Monday, March 28, 2005

T-Mobile Pulls HP 6315 SmartPhone

Listeners to the On Computers radio show will recall the hosts travails with HP software: we have stated that one of HP's flaws is the inability to write good consumer software.

This week, T-Mobile, HP's exclusive partner in the hp6315, pulled the 6315 PDA phone from retail distribution pending a ROM update from HP. From my own experience, the GSM/GPRS (Global System for Mobile Communications/General Packet Radio Service) modem software used for voice and data is problematic. My 6315 will lose its mind in poor coverage areas, requiring a soft reboot to correct. That can mean lost calls. Lost WiFi coverage can cause the device to run down its battery in an hour, or not be able to connect to a known working access point without rebooting and reinitializing settings. And last week, my 6315 decided to spontaneously do a hard "factory reboot" while sitting idle, powered on, in the USB dock of my desktop PC. Factory reboot means all the data in the PDA becomes missing in action.

Obviously, T-Mobile has had more than a few customer complaints. To pull the product until HP fixes the software is not good news for HP's heretofore good reputation in the telecomm industry. As a T-Mobile customer for the 6315, I can see why T-Mobile went to the extraordinary step of pulling the product.

Peter S. Kastner

No comments:

Post a Comment

All comments are moderated.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.