Many of you don't know this (just as many of you don't know my blood type or how many times I've had malaria), but I am the owner of an iPaq 6315.

It's a lovely device, but it's not perfect, and I've been reading far too many reviews of it lately that didn't give it a fair treatment.

I won't name any names or publications, but the "reviews" I've seen have really been nothing more than previews with the "p" removed. It might be a fault of traditional publishing in that the "reviewers" have to get their "reviews" to press by a certain date, and that date might predate the release of the magazine by as much as a couple months, thereby leading to information that is anywhere from bad to useless.

For example, by the time the reviews I read came out, I had already been an iPaq 6315 user for a couple months, having had the chance to use it in real world situations. What I read elsewhere amounted to "I took it out of the box, found out what kind of CPU it had, turned it on, and it worked, so I'm giving it nine out of ten stars."

Not here, mes amis.

Not here.

Background

Since the release of the original iPaq 3600 line, I've been a PocketPC psycho. I adore these things in a way that I adore no other platform.

After the first time I turned one on, used Pocket Word, checked out MS Reader, and synced with AvantGo, I was hooked. The device, which was scruffy around the ears, had a lot of promise.

Unfortunately, the platform was brand new, and there were a lot of kinks to work out, making it early adopter technology - a beta test that you payed several hundred dollars a pop to take part in.

That was fine with me, though, and I continued to donate money to the cause, purchasing several more PocketPCs.

Several years later, I'll admit, my love affair with the PocketPC became a little less stimulating than it had been at first. The platform itself hadn't evolved as I would have liked, leaving options like WiFi standard only on high-end devices. I looked back at a trail of debit card receipts and came to the conclusion that I had basically been buying the same device over and over again, each time gaining little more than a hardly noticeable iterative upgrade (a screen improvement here, a button modification there).

I still dug the platform, but it wasn't "doing it" for me anymore.

Eventually, and I feel shame burning in my cheeks for saying this, I dropped the PocketPC as a platform that would be part of my life. Until some Big Changes were made, I decided they'd be fun to watch, but not something I needed to own.

Then I heard about this thing called the "iPaq 6315."

Big Changes

This device has some Nice Features:

- WiFi

- Bluetooth

- GSM for cell phone connectivity

- GPRS for data

- Kick ass screen

- SDIO slot for expansion

- Integrated camera

- Kick ass battery life

- A snap-on (but hardly adequate) thumb keyboard

(It also has some drawbacks, but we'll come to that later)

Overall, this is hugely different from the devices I had been buying previously. I have expansion packs, clumsy network setups, and weird cables to be attached to strange ports of strange devices in large bags around my apartment (I'm a pack rat).

With this thing, there's so much crap built in that I don't need expansion packs, clumsy network things, or funky cables. My basic requirements are sitting inside the device.

The iPaq 6315 with snap-on thumb keyboard attached

A lot of stuff is stuffed inside of this little thingy.

What works wellish

I struggled with what to call this section. I wanted to call it "What works well," but it just wouldn't have been right.

The iPaq 6315 is an impressive device, and I love it, but most of it simply works wellish. Aside from the standard PocketPC givens (PIM stuff like the calendar/tasks - applications like Pocket Word and Pocket Excel - etc.), the device does a good job, but it doesn't do a great job.

--- The Phone ---

The phone seems to work properly the vast majority of the time. I've had issues with missing calls when the device didn't properly shut down the GPRS connection, but it's such a rare occurrence that I'm willing to overlook it.

Although I've read some comments in forums online indicating that some people have had a tough time with the phone functionality, this wasn't my experience.

I'd give the phone functionality a 4 out of 5.

--- The Data Connection ---

Like the phone functionality, the GPRS data connection works most of the time. For some reasons, though, it sometimes just will not connect, and that can be frustrating.

It's also possible for the GPRS to get "stuck" on a particular network. It might sound crazy, but if you find that your data transmission rates have dropped far below what you would expect for GPRS (in itself already a slow technology), then you might want to call T-Mobile support. They're aware of the problem, and they can have everything fixed in a matter of minutes.

I've only had to call once, which is all right since I'm the sort of person who's willing to put up with a few glitches in exchange for amazing technology, but it might not be OK for a "normal" user.

That said, when it works (which is nearly all of the time), it's wonderful. I was down at the beach last month, and I wanted to get online with my laptop to check my email. When I got down there, though, I learned the hard way that the room we got didn't have a data connection. No problem, though - I just whipped out the iPaq and got all of my Microsoft and Neopoleon.com email. It was sweet.

4 out of 5 for the data connection.

--- The WiFi ---

I don't think I have any complaints about the WiFi. It works.

I'd say that it works well, except that I've read about some issues in various forums, and what I've read seems to go beyond simple user error, so I'll file this feature under wellish.

4 out of 5 for the WiFi.

--- The Bluetooth ---

The Bluetooth support in this device is iffy. It works wellish for some things, and then terribly for others (as you'll read later).

The one use for which it's kicking such serious mobility ass that I can hardly contain myself is as a connection to my Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard:

Pictured here being used with a phone, the Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard can be
hooked up to all sorts of crap, just as long as that crap supports Bluetooth

I've been a lunatic fan of the folding keyboards since the first one I bought for my iPaq 3630. You won't be able to fully realize the potential of that thing in your pocket until you hook it up to one of these tappable accordions.

When I was at the beach and reading my email, I was able to respond as though I had been sitting at my laptop thanks to this keyboard.

I'm so in love with the 6315/Stowaway combination that it physically excites me.

However, this isn't a keyboard review, and...

2 out of 5 for the Bluetooth support. I'll detail why in a minute.

--- The Integrated Camera ---

You have to be realistic when looking at integrated digital camera support in a device. You are not going to get something of the quality that you would expect in a stand-alone unit.

This is definitely the case with the 0.3 megapixel unit that's in the iPaq. It works, but it's nothing special.

If I had to drop anything from the device, it would be the camera. I'll probably never use it even though there's nothing especially wrong with it.

3 out of 5 - Even though it works, I just don't care about this feature enough to give it a higher score.

--- As an Electronic Book Platform ---

One thing about the PocketPC that I've always found to be especially sexy is its ability to turn a PIM/phone/whatever into a portable library.

I currently have an assload of books stored in my iPaq, in MS Reader and other formats.

I feel that MS Reader gives the best overall reading experience, but I have issues with the DRM implementation from a consumer experience point of view, so I also installed MobiPocket Reader, and I now have the best of both worlds.

MobiPocket Reader is to text/html files what MS Reader is to .lit files: The best tool for the job.

If I get caught in line for too long somewhere, I can read a few lines of Shakespeare or go over another T.S. Eliot poem, trying to figure out what in the hell it is that he's trying to say behind all the words that he so expertly put down.

I love that. I love it, love it, love it.

5 out of 5 for allowing me to take Shakespeare, Eliot, and others with me everywhere I go.

What doesn't work so wellish

Before I say anything about what doesn't work so wellish, I want to be totally clear: I love this device, and I use it everyday, all day. It keeps my appointments, it gets me net access in the middle of nowhere, it entertains me, and it acts as an external brain.

All good things aside, it's still a device for which consumers are going to be shelling out The Dough, and we deserve to know about the rough spots before getting wrapped up in one of them.

--- The Bluetooth ---

As I mentioned earlier, the Bluetooth support in the device is what makes it possible for me to use a sweet wireless keyboard, but it's also the bane of this PDA.

There are several issues. First and foremost is that the implementation is Bluetooth 1.0. In a Bluetooth 1.1 world, this sucks.

The keyboard I have works fine, but my Motorola hands-free headset is nothing but trouble when coupled with the iPaq (I've heard great things about this headset on it's own, though, so I feel comfortable blaming the PDA rather than the headset).

This is especially lame since holding a PocketPC sized device up to your noggin is the epitome of uncool. When I'm talking on this thing, I don't want to have to trade my self respect for convenience, and that's where the headset comes in.

The headset, my friends, which doesn't work right with this device.

I don't know what HP is planning on doing about this issue, but I've read a lot of forum comments on this model of iPaq, and one of the most common complaints is that the Bluetooth support stinks.

--- The Power Management ---

Bluetooth support on the device isn't shoddy just because it's built around yesterday's Bluetooth stack, but also because the power management features of the 6315 get in the way.

Where connectivity is concerned, for example, the iPaq is fine as long as it's plugged in. I can connect my headset to the PDA, and it will remain coupled until I explicitly decouple it. However, when the iPaq is running on battery, it has some sort of energy saving logic that shuts everything the hell down. This means that, when running on battery, if a phone call comes in and I try to answer the phone with my Bluetooth headset, it sometimes won't work (the Bluetooth doesn't shut off until the device has been powered down in battery mode for a certain amount of time).

This leads to me looking like a real jack-ass (even more so than usual). Because there's no way for me to know if the headset is going to work or not, you'll see me answer a call with the headset and the phone simultaneously. I do this because there have been times when I've tried answering with the headset, but it turns out the call is answered on the PDA, and there have been times when I've answered on the PDA, but it's turned out that the call was answered on the headset.

ARGH.

I hunted around the registry thinking that I might be able to find a setting somewhere that would allow me to set whether or not Bluetooth gets shut down in power saving mode, but wasn't able to find anything. If anybody knows about what could be done to prevent the power management goop from interfering with Bluetooth, then please let me know.

--- The Stability ---

I'm not used to the idea that my phone occasionally needs to be rebooted, but that's the reality of working with the 6315.

After a few days of use, things go a little haywire: I won't be able to use the phone, the GPRS connection won't work, and so on. I might lose multiple levels of functionality, and I might only lose one unimportant feature. Whatever the case, though, the fix is always the same: Jam the tip of the stylus in the "reboot hole."

I don't know. Maybe it's just me, but having to tell somebody, "Can I call you right back? My phone is acting funny, and I need to reboot it" is a little embarrassing.

How I Feel About the Whole Affair

In spite of the problems, I love the device, and I'm using it to run big chunks of my life.

It tells me where I need to be and when. I get all my mail on the thing. I use it to get driving directions out in the middle of nowhere, and I use it to make all my phone calls.

It's not perfect. At all.

But it has a lot of promise, and I'm hoping that HP will release a ROM update that will fix the most common issues. If the power management could be taken care of, if the Bluetooth stack could be updated, and if I only had to reboot once a week rather than every couple of days, this device would be worth every penny.

For now, though, it's still early adopter technology. I would recommend it to my geek friends, but I would not, at least at this point, tell my dad to run out and get one.

How Others Seem To Feel About the Whole Affair

Whenever I whip the sucker out and use it in a public place, I get questions. It's happened in restaurants, bars, cafes, airplanes, and hotel lobbies. Basically, anywhere you would expect to find people. They all want to know what it is, how it works, where it comes from, how much they cost, and so on.

I mean, if you're the kind of person who has trouble making friends, you might think about buying one.

The other place I've used one, but where I didn't receive any questions at all, was a clothing store in Las Vegas. Aydika and I were shoe shopping, and we found a fabulous little pair of casuals that she wanted. I was down and ready to get them, but she encouraged me to go online with "that phone thing" (that's what she calls the iPaq) and check out online prices for the shoes. I was hesitant, as I'm sort of an impulse buyer, but I figured in the end that she was making sense. So, I went online and found the shoes at nearly 40% off what the clothing store was asking for them. I walked the iPaq right up to the manager, showed her the lower price, and asked if she'd match it. She did.

Sweet.

So, some people seem to love it, and some retailers, I'm guessing, probably aren't so hot about it.

I'm rather fond of the little bastard, myself.