HP iPAQ 510 gets a review already

The folks at LAPTOP magazine (credit: pic) wasted no time in getting a review of the just announced HP iPAQ 510 Voice Messenger. I liked the initial photo of the phone when I saw it this morning, but after reading the hands-on review, I’m not as thrilled. There’s sure to be a market for the 510, but if you need text input on your smartphone, you might not be in that market. To compensate for the lack of a QWERTY keyboard, you’ve got an alpha-numeric keypad and HP’s Voice Commander software; you can’t dictate a text e-mail, but you can record a voice memo attachment. The 510 can also read your e-mail aloud although the review alludes to that being hit or miss on the clarity and accuracy.

What’s really disappointing to me is a 2-inch screen at 176 x 220; I realize not everyone needs a large screen but if you’re going to run Windows Mobile, it’s presumably to view websites, read e-mail, etc….you’ll likely want a larger screen with a higher resolution. Still, there’s some goodies in the package as well: 6.5 hours of talk time, WiFi and EDGE support are in that list. LAPTOP indicates a price around $300 which sounds a little steep for the lacking keyboard and small screen, but let’s see what the subsidized price is.