We now know the BlackBerry (or CrackBerry to some) is an invaluable tool for keeping in touch with the office, but there have been a host of other new entrants to the smartphone/PDA market. QS News profiles some of the newer devices

With plans to make the City of London a wifi area (internet access across the entire square mile) and an increasing number of cafés, hotels, train stations and airports now being designated as ‘hotspots', it makes sense that your PDA keeps up with the times.

Manufacturers now compete for market share with bigger screens, faster processors and style. So where are these PDAs taking us?

As you'd expect with the latest wave of these devices, all of the models here have bluetooth. But there were some features that really stood out for us - including fingerprint reading technology and built-in wifi.

HP iPAQ HX2750

Chosen here purely on the basis of being able to read your fingerprint – so only you can access your data. Hewlett-Packard’s device also plays MP3s and has wifi built in.

Palm Treo 700w

The manufacturer says it has broadband-like speeds, and it’s the latest Palm PDA. Wifi is not built in, but it does use Windows Mobile platform, which makes it ideal for checking PDF contracts or drawings. Due to be released soon.

BlackBerry 8700

BlackBerry’s latest model has twice the memory of previous models and a self-adjusting screen. No integrated wifi or camera, but has that unique constant email capability.

Nokia N90

The N90 is dubbed by the Nokia as a “pro-photo taker” and “personal video-maker”. So it could come in useful for on-site work where there is a need for capturing images. No QWERTY keyboard but there is a two-way video call capability.

Downloads

Source

QS News