NOTE: Since writing this review, certain issues have come to light regarding the HP 514-512-510 Voice Messenger. Some readers (and me too) have had problems with the battery, the alarm not going off when it IS supposed to (while charging) and GOING off when it is NOT supposed to (NOT very popular with Mrs. D!), the phone locking up while trying to make a Wi-Fi connection (and seeming impossibility of making a secure WEP or WPA connection), phone locking up when answering a call which is in waiting and other issues. I would like to hear user comments about this phone, as would other visitors, so why not add a comment in the section below so we can discuss any potential problems? In my opinion, if you really want the hands-free functionality then this would still be a good choice, but otherwise my advice is… get a Nokia.

Original post:

This might seem a bit off-topic, but I thought I would tell you a bit about a product which recently came my way, and which I only realised the potential of in terms of cycling a little later!

Namely, I needed a new mobile phone for work, one which would handle email, contacts, appointments and give me full Internet access. In a word, I needed something that was a combination of a (smart)phone and my old Palm Tungsten E, which is getting pretty long in the tooth and lacks many of these features (like a phone, for example!).

To cut a long story short I ended up with the HP iPaq 514 Voice Messenger, Hewlett Packard’s first smartphone (which appears to be identical, to all intents and purposes, to the 510/512, there doesn’t seem to be any difference between the models, they seem to be the same model for different markets), for the price of around 350 Euros - the most I have EVER paid for a mobile phone! So I expected a bit more than just a regular phone!

Features in brief

Well, I want to get onto the bike stuff (click here if you want to skip to that section), so I will just highlight some of the key features of this phone so you can get an idea of what it’s about. I won’t get into detail, you can look up the full specs of the phone elsewhere:

Windows Mobile 6/Pocket PC-based - I am a sworn Nokia user, but I thought I would take the plunge with this phone. I am still not sure it was the right decision - it is sometimes even slower than the real Windows! Also, it IS a Smartphone, not a full “iPaq”, so I was disappointed to see many applications just don’t work…

Integrated Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) - now THAT’S pretty cool! I tested it in a hotel recently and got it connected with no problems - though it was not always very reliable. I could then browse for free, listen to streaming radio (couldn’t get video to work) and even make a Skype call (via Fring, no Skype for this phone yet), although the delay was some 2 seconds, almost unuseable.

Mini-SD slot - this is great too. I put a 1Gb card in there straight away (can you believe how small those fellas are now, and cheap too? - it was about 20 EUR) and all my space-related worries are gone. You get Pocket Windows Media Player on board and with the headphones (supplied) you can listen to mp3 in very reasonable quality. Only real hi-fi buffs will have cause for complaint. And the battery is pretty robust - I have listened to mp3 for hours and failed to run down the battery. And to think I was going to buy a proper mp3 player! There IS some problem with the battery, it does not always seem to charge properly - charging is via the USB socket only so this might be a reason.

Handsfree mobile cycling

Moving onto the bike-related part of this! Wee-e-ell, the headphones supplied with the iPaq also have a microphone, for hands-free use. Very useful that! Getting your phone out while riding is just asking for trouble (as I mentioned a few months ago in the article Top ten stupid things not to do on a bike). Of course, the best thing is if you can just leave your phone at home. But if you’re like me, you sometimes steal some time during the workday to go for a ride and you really still need to be in touch.

With the HP 514 Voice Messenger you don’t need to get your phone out to answer a call, you can just set it to answer after X rings and just keep riding and talking! Well, more like heavy-breathing… And if you were listening to music, this fades out and is paused for the duration of the call.

But that’s not all!

The reason the device is called the Voice Messenger is not just to do with its hands-free capability. Oh no! The phone also sports a voice-recognition facility, and that is what I really want to talk about here.

The microphone unit, which hangs off the left headphone cable, and also sports a volume slide and a lapel clip (which I broke whilst out on a trail), features a little button which, when pressed (yes, you need to take your hands off the handlebars just for a second!) activates the Voice Commander. This nifty little bit of software then awaits your verbal command! And no, it does not need to be trained (more’s the pity, perhaps!), it actually purports to recognise any voice you throw at it. It is supposed to recognise some of the following commands:

Call <contact> at <home/work/mobile> - yes, it actually recognises the names from your phonebook without any training, though think about it - that’s fine if they are English but… Well, let’s just say you need to figure out how the phone EXPECTS you to pronounce the name!

Redial - works great!

Start <application> - not quite sure of the point of this - where is the sense in starting an application you then can’t command by voice

SMS - reads (only) unread SMS’s back to you in typical synthesised speech which is sometimes incomprehensible, and again, you can forget it if English is not your language of communication

What time is it? - Now this is just great! This is probably the most useful feature when you are out and about. I haven’t got a watch, nor does my cyclocomputer EVER show the right time. So I just ask my phone!

…and perhaps a couple more features useful to cyclists:

Play <music> - which just starts playing music randomly (or at least I haven’t discovered the logic yet - it seems to play the same song every time, but it’s not the first tune in the Library) and even Play <name of song> (VERY unreliable!)

Pause - pauses playing of music, but it took me AGES to get it to understand I was trying to say Pause and not Call and I ended up accidentally calling people several times!

Resume - carries on playing where you left off

Some of the commands ask for a Yes/No confirmation so you can theoretically bail out if it misunderstands you, which it often does, at least until you get practiced.

Conclusion

I’ve got certain reservations about this phone in general (suspect battery, slow OS, cheapo screen, and also the alarm not going off in the morning if something else is happening on-screen!!), but on the other hand it IS a budget option and you get plenty of phone for your money. Is it a must-have for cyclists? Well it really depends on how much you need to be in touch, but I would say that it has definitely got potential. The idea is novel, but it is also genuinely useful, if you can actually get it to work properly! In particular, when you activate the microphone to speak and are moving fast (40kmh+) the wind rushing past the microphone makes it practically impossible for your commands to be understood. On the other hand, at times I felt I genuinely had control over the phone just with the power of my voice. When all’s said and done, your biggest worry is going to be what an idiot you look racing along the open road shouting “play music… NO! PLAY MUSIC!!”…

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Posted on October 11th, 2007 by markowe
Filed under: MTB Serbia (All), Off topic