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HP H4150 Pocket PC (HP (Hewlett-Packard)-FA174A)

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HP H4150 Pocket PC (HP (Hewlett-Packard)-FA174A) Review

Both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless come in a surprisingly small, fairly affordable package.

It weighs a little less than five ounces and is only 4.5 inches long, but the H4150 has a lot of power and usability built in. You can have this Pocket PC's Bluetooth and Wi-Fi activated at the same time, and there are individual indicator lights for both on the top of the case, so you know at a glance which you've got running. You must turn the wireless capabilities on and off from a software screen, but the IPaq Wireless screen is easy to find and extremely easy to use because it contains just four buttons: Bluetooth, WLAN, All Wireless Features On, and All Wireless Features Off.

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The H4150's 802.11b radio consistently recognized more of the wireless access points available in our building than did a Toshiba E800 we tested at the same time. For enterprise use, HP includes a LEAP registration utility, so you can log onto corporate 802.11x networks that require a user name and password. Other security-oriented software in this unit: a VPN client, an encryption utility, and an easy-to-use backup utility.

Besides the photo viewer that comes standard with the Windows Mobile OS, HP has included IPaq Image Zone, which lets you attach voice annotations to photos and make slide shows. The quickness with which the H4150 rotates and zooms in on large images shows that the 400-MHz XScale processor has muscle. Though the model doesn't have the highest-resolution PDA screen we've seen, photos and text had adequate detail and vivid color.

The small speaker on top of the H4150 is useful for system sounds only; music coming through it is thin and weak; audio piped through the headphone port is fine.

The H4150 comes with an extra stylus, an unusual and welcome touch. It would be nice if it also included a dummy card to keep dust out of the SD slot.

A getting-started poster is included with the H4150, but the manual is on CD only, and covers more than one IPaq line. It's well-written and well-organized, with adequate explanations, but it could use more illustrations. For example, there is no diagram of the various parts in the "getting acquainted" chapter. The on-screen Help system is context sensitive and pretty complete, so it's possible to work through most tasks without heading back to your PC to load up the manual.

Upshot: HP has created a powerful corporate PDA in a very compact package.

Rebecca Freed

User Reviews for HP H4150 Pocket PC (HP (Hewlett-Packard)-FA174A)

Reviewed by: imperium999

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: Small. Fast. Dual Wireless. Good build quality. Great screen. Has yet to be topped by any other unit, including HP's new line of PPCs.

Weaknesses: None really. Cradle is a little tricky. Only QVGA resolution. No camera. (these are not really weaknesses).

Overall Evaluation: I bought this PPC a few months ago to replace my absurdly large Sony NX73V, which ran the Palm OS. It is my seventh PDA. I always preferred the Pocket PC operating system because it was more powerful and robust. However, more powerful and robust means it eats battery power much faster than Palm OS PDAs. I left the Pocket PC world in favor of Palms because of the battery life of my old iPAQ. This is the very first Pocket PC I've owned that I didn't have to worry about charging every night. I can leave it on standby, and with around 10 minutes of usage a day (average), I only have to charge it about once a week. The wireless works flawlessly with my home WiFi network (which is 802.11g). I never have to wait for the processor to catch up. I can see how other reviewers have trouble with the cradle, but these people are probably used to other cradles that you can just 'drop' or 'slide' in the unit. This one you have to carefully place in the cradle, which is a little unnerving when you're in a hurry. I find it to be no big deal. People have also complained about a 'yellowish' hue on the display when you tilt it up and down. I really had to look to see it, and I never would have noticed it had I not already known it was an issue. I find this to be no big deal either. The display on this screen is only Quarter VGA (QVGA), and there are a few units out there with full VGA screens at this point, but it's not an issue for me, especially since you're going to pay upwards of $250 more for that feature alone (in Oct. 2004). There's no camera like on more recent units, but frankly most users are on the fence as to whether they want one or not. Many corporate environments have banned phones and PDAs with cameras, so lots of us users don't want that 'feature' anyway. With an excellent form factor, this is the most 'pocketable' Pocket PC you can get. In conclusion, this is the best PDA I've ever owned and is currently the best bang-for-the-buck Pocket PC on the market. I wholeheartedly recommend this unit. You will not be dissapointed!
Reviewed by: dutchmaster

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: petite, good screen, intuitive OS.

Weaknesses: a little pricy

Overall Evaluation: The setup was easy & painless, including loading ActiveSync onto the desktop. The display is a joy to view and though I am still learning about its capabilities, I see where it will be indispensable in a short period of time. It is small enough to easily fit in a coat pocket so it can go everywhere with me. I am very pleased so far.

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