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Hewlett-Packard's (HP) iPAQ rx5900 Travel Companion is a really nifty tool to take on a trip. The Travel Companion is a Windows Mobile 5.0 PDA with built-in GPS and, in North America, personal navigation software and maps from TomTom NV. It also comes with a kit for temporarily mounting the unit in a car.

At $600, the Travel Companion is a tad on the pricey side, but then it's more than just a PDA.

Some of the 5900 series models, including the one I reviewed, come with three radios. Besides the SiRFstarIII GSC3F GPS receiver, they also have Wi-Fi (11b/g) connectivity—so you can connect at Wi-Fi hotspots and collect e-mail or browse the Web while traveling —and Bluetooth for connecting to a PC for wireless synchronization.

Buying Choices: For Hewlett Packard iPAQ rx5935 (FA816AA) Products from online stores: Amazon Marketplace: $300.00 | In stock: yes 1 Store Offers from $300-$300

The one thing the Travel Companion is not is a cell phone. This is a product for folks who don't want to part with their RAZR or other tiny mobile, but do want a lightweight multi-purpose data device along on the trip. That said, it works with the Skype Mobile client so you can even make phone calls with it from a hotspot. ipaqtomtom.jpg

The Travel Companion is not perfect. The Wi-Fi connectivity was flaky at times. It would cut out for no apparent reason—none of the other wireless devices on the same network were having problems—and in some cases required a soft reset before it would connect again. It also wasn't able to pair with a Bluetooth telephone headset, which I wanted to use with Skype. Neither of these glitches, however, is a deal killer.

Specs
The 5900 seems sleek and feather light after PDA phones such as the Palm Treos. It measures 4.74 x 3.0 x 0.65 inches and weighs a mere 5.99 ounces. It has a very modern, minimalist look with simple low-rise control keys. The casing is molded and curved, made of high-impact plastic - very comfortable to hold.

Under the hood, the Travel Companion is reasonably well endowed. It uses the 400 MHz Samsung S3C2442 processor and comes with 64MB of SDRAM and 2 GB Flash ROM, of which about 500 MB was available with the TomTom software and maps loaded. There's also an SD card slot.

The screen, 3.5 inches diagonally, takes up most of the front face. It's a transmissive TFT with QVGA (320 × 240 pixels) resolution, LED backlight, power save mode and antiglare coating. HP doesn't say how many colors, but it looks reasonably good when displaying digital images. I'm guessing 65,000 colors.

The device is clearly meant to be used most of the time in landscape mode, which dictates positioning of controls—and orientation of logo, brand and product name on the front face. This is not the traditional way for a PDA, but it makes sense given that the Travel Companion's defining application is turn-by-turn navigation which really requires landscape.

You can however quickly switch to portrait mode using one of the five keys on the Travel Companion's right-hand edge. The button in the bottom corner is the power on/off. The others, at least by default, launch the TomTom application, launch Windows Media Player and move you backward through recently viewed screens. The microphone is also found on this surface.

On the front face, there's a four-way navigator with Select button to the right of the screen. I found the navigator a little loose, making it too easy to push the Select button when you mean to press left, right, up or down —or press a direction key when you mean to press Select. I'm sure I could learn its idiosyncrasies in time. Below the navigator are two buttons, one that exits you from the currently displayed screen and another that displays the Start menu.

On the top edge, you'll find the recessed reset button, a key that launches the audio notes recording applet—but does not actually start recording a note as some earlier Pocket PC implementations did—and the SD card slot.

You might have to go hunting for the stylus. It's tucked away at the bottom of the left-hand edge, flush with the rear surface. This is not a good place for it, unless you're a southpaw. I was constantly groping to find it. The headphone, USB and GPS antenna ports are also on this surface in a recessed (but uncovered) compartment.

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Merchants: Where to buy Hewlett Packard iPAQ rx5935 (FA816AA) Products
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	Write a store review	yes	5.99	$300.00