Hewlett-Packard has just introduced the iPaq H1900 series in Hong Kong, even as iPaq Internet forums are speculating about the next generation - the H2200.
The slim and narrow H1900 is the smallest and lightest of HP's iPaqs, which tend to be a little bulky. The mid-range H1900 competes with Palm's Tungsten T and is aimed primarily at business users. Palm recently cut the price of the Tungsten T to HK$2,800.
Weighing just 120 grams, the H1900 still manages to squeeze in a fairly big 89mm screen and, surprisingly, is smaller than the Palm V. While the Tungsten T is a little smaller than the H1900, it has a smaller screen. The H1900 sports the same impressive thin-film transistor display used in the high-end iPaq and beats the colour screen on the Tungsten T hands down.
The H1900 has 64 megabytes of random-access memory, a secure digital slot for additional storage and a removable slim battery, and is powered by Intel's XScale 200-megahertz processor running Microsoft Pocket PC 2002.
You have to pay extra for the cradle, which is offered at a special introduction price of HK$234. The H1900 comes instead with a cable that doubles for battery charging and PC synching.
The headphone port, strangely, is a sub-minijack. An adapter must be bought to use the ordinary headphones that come with your portable CD player. Some music aficionados would argue that the sub-minijack compromises on the listening experience.