Since 1992 I have had several PDAs – all Psion machines, ranging from the humble Series 3 to a 5mx – trading up every few years when a new generation of hardware went "mainstream" (I am not one of those who rushes out and buys something when it first comes out; I prefer to wait a while for the price to fall and the problems to be found and fixed).

Much as I love the 5mx, it is becoming antiquated and increasingly sidelined. Following Psion’s withdrawal from the market in 2001, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that there will be any new designs from the company with, to all intents and purposes, practically invented the PDA. Besides, compared with newer generations of technology, the 5mx is, to put it bluntly, bloody huge – way too big to hide in a pocket,

Having used a PDA for over a decade, my needs are well defined; Primary functions are voice recorder, documents and spreadsheets, with contact and time management runners-up. This made my research much easier, since most PDAs do not have a voice recorder. My wife has a Zire 71, so I am not completely new to the Palm way of doing things. After looking around for some months I finally picked up a Palm Tungsten T on eBay for $85 and an ultra-thin keyboard for $17.

Overall I have found the T|T to be a very capable machine for my needs – and a bargain for a machine of its capability. The two killer features that I require are both present:

Voice Notes is admirably implemented; like the 5mx, I can take notes with the TT switched off and closed. Unlike the 5mx, all voice notes are separate (the 5mx concatenates them all into one file), can be turned into alarms and converted to WAVs. Chalk one up to the T|T

Documents To Go, which includes seamless synchronization with MS Office, is on the bundled CD. This means that I can work on documents on a PC or the handheld, whichever is most convenient.

AvantGo and RealPlayer are added-value bonuses that the Psion machine simply cannot match, and PalmReader is as good as or better than any e-book reader ever released on the Psion machine.

While both machines have 16MB RAM built-in, and both accept add-on cartridges, the TT uses SD rather than the larger CF format. The TT will happily work with a 256MB SD cartridge that I picked up for $12 after rebates.

When it comes to screens, there is simply no comparison – the TT wins hands-down. While it's reflective screen is not as good as the transflective one on the Zire 71, it actually looks better in direct sunlight, at least to my old eyes.

All is not wine and roses, however, in the TT world. In Documents-to-go, search and refresh times are truly terrible (the 5mx was faster and had only a 33MHz processor!). For this reason I tend to turn off auto-refresh in spreadsheets. Not good, but I can live with it.

The TT also suffers from digitizer drift and needs recalibrating every few hours. I don’t know whether this is due to environmental (heat/humidity), mechanical (slide action) or software interaction factors, but I can live with it.

Perhaps the biggest annoyance is that battery life on the TT is way too short… the 5mx would get 35+ hours out of a pair of AAs, while the TT manages about three, though you can eke another hour out of it if you turn the screen brightness down and switch off Bluetooth and IR. Palm say that the machine should go for a week between charges… but that assumes that you are using it for twenty minutes a day or so. If you plan on using it use it for playing games, reading e-books or listening to MP3s you will drain the battery fast.

Of course, the major difference between the two machines is that the 5mx was designed as a self-sufficient computer with the road warrior in mind, while the T|T is more of a "sidekick", for people who can charge their machines up on a daily basis.

The rechargeable nature of the TT is both a blessing and a curse – on the one hand, you don’t have to spend money on batteries. On the other, if you’re away from a charger and you run out of juice, you’re stuck. Fortunately, my wife has a International charger that we got for her machine that works fine with it.

On paper, it looks like a dead heat, but in the pocket the TT wins, simply because it fits… well, in a pocket. Besides, it can do all that the 5mx can, and more. Listening to MP3s? Viewing PDFs? Using AvantGo? Not if you’re using the 5mx…

I have finally decided to join the twenty-first century – barely - and bid a fond but long-overdue farewell to Psion.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 85
Recommended for: Students - Stylish and a Best Value