PDA Reviews

The new Palm VIIx handheld lets you access the best of the Internet, communicate via e-mail, and stay on top of your information wirelessly and easily. With 8 mb of memory, you can customize the Palm Vllx handheld with your choice of hundreds of web clipping applications and thousands of third-party add-on applications. Trade stocks; get quotes, news items, or sport scores; look up addresses, flight information, or weather forecasts; and send and receive e-mail virtually anywhere. With more web clipping applications and more memory, the Palm Vllx handheld gives you the best of the Internet, where and when you want it. Memory - 8 MB...Addresses - 10,000...Appointments - 8 Yrs...Memos - 1,000...E-Mails - 400...Battery Type - AAA...Battery Life (based on normal use) - 2-4 Weeks...Add-ons via serial port...Integrated wireless internet access...Display Backlit... The Best Of The Best For All Of You Electronics Nuts...

I had one of these before replacing it with a Handspring Treo. If all you need is a PDA, and don't care too much about it being a mobile phone or not, this is a good unit. The screen is relatively easy to read, with a simple back-light option. Although its not color, the battery life is pretty good. Keep in mind that these units don't come with rechargeable batteries, so you will be using a lot of regular batteries here. I have seen some people hack the cradles for these to include a recharging facility, but its not stock standard.

The good thing is the memory. 8mb is a good amount of RAM for average PDA stuff, although I must say that 16mb is certainly better. But the fact that you can pick these units up for a song these days, and there is a healthy used market for them as others like me trade them in on up-market PDAs, there is no reason why for infrequent use, this isn't going to do the job.

I'd pass on the Palm.NET option though. Although it is pretty decent to have it, its very expensive to keep and slow, slow, slow. Depending on the plan you get, you could be paying $... per month for high data volumes and with the availability of GPRS/GSM Internet through carriers like T-Mobile, Sprint, etc. it doesn't take long to justify spending more money on a current model Handspring Treo, etc.

I have tried various Handsprings and Palms before, but the VIIx has just about the right combo of features, and the Amazon.com price is much less than what I paid.

The wireless service is pricey, but if all you're going to do is check email, don't go for the unlimited service right away. The installation of the Palm CD is great for Windows 2000 and 98; I had the link to MS Outlook 2000 in no time. Also I was easily able to download 2 novels from some e-book sites and a drug interaction/infectious disease guide from ePocrates.com. In fact, because of clipping, 8MB is really all you need for normal use.

On the wish list for improvements on this model, I would put a color screen at the top of the list. Also the wireless antenna can easily be broken; the design could be better. Add cell phone capability and this would be the perfect PDA.

The major pro's are,
1. Average price and still good build quality.
2. Looks good, small size, light weight and a very nice flip cover included.
3. Jog dial, 15MB RAM and memory stick expansion slot.
4. HiRes color display and very good backlight.
5. 7 hrs of battery life on a single charge with backlight on all the time.
6. Runs Palm OS 4 which has zillion free apps available and is very easy to use unlike Windows based PDA's.

Con's,
1. The color LCD isn't put to much use in Palm OS 4.
2. No other fun stuff like mp3.
3. Uses a Lithium Ion battery and Sony sells no replacements for it. Might be an issue in 18 months time.
4. No documents-to-go like in previous SJ's.
5. Soon to be discontinued and replaced by a newer model by Sony.

In short if you can wait for till Sept/Oct a lot many new PDA's should come out with Palm OS 5 and better features at same price point. SJ20 is better option since its below hundred after rebate now and there's harldy any difference between SJ20 & SJ22.

Like with cell phones and digital cameras, I expected to be able to put away any included instructions and be able to do the basics like sync with my Outlook and download some pics onto my new Sony SJ-22. I failed miserably and finally went home at 8pm when my wife called me home. The main problem was that Intellisync Lite which comes with the SJ-33 is not included in the SJ-22 as indicated on Sony's website. The solution is to download it and pay $ after the 30 day trial or buy something that does the same thing. A cheap solution is available for those who already had similar software from their last PDA. I used software from my ancient Handspring. It took several attempts. Best thing to do is uninstall all Palm software. Next install your old software first specifying Outlook as your software to sync with. Finally, install your new Palm software but do not choose to 'remove old/existing conduits'. Those conduits are what allow you to sync with Outlook. Good luck. I love my SJ-22 now and pictures look beautiful on it.

I really liked this PDA. It combined funtionality with a great price and a easy to use product. I loved how this was priced so low and it was color and rechargable. But it lacked MP3 capibility. It was a great PDA but I have updated to a Palm Tungsten T.

I have owned my T3 since Christmas 2003. Initially I was completely enthralled. It is fast, has a great diplay and plenty of memory. I was disappointed with the battery life. I was upgrading from a Clie' 710C. I am able to listen to music and read books for an entire travel day with my Clie..not the T3. I simply purchased a seperate MP3 player...no big deal. Then, 1 week ago I started having strange problems. Programs that were working fine had started locking up, forcing a hard reset! I started trying to track down the individual program that was causing the problem. I would install a single 3rd party program and attempt to run it. Most would lock up. However the internal programs (address book, calendar, etc...) continued to work. I finally broke down and contacted customer support via e-mail. I explained in detail the steps I had gone through. They replied that it sounded like a hardware issue and told me to call in for a return authorization. When I did this, they wanted to go through the entire process again. On top of it they seemed clueless. As a matter of fact, they were so clueless, that I ended up completely frustrated and thanking them for their time and hanging up! Later I called back hoping for another support tech. It appears that the phone support is offshore which led to communication problems both times. However we were able to overcome these and I did receive a SRO.

I am writing all of this to reinforce other reviews. The T3 is a great PDA, but it does appear to suffer from some quality issues. It doesn't have a great battery life (when are they going to wise up and put in removeable batteries?) and the customer service seems to have gone to the toilet!

Love this Palm device. Earlier I had 2 Mb monochome Palm Pilot, so this is a good change to have 52 Mb color one. New grafiti is better. Voice memo feature is good, but need to keep the source of sound away otherwise recording gets bad. Web, VersaMail, MP3, Bluetooth are not very useful to me. It came with RealOne MP3, but that needs an add on card. I didn't find the feature to turn the display very useful. Rarely use it. The battery life disappoints.

Overall, a great device to have.

I've had my T3 for 7 months now and have nothing but praise for this remarkable gadget.
The 75 applications I've fit into the spacious 64m memory and a 256m SD card include: my check register and shopping list database (Splash Wallet), a world clock with 20 alarms (Megaclock), a complete address book/meeting scheduler/to-do list/calendar (Agendus); an outliner (Bonsai), spreadsheet, word processor, PowerPoint editor (Documents to Go) and relational database (HanDBase); a drawing/painting program appropriate to my 10 years training as an artist (HandPainter); a dictionary and thesaurus (To Go), ebook readers; road maps of Colorado and the New York metropolitan area (Mapopolis); listings of 30,000 movies from the Internet Movie Database -- including main cast,director, and synopsis (on TomeRaider); an MP3 player with my favorite 50 songs; a photo album of 30 pictures; a chess game, submarine game, and Space Invaders clone; an icon editor, a file utility, a backup utility, and a flashlight (PalmLight).
For all that, I still have 40% of the memory free.
For all that, I've never had my T3 crash, whine, play games with my eyesight, or go bump in the night. It does however wake me up in the morning to Reville, but I asked it to do that since it's also my alarm clock.
It has replaced most of the contents of my wallet, two notebooks, and a portable cassette player -- all of which I had lugged around with me for 30 years until I bought the T3.
I like to compare my T3 to a 386 desktop computer I used to own -- the T3 does about about as much, about as well; except now it's attached to my belt.
The only thing I don't like about the T3 is that it's not as sturdy as the original Tungsten-T. The T3 feels noticably fragile.
But after 7 months, I can say: I use it daily. I use it for everything. It's never failed me.

Bought my original Treo 90 for $300 20 months ago because the worst thing about PDAs is having to take the time to pull out a stylus to use it. Keyboard entry is the way to go. Unfortunately, the Treo doesn't go quite far enough as navigating without the stylus is still difficult and in some cases impossible. Still, as I use it primarily for storage of reference sources--phone contacts and medical docs (the latter principally using iSilo, as well as several on-line synched programs)--it was a workhorse I couldn't live without. Dropped it multiple times, filled it with dirt once while crawling through mud with it in my pocket. It never flinched. I use a Secure Digital card to store an additional 15MB or so of data (which is a LOT of documents).

Then last week it died. Had to do a hard reset. All data erased. But, since I back up very frequently, no problem! Right? ...Until I found that the synch ability died also. Now I have a laptop with all my data, but no way to access it. Tried using the IR synch, which also wouldn't work.

So I went shopping. Much to my surprise keyboard entry is now only found on the highest end models. The Tungsten C is tempting, but at $400 I can buy 3 Treo 90s on-line for the same price. Do I really need Wi-fi access and a bulkier PDA? Don't think so. Thinking about buying 2 at least so I will have one as a backup down the road.

I just purchased my Treo 90 last week. What a great price for such a feature packet PDA. I have previously owned a Palm V and a Compaq IPAQ(color). I have to say that the Treo 90 has advantages over both! The Palm V was great, but obviously low on memory at 2mb. The IPAQ had a brilliant color screen, but it was so large that I found myself using it less and less as time passed. It was too bulky to carry in my pocket. The Treo 90 is really small and has a nice plastic protective flip cover. It can easily be carried in a shirt pocket or pants pocket without even noticing it's there.

The keyboard is very easy to use. I have very large hands and have no problem at all using it. I also occassionally use the handwriting recognition software that came with it. 90% of the time it's the keyboard.

The color screen is very nice. Not as brilliant as the IPAQ, but very acceptable. The backlight works great in practically any conditions.

My requirements were pretty simple:
1. small size
2. color display
3. plenty of memory
4. keyboard (I don't like handwriting recognition)

The Treo 90 was the only unit that fit all of those requirements. Palm M130 - nice but kind of bulky and only 8mb. IPAQ - too expensive and too big. Sony Clie - very nice but a lot more expensive.

The Treo 90 rocks!

I got 1 of these PDAs for my b-day, and it's great! I dropped it in the toilet, and it still works! My dog ate it, but it came back. It must be magic! Bye bye, silly-willy!

I went from a Handspring Visor Platinum to this Clie and now almost regret it.

PROs: screen resolution is twice as sharp and gorgeous, nice sleek metallic casing, Documents To Go is already included allowing you to view and edit Word & Excel files

CONs: screen is hard to read except under bright light so you have to use the backlight more often which burns batteries much faster; the Handspring had much more practical features for business use such as Datebook Plus and Expense Tracker; documentation is incredibly useless so you have to dig around the online website which is only a little less useless so you have to use the 1-800 help number which is OK if you can stand the hold times.

Also, the Clie is loaded with a lot of memory-hogging software that you CANNOT remove---fluffy flaky junk like photo viewers, movie viewers, memory stick drivers, camera and MP3 apps. (why anybody would WANT to view photos and movies on a MONOCHROME screen escapes me)

I can understand that maybe SOME users will actually use these but why can't those of us who don't want to use them remove it??? ...

I guess that's wy they call this an "Entertainment Organizer"---probably fine for video games and other fluff but not really geared for the business user.

Should be called "The Bimbo PDA"---looks great but not much else!

I bought this PDA a few months after it was released. I was happy with it except a few things. I didn't like that it was B&W or that is was not rechargable. There was alot todo with it until almost all the pda's on the market went Color then the software was limited. I really like the functionality and the features. But now I have updated. I would recomment going for the Song SJ22 for a little more money. Tis color and recharagable and alot more funtional.

That's correct, this is the last PDA made to run on AAA batteries. All future ones would be running on a propreitary Lithium Ion battery. LiIon dies in 2 yrs time leaving you with a dead PDA. And replacing LiIon batteries is not easy or economical either. Yeah I know the technology changes a lot with time, but to throw away a working device just because its battery died is stupid. (All cell phone & laptop makers sell replacements for their battery packs, why not PDA makers?)

So after that rant about LiIon batteries back to the PDA review. The major pro's are,
1. Low price and still good build quality.
2. Looks good, small size, light weight and a very nice flip cover included.
3. Jog dial and memory stick expansion slot.
4. HiRes display and backlight (unlike Zire).
5. 6-7 hrs of battery life on a pair of NiMH AAA with backlight on all the time. AAA batteries can be found in easily in most stores for replacement.
6. Runs Palm OS 4 which has zillion free apps available and is very easy to use unlike Windows based PDA's.
7. Good set of bundled applications.
8. Comes with a simple non-propreitary USB cable. No bulky charger, cradle or other stuff to worry about on trips.

Con's,
1. The LCD is a bit dark for use in medium lighting conditions (although good in bright and in dark).
2. Eats batteries much faster than old Palm's which ran like weeks on a single set.
3. No other fun stuff like mp3 or color screen, but then look at its price!

In short if you want to get a PDA which will do basic stuff and keep running for a few yrs get a SL10 (found only refurbished or on ebay). All the new color PDA's will come with a LiIon battery which becomes a pain after one year of use when their charge capacity decreases. (Other AAA based ones that can be still found are Visor Edge/Deluxe and Palm iiixe.)

The four months I had this in working condition, it worked wonderfully well. I never had any problem with it. Unfortunately, that wasn't to last.

I had it on its charger while I was working and next think I know, there's a crack in the glass about an inch up from the bottom of the screen. I had never dropped this PDA, I was always very careful while using it. There was no reason for this to happen, and it did so without any outside interference.

And they really get you coming and going on this one. A replacement LCD screen with glass top (you can not buy the glass top alone for this model) is almost $200. That's about what the PDA costs in the first place!

Since this happened to me, I have seen where several other people have complained of the exact same thing happening to them. This is obviously a product default, and I would never recommend that anyone buy this model. I can't vouch for any of the other HP models, but this one is a definite waste of money. Don't take the chance.

The iPaq 1935 has everything that I wanted in a handheld - it easily communicates with my pc, it keeps track of my appointments and contacts, it has a few games to keep me from getting bored, and the price was right.
There is no wireless on this model, though you might be able to upgrade it somehow. This gets me to one big drawback - the documentation is all on a cd-rom. While this probably saves money for HP, it is quite annoying for the user who doesn't have a computer to use to dig through the manual. Come on, I'm paying a lot of money for this product, the least you can do is print the manual so that I can have it in my hands to read...
One very nice feature that this unit does have is the SD card upgrade. You can use the SD cards to dramatically increase the memory, and there are several intersting SD cards that you can purchase (for about $50) that have programs on them - the one I'm eyeing right now is the 'atlas' program that has many maps on it to help you navigate.
I haven't used any handhelds before, so I don't have much to compare this product with. The interface is easy to navigate, the colors are bright, and it does the job, so I don't have any big complaints.
This is probably a good entry level handheld for moderate usage.

Let me start by explaining that I have owned an Ipaq3760 for a few years now and decided to "upgrade" to a newer model but also get something smaller to carry around. After my purchase I was told by a HP sales representative that this is really not really an upgrade and now I agree. If this was someone first purchase of an Ipaq or any PDA then they might not have the same complaints that I have.

The positives first, the size is great, this is a shirt pocket PDA and I am very pleased with the reduction in size from the 3760. The screen is bright and very easy to read. There is no wasted space on the front of the system at all. The function and navigation buttons work well. The stylus' size is perfect and fits very nicely into the unit. Finally, I love the removable battery.

Now the problems;

1.There is no docking cradle available for this model yet. You got to be kidding me. How can you release a product like this that targets small businesses and not have something like that ready! This means my Ipaq lies on my desk instead of being in a position that I can quickly glance at my appointment or see what time it is. I was told by HP that the cradle for the other similar model (H1910) will not work.

2.The USB cable used to synchronize my H1935 with my desktop does not charge the unit. This was not true for the older model Ipaqs. Why would you want to remove functionally like that? You have to plug the wall adapter into the USB cable. This is very messy on the desktop.

3.Why does each model have a different charging/communication port? This means all new cables for serial, cellular phone, car charger connections. Again not problem if you don't already have all these items.

4.Why, why, why couldn't HP have installed a normal audio jack?!? They use a smaller jack. Maybe this is for some future standard, but I not aware of one. You have to keep this 2 inch mini-cable with you to plug into headphones or speakers.

5.Last complaint, everyone that I know that has a PDA and wants to "beam" something to another PDA, points the top of their PDA to the top of the other. This new 1935 has the IR port on the side. Is this a new standard? Maybe I need to look other new PDAs to see how their IR ports are positioned. It just seems odd to me.

That's my experience with this new Ipaq. I really do like this new model and I'm going to keep it despite some of the aggravating quirks it has and lack of accessories. I will get use to quirks and wait for the docking cradle. I use my PDA for contacts and keeping track of my appointments, but also use it with my cell phone for e-mail and monitoring the company's network. I was looking for something that is easier to carry around and this works perfect for that.

I bought the Nexian Handy GPS as a Christmas gift. It was an embarassing dud. It failed to lock to any satellite. The manual did not provide help. I then went to the web site for Nexian. It was down... for 3 days during Christmas.

I tried suggestions provided by Amazon users. That failed. I asked the recipient of my gift to go ahead and take their trip and see if it was just a location issue. No, it failed to work at any point in a 1200 mile journey. I returned it and bought this Magellan.

It gets 5 *'s. First, it worked. Second, it has so many utilities to let you know how many satellites it sync'd with, their individual signal strengths, their constellation. Not sure whether they have a help desk, but their web site was up whenever I needed it.

If you're comparison shopping, this one beats the competition in both functionality and (in my experience) reliability.

As my first springboard module, this was money very well spent.

It operates on standard NMEA sentences so it works with other programs if you don't like their software. Although, the two programs that come with it besides the one built-in are great. One is good for being in a city--maps, zooming, etc.--and the other is good for when you're out in the middle of nowhere--marking waypoints, etc. Magellan also has map updates you can download for free.

As compared to the two other GPS modules for the visor, this one was priced next to the lower one, yet it has all the best features. You can't look up an address, but that means the maps don't take up very much space at all. I have all of the D.C. and Northern Virginia metropolitan areas in my visor in one megabyte.

It takes a few minutes to get a fix when you first start it up, but I didn't have to do anything special. I've been able to get a fix from the backseat of my car--which really surprised a friend of mine who has a GPS unit for his laptop.

GPS now goes down to 10-meter accuracy which means you can see yourself cross a street or if you're heading north or southbound.

All in all, it's very accurate, versatile and makes a great navigation companion. It even makes me want to get outside more! That means next I'll want a springboard with weather information.

I purchased the Magellan GPS Companion and I was wowed from the start. It shows your position on the included map software (includes maps broken down by state, county, and city) and can calculate your current speed, direction, position, ETA, and other useful travel info. I'll never get lost again!

A few downsides, but nothing earthshattering: the included maps are based on 1998 data. Maps based on 2000 data are available from Marcosoft for an additional $20. Also, the GPS can't lock on to the sattelite signals if you're indoors near a lot of computer equipment (such as at my office).

Overall I'd recommend this device to anyone looking for a basic, top-of-the-line GPS plugin for your Visor. You'll always know where you're going when you've got a Magellan GPS Companion!

Got it around my birthday Sept of 2003, Great buy, 2 problems shipping took almost 2 weeks instead of 2 days from NJ to MA, 2nd Battery problems almost 2 months later Toshiba was able to replace but battery problem continued so I gave up. All in all 8 months later and other than battery still loving it. Would buy from seller again. Still the shipping was a bit delayed but it was still a reliable PDA

I couldn't help but notice all the complaints about battery life in the reviews here. 24-30 hours while the unit was turned OFF? I don't think so. I've had this unit off the charger for days, and kept a decent charge. Granted, if you leave it on, it drains the battery in several hours, but any backlit PDA does that.

Good screen, good features, VERY thin and light, and better input methods and syncing than any Palm. Having the choice of transcriber, block input (i.e., Graffiti), character recognition, and keyboard for different situations is great.

Pocket Word and Excel are included, as is Reader (load in a few books - it's great for boring staff meetings or waiting in line at the store). Programs like Notes, Tasks, and Calendar all have better functionality than their Palm counterparts.

And these days, you just can't beat the price. Well, that's not true. Yes you can, with Dell's new PDAs. But those things look like bricks, compared to the Toshiba. For me, Toshiba's slim design was very important.

Issues include a low expandability (only 1 SD slot) and a relatively slow 300 MHz proc - slow as in it's not 400 Mhz, mind you; it's still plenty fast for everyday use. Plus, it's less stable than the Palm OS. As a comparison, I had to restart my old Palm maybe once or twice in the year that I used it. This Pocket PC, I have to restart about once a week. It's somewhat annoying, but I find it an acceptable trade-off for the better features.

This is my 3rd PDA in one week, and I'm very happy with my decision to return my 2 previous purchases, both Palm's. I started with the Palm M500 thinking since this is my first PDA and I'm not a real "technoid", it should suffice. Wrong! I wasn't happy with the monochrome and I figured for a little more money I could double my memory and get color so I returned it for the 515m. While I was very happy with that product and had easily mastered the graffiti and the "user friendly" applications, I was not totally satisfied until I checked out the Pocket PC's. After much research and looking around, I chose the Toshiba e335, and I'm very satisfied with my purchase. It has the ability to play mp3's which the palms did not and the color screen is much easier to read than the palm m515. I also prefer the Microsoft format and the ability to chose which writing style I prefer; block recognition, transcriber, letter recognizer or keyboard. It also has a voice recorder which I haven't used yet. All in all this is a great unit and the more I play around with it the more I like it. I haven't had any difficulty synchonizing it and I have activated the Avantgo feature and update daily the channels I have selected to view. With this device and the os, I will not feel the desire, nor the need, to upgrade in the near future. This should satisfy for a very long time.

After I purchased a refurbished unit, Nexian would not let me register the unit. They stated that the unit had already been registered and that I could not register it. Unfortunately, the only way to get the advertised software from Nexian is, yes, you see it coming, through the registration process. Nexian's customer support would not reset the database lock on the refurbished unit's serial number and part code. As such, I was never able to get the software to operate the unit as advertised.

I DO NOT RECOMEND THIS UNIT. THE CUSTOMER SUPPORT FROM THE COMPANY IS THE WORST!!

I bought this item and sent it back almost immediately. Performance is sub-par, as it only locked onto one satellite on flat ground under a clear blue sky. Two is the minimum to calculate position with three are required for altitude info.
The AAA batteries only last for about 4-5 hours under the best conditions and are expensive. Plus, it uses power from the battery in the Handspring as well. Not a very efficient design IMHO.
It comes with no GPS software, save the basic firmware. Contrary to advertising and info in the manual, you must purchase software from the Nexian website ...to make it useable beyond the most basic GPS functions!
Overall, if you have a Visor Prism and want the color capability I would recommend getting the HandyGPS PRO version which includes a rechargeable/replaceable lithium ion battery, mapping software, and options for an external antenna and car charger...
Don't waste your time with this... If you have a B&W Visor, save your money and buy a Magellan, or at very least, make sure you buy the PRO version of this product and also purchase the external antenna if you want it to work. You can always add the software and charger later.

I purchased my HandyGPS directly through Nexian two day's ago and received it today. I was going to order it through Palm Gear but they were back ordered. My first impressions of the module is definitely sleek, black, and light weight. The box contained the HandyGPS module, 2 AAA batteries and a software CD. The process is really easy: put the batteries in the module (be careful both the springs are on one side, check the polarities), load Palm Desktop onto the PC. Register the HandyGPS. Download the UBigo software and selected maps. Hot Synch everything on to the visor and your ready to go! From here I changed my INIT area and GMT. I proceeded to the bull's eye (menu/prefernce/satellite). Then I went outside and held the GPS above my head so there was no obstruction. My neighbor was looking at me oddly but asked no questions :). I wasn't taking any chances of not connecting to any satellites. My precaution was rewarded, I received six black satellites and two white satellites! Now that I was locked in I felt comfortable to lower the module to eye level and started to walk around. This was great it was showing the Lat and Lon and how fast I was going. The altitude was off, but I don't plan on using this for Flying purposes so that's OK. I've messed around with mapping software a little, so far so good. I'll keep you updated as I learn more. The more I use it the better it gets.

Palm's update corrupts the MAC address and renders the WiFi functionality useless. Support does not respond to any of my requests. BUY SOMETHING ELSE!!!!

I bought my Palm Tungsten C two days ago and am writing this review on it. Which shows its pluses and its limitations.

Its pluses? I've got a wireless network (apple airport) at home and at the office. I've been able to launch the web browser on the PDA, log onto amazon using my email and password, find this page and start writing my review.

I'm also typing this on a keyboard (well, kind of!), which is a huge improvement on the old grafitti system, which is of course still included for those who got the hang of it. I'm also able to surf and type on a colour screen that is as good as anything I have ever seen on a PDA.

Checking emails and going onto the internet is extremely straight forward - the only hitch I encountered is down to Apple not palm - you need to select network password equivalent in the airport configuration to get the letters and numbers that make up the key you need to log into an encrypted network.

And though I've seen the reviews questioning the wireless range of the tungsten c, I found that I was able to log onto my network at home and collect my emails two rooms and one hallway away from the airport base station. Not as good as my airport enabled ibook, but comparable to the cordless phone I have at home.

The downsides? Other reviewers have already questioned the lack of bluetooth and if I didn't have wi-fi at home I'd be taking this product back. When you spend this sort of money you really have to be sure you are getting the most out of it.

You also need to be realistic. Yes I've been able to connect and access every site I want but as with any PDA the experience is not anywhere near what you get on even the smallest of notebooks. Having to scroll backwards and forwards to read what is on the screen can be a pain in the backside. As is typing in several hundred words, something that I am doing now. Sure it can be done but it will take you twice as long as on your PC, though I suppose it does teach you to be brief!

I've not played around with the documents to go feature just yet, but I would think it's the same there as well. Use it to write or amend short presentations or documents, but don't write your board report on it.

In summary this is a great product, light years away from the psion and handspring I owned previously. Just be realistic what you are going to be using it for and the limitations of a tiny screen and keyboard.

I've owned several PDAs over the years and had abandoned the Palm platform for Sony Clies - the Clies were faster, more stylish, had more features and fantastic screens. I was intrigued by the features of the Tungsten C and tried one out at a local store and immediately purchased one online. In short, the C is a power user's dream PDA. My impressions after 3 weeks of use:

Screen: incredible, very bright, robust colors - rivals the Clie NX70V, maybe even a bit brighter

WiFi: immediately connected to my home Airport network - range is about 70-80ft - I have been able to connect effortlessly to T-mobile hotspots in several Starbucks

Speed: nothing like it on any PDA - the C truly flies - the browser speed is next to incredible - much faster than browsing on a PocketPC

Keyboard: I have never liked thumbpads, but the one on the C has the keys spaced so they can be accessed via thumb typing - I rarely need to use the new Graffiti 2

Memory: you will not run out!

Battery: very good, I'm getting 10-15 hours

The mono sound issue doesn't bother me at all - I have an iPod for mp3 listening - the C is fine for Audible content - the mono/stereo doesn't make much difference with the spoken word

It would have been nice to have built-in Bluetooth - the only limitation I have found so far.

I would also would have liked to have a travel charger included - it's a pain to have to carry the cradle around.