttons to launch any application you wish, and as with all 2003 SE devices, you can specify which applications are launched when the buttons are pressed and held for a second or two.
The removable Lithium Ion battery lives under a large door on the back of the unit, and the (loud) speaker seems to be located under the d-pad. As you'd expect, the sync connector is on the bottom edge, and it's the same connector as the iPAQ 3000, 5000, 2200 and 6315 models. For example, my iPAQ 5555 charger works with the rx3115 as does my iPAQ 6315 cradle. HP now refers to this as the universal connector, but don't confuse it with palmOne's universal connector, because they are different!
Display and Sound
The rx3000 series iPAQs use the same display and it's very bright, colorful and sharp. It has a neutral color bias and is perfect for viewing photos and watching movies. It has a 3.5" QVGA (240 x 320) transflective display, which are standard specs for Pocket PCs.
Sound is great on the rx3115 and all the rx3000 series models, as it should be for a multimedia-oriented device. The iPAQ is quite loud and you'll be able to hear movies, alarms and music in rooms with average or a bit higher than average noise levels. Like all Pocket PCs, the iPAQ has a standard 3.5mm stereo headphone jack, and unlike all, the unit comes with a set of earbud headphones. Sound quality is excellent through headphones and the volume is plenty loud. The iPAQ Audio control panel allows you to control headphone treble and bass as well as set microphone AGC (automatic gain control). All Pocket PCs have a mic and voice recorder, and the iPAQ is no exception.
WiFi All Fall 2004 iPAQs (rx3000 series, hx4700 and the 6315) except the entry level iPAQ rz1715 have both WiFi and Bluetooth wireless networking. All use HP's new iPAQ Wireless as your one stop application for managing these wireless radios and their connections. The large round buttons turn each wireless radio on and off, and the other buttons allow you to manage each wireless connection's settings. The iPAQ rx3115 has built-in WiFi 802.11b wireless Ethernet networking. It has very good range even though it doesn't have an external antenna. The iPAQ uses the Windows Mobile Connection Manager (a part of the OS) to manage wireless connections, and the device supports 64 and 128 bit WEP encryption, 802.1x using PEAP, SmartCard or Certificates. It comes with the Windows Mobile Certificates applet for managing certificates. The connection worked reliably for us when connecting to access points (with and without WEP) and worked seamlessly with iPAQ Mobile Media. Bluetooth The iPAQ uses HP's Bluetooth Wizard which is powerful and user-friendly. It walks you through connecting to a variety of devices, from your ActiveSync partner (if you have a USB Bluetooth adapter installed on your PC), to mobile phones to access points and GPS units (it doesn't support Bluetooth headsets). The Bluetooth software is made by Widcomm and is version 1.5.0. I ActiveSync-ed wirelessly, connected to Belkin and Red-M Bluetooth access points for Internet access and transferred files to other Bluetooth enabled Pocket PCs. |
iPAQ Wireless is where you'll manage your WiFi and Bluetooth radios and connections. |
iPAQ Mobile Media Player and Nevo Software HP's iPAQ Mobile Media (powered by Nevo) allows you to listen to MP3s, view photos and watch videos stored on the Pocket PC. It supports Windows Media format video files (.WMV), MP3s and images (JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG and local TIFF files). The Windows XP-only desktop apps, NevoMedia Player and Server, work with iPAQ Mobile Media on the Pocket PC to allow you to manage and play music, pictures, and video through your wireless home network— very cool. You can also wirelessly transfer your digital music, photos, and videos from your networked PC(s) running NevoMedia Server to your iPAQ and take them with you. The iPAQ app has a Media Control function that allows you to control movie, photo and music playback on any Windows XP machine running the player app on your network. You can also stream movies to the Pocket PC and view photos stored on a machine running the server. All worked well when we used the iPAQ to control music, image and video playback on a networked PC running Windows XP Pro, and we were able to copy multimedia files from the PC running the server to the iPAQ. However the iPAQ player won't play MP3s via a streaming connection (yuck), and won't play Windows Media movies streamed from the server if they have any form of copy protection. Playing non-copy protected content via streaming media, we got sound but no video. The manual says that streamed WMV files must be formatted specifically for the iPAQ in order to playback, but gives no information on what that means exactly. The same movies do play fine when stored locally on the iPAQ. A shame, if this unit could stream MP3s and all WMV files of 320 x 240 size or less, it would be much cooler. Last but not least, there's the ever-popular Nevo AV remote, which keeps getting better. Nevo is a powerful AV remote app that will allow you to control pretty much every piece of home AV equipment on the market. It controls TVs, VCRs, DVDs, CDs, amps, tuners, cable boxes, satellite dishes and more. The list of supported brands is amazing, and the interface is unique yet very intuitive. You can set up multiple rooms and switch among them, so you can control your living room AV gear, bedroom stereo and TV, and so on. Comparing the rx3115 and rx3715 Both units have the same physical design and casing. In fact, they look identical other than the color (the 3115 is silver while the 3715 is graphite). They use the same display, offer the same multimedia features and have the same sound quality and overall volume. How do they differ? The 3715 adds a 1.2 megapixel digital camera, more File Store memory and a 400MHz Samsung processor while the 3115 has a 300MHz Samsung processor. The rx3715 sells for US $499, while the rx3115 is $349. Conclusion A very nice Pocket PC at a good price. If you're looking for an entry to mid-level PDA with a great screen, nice multimedia software, and good performance, do consider the rx3115. The Nevo AV remote and consumer IR are a big plus and the dual wireless will help keep you connected. If you have a hankering for a camera, also consider the iPAQ rx3715. Pro: Great display, excellent sound, good performance and dual wireless. WiFi has great range and HP's Bluetooth software (Widcomm) is as always, solid and user friendly. Con: Could use more RAM, though you can use storage cards to expand the unit. Battery capacity is a bit lower than we like, though you can buy additional higher capacity batteries. Web Site: www.hp.com List Price: $349 Comparison Shopping: Where to Buy
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