Typical price: £325
What is it: Windows Mobile 5.0 handheld with slide-out keyboard
What we think: It has a strong feature set but we wish it ran Windows Mobile 6.0 and had 3G connectivity
HTC P4350 Review
Reviewed on: 22 March 2007
Several connectors and buttons sit around the edges of the device. On the bottom is the mini-USB connector that's shared by mains power, PC connection cable and headphones, as well as a lock button for the battery cover. On the top edge is the on/off switch. The right edge houses a shortcut button for the Comm Manager (for controlling wireless communications features), and one that on a short press starts the voice control application, while a longer press allows you to record a voice note. On the left edge is a button for using the built-in camera and a volume rocker. This edge also houses a microSD card slot.
Features
The HTC P4350 runs Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition and is powered by a Texas Instruments OMAP 850 processor running at 200MHz. It comes with 64MB of RAM and 128MB of ROM -- after a hard reset, our review unit reported 37MB of free storage memory. Internal memory can be augmented with a microSD card in the covered slot on the device's left edge.
The most disappointing feature of the P4350 is its lack of 3G support. This is a surprising omission, given that its TyTN stablemate is a 3G device. Instead, the P4350 provides quad-band GSM, GPRS and EDGE support. Bluetooth (2.0) and Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) are both built in, too.
The 2-megapixel camera, whose lens is on the back of the device, has a self-portrait mirror but no flash. HTC augments the Windows Mobile 5.0 suite of applications with a PDF reader, audio file manager, voice recorder and Zip file manager.
Performance
Our battery life test reported 6 hours and 39 minutes of non-stop music from a full charge. We have seen better from Windows Mobile handhelds, but this is a respectable result nonetheless.
Conclusion
The HTC P4350's feature set is, for the most part, strong. Certainly if you're looking for a connected handheld with a keyboard and you don't need 3G data speeds, then it's worth considering.
We find it difficult to recommend the P4350 unreservedly, though. Windows Mobile 6 will soon be appearing in devices, and this offers several enhancements -- particularly for office networks running Microsoft Exchange Server at the back end. Also, the HTC TyTN shares the P4350's key characteristics but adds 3G, which will be a clincher for many buyers.
Edited by Charles McLellan
Additional editing by Kate Macefield
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