Before the iPod, the iPaq was the “i-word” on many people’s lips. It started as a line of Pocket PCs by Compaq, and were known for their stylish design and multimedia capabilities thanks to Windows Media Player. Yet despite their small size, advanced touch screen, large software base and clever computing capabilities, the iPod instead is arguably the world’s most well known new technological gadget, even though digital cameras outsell iPods and mp3 players two-to-one and Pocket PCs have been around for much longer.
Billed as part of the ‘Entertainment’ series, when we played with this unit (and it’s bigger brother with Tom Tom GPS support) at an HP media event earlier this week, we noticed a digital media menu that gave you easy access to audio and video files on the device, although the ‘main menu’ as seen on the image above is still the default screen you’ll usually see. Also, while the menu is nothing like the iPod, it does ‘instantly’ expose the audio and video choices available to you.
It comes with WIndows Mobile 5.0, so runs all of today’s Pocket PC software, and besides an SD slot where you can insert a 2Gb SD card, the rx-4540 model comes with 1Gb of memory built-in as standard, something that should have come to Pocket PC’s some time ago and should even now be enlarged to 4Gb, 8Gb and even bigger sizes!
The rx-4540 can be used vertically, or horizontally as seen above. You can also see a clickable jog-dial in the top right hand corner of the unit above, something that makes navigation a little easier, either when used vertically with your left thumb, or horizontally with your right thumb.
Naturally a stylus in included to operate the touch screen and enter information, although as with all Pocket PCs, you can use your finger instead for certain operations.
Bluetooth is built-in, as is Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, so Internet telephony is possible, although there is no socket for a mobile phone SIM card. With a separately purchased Bluetooth GPS adapter, you can turn the rx-4540 into an in-car GPS map, something that the rx-5000 series already has built-in. We’ll look at the rx-5000 series in an upcoming post.
There’s also no built-in camera or FM radio, but as a handheld Windows Mobile 5.0 powered computer with good inbuilt storage and easy expandability which can double as a portable music and video player, it is in the running to be a good excuse to spend AUD $499 on a brand new gadget.
The question is, will it be enough to tempt you away from the latest iPod, a new digital camera or a mobile-phone equipped Pocket PC device or other mobile phone with digital media capabilities all its own? The new styling is appealing, and while other reviews weren’t that impressed, it’s an important step in making the Pocket PC look more like a cool digital device than a complicated pocket computer.
Our own most recent purchase? A 2nd-gen iPod nano with 8Gb. If we had to choose between the two, despite already having a 1st-gen iPod Nano and a modern mobile phone Pocket PC, the new Nano would appeal to us the most, and that was our purchase choice, not that we were aware of the rx-4540 at the time of nano purchase - it only came out earlier this week, while the iPod nano came out three weeks ago already. The iPod and other digital media players are the major competition to the rx-4540, so it will be interesting to see how popular it is worldwide after the Christmas/holiday season is over and we’re into 2007.
However, that said, if we had to buy a GPS navigation unit, the rx-5000 which we’ll look at later this week (which is a full Pocket PC with inbuilt GPS) is definitely worth considering against dedicated GPS devices. Leave a comment and share your own thoughts on iPods, Pocket PCs and GPS devices!
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