HP Unveils iPAQ hx2000 Series... But Only in Europe

In a rather unusual move, HP has unveiled its latest line of iPAQs only in Europe. There has been no official word of these models in the United States, HP's home country.

All three of these new Pocket PCs -- the iPAQ hx2110, the iPAQ hx2410, and the iPaq hx2750 -- appear on numerous European HP web sites, but not the U.S. one.

This doesn't appear to be a case of someone slipping up and accidentally posting something on the site prematurely. HP is distributing a press release on the hx2000 series in Europe, but again not in the U.S.

Undoubtedly, this odd situation will come to an end soon, and these new iPAQs will be announced on both sides of the Atlantic.

An Overview of the iPAQ hx2000 Series

All of the models in the hx2000 series will have a great deal in common. They will run Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition and have 3.5-inch, 240-by-320-pixel (QVGA) displays.

The hx2000 series models will have both a CompactFlash Type II and an SD/MMC/SDIO slot.

They will be 4.7 inches tall, 3.0 inches wide, and 0.65 inches thick (119 mm by 76.6 mm by 16.3 mm). They will weigh 5.8 ounces (164 g).

These models are sized in such a way that they will be able to use some of the same accessories as other recent iPAQs, like cradles and a clip-on keyboard HP will release soon.

All of them will come with a translucent plastic flipcover.

HP iPAQ hx2750

The flagship of the series is going to be the hx2750. This will be the only one of these devices to include biometric security in the form of a fingerprint scanner like the one on the iPAQ h5550.

This feature is aimed at large companies, many of which are nervous about proprietary information being stored on easily-stolen handhelds.

The hx2750 will include 128 MB of RAM and 128 MB of ROM. Much of this ROM space will go towards a 93 MB iPAQ File Store. It will use an XScale processor running at 624 MHz.

It will offer both Wi-Fi (802.11b) and Bluetooth 1.2.

The hx2750 will be bundled with a swappable 1440 mAh rechargeable battery, and a 2880 mAh one will be available separately.

HP iPAQ hx2410

The hx2410 will be a scaled back version of the hx2750.

It will run a slower XScale processor (520 MHz), and have less memory. The hx2410 will have 64 MB of RAM and 64 MB of ROM, of which 31 MB will be available as an iPAQ File Store.

This Pocket PC will also have both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 1.2.

It will have the same swappable 1440 mAh battery as the hx2750.

HP iPAQ hx2110

As its name suggests, the hx2110 will be even more scaled back than the hx2410.

It will have only a 312 MHz processor, though it will have the same amount of RAM and ROM as the hx2410.

This model will sport Bluetooth 1.2, but not Wi-Fi.

It also won't come with a cradle, and its swappable battery will be just 920 mAh. However, all three hx2000 series models can use the optional 2880 mAh one.

The iPAQ hx2110, the iPAQ hx2410, and the iPaq hx2750 are expected to hit the market in December.