Price:	£405.38 (inc VAT)		Reviewed by:	Neil Brown
Supplied:	Clove Technology		Review date:	16/10/2004
Pros:	Incredible screen Very powerful Dual wireless Dual Expansion		Cons:	Comparatively large Trackpad potentially awkward Power button not easy to use

The iPAQ 4700 is the flagship model for HP, and deservedly so. It is a powerhouse, both in terms of performance and size, and, with a price tag of just over £400, is aimed at the top end of the market, without out pricing itself.

The machine HP has avoided making the same mistake as palmOne, and has sensibly chosen to include a cradle in the box, rather than relying on users to purchase this separately. The cradle is good in terms of style, but, for functionality, it does even better. In this respect, rather than produce a different cradle for each model, HP has decided to create a “plug-on” cradle. The power section, common to all devices, is a slim black piece of plastic, whilst the holder remains unique to each model, and clips onto the power section. The cradle is small, which is an advantage for looks and portability, but it does lack weight, making it almost impossible to remove the 4700 one-handed, as the machine fits snugly into the holder section. The power supply for the cradle has a spare adapter attached to it, allow you to simply pick up the power supply and drop it in your bag, safe in the knowledge that the adapter will let you charge your iPAQ without recourse to the cradle- a very nice touch, which will be of benefit when taking your PDA on holiday with you. Regular travellers, however, will probably want to purchase a second charging unit, to avoid the necessity of scrabbling behind a desk to get at the cradle’s power supply each time. Sadly, the stylus is less impressive, being a simple piece of plastic, with a tip at one end, and a protrusion at the other. It is on the light side, but feels as though there might be a metal inner piece. To my mind, with a device of this price, it is unfortunate that HP have chosen not to include a metal-barrelled stylus with the unit, but, this is a rather fussy point. The stylus is a reasonable size, and is comfortable to use, so, really, it serves its primary function of text entry, and tapping the screen. The stylus fits smoothly in its silo, tightly enough not to fall out, but not too tight as to require too much effort when you do need to use it.

Power adapter on tether

The machine itself could not be described as petite; it is either a powerhouse, or a slab, depending on which way you wish to view it. Taller than a CD case, it will just fit in a shirt pocket, but it causes a rather unsightly bulge. HP have sensibly chosen to make the shell from metal, resulting in a good, substantial feel, which is usually cold to the touch. The PDA feels very solid, and has absolutely no flex in it at all, which is a good sign. Unsurprisingly, the build quality is also excellent too- even the rubbery flip-cover seems to have been firmly attached. The top of the machine itself is made of black plastic, and, sadly, picks up fingerprints really badly, as does the cover- I had to polish both areas before taking the photographs for this review, and I had been careful in the handling of the device anyway. To me, this is an annoyance, rather than a deal-breaker, and it may not be something that bothers you at all. The machine rests comfortably in the hand, despite its size, and appears to have some sort of rubber grips on the sides, to stop it slipping. The supplied cover flips neatly from the left hand side of the machine, covering only the screen. It is one of the few parts of the device which I cannot make up my mind whether I like it or not. However, it is certainly enough to protect your investment from damage in an empty pocket, as it is magnetically-attached when closed. However, it offers absolutely no protection for the shell at all, and, I imagine, will probably be replaced by a full case by most users.

From bottom: iPAQ 4700, Fugitsu LOOX 720, palmOne Tungsten T3, Ericsson T68

From left: iPAQ 4700, Fugitsu LOOX 720, palmOne Tungsten T3, Ericsson T68

The Screen The 4700 is a big machine for a reason, and that reason is the outstanding 4” VGA screen. This really is the focus point of the whole device, and is incredible- it is crystal clear, and, when you turn it on for the first time, really causes a sharp intake of breath. I have not been able to take any pictures which really do it justice, so, either try and see one for real, or, take my word for it; you will be suitably satisfied, I have no doubt. As you would expect, colour reproduction is excellent, and the symbols and text and very sharp. This is due, primarily, to the screen running in QVGA mode, rather than “real” VGA mode. The impact of this is that the pixel-density is increased, giving more pixels per cm of screen, giving far richer images and icons. It is possible to make the screen run as true VGA, but this simply reduces the size of the displayed text, making it unreadable to all but those with the best eyesight. I think that the QVGA mode is a sensible half-way house- excellent quality and clarity, without straining your eyes. Despite being the main feature of the PDA, there is little more to say about the screen- it is stunning, end of story.

iPAQ 4700 and Loox 720

Connectivity The 4700 is has more than a pretty face, though, as the comprehensive range of connectivity and storage options demonstrates. If you have a mobile phone, there is no need to ever be out of touch, as the 4700 includes wifi (802.11b), Bluetooth and IrDA. Connecting to my home wireless LAN was very easy, and I was online within seconds of switching on the device. I struggled initially, but, once I remember to switch off MAC blocking, it worked… The speed was very good, with complicated webpages loading in a couple of seconds, and it handled a wide variety of pages, only falling down with some of the more complicated frame-based sites, incorporating Flash animations. Bluetooth is impressive, even though it is the older 1.1 standard, still used by most devices. I was able to connect to my T68 phone without a problem, and it correctly detected the necessary settings for the GPRS connection, even detecting my carrier, with no input from me. The Bluetooth stack supports the PAN profile, enabling you to connect easily to a similarly-equipped PC or laptop. IrDA is not quite the same success story, unfortunately, as the port is located on the bottom of the device, where it is not overly useful. However, unless you use a phone with an IR connection, or wish to use a remote control application (not bundled), then it will probably remain unused, even unnoticed. Credit is due to HP for not leaving it out, though, even though it is in a somewhat awkward location.

Storage In terms of storage, there are both Compact Flash and Secure Digital (actually SDIO) slots, allowing you to use a versatile range of accessories. As both Wifi and Bluetooth and onboard, you have the ability to keep a decent-sized external memory card, as well as a GPS card in place all the time. I would be tempted to invest in a reasonably large SD card for storage, as there are slightly more CF accessories available than for SDIO, but, if you are looking for a camera, then you would be advised to keep the SD slot free. There is no camera built into the machine, which does not bother me either way, as there is potential for adding one very simply. The advantages of having two slots instead of one are several, and I think that this makes the machine very appealing indeed. There is no reason ever to be out of storage space, and you should be able to add any accessories you want without difficulty. Personally, I keep one SD card full of songs and videos, and welcome the opportunity of having a separate slot for storing applications and documents, or for backing up- it means that I am not constantly switching cards, and have less chance of forgetting to backup each night.

Audio / Video The 4700 handles media smoothly, as you would expect with such a fast processor. I am no audiophile, but sound quality seems good, right up to the highest volume settings over headphones. The same levels over the built-in speaker produced some distortion, but achieved more volume than other devices I have tested. My one niggle with the audio features is the positioning of the headphone jack- it juts out at a strange angle, on the top right corner of the device, and got in the way of removing the stylus. Only minor complaint, but one which perhaps could have been foreseen in the design / testing stages. I do like listening to music when I am walking or travelling on the train, and I am more than satisfied that this machine would be able to handle anything I wanted to throw at it. Volume is louder than normal, which can be good, but, it has the tendency to create considerable background hiss when the headphones are plugged in, but nothing is playing.

Audio jack

The Battery I have not carried out any benchmarking tests on the 4700, as I do not find them very helpful. Rather than a list of numbers, all I intend to say is that I spent close to 5 hours with this device switched on, with wifi active, and I still have 23% battery left at the end. If you use the machine constantly as an e-book reader, or an mp3 player (with the screen on, though), you would need to ensure that you charged it every night. If usage were light, you could easily get three or fours days out of the supplied battery without worrying. Information stored in Flash is safe whatver, and information stored in RAM is safe for 72 hours after the main battery dies, thanks to the inbuilt back-up battery. I was impressed with this battery life, having previously used a palmOne Tungsten T3. If you think that you are going to use this up in one day, there is the option to buy an extended battery, but, I think very few people will need this.

Controls As well as the new screen, the 4700 is the first PDA to feature a trackpad, rather than the more usual D-pad. I cannot say that I am particularly taken by this, although it is, without doubt, an innovate and novel step to have introduced. Sadly, I found it difficult to use, and often selected things that I did not mean to. The knack appears to be to touch the small bumps, which control the direction, but it proved just to fiddly for me, especially when I am used to simply rocking a pad. Being innovative comes at a price, a risk of the idea failing. I cannot say whether this fails or not, but I think that the trackpad will be a very subjective feature. Having said that, it is certainly nice to see HP trying something different, and offering high-end customers something non-standard. If you are a gamer, though, I am not sure how successful it will be. The application buttons look similar to the trackpad, but are more like “real” buttons in terms of the function, with a solid depress. I would advise trying out the touchpad before you commit to it, as I think that it will not appeal to everyone. Unfortunately, I do not think much of the power button either. It is very thin, and is on the top of the unit; I found this very difficult to hit accurately each time, and, it regularly took two attempts to turn on the PDA. Why the button could not be slightly larger, and on the side or the front, I do not know. However, this is not a major problem, as I simply used one of the buttons on the front to turn on the device instead- most of the time I want the Today screen, which is mapped to the lower right button by default. There are no buttons on the right hand side of the 4700, and only one of the left, near the top. By default, this launches the voice recorder, and, I guess, this will be remapped by most people.

Miscellaneous The 4700 comes with a helpful paper manual, which is more than most devices these days. The manual is nothing amazing, but, it is enough to help you get off the ground with your new machine, and, as such, is a worthy inclusion. HP also cater for a variety of power supplies, offering different plug options out of the box. Included also is a generous software bundle, which I have not explored in this hardware review. If you want to see the exact contents of the CD, as well as full hardware listings and specs,

Conclusion This is a very hard device to write about, as it has several huge positive assets, but, to me at least, a significant number of small negative issues. If you want a huge, brilliant screen and a fast processor, with good connectivity and expansion prospects, this is the machine to go for, and would, on the surface, make an excellent gaming PDA. However, the trackpad and the buttons let down that argument, possibly rendering the machine as something that aims very high, but suffers slips on the way up. I find the size of the machine off-putting, but, this is the trade-off for the big screen and two radios. As a PDA, this machine performs excellently, coping with any task I tried. As my review model did not come with the software CD, I have refrained as much as possible from commenting on the software side of the machine, but, there is an impressive list of bundled software, despite the lack of a remote control application. I really would encourage you to look at this machine in real life, and hold it in your hand, before you commit to purchasing it, but, if you decide that my concerns do not affect you, then you will have an excellent, top-end PDA, which will attract many admiring glances.

iPAQ 4700 and Loox 720