HP unleashes iPAQ series 100 and 200 PDAs

As we've mentioned recently, HP has been readying a handful (no pun intended) of new iPAQ handhelds. Luckily, today we get to move from rumor to fact, as the company has officially announced the next wave of its mobile line. Along with new 3G phones and a GPS navigator, HP is launching the 100 Series "Classic" and 200 Series "Enterprise" edition (pictured) PDAs. Both models are based around Windows Mobile 6 Classic, and sport 64MB of RAM, 256MB of ROM, a Marvell PXA310 624MHz CPU, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, and color touchscreens. There are some notable differences between the two models, however, with the 100 sporting a 3.5-inch, 240 x 320, RGB screen, Mini-USB, and SDIO card slot, while the 200 sports a 4-inch, 480 x 640, 260k screen, 24-pin and Mini-USB connectors, plus SDIO and CF card slots. No word yet on pricing and availability, but you'll know when we do.

[AndrewNeo @ Sep 6th 2007 11:39AM]

Well, I think I just found what I want to replace my rx3115 with..

[Bevon Findley @ Sep 6th 2007 11:42AM]

The 200 is $450. Its on their website. Do yall need an intern?

http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/handhelds/handhelds/1/storefronts/FB041AA%2523ABA

The 100 is $300

http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/handhelds/handhelds/1/storefronts/FA979AA%2523ABA

[joe23521 @ Sep 6th 2007 12:16PM]

What's the difference between 200 and 211?
The pics don't look exactly the same.

[DrNeuralgia @ Sep 6th 2007 11:55AM]

good for you HP...

I think my girlfriend will go for the 100 series... for some reason she like having two diff gadgets on her purse.

[PotajiTo @ Sep 6th 2007 11:55AM]

A bit crappy isnt it? Not going to replace my hx4700.

[Arthur Nonamiss @ Sep 6th 2007 11:58AM]

Crap... I just ordered 14 ASUS MyPal A626's for a project I'm working on. Too bad I need them in one month. :(

[Peter @ Sep 6th 2007 12:00PM]

The Specs for these things are almost exactly the same as my old Axim x51v, which was out almost two years ago. Unfortunately, Dell stopped making it completely, without any new models, so I'm stuck with an old one without an upgrade option. There seems to be no point to this.

[ko @ Sep 6th 2007 12:03PM]

Can anyone say "Phone Intergration"? This is a good device, add A hsdpa raidio and phone software and "hello HP, welcome to the year 2007".

This would be a great device with phone software and not locked to any carrier. HP would have shook up the whol frekin market. But hay another missed opportunity. These guys must be working with the boys over at the Palm foleo development center.

Nice try HP!

[t-bone @ Sep 6th 2007 12:30PM]

I guess you missed the second post down. They also just came out with two smartphones.

[KultiVator @ Sep 6th 2007 12:17PM]

Well Sir, not everybody wants a SmartPhone. I, like many, am issued a Corporate Cellphone by my employer which I can use for personal calls as well (within reason). Why would I double up on another cellphone? Plus I need a device I can use for work in environments (Medical / Military / Government) where cellphones are not permitted.

I just wish Palm would wake up to the large number of folks like me who have a real need for a well-specced PDA.

So kudos to HP, long live the PDA!

[Steve @ Sep 6th 2007 12:13PM]

Somebody is actually releasing a *new* PDA??? God bless America.

Seriously though, I will never understand why everyone thinks PDAs are dead. There are very valid reasons why some people don't want a smartphone over a PDA:

1. I want the larger screen of a PDA but don't want a phone that size to accomodate it.
2. I rarely need to carry my PDA outside of work related duties. Why carry the extra bulk all the time?
3. Smartphones have proven to be neither great PDAs or great phones (jack of all trades, king of none).
4. PDA input (touchscreen/stylus) is not convenient for phone functions and phone input (keypad) is not convenient for PDAs.

Of course, the iPhone is the exception but with no official support for 3rd party apps, it negates the point why most of us use PDAs.

[Xzavier @ Sep 6th 2007 12:18PM]

I wish these devices had a slide out keyboard.

Oh well, I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks!

:D

[aeo @ Sep 6th 2007 12:32PM]

Why do these devices still have so little on-board memory? Yeah, I get that you can expand with a CF card but would it hurt to toss a couple gig in there?

[vorlon @ Sep 6th 2007 1:05PM]

Memory drains the battery. And PDA OS's aren't as bloated as desktop OS's.

Hey Palm, what's your reply?
Medical industry uses a lot of PDAs, so what about one with a mic (for dictating and Skype).
And with a cool design to compete with a certain music player...

[AlphaUser @ Sep 6th 2007 12:35PM]

nice 3.5 screen~

[keithwwalker @ Sep 6th 2007 1:08PM]

What's it gonna take for someone to release a 480x320 pda/phone? The iPhone don't count in my book...

[B @ Sep 9th 2007 10:56AM]

If you're really desperate for a high-res smartphone, the HTC universal will suit you if you're willing to drop the coin. http://the-gadgeteer.com/review/htc_universal_windows_mobile_5_pocket_pc_phone

[ZekeSulastin @ Sep 6th 2007 1:17PM]

As mentioned earlier, Dell has had this out for YEARS, just with WM2003SE and WM5 instead of 6. Way to innovate, guys!

You have also shown that you have no idea what you blab about in the specs:

"... 100 sporting a 3.5-inch, 240 x 320, RGB screen ..."
Congratulations, (Just About) Every Color Screen Ever Made Ever(TM) has an RGB screen. Red-Green-Blue are the colors of the three subpixels in every pixel in (JA)ECSEME, to include LCDs, CRTs, TVs, etc.

"... 200 sports a 4-inch, 480 x 640, 260k screen ..." 260k what? Or do you mean a 262,144 color (18-bit color depth) screen? Either way, you'd think they could do better, maybe by adding a graphics chip ...

Oh wait, both Dell AND HP had one of those in years ago! I wonder what happened to them ...

[Mike Klein @ Sep 6th 2007 1:46PM]

HP is a crappy vendor to buy hardware from...they have more crapware installed than most.

They abandon products after a year on sale. HX4700 is a case in point...no WM6 for you! Yet this pda is still fastest on the market I think.

They even screwed over WM5 upgraders on the hx4700 as HP put out a crap distro which actually made pda run slower than those with half the clock speed! This was HP's fault and NOT Microsoft.

Until they quit crapping on their customers I won't be buying from HP.

[PotajiTo @ Sep 6th 2007 6:24PM]

You can use WM6 on a hx4700 with a homemade rom :P Much faster than wm5

[superrrguy @ Sep 6th 2007 3:27PM]

I'm still using a Toshiba e805. I've been looking for an upgade but have been waiting for something with a few gigs internal memory + an sd slot. Besides WM6 I don't see much reason to upgrade. Maybe I should just get the HTC Advantage.

[Vexorg @ Sep 6th 2007 3:44PM]

Fortunately, my Axim X50v (and even my old X5) are still going strong, although I wouldn't mind getting a new VGA screen device at some point. At some point I'll need to replace the X5 (which serves as my alarm clock, and gets used almost daily) and one of these might fit the bill. And yes, there are times when I still have use for a non phone PDA device.

[LimboMan @ Sep 6th 2007 3:48PM]

Been very pleased with my hx4700 so far... the newer units don't appear to have specs that would justify an upgrade. Anybody else see something I don't that would compel me to open up my wallet again?

[PEZ @ Sep 6th 2007 4:42PM]

What the hell is a PDA? OMG LOL WTF!!1!

[PEZ @ Sep 6th 2007 4:56PM]

What the hell is a PDA? OMG LOL WTF!!1!

[Bobs @ Sep 6th 2007 5:14PM]

Can i break your neck open and eat the candy that comes out?

[PEZ @ Sep 6th 2007 7:08PM]

How can a quadrapolegic like you do anything except piss on itself.

LOLOLOL

[Bobs @ Sep 6th 2007 8:09PM]

lolololol

[varish @ Sep 6th 2007 6:22PM]

wats the dimension of this thing like? i wanna know how thick it is..

[Amit @ Sep 6th 2007 7:18PM]

The Axim x51v is still undisputed the fastest PDA outthere, and its a couple of years old. It has everything this one has (minus the GPS). The most appealing aspect of the 51v was the fact that it had 16megs of onboard graphics!

HP is still behind the pack, clock speeds have not increased 1mhz then they were 2 years ago, and they only seem to be adding GPS. The next advance in the PDA industry imo will come when they can stick hard drives in that dont drain batteries, and increase the battery life out.... think of a PDA going for 20hours, it would be great.

[Spoon!! @ Sep 6th 2007 10:24PM]

For a standalone PDA, I expected better (faster processor, more memory, built in GPS). Too bad it's not a whole lot better than Dell's dead Axim x51v or the soon to be released HTC Kaiser PDA phone (full PDA capabilities and has 128MB RAM and 256MB ROM + GPS). Other than the nice big screen... I say "meh..."

[B @ Sep 9th 2007 10:54AM]

To those of you asking how this improves, it includes a PXA 310, as opposed to the 270 in the hx4700 and x5/1. While the site doesn't mention if it includes a graphics chip, some of the features of the successor to the 2700g are incorporated in the pxa 310. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XScale)
Also the 18 bit screen is awesome, anyone who's tried to look at photographs on a 16 bit screen has noticed the lack of realism.

Come on guys, we've been asking for a new PDA for years, while they keep releasing crappier and crappier smartphones. Now that they're coming out with a PDA that's actually better than the ones that came out 3 or more years ago, we should give them our support unless we want the pda to be dead for good.

[Nish Vamadevan @ Sep 10th 2007 10:47AM]

I wish it has a Keyboard.. By the look of it, HP might discontinues its 69xx ranges...

I guess HTC Kaiser is better than this one... But lacks 200MHz on processor speed.

[Michael I @ Sep 15th 2007 1:34PM]

Well, I just found a Christmas present... to myself, hope it comes out soon