khatfull

Well, after reading all the horror stories here and elsewhere *and* conferring with a colleague who's had (and still has) a 6315 since their introduction I still decided to take the plunge...GPRS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth were too much of a draw. So, here's a few observations (I'm a network consultant by trade so keep that in mind here...):

- Picked up my 6315 on eBay, it didn't have the ROM update. Did a hard reset, immediately updated the ROM and the Wi-Fi driver. Easy.

- Wi-Fi is great. I had to set a few client APs to do Open authentication but other than that it's been great. At home I have an *original* Linksys WAP11 and have to do a reset through the SNMP utility occasionally to get the 6315 talking again. It's ancient 802.11b so I don't hold it against the iPaq...I should upgrade APs ;-). Using GSPlayer I can listen to Virgin Radio Classic Rock's 160kbps OGG stream out of London while walking around the house. Beautiful.

- GSM coverage here in Minneapolis/St. Paul has been outstanding. I haven't yet missed a call due to signal.

- GPRS has also worked just about flawlessly, T-Mo's $20 unlimited plan is great. I find myself using a lot fewer cell minutes now because I'm replying to clients via e-mail from just about anywhere. Speed is reasonable although certainly not whizbang. VNC or TS is pokey...much better on Wi-Fi. Responding via e-mail is really nice since I can't ge sucked into a 15 minute phone call to answer a 30 seconds question ;-).

- BT is ok...not stellar. I got a Jabra BT250 which pairs and works just fine. The first time I turned on BT I had to soft reset....from there it worked just fine. Quality through the Jabra is decent. People on the other end know I'm on a headset but report it's not horrible. No echo issues here.

- I use AS for Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes. I get my e-mail via POP, being careful not to empty Deleted Items until O2003 has all the mail. Weird there's no "leave a copy on server" option in the default Inbox setup but oh well.

I've never had a smartphone before, always Palms and cellphones. I have to tell you, having everything in one place and so closely integrated with Outlook has just been amazing, even for just a week. Add the Wi-Fi and GPRS and I couldn't be happier.

As a for instance, yesterday I was eating Chinese for lunch and got a call from a client that they weren't getting outside mail via their Exchange Server. Occasionally they have a malformed e-mail come in that throws the Internet Mail Service for a loop and kills the service. Hung up with the client and hit the iPaq. Noticed the Subway next door had a totally open AP (yeah, I know, but as I left and bought a Diet Coke to go from them...) so I hopped on, fired up VNC, and was able to verify the malformed e-mail, get it out of the queue, and restart the service, all in about 7 minutes *while* eating my wonderful Chinese buffet. Client served quicker, my food didn't get cold, and the Subway found out their AP was totally open. Too much fun.

Thanks to the forum here I have just about all programs I need installed to the iPaq file store (except the ones that wouldn't). Music and documents are on the 1GB SD card (64bps OGG files don't take up a lot of room). I have no third party Today plugins yet, haven't found one I needed. I tend to run a clean ship with servers and PCs...as little installed software as possible. I plan to continue that with the iPaq.

What would I change?

- More memory (128MB)
- Sync SD cards through AS.
- Having BT and Wi-FI work at the same time...for some reason the BT headset going active kills the Wi-FI after about 5-8 seconds...anyone else? It's not a showstopper for me.
- A larger thumb keyboard...if I'm going to have to clip something on to get a keyboard then give me a bit more space between the keys.

Well, sorry for the long rant but I wanted to add a vote of confidence for the 63xx. It's worked for me just fine...time will tell if I'm still as enamored. But, if the first week is any indication...wow. I'm happy.

-Keith

CookieKid

Wow, awesome review! Really appreciate all the effort you've put into this! This will definitely help a member/visitor decide whether or not they should get this device!

uwaku

I agree 110%. Excellent review, though you have to stop calling it a "smartphone", since that's a totally different class of device. I've had my 6315 since Feb 05 and cannot live without it (though I'd trade it for an MPx300 or the Mitac Mio a701!). Everyone who cries about this or that issue can generally get it fixed if they ask around. The ONLY consistent problem I've had is the low speaker volume, and I fixed that by getting a Logitech Mobile Freedom BT and amplifying my MP3 ringtones by 300%.

The email access is the best part of it for me. I have my personal POP3, my military secure email, my GMail, and my local ISP email - all on my iPAQ, all the time!

Why is this a big deal? I work as a government contractor, but my position doesn't entitle me to a crackberry. Forward any email account that you can't setup on your phone to an email address you never give out. I NEVER miss email, and that includes driving cross-country.

Yes, as people who see me with it on my hip like to say, "it's a big phone". The easy answer to that is a BT on your ear, so my answer is, "no, it's a small laptop."

__________________
Lineage: Royal DaVinci, HandSpring Visor Deluxe, HandEra 330, PalmOne Tungsten T2, HP iPAQ h6315, T-Mobile MDA (HTC Wizard 200)

sdrege

Originally Posted by khatfull

Well, after reading all the horror stories here and elsewhere *and* conferring with a colleague who's had (and still has) a 6315 since their introduction I still decided to take the plunge...GPRS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth were too much of a draw. So, here's a few observations (I'm a network consultant by trade so keep that in mind here...): - Picked up my 6315 on eBay, it didn't have the ROM update. Did a hard reset, immediately updated the ROM and the Wi-Fi driver. Easy. - Wi-Fi is great. I had to set a few client APs to do Open authentication but other than that it's been great. At home I have an *original* Linksys WAP11 and have to do a reset through the SNMP utility occasionally to get the 6315 talking again. It's ancient 802.11b so I don't hold it against the iPaq...I should upgrade APs ;-). Using GSPlayer I can listen to Virgin Radio Classic Rock's 160kbps OGG stream out of London while walking around the house. Beautiful. - GSM coverage here in Minneapolis/St. Paul has been outstanding. I haven't yet missed a call due to signal. - GPRS has also worked just about flawlessly, T-Mo's $20 unlimited plan is great. I find myself using a lot fewer cell minutes now because I'm replying to clients via e-mail from just about anywhere. Speed is reasonable although certainly not whizbang. VNC or TS is pokey...much better on Wi-Fi. Responding via e-mail is really nice since I can't ge sucked into a 15 minute phone call to answer a 30 seconds question ;-). - BT is ok...not stellar. I got a Jabra BT250 which pairs and works just fine. The first time I turned on BT I had to soft reset....from there it worked just fine. Quality through the Jabra is decent. People on the other end know I'm on a headset but report it's not horrible. No echo issues here. - I use AS for Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes. I get my e-mail via POP, being careful not to empty Deleted Items until O2003 has all the mail. Weird there's no "leave a copy on server" option in the default Inbox setup but oh well. I've never had a smartphone before, always Palms and cellphones. I have to tell you, having everything in one place and so closely integrated with Outlook has just been amazing, even for just a week. Add the Wi-Fi and GPRS and I couldn't be happier. As a for instance, yesterday I was eating Chinese for lunch and got a call from a client that they weren't getting outside mail via their Exchange Server. Occasionally they have a malformed e-mail come in that throws the Internet Mail Service for a loop and kills the service. Hung up with the client and hit the iPaq. Noticed the Subway next door had a totally open AP (yeah, I know, but as I left and bought a Diet Coke to go from them...) so I hopped on, fired up VNC, and was able to verify the malformed e-mail, get it out of the queue, and restart the service, all in about 7 minutes *while* eating my wonderful Chinese buffet. Client served quicker, my food didn't get cold, and the Subway found out their AP was totally open. Too much fun. Thanks to the forum here I have just about all programs I need installed to the iPaq file store (except the ones that wouldn't). Music and documents are on the 1GB SD card (64bps OGG files don't take up a lot of room). I have no third party Today plugins yet, haven't found one I needed. I tend to run a clean ship with servers and PCs...as little installed software as possible. I plan to continue that with the iPaq. What would I change? - More memory (128MB) - Sync SD cards through AS. - Having BT and Wi-FI work at the same time...for some reason the BT headset going active kills the Wi-FI after about 5-8 seconds...anyone else? It's not a showstopper for me. - A larger thumb keyboard...if I'm going to have to clip something on to get a keyboard then give me a bit more space between the keys. Well, sorry for the long rant but I wanted to add a vote of confidence for the 63xx. It's worked for me just fine...time will tell if I'm still as enamored. But, if the first week is any indication...wow. I'm happy. -Keith

Great report. I gues there are some of us thaat are real converts.

If you want some more fun, get the Bluetooth GPS and the navigation software. Then the unit does EVERYTHING! I never go anywhere without it.

__________________
Regards,

Stefan
Pleasanton, CA