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It is now possible to spend as much as AU$1500 on a handheld. Sony set this high-water mark with its CLIE PEG-NZ90, but others such as HP and Toshiba offer models that are almost as pricey. For that kind of money you could buy a cheap desktop, and you'd be remarkably close to the price of a budget notebook. At these prices, a PDA is no impulse buy. With a wide range of choices in terms of design, features, and performance, you must do diligent research before investing in a handheld for business.

Palm vs. Pocket PC

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.

Like PC vs. Mac in desktops, the handheld world remains divided. The first thing to decide is whether to go with Palm or Pocket PC. At one time, the differences were clear. Handhelds running the Palm OS were less powerful and were primarily for keeping tabs on phones numbers and appointments, but they were also smaller, simpler, and delivered longer battery life. Pocket PCs were bulky, complex, and power hungry, but they also had beefier specs, better displays, and a host of productivity and entertainment applications.

That's all changed. Nowadays, you can find models on either platform in all shapes and sizes and with a range of capabilities. So the best way to choose is by first comparing the models in your price range on both sides. Palm and Sony are the primary players for Palm OS-based PDAs; Dell, HP, and Toshiba all proffer Pocket PCs. (One key difference remains, however: Pocket PCs sync only with PCs, while many Palm OS-based models get along with Macs as well.)

Comparing the hardware
The hardware is even more varied than the software. Handhelds are powered by so many different types of processors from Intel, Motorola, Samsung, and Texas Instruments at so many different speeds, that comparisons are relatively meaningless. The bottom line: the higher the cost, the faster the chip. Memory is simpler--the more megabytes the better. That goes for both basic types: the permanent ROM where the OS and core applications reside, and RAM used for storing additional applications and files.

With the exception of the Palm's bargain-basement Zire, nearly all models have colour displays, but they vary in terms of size, resolution, and brightness. An integrated thumb keyboard--once a novelty -- is now prevalent in the Palm Tungsten W and C and several Sony models. Finally, most models include expansion slots, typically SD, CompactFlash, or Memory Stick, for boosting storage or adding features.

Sizing up the software
Despite their advanced capabilities, most handhelds are still used primarily as digital Filofaxes. All handhelds have an address book, an appointment calendar, a task list, and notes, which you can synchronize with Microsoft Outlook or other popular personal information managers. But PDAs are capable of much more. All Pocket PCs come with pocket versions of Word and Excel for viewing and editing documents, and many Palm OS-based PDAs also include DataViz's Documents To Go or other third-party applications that perform the same tasks--in some cases, better than Microsoft's own software. When you're off the clock, many handhelds also include entertainment applications such as MP3 players, electronic photo albums, e-book readers, and games.

But the most recent advances in handhelds have been in the area of wireless communications. Bluetooth lets you synchronize wirelessly, exchange files, or connect to other Bluetooth-enabled devices such as cell phones. Wi-Fi lets you access a public hot spot or a LAN (local-area network) at home or at the office to check e-mail and browse the Web. Finally, wide-area networking uses cellular networks such as GSM/GPRS or CDMA to stay connected over broader areas, albeit at much slower speeds. Some handhelds in this last category (such as the O2 xda and Sony Ericsson P800) also support voice communications, serving as both a PDA and a mobile phone in one.

The bottom line: Whether you simply need a handheld to get organized or are looking for a flashy conversation piece, you have plenty of models to choose from at prices to suit any budget.

Christopher Null is a freelance business and technology journalist in San Francisco. He has written for Wired, Smart Business, PC World, and Business 2.0. He is also a veteran of numerous small businesses--including his own Internet start-up, filmcritic.com, which he has operated since 1995.

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