HP iPAQ H5450

Three years ago, Microsoft's dreams of PDA dominance were in ruins. Windows CE was slow, ugly and - compared with Palm's simple alternative - extremely unpopular. Then came the iPAQ and Pocket PC, whose combined force revolutionised the PDA landscape. The iPAQ was fast, good-looking and rocketed to the top of most people's wish list.

But in our PDAs group test last month, the iPAQ itself came under threat. Palm won the Labs with the Tungsten T, while Fujitsu Siemens stole the Microsoft-powered crown with its Pocket LOOX, leaving the iPAQ H3900 series looking overpriced and distinctly ordinary.

If there's one thing the H5450 isn't, though, it's ordinary. After all, this is the first HP-branded iPAQ since the company consumed Compaq and it was determined to make something special.

The most dramatic new feature is fingerprint recognition. Forget four-figure PIN numbers - you now scan your fingerprint image into the H5450 via the central button below the screen, meaning no-one else can access your data. And you can even use an alphanumeric password as well, making this the most secure PDA on the market.

You might also notice the addition of an aerial at the top of the unit. This isn't for phone duties, but to give increased Wireless LAN coverage. So when you're in the office, you've got full access to the Internet, your email and your network. It's good to see that HP includes 128-bit WEP security too.

Fortunately, the H5450 offers a way to access all these features outside the office as well. With integrated Bluetooth (and a number of easy-to-use Wizards to set it up), you just need a compatible mobile phone plus a forward-thinking IT department and you can establish a VPN with your office network when on the road. Or, alternatively, you can just browse the Internet.

It's possible to use the Bluetooth and Wireless LAN features at the same time, and we were pleased to discover that - during our testing - this didn't adversely affect their mutual performance.

The main drawback of integrating Wireless LAN into a PDA is its power demands. With the backlight on its brightest setting, browsing the Internet via an office network reduced the fully charged iPAQ to 87 per cent within just five minutes. Fortunately, HP has made the main 1,250mAH battery removable - a simple but extremely sensible move. You can buy replacement batteries at launch, with an extended-life 2,500mAH battery available soon. However, take note that batteries can only be charged when in the iPAQ.

Another improvement comes via the screen, which is slightly surprising, as the iPAQ H3900 series already boasted the best TFT on the market. Its colours are now even more accurate, and its contrast notably better, making reading, editing and photo viewing all the more pleasant.

In all other respects, the H5450 is virtually identical to the H3970. The 400MHz XScale processor is accompanied by 64MB of RAM and 48MB of ROM. The extra ROM over most Pocket PCs' 32MB is allocated to the File Store, which can be used to restore your machine's most important data in the event of the battery running out.

There's also an SD slot for adding more memory - you can now buy a 512MB SD card, so this is no small plus point. One minor external difference is that the memo recorder button has been replaced by volume up and down buttons, which are much more useful. Dictaphone addicts should still find it simple to access this service - the trick involves pressing on a groove in between the volume controls - but I found the process hit and miss.