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The phone's other key feature is its onboard GPS support. Unfortunately HP doesn't supply any navigation software to make use of it. However, we tried it out with Googlemaps and it was very quick to pickup satellites and find a lock on our location.

Unfortunately, the phone uses a non-standard 2.5mm headphone jack so you can't easily swap the supplied headset for your own pair of cans. However, the bundled headphones don't sound too bad and are handy because they also double up as a hands-free kit. Nevertheless it would have been nicer if HP had provided a standard headphone adaptor in the box.

When it comes to call quality we've got no complaints as callers sounded crisp and clear through the phone's ear piece. It's also good at holding on to a connection, even in weaker signal areas. Battery life was pretty much par for the course for a Windows Mobile device. We got around two days out of it with occasional usage of Wi-Fi, HSDPA and normal phone calls, which isn't too bad.

Verdict

There's plenty to like about the Voice Messenger. Style-wise it's right on the button and it's got a good range of features and speedy performance. However, HP has hit a real bum note with the optical control pad which has affected our scores. It's so crucial to the handset's operation, yet so unreliable that it ends up making the phone quite frustrating to use. With a different control system this would be a fine little smartphone, but as it is we find it hard to recommend.

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