A few months ago, I wrote about my experiences using the Danger Hiptop cell phone/PDA hybrid, which T-Mobile markets as the Sidekick. I found the device to be a somewhat frustrating compromise. I felt that it really wasn't that good a PDA or that good a phone; squeezing both functions into one package required too many compromises.

After the article was published, several people e-mailed me about how they had the same experience, and how they'd switched from one hybrid to two devices: a Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone and a PDA that uses Bluetooth to connect to the phone and, through it, to the Internet. I decided to try out this combination to see if two good devices are really better than one mediocre one.

The two I chose for this test were the Clie PEG-UX50, a Palm OS 5-based PDA with a big, bright, high-resolution screen and a decent keyboard, and the Sony Ericsson Z600 mobile phone, which is small and, at just under 4 ounces, very light.

The PDA and the phone both include Bluetooth wireless networking, so you can connect the two devices to exchange data and access the Internet from the PDA by using the mobile phone as a modem.

The Price of Perfection

The first thing that this combination entails is a shrinking bank balance: The PDA costs $550 and the phone is $400 without service (it's cheaper when bought with a service plan). That's a hefty chunk of change when you can pick up a Sidekick for $20 after rebates.

The next thing is that you are dealing with two devices instead of one: You have to remember to plug in and recharge both. In my tests, both devices lasted a couple days of moderate use, but I did forget to charge the phone on occasion, which left me with no way of checking my e-mail on the road. I also managed to leave it at home at times, again leaving me without e-mail.

Easy Connections

Connecting the two devices was surprisingly simple, mainly thanks to Sony's Mobile Connection Wizard software, which can be downloaded for free from Sony's Web site. This simplified the process of setting up the PDA's Bluetooth connection to the mobile phone and then to the Internet: You just run the software and select the type of cell phone and the cellular provider. The Mobile Connection Wizard configures the connection the next time you hot-sync the PDA. This is a very good thing, as otherwise setting up the connection can be a painful process that involves fiddling with arcane settings and scripts.

The process of using the connection was also simple: When you start an application that accesses the Internet, the Palm OS kicks off the connection. And because the devices are linked wirelessly, you can leave the mobile phone in a bag or pocket and still connect to the Net, as long as the PDA isn't more then fifteen feet or so from the phone.

But this connection method does underline one of the disadvantages of the two-device approach: The PDA isn't constantly connected to the Internet. One of the Sidekick's advantages, for example, is that you can leave it constantly logged into AOL Instant Messenger, or set it to notify you of new e-mail messages as soon as they arrive. With the PDA and cell phone combination, you have to log on to the Internet to download your e-mail or IM someone.

In theory, you could leave the PDA on with the connection active all of the time, but the limiting factor there is the PDA's battery life: It generally lasts only a few hours, far less time than a typical phone/PDA hybrid. Also, you can't receive IMs or e-mail when the PDA is turned off. Mind you, for some people this might be an advantage; not everybody wants to be reachable at all hours.

You can also use the Bluetooth connection to send data between the devices. For instance, I wrote a shopping list as a to-do item on the PDA (which has a proper keyboard) and then zapped this over to the mobile phone using Bluetooth, where it appeared in the organizer application. That way, I just needed to take the cell phone to the store. Unfortunately, this doesn't always work perfectly: The phone refused to accept notes created in the Palm Memopad application.

The Best of Both Worlds

The advantage to the two-device approach is that in many respects you get the best of both worlds. With the Clie PEG-UX50, you get a much bigger screen and better keyboard than you'd get on a hybrid device. And the Sony Ericsson Z600 is much smaller than the Sidekick, PalmOne Treo 600, or any other hybrid I've seen. It's also (usually) easy to move data between the devices, so you can just take one if you're looking to travel very light. But the downside is that you have two separate devices to carry around, and this can be an inconvenience--especially if, like me, you're a bit absent-minded and forget to recharge both of your devices.

I'm sure that someday, someone will come out with the perfect hybrid PDA/mobile phone device that has a big screen and a decent keyboard, but weighs next to nothing. In the meantime, I like the idea of carrying around two devices that are good at what they do and can talk to each other, as opposed to a hybrid like the Sidekick, which has aged poorly, especially as a cell phone. Toting two devices is far from perfect, but it feels like the best compromise to me.

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