Well-Connected Handhelds

Wi-Fi Handhelds

Palm Tungsten C

Palm's Tungsten C is about the closest thing to PDA nirvana I've experienced since the Palm Tungsten T , which sets a pretty high standard for products designed for serious business users. OK, so the C isn't quite as compact as the T (it lacks the T's collapsible case), but it makes up for that by offering the combination of a sturdy thumb keyboard and the Graffiti 2 handwriting recognition system. The Tungsten C, like the phone-equipped Tungsten W, has no dedicated Graffiti data-entry area, so you simply write anywhere on the touch screen. This led to my biggest complaint: Sometimes the operating system thought I was writing when in fact I was trying to send a command to an application with the stylus.

Based on the latest version of the Palm OS (5.2.1), the $499 Tungsten C also has a powerful CPU (Intel's 400-MHz XScale chip), 64MB of RAM, and an SD memory card slot; the device can handle Microsoft Office documents via the included DataViz Documents to Go software.

The icing on the cake: Instead of the T's rarely useful Bluetooth, the C has the most usable Wi-Fi I've encountered on a handheld. A setup utility sniffs out available networks, requests an encryption key where needed, and connects to the Internet in a matter of seconds. I found this exceptionally helpful, especially when used in tandem with Palm's VersaMail 2.5 client. When I visited friends at their Wi-Fi-connected home, I was able to download about 100 e-mail headers in a minute or so, retrieve the full messages I wanted, and even delete the spam from a POP3 server. A capable browser supports many popular Web formats, including JavaScript, but as with most handhelds, you have to scroll a lot to see pages designed for larger screens.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Tungsten C's battery life. When I used the device 1 to 2 hours a day with occasional power-hungry Wi-Fi connections, the battery ran at least two or three days without a recharge--a big plus for this forgetful magazine editor.

Upshot: You'll pay top dollar for this device, but for anyone who wants to be productive with a connected Palm-based PDA, I'd recommend the Tungsten C.

Sony Clié PEG-NZ90

I ditched my aging gray-scale Palm V for a couple of weeks to test the (initially) dazzling Sony Clié PEG-NZ90. The screen is big, the colors crisp, and after cranking up the brightness level, I had no problem viewing it in direct sunlight.

The Clié didn't fit into any of my pockets, though, and the camera lens near the hinge (along with the HotSync connection cover) added extra bulges. The battery usually lasted several hours, with more frequent recharging when I took or displayed photos or movies.

To move around the 30-plus bundled apps, I hopped from the Jog dial to the back knob to the thumb keyboard, but to finish most tasks, I had to use the stylus.

I was impressed with the Clié's built-in 2-megapixel camera and flash; at 1600 by 1200 pixels, photos looked sharp, and the quality of the MPEG rendering on video files was pretty good for a PDA. Photos at the highest setting were about half a megabyte each (about 30 shots will fit on the included 16MB Memory Stick card). Clié Camera S and Movie Recorder (the photo- and movie-making apps) each took 8 or 9 seconds to load, though, so it was tricky trying to capture spontaneous moments. The music quality earned a thumbs-up: 128-kbps files sounded really clear with the included no-frills (if flimsy) headphones.

With Bluetooth enabled, the Clié recognized other Bluetooth devices, but getting them to cooperate was a chore. I was finally able to partner a Sony Ericsson T68i cell phone and the Clié using Sony's Mobile Connection Wizard 1.0 (which I had to download and install separately) so I could browse the Internet. Herein lies the Clié's biggest disappointment: This $800 beast isn't sold with a wireless module. Instead, you must pony up an extra $150 for Sony's proprietary wireless card.

Upshot: The Clié goes to town on multimedia applications like music and photos, but its lack of built-in Wi-Fi makes it less compelling for business users.

Toshiba E755

I love handhelds. I love Wi-Fi. But judging from the time I spent with a Toshiba E755, I'm not ready to love a Wi-Fi-enabled handheld--at least not a Pocket PC.

On a recent business journey, I toted the $499 E755 to use for unwired Web browsing and e-mail. However, the Wi-Fi wizard in Windows Mobile 2003 software for Pocket PC, modeled after the one in Windows XP, proved surprisingly clunky and a bit slow. And when the E755 powered down its Wi-Fi to conserve juice, the wizard told me I didn't have a network adapter at all. It seems to me that if you want to do something Internet-related, such as browse the Web, the Pocket PC operating system should be smart enough to turn on the Wi-Fi automatically.

Once online, I waited while Pocket Outlook downloaded headers for 158 pieces of junk mail. Oh, for a Pocket spam filter. While browsing the Web, I discovered that Pocket Internet Explorer isn't particularly good at reformatting Web pages for a lilliputian screen. And Windows Mobile still feels less optimized for on-the-go use than the Palm OS. (Memo to Microsoft: Black text on a blue background is hard on the eyeballs.)

But the E755 isn't without its virtues, starting with its generously sized 3.8-inch transflective color display that's easy to read in bright sunlight. This unit also packs both CompactFlash and Secure Digital memory slots, a real advantage if you'd like to use one slot for semipermanent storage. (I devoted one slot to MP3s. Over earphones, I was perfectly pleased with the device's sound.)

Upshot: Toshiba has fielded a competent Wi-Fi--enabled Pocket PC handheld--but the Windows Mobile OS could use more wireless Internet savvy.