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This month we proudly announce our 4th iPAQ Choice Awards. Win great prices such as the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC, a brand-new iPAQ, Accessories or vouchers for Snapfish, HP´s online photo service.

Read our tips how to save battery life on your HP iPAQ or how to power it up with the correct accessory. Our free title of the month teaches you how to mix delicious cocktails for your New Year’s party.

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The battery life of any mobile device is highly related to the usage pattern of its owner and the overall device's performance depends on multiple factors as discussed below.

Factors that impact battery life

A partial list includes:

• The type of chipsets used on the device
• The touch screen
• The specific OS and adaptation kit upgrade (AKU) version
• The number of built-in radios (for example: GPS, Quad Band/Tri Band, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth)
• The core Operating System (OS) and any 3rd party applications running

Steps to increase battery life

Here are few steps to maximize the life of your battery get you better results between charges:

Adjust the screen brightness.

• Currently the default setting for the device is at 50% brightness. You should adjust this to 25% or a comfortable level based on the ambient lighting conditions.
• To adjust your backlight settings, tap Start > Settings > System > Backlight > Brightness. Adjust the brightness to a comfortable level.

Adjust the peak/off-peak setting frequency for E-mail / PIM Synchronization.

• Currently the default setting for the device is 'as items arrive.' However this can be changed to a more efficient setting, especially when e-mail volumes are light such as during off-peak hours.
• To adjust E-mail / PIM settings, tap Start > Programs > ActiveSync > Menu > Schedule. Scroll to choose the appropriate option based on your e-mail volume for both peak and off-peak hours.

Set Alert / Reminder Notification Profiles wisely.

• Alerts and reminders require the device to power on and consume far more power than when it is in standby. Battery life can be extended by setting alerts to a minimum for voicemail, missed calls, new e-mail arrival, and meeting notifications. Setting the device to vibrate for these alerts will also consume significant amounts of power.
• To adjust alert / reminder notifications, tap Start > Settings > Sounds and Notifications > Notifications. Scroll through the events and disable any unnecessary notification types and disable any unnecessary vibration alerts.

Disable the Wi-Fi radio when it is not in use

• The Wi-Fi radio consumes a significantly more power when compared to other functions on the device. Turning the radio off when it is not being used will improve overall battery life.
• To turn off the Wi-Fi radio, tap on the Wireless Manager Application on the Today screen, then tap on Wi-Fi to turn it off.

Disable the Bluetooth radio when it is not in use

• The Bluetooth radio will consume power when it is enabled, even when it is not being used for an active Bluetooth connection. Turning the radio off when it is not being used will improve overall battery life.
• To turn off the Bluetooth radio, tap on the Wireless Manager Application on the Today screen, then tap on Bluetooth to turn it off.

Use the “Band Selection” application to select between GSM and WCDMA

• WCDMA offers a higher data rate and thus faster downloads than GSM; however, it also consumes more power than GSM. If the device is only being used as a phone or it is only receiving small amounts of data, using GSM can extend battery life without significant impact on performance.
• To use the band selection feature, tap Start > Settings > Phone > Band Switch then select the appropriate band for your needs.

Put the device display into “Standby” mode.

• When you are not using the device or when you know that you will be on the phone for longer periods of time, put the device screen under stand-by mode. This simple action will help to extend the battery life of the device.
• To put the display into standby when on a call, press the power button on the device to switch-off the display. The call will still be active but the display will turn off.

Set the display timeout

• The shorter the amount of time the display is left on, the longer the battery life of the device will be.
• To adjust the display timeout, tap Start > Settings > System > Power > Advanced then change the timeout interval to a comfortable setting. Shorter timeouts will result in better battery performance.

Disable the keypad when device is in standby

• If the keypad is active when in standby, any unintended key-presses can wake the device up, resulting in higher power consumption.
• To disable the keypad when the device is in standby, tap Start > Settings > Buttons > Lock then select Option 1 (Disable all buttons except Power and End Button) and/or Option 2 (Enable Keygaurd) as appropriate.

Perform Battery maintenance once a month

• The battery needs to be calibrated when it is first used and occasionally during its lifetime. This allows the device to better report the useable capacity of the battery. To calibrate the battery, drain it completely from a full charge and then allow it to re-charge completely to 100%.

Limit power intensive application usage if not needed

• Whenever possible, limit the use of high power-intensive applications such as playing games, taking pictures, or browsing internet. These consume more power than most other functions on the device and will result in faster battery drain.
• To terminate power intensive applications, tap Start > Programs > Task Manager and end any unnecessary running tasks.

Place the device on charge whenever it is convenient

• In contrast to previous battery technologies, Lithium-polymer batteries do not suffer significantly from the memory effect. Thus charging the device regularly will not significantly reduce the battery capacity.

Make your smartphone even smarter with Garmin Mobile 20 — a GPS and Bluetooth® wireless package that includes a phone mount and datacard with plug-and-play maps and navigation software.

Just Open Box and Go

Garmin Mobile 20 makes it easy to add GPS navigation and hands-free calling to your Bluetooth-enabled smartphone. To get started, visit our Garmin Mobile Buyer's Guide for pricing, compatibility and to purchase a customized Garmin Mobile 20 package for your phone. Next, just insert the included data card in your phone, place your phone in the mount and start navigating.

Navigate with Ease

The data card includes Garmin Mobile XT navigation software, City Navigator® NT street maps and a hefty points of interest database. Easily look up addresses and services and receive voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions to the front door. With 3D map view, automatic off-route recalculation plus more, you'll never ask for directions again.

Take It With You

The compact and portable smart mount combines a high-sensitivity GPS receiver, Bluetooth hands-free kit, adjustable phone cradle and 12-volt phone charger all in one. It easily adjusts to fit a variety of smartphones, and moves from vehicle to vehicle, making it convenient to take on business trips or vacation.

Make Hands-Free Calls

With Garmin Mobile 20’s wireless technology, you can talk on your phone safely via the smart mount’s built-in speaker and microphone. Easily look-up and dial numbers from your phone's address book or the extensive points of interest database — including hotels, restaurants, stores, attractions and more.

Enjoy Garmin Online™ Services

Get the most out of your smartphone and Garmin Mobile 20 by adding Garmin Online — free and subscription wireless data services for Garmin Mobile customers with Internet access on their phones. With Garmin Online real-time services, you can route around traffic tie-ups, receive alerts as you approach safety cameras, view the local forecast, find the cheapest gas prices near you, plus much more.

See and Navigate to Users

With Garmin Mobile 20's PeerPoints™ feature, you can text message your position to any other phone as well as view and navigate to the location of Garmin Mobile XT users in your group. Simply send your current position via text messaging to your Garmin Mobile XT partner's phone, and your location shows up on your partner's map page. PeerPoints is the perfect feature to keep track of friends and family at an amusement park, lake, or other outdoor group activity.

Spb Software, the world's leading maker of Windows Mobile software releases Spb Online to end-users. Spb Online is a set of attractive online services that share a practical user interface and make superior quality mobile entertainment available on handsets at a single fixed-price fee (no subscription). The services offered include Mobile TV, Online Radio, News, Weather, Online Games, and On-device Catalog — all subject to automatic updates and powered by Spb's exclusive interface engine and patent-pending TV technology.

Spb Online is robust and easy to use even for novice smartphone users. All of Spb Online services support adaptive skins, smart scrolling, 3D transition effects, and one hand navigation.

TV

Unlike any other solution on the market, Spb's mobile TV facilitates channel hopping, offers on-screen controls, intelligent video/audio stream tuning to account for broadband fluctuations, doing it all to deliver a genuine TV watching experience — on the go:

• Fast channel switching
• Picture-in-picture
• On-screen controls
• Integrated TV guide
• Export of TV guide reminders to Outlook

Radio

Spb's radio offers a wealthy selection of the world's streaming radio stations, allowing users to tune into a news or music source of their choice in virtually any language or location of the planet:

• Huge catalog of the world's real-time streaming radio stations
• Stations sorted by popularity
• Option to add custom URLs to catalog
• On-screen volume control

Online Games

Spb's online games let real people play each other in real-time. All games take only a click to start and require no setting up or much of getting used to:

• Play with real people
• Configurable user profile with picture
• Play Checkers, Hexagon, and Reversi

Weather

For any city from a database of 10'000, Spb's weather service attractively displays FORECA's five-day forecasts (provider used by msn.com) in one screen. The service allows scrolling between the screens of up to 10 selected cities with a finger swipe:

• 5-day weather forecast in one screen
• Detailed weather screen with morning/day/evening information for selected day
• Option to select units and updates frequency

On-Device Catalog

Spb's on-device catalog makes it easy to discover and buy additional content directly from the mobile phone. Selected titles are downloaded, installed, and activated automatically:

• The on-device catalog offers programs, games, themes, ringtones
• All titles are 100% compatible with your device
• Secure credit card payments
• 'My Account' safely stores all your purchases

You can download Spb Online here:

• Version for Pocket PC and Pocket PC Phones
• Version for HP iPAQ 514

HP released new fix for popular iPAQ 614. New patch corrects the phone signal strength indicator (Received Signal Strength Indicator or RSSI).

You can download update from HP.com:

Click here to download "HP iPAQ 600 Business Navigator Series - Software Update to Improve Network Signal Strength Indication"

Now you can buy GPS Maps for HP iPAQ 614 in our iPAQ Choice accessories shop!

There are 2 different versions of maps:

• HP iPAQ 600 256MB East EU Map (FB119AA) - includes maps of Albania, Belarus, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine.
• HP iPAQ 600 1GB EU Map (FB118AA) - Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.

HP released new Bluetooth Keyboard Driver for HP iPAQ 614 Business Navigator Series. You can download it here:

HP Drivers and Software Download Center