At A Glance:

The HP iPAQ Voice Messenger was announced late last year. It is a quad band device utilising a Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 Mhz processor to drive Windows Mobile 6.1.

In the box
- Transceiver unit
- 1 standard battery
- Charger set
- Headset
- Manuals

Exterior
The front of the device is shiny midnight blue, with what appears to be an optical navigation dial and two soft keys. The rear is polished to a high shine, but it did appear to scratch rather easily from whoever used the phone for review before we did.

Buttons/Screen
The mute button is on top, while the volume toggle and lock buttons are on the left of the device. The covered USB port is on the right, as is the camera hotkey.

The screen is a 320 x 240 pixel one, measuring 2.4 inches long according to the manufacturer’s specifications, but we found the screen to be only 1.9 inches long. The keyboard lights up with a white backlight. The buttons are pretty close together, and although it is fine for numerical entry, alphabetical entry is terribly difficult unless you have slender, pointed fingers.

However, the response of the phone is really bad. It behaves like the disgruntled employee who tries to drag out every task as long as it could possible take. Just scrolling through the menu takes such an effort because the optical navigation circle is a lot slower than a mechanical one.

Hardware & Software
The Data Messenger is 50 x 13.6 x 11.4 mm in size and weighs 107 grams. It feels pretty solid, but using Windows mobile without the touch screen is something which doesn’t quite seem right.

The software is the standard package for a Windows phone. You get a Windows OS and three MS Office programs. The Notes-Tasks-Calendar-Calculator applications are the common ones found in every Windows Mobile phone.

Camera/Video
The device carries a 3.2 megapixel camera. It activates fastest from the camera hotkey on the side of the phone. Although the viewfinder is a little slow just like in all Windows Mobile devices, it does autofocus and then shoots the picture for you. However you might find that you have to press down a little hard on the camera key to get it to respond properly.

Connectivity
This is a HSDPA 7.2 Mbps phone. It supports 3G and two flavours of WiFi, namely 802.11b and 802.11g. EDGE and GPRS are present, and Bluetooth is supported for local connections.

Games
The standard windows games of Solitaire and Bubble Breaker are preinstalled in the device.

Editor’s Opinion
The Voice Messenger is a fairly cheap Windows phone for general business usage. It would be good for a first-time Windows Mobile user, but experienced users will find it really frustrating because of the slow response.

Conclusion: Optical navigation is a really unpleasant experience. It is one of the cheaper Windows phones around.

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