Handspring Treo 90

WHAT'S HOT: The bronze-toned Treo 90 weighs little more than 4 ounces--it's nearly as light as its no-frills sibling, the Palm Zire. It's also smaller than the most other PDAs--about the size of a deck of cards--so it can fit comfortably into a shirt or pants pocket.

If you've never been a fan of Palm's Graffiti data-input technique, then you'll like the Treo. Instead of a handwriting area, the unit has a keyboard built into its bottom section. The keys are small and oval-shaped, but they're intuitively laid out, and using both thumbs to press down on the keys while you hold the PDA works well for short and simple entries. The keyboard's buttons responded nicely in our tests.

To sync the unit to your computer, simply connect the included USB HotSync cable and press a button built into the connector. You can get a cradle for $50, but you aren't likely to need it.

WHAT'S NOT: The Treo 90 has a relatively small active viewing area. Measuring 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches, it's the smallest of the PDAs we evaluated (precious space is taken up by the built-in keyboard). For the price, a voice recorder would have been nice extra.

WHAT ELSE: In addition to the standard array of Palm applications, the Treo comes with a version of Blue Nomad Wordsmith, a word processing application that's compatible with Microsoft Word. Both the flip cover that protects the LCD display and the stubby metal stylus feel sturdy. Our only complaint: It's easy to smudge the cover's see-through plastic window.

The Treo provides a Secure Digital card slot--cold comfort to those who already own expansion devices that are compatible with Handspring PDAs and who might want a snappier design like the Treo.

The Treo 90 is powered by a 33-MHz processor and runs Palm OS 4.1. It's more than adequate for basic PDA tasks, but it's not upgradeable.

UPSHOT: The Treo 90 is a good choice for those who want a well-designed basic PDA and prefer using a keyboard over using Graffiti to input text.

SUMMARY

Handspring Treo 90 Palm OS 4.1, 16MB internal memory, 1.5-inch-by-1.5-inch active screen area, Secure Digital card expansion slot, 160-by-160-pixel resolution, lithium ion battery, 4 ounces. $299 www.handspring.com