VODAFONE BSQUARE POWER HANDHELD

IN BRIEF: The Power Handheld is a connected mobile device designed with the professional user in mind

The style and variety of smartphones now available is steadily changing. As with the Voq Professional Phone, the Power Handheld is an experiment to deliver a new form factor. While the Voq looks like a phone but brings with it a smartphone experience, bSQUARE’s device has a landscape-shaped, high resolution screen, large integrated keyboard and GPRS. In many ways the Power Handheld can be seen as a connected replacement for your laptop. It’s a hybrid that Vodafone has licensed from the developer, and hopes will set the business world alight.

UNUSUAL OS

The Power Handheld is built around Windows CE.NET 4.1. This may be an unfamiliar platform to many, but it lies at the core of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC platform. It has a Windows desktop-like look and feel, complete with Start button, Control Panel and familiar way of organising applications and data.

Windows CE.NET has typically been used on devices aimed at vertical markets. To this end, there isn’t a great deal of third-party software that will run on CE.NET. You can’t run Pocket PC applications. What you can run includes software written for the Handheld PC platform (which Microsoft no longer develops), software written for the .NET Compact Framework, Java and Flash applications. This clearly marks the Power Handheld for corporate use, where software can be developed for specific needs.

For some it may be that third-party software isn’t required. The Power Handheld comes with versions of Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, MSN Messenger, word processing, spreadsheets and file viewing tools already built-in as well as diary and contact management tools.

GOOD USABILITY

The landscape format of the screen, means that is has a 640 x 480-pixel display that makes it particularly good for looking at web pages. The applications we tried on the device benefited from a more desktop-like viewing experience and higher than usual screen resolution.

The integrated keyboard slides out from the casing when needed. The keys are small – around 5mm each in size but they are well spaced, and for texting and the odd email they are fine. Your SIM sits in a slot on the upper edge of the hardware next to the SD card slot. It’s perhaps vulnerable to theft in this location. Vodafone provides various GPRS tariffs with this device, and one of the really good features of the on-board software is its ability to automatically check for email at regular intervals, working with both POP and corporate systems as required. You can set up VPN clients too.

Wired synchronisation with a PC is provided via a huge docking cradle and you get AtiveSync. The specifications are generous, with an Intel PXA250 processor at 400MHz and 128MB of RAM supplemented by 32MB of Flash ROM. This is sufficient for a device that’s intended to keep executives in touch with the office and within access of their email.

The quoted battery life is average as far as PDAs go, but poor as far as phones are concerned. As a test of pure unconnected battery life we turned the phone off and looped MP3s – the test we often apply to PDAs. The battery gave up after 195 minutes. This may not prove problematic in business terms, as collecting email doesn’t require a continuous power drain, but we would have preferred a bit longer.

Overall, the hardware is rather large and heavy, especially if you are used to a smaller mobile phone, and you will still need your laptop for serious productivity work. There’s no wireless networking built-in, but Bluetooth and Wi-Fi can be added via SD card if they are required. If you want to make a voice call your best bet is the handsfree kit.

RATING: 7

PRICE: £300 – £400 DEPENDING ON TARIFF WITH CONTRACT FROM VODAFONE
PROCESSOR: INTEL PXA250 400MHZ
OPERATING SYSTEM:WINDOWS CE.NET VERSION 4.1
MEMORY: 128MB PLUS 32MB FLASH
SCREEN: 4-INCHES 640 X 480 PIXELS
EXPANSION: SD (IO)
SIZE: 140 X 87 X 19.5MM
WEIGHT: 300G
BATTERY: 3.2 HOURS TALK 135 HOURS STANDBY
LINK: USB
CONTACT: 0800 101112 WWW.VODAFONE.CO.UK

price correct at time of writing