Digital Trends

HP iPAQ 310 Travel Companion January 27th, 2008 | by Josh Norem

Features and Design

The HP iPAQ 310 is a do-it-all “travel companion,” which means in addition to being a GPS device it can also play music, movies, pictures, hold Outlook contacts, and even has a few games. However, it’s obviously a GPS device first and foremost, and a Bluetooth phone manager second, and so forth. So therefore, we’ll focus mostly on its GPS performance, but will discuss the other features briefly as well.

GPS Features

The 310 can be mounted on a car dashboard or windshield, and includes GPS functionality that delivers turn-by-turn directions and voice commands. You can edit routes, save favorites, navigate to “points of interest,” and even create “trips” on your PC and send them to the 310. 

Contacts

You can add contacts to the 310, and then navigate to their location. If you have a Bluetooth phone, you can call them from the 310 and talk hands-free. 

Extras

In addition to GPS, you can also play music, movies, and pictures on the 310 complete with playlists. There are also several pre-loaded games.

Display and processor

The 310 packs an impressive amount of power for such a small device, and has an incredibly high-resolution display as well. It is powered by a 600MHz dual-core processor, and its little screen runs at a 800x480 resolution including touch-and-drag capability. 

Included Software


Naturally, a CD comes with the iPaq, but it's merely a "getting started CD." Pop it into your optical drive and you arrive at a menu with three options: manage your device, product information and accessories, and web services. We clicked around for a bit and discovered that there is not any actual software on the disc, but rather links to download the software from the Internet. We checked the size of the CD and just 17MB of out 650MB were being used, so we're not sure why HP didn't just put the software on the CD.

The "manage your device" section gives you links to download the Outlook sync software and Windows Media Player. We're not sure why we'd need to use Windows Media Player with the iPaq, but the link is there regardless.

The product information section is what you would expect -- links to documentation and the site that sells iPAQ accessories.

Finally, the "web services" takes you to the online trip planner, discussed elsewhere in this review.

In the Box

The package includes the 310 unit, software, an AC adapter, a cigarette lighter adapter, USB cable, car mount and a small leather case.

Image Courtesy of HP