Personal Assistance: 9 PDAs tested

Whether you want a high-tech gadget or an essential enterprise tool, we've got the latest and greatest PDAs covered in our Australian review.

In the last twelve months the humble PDA has undergone something of a revolution. Initially, many saw PDAs as cool tech gadgets with little practical use. Then, as momentum began to gather, the ability for PDAs to act as digital personal information managers (PIMs) became more apparent, and they weren't just tech toys any more, with measurable benefits for businesses and consumers alike.

More recently, however, the line between PDAs, phones and even laptops has become even more blurry. The recent run of Pocket PC-powered PDAs with multimedia capabilities, PDA-centric processors at previously unheard-of speeds and wireless connectivity have raised the bar for a plain PDA. At the same time, Palm hasn't sat back and let Microsoft just take over; its relaunched line of PDAs comprises the mid to high level Tungsten devices, while the budget space belongs to the Zire brand.

Palm's launch of the original Zire can be seen as something of a watershed for PDAs; it'll probably be the last successful monochrome PDA, but more importantly, if you just want a vanilla PIM-style PDA, there are very few reasons not to simply pick up the Zire; while it's a touch more expensive locally than in the States, it's still cheaper than the Pocket PC competition and does everything you'd need out of a very simple PIM.

Palm OS or Pocket PC?
While the choice between Palm OS and Pocket PC often comes down to a personal flavour choice, there are differences between the two operating systems that anyone pondering a PDA purchase should consider.

Palm is exceptionally keen to talk up the storage efficiency and battery life of their particular OS, something that is a legacy of their efficient code design; it wasn't that long ago that a high-end Palm PDA would sport a lowly 33MHz processor, and 8MB of memory -- if you were lucky. This makes most Palms a good consideration for anyone who's likely to be away from a charging solution for lengthy periods of time, and anyone needing to cram a large quantity of data into a small space, although that's something that either type of PDA can overcome with the addition of storage cards. Palm is also natively cross-platform compatible, whereas you may need to jump through several hoops to get a Pocket PC device to talk to a Mac.

Microsoft's Pocket PC didn't have the best start in life as Windows CE, but like many Microsoft products, by the time you get to the second or third iteration, things start to actually work. Pocket PC 2003, recently renamed the rather unwieldy Windows Mobile 2003 Software for Pocket PC; we suspect the pre-release title of Pocket PC 2003 will stick to it. Pocket PC excels at higher-end tasks and has the advantage of native compatibility with MS Office applications; stripped down versions of Word and Excel are part of the core Pocket PC operating system. Wireless has also been a reality in the Pocket PC world for much longer, and as such the wireless applications available to Pocket PC users are nicely mature.

The recent introduction of Pocket PC 2003 also opens up another can of worms for Pocket PC owners, as Microsoft's position on upgrades is that it's technically possible via the flash ROM on most PDAs, but it's up to the individual OEMs as to what model they want to take. It's worth checking with your PDA provider if they'll be charging for the upgrade or supplying it for free, and what your warranty position would be if something went wrong whilst upgrading.

Consumer Considerations
At the consumer end, obviously price plays a very major part in your selection of a PDA. Arguably more important than price, however, is what you plan to do with a PDA. If you just want a small digital PIM, then the very simple (and somewhat limited) Palm Zire would do you just fine; anything else is going to be overkill if you just need to remember a few contact details. Beyond that, though, it's a matter of weighing up features against price. All of the PDAs we've looked at in the entry level space range between AU$450-$650, but what you'll get for your money at one end of the scale doesn't always match up to the other end.

Enterprise considerations

PDAs Introduction 1. Dell Axim X5 2. HP iPAQ h1910 3. HP iPAQ h5450 4. Palm Tungsten C 5. Palm Zire 71 6. Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22 7. Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 8. Toshiba e350 9. Toshiba e750 Editor's choice

The biggest factor that enterprise buyers need to work out is their exact needs; there's little point in deploying a swathe of PDAs with integrated digital cameras if you don't need them, and likewise saving AU$100 on the purchase price is a false economy if you're then going to have to spend AU$300 equipping all of your PDAs with wireless cards. Within the enterprise space established vendors like HP have something of an edge, as the iPAQ models they offer are generally backwards compatible with older accessories and most software seems to be written with the iPAQ in mind.

We asked PDA vendors to supply us with two models for review. Firstly, we wanted an entry-level model, suitable for some upgrading but with a price point that's realistic rather than aspirational. At the other end of the scale, we wanted to see what the biggest and best products were in the market today. At this end of the scale you should at least expect integrated wireless, plenty of memory and a solid range of add-on storage choices.

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Dell Axim X5

The Axim sits in an unusual spot in-between the entry-level and high-end models.

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HP iPAQ Pocket PC h1910

The h1910 can be summed up in one word: small.

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HP iPAQ Pocket PC h5450

If you can think of a type of mobile technology, chances are it's been bolted onto the h5450.

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Palm Tungsten C

The Tungsten C offers WiFi at an exceptionally good price.

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Palm Zire 71

The Zire 71's integrated camera makes it an interesting option.

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Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22G

If price is your only consideration, the SJ22G may be for you.

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Sony CLIE PEG-TG50

The TG50 offers an integrated keyboard and Bluetooth connectivity.

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Toshiba Pocket PC e350

The e350 is thin, light and comes with Pocket PC 2003.

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Toshiba Pocket PC e750

The e750 offers scads of storage space, WiFi and Pocket PC 2003.

Dell Axim X5

The Axim sits in-between the entry-level and high-end models.

Dell finds itself in an unusual position in terms of low or high-end marketing of its Axim range of PDAs; it currently stocks only two models, relatively close in price and tending towards the budget end of the spectrum. At the same time, some of the features that it offers are those generally only found on higher-end PDAs, which should in theory make the Axim a particularly compelling buy. There are some catches with the Axim, but few of them are all that bad.

At 128x81.5x18mm and 196g, the Axim isn't the smallest and lightest PDA on the market, although its deceptive bulgy shape means that it looks somewhat heavier than it is, an illusion upheld by the rubber sides of the Axim. Unlike many other PDAs that opt for a control dial, the Axim has a rocker switch on the side, along with the practically mandatory five way directional pad and four configurable application buttons on the face of the unit.

The higher-end Axim Dell submitted to us for review comes with a 400MHz XScale processor, 64MB of onboard RAM and a 1440mAH Lithium Ion battery, giving it a solid edge on most of the competition. It's based on Microsoft's Pocket PC 2002, so those with a bent towards synchronising and editing Office documents should find it appealing. Dell's borrowed an idea from the Toshiba playbook with the Axim's storage capabilities, as it supports both CompactFlash and SD/MMC cards via two slots, although not in the handy back to back configuration of the Toshiba PDAs; the Axim's SD card slot is on the side of the unit.

PDAs Introduction 1. Dell Axim X5 2. HP iPAQ h1910 3. HP iPAQ h5450 4. Palm Tungsten C 5. Palm Zire 71 6. Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22 7. Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 8. Toshiba e350 9. Toshiba e750 Editor's choice

Dell didn't just wake up (as a company) one day and decide that they'd make some kind of uber-PDA, however, and there are compromises in the Axim that keep the price low. There's very little in the way of bundled software, aside from Outlook 2002 and the essentially mandatory ActiveSync software. This does leave a lot of space free on the unit, but simultaneously means you'll have to manually install packages on the unit if it gets wiped.

The stylus on the Axim is unappealing; it looks like a flattened fish, is comparatively uncomfortable to hold and it's possible to insert it into its holding bay the wrong way round. Of a more uncomfortable nature is the five-way directional pad on the face of the unit, which is noticeably loose and can be unresponsive within applications.

If we gave out awards for snazzy looking docks, the Axim X5 would win the race by a mile; if you want a PDA to show off to your colleagues it's hard to look past the Axim's shiny dock with integrated glowing Dell symbol that lights up when the unit is properly connected.

In terms of our divide between budget and high-end models, the Axim sits strangely in the middle; it's lacking in high-end features such as cameras, wireless connectivity or keyboards, but it makes up for much of that with a low price given its core specifications. It's thus an excellent choice in the budget category, and with the necessary wireless and keyboard add-ons it would even give many high-end models a run for their money.

Dell Axim X5
Company: Dell Australia
Price: AU$563
Distributor: Dell Australia
Phone: 1800 812 393

HP iPAQ h1910

The h1910 can be summed up in one word: small.

At the other end of the specifications race from HP's iPAQ H5450 is the h1910, a compact PDA with an appealing price and small form factor. The size of the H1910 is the very first thing you'll notice about it; at 113.3x69.8x12.8mm and tipping the scales at only 120g it's the lightest and smallest PDA in our entire roundup.

The h1910 has the usual four buttons and directional pad at the base of the unit lined up in a row; those with larger fingers may find the tiny application buttons a little hard to bear with. The unit lacks a scroll wheel of any kind, primarily we suspect due to its super-thin nature. Storage is added via a single SD/MMC card slot on the top of the H1910.

The h1910's screen stretches to within 5mm of its external bezel, and is entirely unprotected against sharp knocks. While its size would suggest that's it's extremely pocket-friendly, anyone wanting to protect their investment would be well served to look into a third-party screen protector unless they like peering through scratches.

It's not only light in size; it's also somewhat light in features. It's the only Pocket-PC based PDA in our roundup to utilise a 200MHz XScale processor (the similar Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 also uses this processor, but with the Palm OS rather than Pocket PC). That's still something of a moot point at this time, however, as the Pocket PC OS doesn't often strain the resources of better processors, unless you like playing heavy-duty multimedia files on your system.

PDAs Introduction 1. Dell Axim X5 2. HP iPAQ h1910 3. HP iPAQ h5450 4. Palm Tungsten C 5. Palm Zire 71 6. Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22 7. Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 8. Toshiba e350 9. Toshiba e750 Editor's choice

In order to keep costs down HP omits the inclusion of a dock, although one is available at additional cost. Instead, you'll have to make do with a somewhat clumsy USB cable that can also have a power cable "piggybacked" onto it.

In software terms you're given a bunch of demo software and the usual Pocket PC 2002 applications; while the Pocket PC platform still lags solidly behind that of Palm OS in terms of application numbers, there's still plenty of applications available at ZDNet Australia's handheld downloads page.

The h1910 is a solid, no-frills PDA; it's cheaper than the Zire 71 but solidly beaten by the Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22G in price terms. If you're looking for one of the slimmest PDAs on the market today, though, it's hard to overlook the h1910.

HP iPAQ h1910
Company: HP Australia
Price: AU$549
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 13 13 47

HP iPAQ H5450

If you can think of a type of mobile technology, chances are it's been bolted onto the h5450.

HP's been in charge of the iPAQ brand for some time now, and in Pocket PC circles iPAQ is effectively the brand to beat; it's faced stiff competition from the likes of Toshiba and Dell and still managed to remain a prominent part of HP's portable arsenal. The H5450 is HP's high-end PDA, incorporating features ranging from a dual Bluetooth/WiFi antenna to a biometric fingerprint scanner. If there's a technology out there suitable for PDA inclusion, it seems that HP's jammed it into the H5450 somewhere, although this is amply reflected in the asking price.

The H5450 matches up well with its high-powered PDA brethren; like many it sports a 400MHz XScale processor and 64MB of onboard memory, along with a reasonably high-powered 1250 mAH Lithium Ion battery. Battery life on the H5450 is highly variable, however, as with the inclusion of Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, it can vary anywhere from less than an hour to around three hours continuos usage. It's relatively trivial to switch off both wireless connectivity models to preserve battery life, as well as dimming the exceptionally bright screen if you need to eke out the very last drops of battery life.

Unlike Toshiba and Dell, who both offer PDAs with multiple card reading options, the H5450 has only one storage slot, compatible with SD/MMC cards. The supplied dock isn't quite as visually pleasing as that on the Dell Axim, but the inclusion of side grips make it easier to insert and remove the iPAQ from the dock. Of note with the dock is the inclusion of a serial cable end; while many users will never use this, it's handy if you've got a full compliment of USB ports already.

PDAs Introduction 1. Dell Axim X5 2. HP iPAQ h1910 3. HP iPAQ h5450 4. Palm Tungsten C 5. Palm Zire 71 6. Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22 7. Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 8. Toshiba e350 9. Toshiba e750 Editor's choice

PDAs make corporate customers nervous; they're highly portable, with the addition of a microdrive they can hold scads of data, and most worryingly they're far too easy to lose/steal. HP's got that particular angle covered however, as the security built into the H5450 is amongst the most stringent we've seen. Alphanumeric passwords can be set on the unit for when it suspends and/or attempts to synchronise, but more impressively than that, the unit has an inbuilt fingerprint scanner, which can either be used solo or in combination with a password, thus ensuring that if someone got through one level (knowing/deducing your password) they'd still need your living finger to access the unit. The one catch with the fingerprint scanner is that it's forced HP to make the directional pad a touch smaller than on other iPAQ units in order to accommodate the scanner.

Enrolling your fingerprints is a somewhat time-consuming matter; you can enrol as few as two fingers (HP recommends your left and right index finger) although those with little patience may want to just enrol their thumbs, as the larger surface area makes it easier to get swipes recognised correctly. Once the system has you properly entered, however, it's remarkably accurate at recognising fingerprints, although we did note that it only requires the password when synchronising up to a PC. We'd suggest using the strong alphanumeric password option to overcome this particular flaw.

Wireless connectivity with the H5450 worked quite well in our testing, but we did notice one oddity; if the WiFi connection is used for more than about 15 minutes it heats up to an alarming degree. While this is handy on cold winter's mornings, it gives us pause for thought when it comes to what that heat will do to the innards of the H5450 over a period of time.

HP hasn't oversaturated the H5450 with software; aside from the normal Pocket PC 2002 applications there are utilities for data backup, image viewing and remote control of IR-compatible devices, turning your iPAQ into just another remote to lose behind the couch. The great advantage that any iPAQ has over other Pocket PC devices, however, is that it's pretty much been the standard to beat, so many applications have been written with the iPAQ specifically in mind. On a similar note, the H5450 is compatible with HP/Compaq's legacy iPAQ add-ons, so it's a solid choice for anyone upgrading from a previous iPAQ model, or enterprise buyers with an existing inventory of iPAQ accessories.

The H5450 is an exceptionally capable PDA, and only missed out on the Editor's choice by the slimmest of margins to the Toshiba Pocket PC e750; if it were natively running Pocket PC 2003 it would be absolutely neck and neck.

HP iPAQ h5450
Company: HP Australia
Price: AU$1,299
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 13 13 47

Palm Tungsten C

The Tungsten C offers WiFi at an exceptionally good price.

The Tungsten C resembles Palm's legacy PDAs in a visual sense, and it's one of only two PDAs in our roundup to come with an integrated keyboard. There are two catches with the Tungsten's keyboard, however. Firstly, it's very small, and relies on a function button to access characters that you may need continually -- most notably, all of the numerical characters. Secondly, the existence of the keyboard means there's no Graffiti area, although you can set the screen to accept Graffiti input instead. This isn't perfect; if Graffiti failed to recognise our test character it often just scribbled on the screen.

The Tungsten C sports the current PDA heavyweight champ, the Intel PXA255 400MHz XScale processor; that's the same beast that powers the Dell Axim and HP iPAQ Pocket PC h5450. The main difference, of course, is that the Tungsten C isn't attempting to run Pocket PC 2002/2003; it's running Palm's considerably more streamlined Palm OS 5, which should in theory give the processor more headroom for future applications; for the moment, however, there's not a lot of perceptible difference outside of very heavy multimedia applications.

On the subject of applications, Palm's made pretty sure that the Tungsten C can be used for just about any PDA capable task right out of the box. These range from simple world clocks to Avantgo's web retrieval software to Acrobat reader and Kinoma Video player. As usual with most modern Palm PDAs, you get a copy of the useful Palm Desktop software for PC-based manipulation of your mobile data.

PDAs Introduction 1. Dell Axim X5 2. HP iPAQ h1910 3. HP iPAQ h5450 4. Palm Tungsten C 5. Palm Zire 71 6. Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22 7. Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 8. Toshiba e350 9. Toshiba e750 Editor's choice

The Tungsten C is also Palm's pitch at the wireless connectivity market, using integrated 802.11b. Two things worried us with the Tungsten C's wireless implementation. Firstly, when you're setting up WEP implementation, the private WEP key is displayed for all the world to see. Subsequent access of this setting obscures it behind the industry standard asterisks, but we figure making WEP less secure isn't a good thing. The other problem we hit with the Tungsten's wireless implementation is that we couldn't get it to connect to our WEP-enabled wireless network in any way or shape. Ad-hoc it was fine, and with a non-WEP enabled network it was happy, and previous testing with a Tungsten has shown its wireless connectivity to be simple to use, so this may have just been a factor with our test model. It would also be nice if the OS supported an onscreen indicator to show that the wireless antenna is on; the only way you can see if you're connected and burning power is via the preferences panel.

Palm's always sold itself on battery life, and while the figures that vendors give are often suspect -- especially if you're intermittently using WiFi -- we've seen battery figures around the 7 hour mark in previous tests. That's well above anything that a Pocket PC device can currently manage without the use of additional batteries.

We reckon that the Tungsten C does just about everything right; it's got solid battery life, a mostly future-proof specification and wireless connectivity in a package that comes in at AU$999. The line between the three models competing for our high-end Editor's choice was very thin indeed, and if the Palm's attempts at connecting to our wireless LAN had been successful, it could well have come out on top. As it is, it's still highly recommended and certainly the best Palm PDA you can get.

Palm Tungsten C
Company: Palm Australia
Price: AU$999
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1300 302 959

Palm Zire 71

The Zire 71's integrated camera makes it an interesting option.

The Zire 71 is Palm's second outing under the Zire branding; the initial Zire PDA was Palm's cheapest, although annoyingly the Australian price wasn't reflective of the US price, and if you could forgo the warranty, savings could be made by simply importing a Zire. The Zire 71 expands on the basic Zire concept and shows the consumer direction that Palm is taking the Zire branding in; conversely the Tungsten brand is moving heavily into the corporate space.

The Zire 71 boasts a Texas Instruments OMAP310 144MHz processor, 16MB of onboard memory and the ability to pump that up via an SD card slot on the top left side of the PDA. 16MB isn't titchy by Palm terms, but for a PDA with multimedia leanings -- including MP3 playback and digital camera functionality -- it feels a little light. Indeed, you can't use the MP3 playback option without an SD card, a failing shared with many of Sony's CLIE handhelds.

Physically the Zire 71 has an acceptable TFT screen with the usual Graffiti area beneath; the unit itself uses the slightly redesigned Graffiti 2 software. It's acceptably small at 114 x 74 x 170 mm and at 150gm leans towards the lighter side of the PDA units in our roundup. It's the only unit in our roundup not to feature a five-way directional pad for navigation; instead the Zire boasts a tiny embedded joystick that takes some getting used to. Anyone planning on using the Zire's multimedia muscle to play games could find it useful, however.

PDAs Introduction 1. Dell Axim X5 2. HP iPAQ h1910 3. HP iPAQ h5450 4. Palm Tungsten C 5. Palm Zire 71 6. Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22 7. Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 8. Toshiba e350 9. Toshiba e750 Editor's choice

The single thing that gives the Zire 71 its 'wow' factor is the inclusion of an inbuilt VGA digital camera. This is accessed by sliding the face of the Zire 71 upwards, which reveals the shutter button on the front of the unit while exposing the lens on the back; a guaranteed attention-getting device.

The Zire 71's digital photography muscle isn't that great, however; you're limited to shots of 640x480 (VGA) quality, and without a flash shots can tend towards the murky. The included photo software with the Zire can be used to brighten up shots, but it's a false illumination, and not always applicable to every shot. If you only want photos to display on your Palm and perhaps your website it's an acceptable option.

One thing we're not terribly keen on is the Zire 71's included cradle; for some reason Palm has designed it to sit on a 5mm sliver of plastic that juts out from the base of the cradle itself. This makes the Zire look as though it's teetering on the cradle, rather than slotting into it as is the case with every other PDA in our roundup.

The Zire 71 makes a good case for itself against Sony's comparable CLIE models; it's certainly more compelling than the Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22G from a features standpoint, although it is more expensive. Compared against the current crop of mid-price Pocket PC devices, especially the Axim, it's a tougher recommendation, depending on where you sit on the Palm OS/Pocket PC fence.

Palm Zire 71
Company: Palm Australia
Price: AU$599
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1300 302 959

Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22

If price is your only consideration, the SJ22G may be for you.

The SJ-22 has a couple of distinctions that mark it out from the rest of the PDAs in our roundup. For a start it's the cheapest unit at AU$449, although there are other PDAs (most notably Palm's bargain-basement Zire) that beat it in the price stakes. It's also the shortest PDA in our roundup, and the only Palm device to still be running on Palm OS 4.1.

The SJ-22 runs on a very ordinary Motorola Dragonball VZ 33MHz processor, by far the slowest processor of any of our test units, although it's pretty much the standard for older Palm OS PDAs. Likewise, the SJ-22 offers a small 16MB of onboard memory; bear in mind however that Palm units are typically more storage-thrifty than their Pocket PC counterparts, so if you only need a PDA as a digital organiser this should be plenty.

The SJ-22's most notable physical feature is the protective flap that can be clipped on the front of the unit. It makes the pedestrian SJ-22 somewhat ugly, but it is effective in protecting the screen from knocks and scratches. Consumers pondering similar cheap units such as the HP iPAQ H1910 should bear the cost of a screen protector in mind; with the SJ-22 you don't need to worry.

PDAs Introduction 1. Dell Axim X5 2. HP iPAQ h1910 3. HP iPAQ h5450 4. Palm Tungsten C 5. Palm Zire 71 6. Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22 7. Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 8. Toshiba e350 9. Toshiba e750 Editor's choice

The SJ-22 boasts the standard four application buttons and a selection rocker that's a touch too small for anyone but those with the smallest hands. The jog dial on the side is thankfully a touch larger, and there's a back button located just beneath it.

Sony sells a dock for the SJ-22 as an add-on, but out of the box you'll have to make do with a rather fiddly connection dongle. This clips into the base of the SJ-22, from where the USB and power cables attach. While USB cables are nicely portable, if you lose the dongle you're in real trouble.

Sony has previously made its CLIE line stand out with an impressive lineup of additional software, but it appears that the SJ-22 is the one that got away; while it has a small army of trial software on the included CD, you'll have to make do with CLIE PAINT, various Memory-Stick import/export packages and Palm Desktop for Palm. Palm OS 4 software isn't exactly thin on the ground, however. Notably, while Palm devices are in theory Mac-compatible, Sony provides no software to assist in this, and you'd need to track down a third-party connection application to manage this feat.

The Lithium Ion battery in the SJ-22 is easy enough to swap out as it's held in place by a single screw. Sony suggests that it's good for 15 days usage at 30 minutes usage/day; in previous tests we've seen it last just under four hours of continuos usage.

At AU$449, the SJ-22 is respectably priced, but in comparison to what you can get for just a little bit more money -- the Zire 71 on the Palm side, or the Dell Axim on the Pocket PC side -- it's hard to make a compelling case in the SJ-22's favour. It's a perfectly solid PIM-style PDA, but lacks that little bit extra to make it a truly worthwhile purchase unless your budget can afford you nothing else.

Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22
Company: Sony Australia
Price: AU$449
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1300 137 669

Sony CLIE PEG-TG50

The TG50 offers an integrated keyboard and Bluetooth connectivity.

The TG50 isn't the top end of Sony's PDA line, but it is the cheapest unit to offer integrated Bluetooth wireless connectivity. It's also the only PDA in our roundup to offer an integrated keyboard, something that the graffiti-challenged may find compelling.

Sony has higher-end units, such as the NZ90G, which tops the scales at a whopping AU$1,699, but if you just want a keyboard enabled PDA the TG50 is a solid choice. The TG50 is powered by Intel's older PXA250 200MHz processor and Palm OS 5. While 200MHz might seem a little underpowered compared to the 400MHz processors that PDAs such as the Axim or iPAQ sport, the Palm OS is generally more processor efficient, especially considering it wasn't that long ago that the fastest Palm processor ran at a paltry 33MHz.

The unit bears a brushed metal finish, and thanks to the integrated keyboard and Bluetooth antenna, has virtually no surface that isn't adorned by extra buttons. Aside from the keyboard, you get a jog dial and a large back button (much larger than that on the SJ-22G), four very thin application buttons and a so-thin-it's-useless selection rocker. Owing to the headphone socket at the top of the unit, the PDA stylus slots in upside-down on the side of the TG50, an arrangement likely to lead to a dropped stylus; that's exactly what had happened to the test unit Sony provided us with. For what it's worth, the stylus that comes with the SJ-22 fits quite nicely.

PDAs Introduction 1. Dell Axim X5 2. HP iPAQ h1910 3. HP iPAQ h5450 4. Palm Tungsten C 5. Palm Zire 71 6. Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22 7. Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 8. Toshiba e350 9. Toshiba e750 Editor's choice

The TG50's keyboard is of necessity quite small; we'd suggest that anyone keen on the idea conceptually make sure that they take a test drive with the unit, as actual typing on it is quite slow and fiddly, especially if you have chunky fingers.

Sony pitches the PEG-TG50 as an MP3 player, capable of playing MP3 and ATRAC files. It does a fair job of this, although there are some catches. For a start, there's no supplied headphones, and the software supplied is a touch confusing to get to grips with.

The TG50 offers Bluetooth connectivity, although there are two catches with this. The first is rather minor; an alert light flashes when Bluetooth connectivity is enabled and it gets quite distracting if you're working on other tasks. More importantly, as with many other Bluetooth-enabled devices, it can be frustrating trying to get devices to connect and talk properly; we had no luck in our test period in getting the Bluetooth enabled iPAQ H5450 and TG50 to even see each other. Conversely, the much older technology behind the IR port worked flawlessly.

As we noted in our original review, the PEG-TG50 is bundled with a CD full of extra software, but it's a tough call working out what's mandatory and what's strictly optional. For example, the Sonic Jukebox software supplied with the TG50 is meant to simplify transferring audio to the PDA, but never once detected that the unit was plugged in while we were testing it. The user manuals are also found on the included CD however it must be noted that although the basic use of the PEG -TG50 is shown more advanced features are not included in the manuals. You can buy an advanced manual on the US Sony web site for US$9.95, at least in theory. We're not fond of the concept of paying AU$850 for a PDA only to find out that we need to spend another US$10 on the manual, but it may be a moot point -- the US Sony site doesn't appear to accept Australian credit cards, and the local Sony site doesn't sell the manual at all.

While they're not the only PDAs on the market with integrated keyboards, if we had to make the choice between the TG50 and Palm Tungsten C, we'd plump for the Tungsten; it is more expensive than the TG50, but the added memory and WiFi connectivity, along with a faster processor, make for a more compelling purchase.

Sony CLIE PEG-TG50
Company: Sony Australia
Price: AU$849
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1300 137 669

Toshiba e350

The e350 is thin, light and comes with Pocket PC 2003.

Toshiba's initial foray into the PDA market bore some fruit for the company, as its initial run of PDA models combined dual storage card slots and attractive pricing. It's no longer the newest PDA competitor in the local market, and units like the e350 do show Toshiba settling into some more conventional designs.

The e350 sits in the middle ground of processors for the units we've examined in this review; it packs a 300MHz XScale processor and 64MB of onboard memory. Where it does rise above the rest of the pack -- at least in the model being released to the Australian market, and in the review sample Toshiba submitted to us -- is the presence of Microsoft's Pocket PC 2003 operating system.

Pocket PC 2003 isn't an entirely new OS, and, for most end users the differences will be hard to spot. The primary changes have been under the hood of the OS, introducing bug fixes, integrated wireless support and, at least in theory, better support for Intel's higher-speed XScale PXA255 processors. There are new bundled applications, including the highly addictive Jawbreaker game, but the difference in performance seemed slight, if any, in our testing. Having a PDA with the latest OS in it is a good future-proofing hedge, however; Microsoft is leaving it up to OEMs as to whether older models will be offered the upgrade flash package for units running Pocket PC 2002.

PDAs Introduction 1. Dell Axim X5 2. HP iPAQ h1910 3. HP iPAQ h5450 4. Palm Tungsten C 5. Palm Zire 71 6. Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22 7. Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 8. Toshiba e350 9. Toshiba e750 Editor's choice

From a future-proofing stance, the slower processor will probably age more quickly than similar units, and it's worth noting that the somewhat cheaper Dell Axim sports a 400MHz processor with essentially the same specifications.

The e350 is finished in a brushed grey metal design, and at 80x125x12.4mm and only 149g it's slim and light enough for most shirt pockets. Toshiba's kept the e350 slim by offering only one storage slot for SD/MMC cards. Aside from that you've got the normal directional pad plus four button combo; the directional pad on the e350 protrudes solidly out from the unit and is exceptionally responsive, although those with larger fingers may find its small size annoying.

Like the Dell Axim, you won't be bowled over by a large bundle of included software packages; apart from those applications that are part of Pocket PC 2002 (Pocket Word, Excel, et al.), you'll only get a data backup application to tide you over until you can install additional downloaded software -- say, from ZDNet Australia's handheld downloads channel.

Toshiba advertises the e350's Lithium Ion battery as being good for up to ten hours. We're always wary of battery life figures on PDAs, as it's an incredibly subjective score, depending on your exact usage model. The absence of an integrated wireless connection technology should boost the e350's battery life; in previous tests we've seen the battery last around five hours under a continual barrage of MP3 playback.

Ultimately the e350 is an attractive looking package, but at AU$639 there are PDAs available that beat it in hardware and software specifications. It's hamstrung to an extent by its lacklustre software bundle, but could be the PDA for you if you specifically want a thin and light unit.

Toshiba e350
Company: Toshiba Australia
Price: AU$639
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 13 30 70

Toshiba e750

The e750 offers scads of storage space, WiFi and Pocket PC 2003.

Toshiba's e750 marks a few firsts. It's the first PDA we've hit running Microsoft's new version of Pocket PC, and it's the first PDA we've seen with a whopping 96MB of available memory, via 32MB of NAND Flash ROM. With so many top-end PDAs becoming mini-multimedia powerhouses, it's only a matter of time before more vendors follow suit and start bundling PDA units with more and more memory.

The e750 doesn't differ in any great degree physically to the earlier e740 model; it sports the same dual storage card solution (SD/MMC and CompactFlash) and externally looks all but identical. It is a touch heavier at 196g, making it the second heaviest PDA in our roundup, behind the more noticeably bulky HP iPAQ Pocket PC h5450. That 196g is crammed into a fairly tight casing that measures in at 78.7 x 124 x 15.2mm. On the subject of tight spaces, we found the SD/MMC card slot on the e750 quite tricky to remove cards from, eventually resorting to using the stylus to pop them out.

The e750 benefits from Pocket PC 2003's improved Wireless setup, which allows for simple connection to wireless networks as you move between providers and access points, and in our testing it performed admirably. Unlike the HP iPAQ Pocket PC h5450, we didn't notice a thermal increase in the unit after a period of wireless activity. The other major change that Pocket PC 2003's inclusion made to the e750 was a better stab at rendering complex Web pages within the confines of a tiny screen; where other handhelds tended to throw elements around and force scrolling on text lines, the e750 managed to streamline pages and present data with a minimum of fuss. While the OS allows for the Wireless connection to be easily disabled, it's also regulated by a tiny switch on the base of the PDA.

PDAs Introduction 1. Dell Axim X5 2. HP iPAQ h1910 3. HP iPAQ h5450 4. Palm Tungsten C 5. Palm Zire 71 6. Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22 7. Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 8. Toshiba e350 9. Toshiba e750 Editor's choice

While Pocket PC 2003 does boast an additional image viewing utility and a single new game, the e750 is otherwise weak on the bundled software side; there's a backup utility that utilises the additional 32MB of storage space, ActiveSync 3.7 and Media Player 9. It's worth noting that earlier versions of ActiveSync didn't recognise the e750 in our testing, so if you're running a system that routinely has multiple PDAs coming and going, you'll need to upgrade your ActiveSync installation.

The dock that comes with the e750 is Toshiba's standard side-supported model; while it looks quite spartan isn't the easiest to slide a PDA into, it does support the e750 well from the side and base.

Battery life on the e750 was solid, although obviously this can vary widely depending on the level of wireless usage; in previous tests we've seen the e750 last just under four hours without WiFi enabled; expect to see that figure crashing down if you plan to keep WiFi enabled continuously.

At the top end of the PDA market you can expect to pay a fairly hefty amount, and the e750 can't be seen as a budget model at AU$1,299. That being said, the combination of additional memory and Pocket PC 2003 included just edge it out from the competing HP iPAQ H5450 and Palm Tungsten C, although only by the slimmest of margins.

Toshiba e750
Company: Toshiba Australia
Price: AU$1,299
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 13 30 70

Editor's Choice

PDAs Introduction 1. Dell Axim X5 2. HP iPAQ h1910 3. HP iPAQ h5450 4. Palm Tungsten C 5. Palm Zire 71 6. Sony CLIE PEG-SJ22 7. Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 8. Toshiba e350 9. Toshiba e750 Editor's choice

High-End PDA Models

Editor's Choice: Toshiba Pocket PC e750
Highly Commended: Palm Tungsten C, HP iPAQ H5450

It's something of a flavour-preference choice with our Editor's pick; if you're a keen Palm aficionado the Tungsten C is a solid, keyboard enabled choice at an attractive price point. The H5450 is well provided for enterprise customers, especially those nervous about corporate information falling into the wrong hands. We can't help but like the e750 slightly more, however; it's running a cutting-edge PDA OS, has scads of additional storage and very solid wireless connectivity.

Entry-Level PDA Models

Editor's Choice: Palm Zire 71
Highly Commended: Dell Axim X5

The Zire 71 has very solid battery life in an attractive casing, and it's hard to argue against the value of an integrated digital camera. The Axim is almost the Pocket PC version of the Zire 71; it's got the highest-end processor of our entry-level models, and it's really only its lack of integrated wireless connectivity that keeps it out of the high-end model contention.

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