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INTEGRATED CAMERA

Upon startup, the iPAQ's screen becomes a large viewfinder.

Tapping on the options button leads to a menu with several different preferences. White Balance, Color, Compression, and Resolution can all be adjusted.

There are three resolutions to choose from, listed above.

The camera, surprisingly, includes some odds and ends like a Self-timer.

From the viewfinder mode, a digital zoom can be applied. The digital zoom is good for two things: enlarging the pixels of an already pixelated image and making the photo look even worse.

The actual photo from the device. Click on it to see the full size uncompressed image.

The actual digitally zoomed photo from the device. Click on it to see the full size uncompressed image.

Once a photo is taken, it can be sent to a myriad of places as shown above.

From there, pictures are easily transformed into MMS, or as T-Mobile labels it "Picture Messaging".

MMS messages can be addressed to another phone or e-mail address. Messages sent to e-mail addresses are sent from 'yournumber'@tmomail.net.

   Call me a pessimist, but I simply don't see the benefit of having an onboard camera packed onto a device like this until it has better resolution and a flash. Without those, I'm still bringing along a Sony Cybershot if I really want to take photos.

DEVICE SPEED

The iPAQ h6315 scored lowest here. It seems that its Texas Instruments OMAP processor is extremely slow when compared with other devices.

CPU Speed comes up the slowest for the h6315 also.

The iPAQ h6315 fairs decently with graphics, but still slower than its brother the rz1715, the low-priced budget Pocket PC.

The h6315 can load text at an average rate.

As I was testing this device, a realization came to me that perhaps HP was not trying to make this device a speed demon. I began to think about what would be important for a device like this which has so much to offer, and then it dawned on me: battery life.

BATTERY LIFE

Full brightness, normal utilization, 72 hours of standby allocated (where applicable):

Full brightness, all wireless features on, 0% utilization, 72 hours of standby allocated:

As you can see, the iPAQ h6315 is a real champion when it comes to battery life. In all honesty, I believe this is why HP limited it to only 64 MB of RAM and included such a lackluster processor. It was their intention to make a really enduring device, and that's exactly what they have done.

INTERNET CONNECTIVITY

    HP has included its reworked version of its iPAQ Wireless Manager to aid in simplifying the many types of connection the h6315 is capable of. Taping on either the Phone, WiFi, or Bluetooth icon toggles it from enabled to disabled, and vice versa. The "ALL OFF" button does just that, disabling all wireless services.

The Bluetooth manager offers all the typical services one would expect, including the Hands Free service.

Setting up the connection with my Sony Ericsson HBH-30 Bluetooth headset was completely effortless. The phone kept constant contact with the headset whenever it was in range.

Once the Bluetooth headset is connected, the headphone icon appears in the task bar. From there, audio is sent to the headset from the device (if you have it set up that way).

Nothing has really changed in the WiFi control panel, just the standard list of networks.

Once connected to a Wireless Access Point over WiFi, the connectivity icon changes on the task bar.

Although the iPAQ h6315 cannot be connected to GPRS and WiFi at the same time, the user can be surfing the internet while making a call. Notice the call icon to the left of the clock and volume icon on the taskbar.

Most remarkably at all, the device can be connected to the internet over a WiFi connection while pairing with a Bluetooth device, all the while in the midst of a call. Very impressive!