Clash of the pocket battleships

Clash A S Pooh Bear might have opined, a pocket is undoubtedly a useful thing to have. For most of us it's the most convenient place to store hankies, pens, receipts, humbugs, etc. For those of us with a Psion organiser, however, the pocket has long been where we kept our office. But for how much longer? To be honest, it's amazing they've kept ahead of the game this long: from the mid-Eighties, with the launch of the groundbreaking Series 3, to the end of the Nineties with the runaway success of the Series 5 handheld computer, still the only one of its kind with a touch-typeable keyboard.

But now Windows CE, the cut-down version of Windows, is taking great chunks out of Psion's market. Although Windows CE has been widely panned for its relative sloth, synchronising problems and overall clunkiness, this has not stopped the rapid proliferation of Windows CE-based handhelds (some 50 manufacturers worldwide now produce devices using CE), plus the success enjoyed by keyboard-less handheld's like 3Com's PalmPilot.

Which is why this month Psion is launching the second generation Series 5mx. It's supposed to be faster, smarter, with a bigger brain, but does it have what it takes to beat Bill Gates? We put it up against one of its leading Windows CE rivals - the Hewlett Packard Jornada - to see whether the Psion still cuts it. Psion 5mx (GBP 430) Screen: Barely improved 640x240 pixel monochrome screen looks distinctly low-tech alongside LCD colour screens but is still eminently usable in tricky real-world situations ... like daylight. Applications: Looks and feels pretty much like the old suite of software which was near perfect - only now you can open documents and databases twice as fast (thanks to a new 36MHz RISC processor) and store twice as much information (thanks to a doubling in memory to 16Mb). Also, the Web browser now displays real-time Internet services, like stock prices etc. Synchronising with email programmes such as Outlook Express on a PC is swift but nowhere near as friendly as it is with Windows CE. Keyboard: Unchanged from the old model which is good news - it's still the best of its kind. Notable for sporting finger-sized keys with good feel, a trick the rest of the world's handheld computer manufacturers have yet to master. Communications: Disappointing to find that there's still no built- in software modem, especially given that you can't directly use a PC card modem (you need an additional Psion adapter, criminally priced at GBP 100-ish). Best partner for mobile use is undoubtedly the Ericsson SH888 mobile phone with built-in modem. Battery life: A pair of bog-standard AA batteries (rechargeable types are fine, too) give around a month's typical usage, with the rather decisive advantage that you can get them anywhere on the planet. Hewlett Packard Jornada 680 (GBP 600) Screen: Viewed indoors, the 6.5in 640x240 pixel colour screen looks good, though it's a little grainy and the viewing angle is on the narrow side. Take the 680 outside, though, and it becomes more or less invisible. Applications: While it's nowhere near as capable as its desktop PC equivalent, the Windows CE desktop (backed by a speedy 133MHz processor) is still reassuringly familiar for PC users. The cut-down versions of the Microsoft Office applications are easy enough to fathom (though the absence of a word-count facility in Pocket Word is truly baffling). PC synchronisation (via the dedicated cradle) is slick and hassle-free as is file transfer, with Pocket Outlook being particularly useful for catching up on email. Keyboard: Despite being slightly larger than the Psion overall (making it too chunky to be pocketable), the 680's keyboard keys are too closely spaced. OK, if you've got gnat's digits, but hard work if you're a humanoid. Communications: It's got the lot - an infrared port for use with a data-enabled mobile phone, an internal 56kbps software modem, plus a Type II PC card slot for networking. Some aspects of online life with the Windows CE, however, really grate, such as trying to access email from a Compuserve account. A horrible way to spend an evening. Battery life: Nothing so humble as AA batteries used here. The 680 uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery instead, which gives around seven hours of use. A good choice if you can guarantee regular refuelling stops at a power point. Conclusion For me, the Psion 5mx is still just ahead, despite bafflingly cheap build quality and lack of a software modem. But judging by the Jornada 680, the Windows CE- based competition is improving in leaps and bounds. If it had sported a larger keyboard, choosing between it and the Psion would be a much tougher call than it is, especially for those wedded to Microsoft applications. The gap is narrowing ...

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