As far as looks go, Hewlett-Packard couldn't have chosen a worse time to bring out its iPAQ 912 Business Messenger. Compared to the iPhone 3G and Nokia E71, the iPAQ 912 just doesn't sizzle. Its glossy black finish and rim of chrome around the border give it a Blackberry feel - from a generation ago. Don't get me wrong - this smartphone isn't lacking in features. In fact, it's packed with cool stuff like HSDPA, WLAN, GPS, Google maps and a 3-megapixel camera. On the software front, it comes loaded with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, Office Mobile and Internet Explorer Mobile and supports e-mail applications such as Microsoft Exchange with Direct Push Technology. The screen is good too: 2.46-inch (320 x 240 pixels) with 65,000 colors.

My guess is that business users will appreciate the robust feel of the iPAQ 912. The large keys on the Qwerty keyboard make it easy to type and I had a pain-free time working out a draft of this review on Word Mobile. Setting up my Gmail account was surprisingly fuss-free. All I had to do was key in my Gmail address and password. The built-in GPS receiver took less than a minute to latch on to satellite signals and the preloaded Google Maps worked great. The iPAQ 912's battery gave me about a day's worth of usage before I had to recharge it. This is on par with most of the other smartphones I've tested.

There are some quibbles though. The phone got slightly sluggish occasionally. Once, the touchscreen even stopped working and I had to reboot the set. While voice quality was generally good, I was initially bothered when I thought I could hear echoes of my own voice. After a while, though, I got used to it and it ceased to be distracting. I had some disappointments with its camera too. The phone may trump some competitors in the megapixel count but its camera performance and picture quality is average at best. The autofocus was rather slow in response and coupled with its shutter lag, I often missed great candid shots.