Compaq Aero 2130

The advent of colour for palm-sized PCs has unleashed a flood of Windows CE products from some of the world's largest computer manufacturers. Most of these big names are familiar in the palm-sized marketplace, but one company is making a surprising debut: Compaq. However, as we discovered with the HP Jornada 420 (reviewed issue 56, p169), a big-named manufacturer doesn't guarantee a big-time performance, so we took nothing for granted when we unwrapped the Compaq Aero 2130.

Thankfully, first impressions were positive. Compaq has followed the notebook trend of a silver casing and has also seen the benefit of specifying a 256-colour TFT screen. Theoretically, this should produce a better image than the DSTN screen offered by the Jornada 420 and Philips Nino 500 (reviewed p157), but a comparison of the Nino and Aero produced some surprising results.

The biggest surprise was that, under office lighting, the Nino's bright colours made the Aero's output look quite bleached. It was only on closer inspection that the TFT screen's quality shone through, with a much better focus and a wider viewing angle. Taking the machines out of the office and into the sunshine was enough to sway us entirely in favour of the Aero: the Compaq's screen was perfectly clear, even without the backlight, whereas the Nino's was virtually unreadable.

Another area in which the Aero sets itself apart from the competition is in its vibrating alarm. Although this is something of a gimmick, it works effectively and is less embarrassing than a Bach overture echoing around the train carriage.

In many other ways, the Aero's design is unexceptionable. There are buttons at the bottom of the unit so that you can instantly launch the agenda, contacts, tasks and jotter; an exit and dial/action button on the left-hand side of the machine; and a power on/off button that also controls the backlight. In terms of communicating with the outside world, the Aero is again similar to all other palm-sized devices. To synchronise with a PC, you slip the unit into the supplied cradle, which also acts as a recharger, and by using the standard Windows CE ActiveSync software, you can automatically update your Outlook calendar, tasks and contacts.

Just as Windows CE's compatibility with Microsoft's office suites is its biggest asset, so its most infuriating feature is the time it takes to switch between applications. However, Compaq has somehow rewritten the rules and produced a machine that performs with panache. This is due partly to its 16Mb of EDO RAM, which means that if your chosen application is already open it should only take a fraction of a second for the Aero to switch to it, but it's still appreciably faster than the similarly specified Philips Nino 500.

Despite this performance, one of the Aero's most hyped features is a claimed battery life of six to ten hours. Compaq must have arrived at this figure without using the backlight, because after four hours of constant use in the office the dreaded message 'Main batteries low' flashed up, and within a minute the Aero refused to work with the backlight on. This quick descent from a fully working machine to a dead one makes us wonder why Compaq hasn't invested some of its R&D money in the more accurate battery monitor that Windows CE is so desperately in need of.

Another area where the Aero falls down slightly is in its text input. Compaq has stuck with the Jot character recogniser and on-screen keyboard - a method that's put into the shade by the Calligrapher program pre-installed with the Philips Nino. You can buy this program on-line for around £30, but it's probably worth the extra expense if you intend on making many notes.