Windows Phone Thoughts: PC World Does a Wireless Handheld Shoot-Out

"We marveled at the very first Palm handhelds because they stored so much information, made data entry easy with a touch screen and stylus, and, best of all, synchronized with our desktop contact managers. Since then, screens have gotten nicer, cases have gotten skinnier, and Microsoft has gotten into the act--but in many respects personal digital assistants haven't changed a lot over the years. For many users, they're still primarily electronic organizers, enhanced by software that lets one edit a spreadsheet or play a game. But in the last year or so, advances in processors and other electronics have given rise to a whole new breed of connected handhelds--powerful devices that send and receive data over wireless networks, and others that double as cell phones.

For this review, we looked at ten shipping PDAs with some sort of connectivity--either a phone/PDA hybrid such as Sony Ericsson's P800, or a Wi-Fi-enabled device such as Palm's Tungsten C handheld. Each model was entrusted to a different PC World editor to live with for a few weeks. We used these handhelds to access our contacts and calendars, to browse the Web, to manage e-mail, to send instant messages, and--on the phone/PDA hybrids--to make and receive voice calls."