Compaq C-Series 2010c

It's been a long time since PC Pro got its first taste of Windows CE, way back in February 1997. Since then we've seen a fair amount of change to Microsoft's mini OS. Now well into its second incarnation, CE is gaining more respect as the days go by, but it has yet to spawn a handheld PC (HPC - or PC companion as we're supposed to call them now) to really capture the imagination.

Following in the footsteps of the Hewlett-Packard 620LX and the Sharp HC-4500, Compaq's C-Series 2010c is only the third HPC we've seen that exploits CE 2's ability to support colour screens. The 2010c sports the standard 640 x 240 resolution 256 STN screen, but the 6.5in viewable diagonal isn't the biggest we've seen and it's made to look even smaller by the rather chunky screen surround.

Aside from the screen's dimensions, the image quality is far from the best I've come across. It's nowhere near as bright as the screen on the 620LX and, although there's a button above the keyboard for boosting brightness, I still found myself squinting at the screen in all but the dimmest of lighting conditions. The protective screen cover doesn't help either, proving to be more reflective than average.

Below the screen looms the keyboard. The first time I saw it, I groaned. Its small, white oval keys are more than a little reminiscent of the Philips Velo (reviewed issue 39, p136), which was difficult to type on. Fortunately, the keys on the Compaq's keyboard have flat tops so your fingers don't slip off them all the time - an improvement over the Velo's keyboard. It's still not a design which is particularly conducive to quick typing, however, which is made worse by the tiny left Shift and Backspace keys.

To add to the woe, the 2010c turns out to be more than a little unstable on its feet, despite the presence of a pair of small support legs on the rear corners of the device. When I pushed the lid past a certain angle, it required only the slightest touch to set it rocking back on its heels.

Closing the lid reveals a smart, sleek-looking case with an attractive matt-black finish. The lid is partially raised in the middle, in order to accommodate a loud, clear-sounding speaker, and has subtly flared ends. Along the front edge you'll find the stylus stowed on the right and two small silver buttons: one for activating the voice memo function and the other for turning off the alarm.

Moving around to the rear of the device reveals a pair of status LEDs, a built-in microphone and the 115Kbits/sec infrared port for wireless connection and file transfer to other infrared-enabled devices. There's also a single Type II PC Card slot on the left-hand side, while the sockets for connecting to the mains and to your PC can be found on the right. For more convenient connection to the mains and desktop PC, the 2010c comes complete with a security-conscious docking cradle, which can be secured to your desk with a Kensington lock.

Above the PC Card slot sits Compaq's trump card - an RJ-11 port that betrays the presence of a built-in modem. Like the Philips Velo, the 2010c sports a software modem and, as long as your ISP's software supports dial-up networking, you can browse the Internet and collect email from wherever you find a phone socket.

On the software front, the 2010c comes complete with the standard Microsoft Pocket apps - Word, Excel and PowerPoint - as well as a crock of extra goodies. The ActiveSync software, which comes as standard with Windows CE services, effortlessly imported all my contacts, emails and appointments from Outlook and does an admirable job of keeping both sets of files in sync with each other.