Would You Let These Things Run Your Life?

A bitter rule of the road: laptops die from mishaps, while handheld PCs more often perish at the hands of an angry businessperson.

Often as not, the tiny gadgets are hurled, rattled, and beaten. The same goes for phones. You could blame it on their size: Repeated attempts to pull up an address by tapping on a screen while riding in a cab with shot hydraulics—or trying to dial a phone number on a keypad designed for pecking pigeons—are enough to send anyone off the deep end.

In a roundup of nine top handheld PCs and two-way pagers and 10 state-of-the-art wireless phones, Ziff Davis Smart Business discovered that manufacturers are helping curb gadget rage on two fronts: Usability in the latest generation of handheld devices has made notable gains, and all gadgets are growing astonishingly rugged.

We should know. We beat the stuffing out of them.

Smackdown

Adding to our regular roster of tortures—roasting, freezing, free-falling from waist level, and dousing with water (phones) or soda (handhelds)—we dropped each phone 20 times from a height of 3 feet. Yes, there was the occasional flying piece of plastic and conked-out display (as often as not from drowning, rather than impact). But unless you're holding a mafioso's vendetta, your portable devices will shrug off your meanest knocks.

That means the game is really played in the arena of usability. Among handheld PCs, Hewlett-Packard's Jornada 565 took top honors in our tests. Surprised? We were. HP's genius in calculators has until now eluded the company in handheld PC designs. But the Jornada 565 is elegant in both form and function.

The $500 device's 3.5-inch display is on the small side, but its 16-bit color is dazzling, and its Pocket PC 2000 operating system puts all the information you need at your fingertips. The flush-mounted pointer disc and side-mounted scroll buttons make navigating your contacts, e-mail, documents, and the Web that much easier. And HP added four quick-launch buttons below the screen.

The device is wired for multimedia. And there's a Type I CompactFlash slot, which means you can add wireless modems, LAN cards, and the like. There's also a raft of bundled software for task switching, backup, and playing games—all polished and simple to use. While the Jornada is a tad hefty (6.1 ounces), its lithium-ion battery is rated for 14 hours, long enough to last through a few days of heavy use.

Compaq's newest iPaq, the Pocket PC 3850, also comes with a color screen. But it lacks a CF slot, offering instead a Secure Digital slot, which you'll also find on the Casio Cassiopeia Pocket Manager BE-300. An optional sleeve for the iPaq 3850 accepts CF devices, which bumps its $599 price up by $40. In any case, usability on the iPaq nearly matched that of the Jornada, thanks to long battery life (rated at 12 hours) and a fine bundle of utilities. It's a good alternative.

So is the Audiovox Maestro Pocket PC, which at $649 seems extremely pricey until you realize it comes with the Audiovox CDM-9100 phone and the necessary connectors to use the phone as a wireless modem. It's got both CF and SD slots too, which widens your expansion options. Its bright screen and sleek design make it a smart choice if you have the cash to spend. Just beware of its relatively short battery life, rated at 8 hours.

The Casio Cassiopeia BE-300, on the other hand, proves that a Windows-based handheld needn't be priced like a Swiss watch. The $200 gadget puts its own interface on top of Windows CE 3.0, a welcome improvement for the easy-to-read icons alone. It's loaded with memory (16MB) and wired for sound. But its small, passive-matrix color screen makes it hard to read at angles or in direct sunlight. And its skimpy battery life, rated at 4 to 6 hours, makes us nervous to take it very far from the charger.

Showstopper

Meanwhile, you'd find it practically impossible to pass the Sony Electronics Clié PEG-T615C on a store shelf without picking it up. Sleek and sexy, even its name evokes a Parisian supermodel. No matter: It's the best bet going for Palm OS-powered PCs.

You get a color screen that's readable even in direct sunlight. You also get 16MB of memory and a sweet bundle of apps for playing music, viewing graphics and video, and more. The Clié lacks some of the corporate credentials of Pocket PC devices, but it's a lot more fun to use and, like other Palm handhelds, it offers much better battery life—a matter of weeks rather than days. It also doubles as a remote control for your TV, stereo, and other devices thanks to enhanced infrared and Sony's Remote Commander software.

By comparison, the Palm m500 and Handspring Visor Pro look a bit stingy. Both devices have moved to the bargain end of their respective lines, outclassed by color screens and better expansion options. Both are light on bundled apps and hobbled by a lack of integrated audio. But hey, they're cheap. The $229 Visor Pro comes with 16MB of memory—double the $299 m500's paltry 8MB—and features a SpringBoard expansion slot to which you can add a camera, a phone, or other peripherals.

Palm's m500 lets you expand via an SD slot. But a better choice is the $399 Palm m515, which offers similar features but with 16MB of memory and a bright color screen (though not as crisp and colorful as those of most Pocket PCs). But if price matters most, go with the Handspring Visor Pro.

To RIM BlackBerry converts, pocket PCs are gussied-up schedulers. But it's hard for us to recommend the RIM 957 BlackBerry Wireless Handheld instead of a handheld PC, mostly because of its teensy QWERTY keyboard. You can't read attachments (except with special software), and pecking out all but the shortest of memos is torture. Even so, the ability to retrieve e-mail on a sidewalk or in a canoe is its most enticing feature. A better buy: The RIM 5810 (available now), which integrates a phone and supports Java apps.

Motorola's Timeport P935 Personal Communicator is an interactive pager that likewise offers wireless e-mail and comes outfitted with a minute keyboard. But its screen is easier to read, thanks to better graphics and fine backlighting. Unfortunately, smart icons don't translate into a streamlined interface, and the Timeport's is confusing. The device is also big (6.7 ounces compared with the BlackBerry, which weighs 5.3 ounces). The Timeport P935 is $170 cheaper than the BlackBerry, and it shows.

Take This Call

So why trouble yourself with two devices when your phone can manage schedules and contacts? If only phones were so modest. The latest generation suffers from wretched excess: They're audio players, video cameras, game machines, walkie-talkies, e-mail appliances, and pagers.

Yet few models manage these multiple roles with aplomb. Our usability tests show that today's phones far exceed simple ergonomics and business need.

The Nextel Motorola i90c is an exception. It's big—thicker than the other phones we tested and tipping the scales at 5.3 ounces. But it won the highest scores from our panel of usability testers, thanks to its dual LCD screens (the external display shows caller ID information) and flip-phone design. The i90c is Java enabled and has 320K of dedicated memory, which means you can download eight to 10 third-party or custom business apps (and, of course, games). It also has three-way calling and a walkie-talkie feature so you can instantly contact colleagues who are on the Nextel network.

The i90c's speakerphone is clear and loud, perfect for chatting in a car or conference. The four-way menu button makes it easy to navigate menus, apps, and messages. And 6 hours of talk time is better than respectable.

If you want it all in a small package, the Sony Ericsson T68 is as svelte as they come. Its gorgeous color TFT display, GPRS high-speed data, tri-band global roaming, and built-in Bluetooth are additional enticements. You can even send and receive messages with sound, pictures, and animation.

The T68 is tiny, and weighs less than 3 ounces. You'd expect the trade-off to be battery life. Not so: We eked out more than 12 hours of talk time in our tests. At $300, you pay for all this cutting-edge technology. But status has its price.

At $179, the slim and light Samsung SCH-T300 is much more affordable, though not as compact. Its nagivation toggle got mixed reviews, however, and it has the longest antenna of the bunch. But it's packed with features—voice dialing, a graphics-capable display, and wireless e-mail access, for starters. The slightly bulkier $179 Samsung SPH-N200 offers innovative, durable design and a larger, more friendly toggle button. Too bad you'll get only 3 hours and 18 minutes of talk time, compared with 5 hours and 16 minutes from the SCH-T300.

At $169, the Motorola Timeport P280's key selling point is GPRS service, which provides always-on access to data and the Internet at speeds of up to 56Kbps. If you want affordable high-speed data this is a solid, if slightly chunky, choice. Its buttons are large enough, but too close together.

You'll love the Kyocera Wireless 2255's neon-blue backlighting as well as its abundance of features, including games, voice-memo, calculators, stopwatches, and Web access. The $79 price is right, and it offers 5.5 hours of talk time. Its buttons are comfy and its menus intuitive. Too bad the device is plagued by a longish retractable antenna. But for phones with Web access, the 2255 delivers the best bang for your buck.

Audiovox's CDM-9100 is easy to use but bigger than most others in its class. And don't let its $249 price scare you. The phone costs just $89 with a one-year contract from Verizon Wireless, but its scant talk time (2 hours, 54 minutes) and confusing menus make the Kyocera 2255 a better buy.

Nix the Net

Web access via most phones we tested is so clumsy you may be tempted to skip it altogether (especially if you're also carrying a handheld or portable PC). The $50 Nokia 3390 drops all Internet pretense. You can't beat its price, and its compact design is nice too (no flip cover, no retractable antenna). But its 3 hours, 16 minutes of talk time paled against the competition, and many testers felt it was a little plasticky.

For that reason, the Sony Ericsson R300LX is a better deal. It's not quite as small as the Nokia, but it's just as affordable ($50). The menus on the R300LX are slightly easier to use. And it squeezes out almost an hour more talk time (4 hours, 5 minutes).

Panasonic's Allure EB-TX310 takes you into a triple-digit price ($129) but does a better job of integrating features. It's pleasingly slender and offers voice-activated dialing and an elegant pointer for navigating menus, although testers found those features confusing. But it offers just 1 hour, 40 minutes of talk time, so be sure to pack your charger.

Durability and performance testing by Ziff Davis Smart Business senior project leader IBRAHIM GUL. Usability testing on wireless phones by LULABS.

TWO FOR ONE: TOP PHONE/HANDHELD PC HYBRIDS So maybe you want to carry one gadget instead of two. A few companies shoehorn a phone and a handheld PC into a single device, but the results are mixed. Fortunately, you have choices. These are our picks for the top three phone/handheld PC hybrids. Handspring Treo 180 ($399; www.handspring.com) No longer must new Palm initiates learn the quirks of Graffiti handwriting recognition. Instead, the 5.2-ounce Treo adds a BlackBerry-esque keyboard for tapping out instant messages over SMS (and you can always use the stylus if you prefer). Call quality is good, and there's even a speakerphone. A new e-mail service called Treo Mail lets you send and receive POP3 e-mail via the Net or Microsoft Exchange messages behind the corporate firewall. We just hope the next Treo has an expansion slot. Kyocera QCP-6035 ($249; www.kyocera-wireless.com) The bulkiest of the group at 7.3 ounces, Kyocera Wireless's smart phone nonetheless delivers several enticing features, including the ability to make a call without turning on the handheld function (via a hard number pad built into the screen guard). A scroll wheel on the left side lets you work it with one hand—no more balancing your phone between shoulder and ear while trying to find a contact on your Palm handheld. Samsung SPH-I300 ($499; www.samsungusa.com) Its color screen is the first thing you notice (except in bright sunlight, which washes out the display considerably). While you probably don't need color to read e-mail, you've never seen the Web via WAP look so good. (You can also access the Net via Handspring's Blazer browser, and it supports Palm's Web clippings.) Too bad there's no scroll wheel for one-handed operation.

Editors' Top Picks: Handheld PCs

Product Size/ Weight Display Size/ Type Pros Cons Verdict Hewlett-Packard Jornada 565 (800) 613-2222 $500 5.2 by 3.1 by 0.7 inches/ 6.1 ounces 3.5 inches/ color Bright, crisp color display; sleek design; painless navigation; features galore. Priced at the high end. Does almost everything a laptop can—without breaking your back. Compaq iPaq Pocket PC 3850 (800) 345-1518 $599 5.1 by 3.9 by 0.6 inches/ 6.5 ounces 3.8 inches/ color Gorgeous color screen; splendid usability; generous software bundle. Expensive; requires extra "sleeves" for expansion. A smart, if slightly heavy, Jornada alternative. Handspring Visor Pro (888) 565-9393 $229 4.8 by 3 by 0.7 inches/ 5.7 ounces 4 inches/ mono-chrome Nice price; flexible expansion options; tried-and-true OS; battery won't quit. No color display or sound. You'll sacrifice a color screen, but you can't beat its price. RIM 957 BlackBerry Wireless Handheld (877) 255-2377 $499 4.6 by 3.1 by 0.7 inches/ 5.3 ounces 3 inches/ mono-chrome Wireless e-mail built in; lightweight and discreet; battery lasts up to three weeks. Not as flexible as Palm or Pocket PC devices; tiny keyboard; pricey. Your best bet for no-fuss wireless e-mail. Sony Electronics Clié PEG-T615C (888) 595-8246 $399 4.6 by 2.8 by 0.5 inches/ 4.9 ounces 4.2 inches/ color Stunning design; eye-pleasing display; wired for multimedia. Color display means the shortest battery life of the Palm-based devices. The coolest Palm-based handheld around. (And you can get work done too.) Audiovox Maestro Pocket PC (800) 229-1235 $649 4.9 by 3.1 by 0.7 inches/ 6.3 ounces 3.7 inches/ color Packaged with a wireless phone for instant Net connections. Ouch, that price. You carry a handheld and a phone—why not upgrade both at once? Casio Cassiopeia BE-300 (800) 836-8580 $200 4.8 by 3.0 by 0.7 inches/ 5.9 ounces 3.2 inches/ color The most affordable handheld you'll find with a color display. It's not great color; unimpressive battery life (4 to 6 hours). A good choice for budget browbeaters. Motorola Timeport P935 (800) 548-9954 $329 3.8 by 2.9 by 1.2 inches/ 6.7 ounces 2.8 inches/ mono-chrome Pleasing screen; instant (and easy) wireless e-mail. Confusing interface; minute keyboard; short charge life for its class (about a week). A fine way to carry your e-mail everywhere you go. Palm m500 (800) 881-7256 $299 4.5 by 3.1 by 0.4 inches/ 4 ounces 3.8 inches/ mono-chrome Good dollar value; manages the basics with aplomb. No tunes, no frills, and no mercy for your eyes. A serviceable device outshone by Palm's higher-end offerings. RATINGS Excellent Good Fair Poor Unacceptable

Editors' Top Picks: Wireless Phones

Product Com-patible Service Size/ Weight Data Accepted Pros Cons Verdict Nextel Motorola i90c (800) 639-8359 $250 iDEN 3.5 by 2 by 1.1 inches/ 5.3 ounces Paging, voice mail, e-mail, Web access, two-way radio Large display with cool blue backlight; runs Java apps; 6-hour talk time; tops in usability. Tubby compared with other phones. Does everything you want it to—and more. Kyocera Wireless 2255 (800) 349-4188 $79 CDMA 4.7 by 1.9 by 1 inches/ 4.3 ounces Paging, voice mail, e-mail, Web access Bright blue backlight; sleek design; straightforward menus. Retractable antenna gets in the way. The most affordable Web-enabled phone around. Motorola Timeport P280 (800) 331-6456 $169 GSM 4.9 by 1.9 by 0.9 inches/ 4 ounces Paging, voice mail, e-mail, Web access, high-speed data (GPRS) Curvy design; accessible menus; generous display. Chubby fingers will fumble with the buttons. Fast data access at an affordable price. Samsung SPH-N200 (800) 726-7864 $179 CDMA 4.3 by 1.9 by 0.9 inches/ 4.7 ounces Paging, voice mail, e-mail, Web access Durable, compact design; big display; easy-to-use pointer. Short talk time (3 hours, 18 minutes). A fine blend of features in a rugged package. Sony Ericsson T68 (800) 374-2776 $300 GSM 3.9 by 1.9 by 0.8 inches/ 2.9 ounces Paging, voice mail, e-mail, Web access, high-speed data (GPRS) Color display; 12-hour talk time; small and sleek; internal antenna. Priced for corporate pashas. The technology leader—and you'll pay for it. Panasonic Allure EB-TX310 (800) 211-7262 $129 TDMA 4.6 by 1.7 by 0.7 inches/ 3.1 ounces Voice mail Slender and lightweight; easy-to-use toggle. Abysmal talk time (1 hour, 40 minutes); clumsy menus. A feathery but frills-free phone for light use. Samsung SCH-T300 (800) 726-7864 $179 CDMA 4.5 by 1.8 by 0.7 inches/ 3.9 ounces Paging, voice mail, e-mail, Web access Petite and pleasing to carry; generous talk time (5 hours, 16 minutes). Navigation toggle not for everyone; hazardously long antenna. An impressive design that needs usability tweaks. Sony Ericsson R300LX (800) 374-2776 $50 TDMA 5 by 1.9 by 1.1 inches/ 4.8 ounces Paging, voice mail Generous display; internal antenna; priced right. Confusing menus; on the large side. At this price you can afford one for every employee. Audiovox CDM-9100 (800) 229-1235 $249 CDMA 5 by 1.8 by 0.8 inches/ 3.8 ounces Voice mail, e-mail, Web access Easy to use; offers a raft of features. Short talk time (2 hours, 54 minutes); costly. Better deals abound. Nokia 3390 (888) 665-4228 $50 GSM 4.3 by 1.9 by 0.9 inches/ 4.2 ounces Paging, voice mail Compact design; low price; internal antenna. Flimsy construction; stingy talk time (3 hours, 16 minutes). An entry-level contender that gets the job done. RATINGS Excellent Good Fair Poor Unacceptable

How We Tested: Crash! Crunch! Splash!

Try as we might, we just couldn't kill any handhelds or phones in this year's torture tests. Next year, we'll be meaner. Here's how our labs re-created the hard knocks of life on the road.

Bake First we baked the devices at 180 degrees Fahrenheit for two hours to simulate being left on your dashboard in the middle of summer.

Freeze Next, we froze them at 0 degrees Fahrenheit for another two hours, which is akin to leaving your handheld in the trunk of your car in February (in Nebraska).

Drop Then we did a flat drop and an edge drop from waist level onto a carpeted surface (using a special drop table) to simulate a typical day in the life of a well-abused handheld PC. The phones got more: first, an edge drop from ear level, then another edge drop from a shorter distance into 1 inch of water—to mimic the ever-so-common drop on a rainy-day sidewalk.

Spill The final test: liquid. Each handheld PC got a dousing of cola right on the display, was allowed to dry, and was then switched on.

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Ziff Davis Smart Business.