Acer n20w

The PDA market is becoming even more competitive. Hot on the heels of Dell's Axim X5 (see Reviews, issue 100, p129), Acer unveils this 802.11b-equipped Pocket PC for just £320 - half the price of HP's iPAQ H5450 (see Reviews, issue 100, p128).

With no aerial protruding from the n20w, we were a little concerned about its coverage. Fortunately, our concerns proved unjustified - the Acer kept in reach of our access point for a solid 30m radius. In fact, it was only when a wall got in the way that we lost contact.

Our other concern was battery life - nothing drains a PDA's battery quite like 802.11. But this is where the n20w excels. From a full charge, it dropped by a mere 4 per cent after 15 minutes of wireless connection with our network. Much of this extra life is thanks to the 2,000mAH battery that Acer includes in the n20w - the standard n20 only includes a 1,000mAH battery.

However, the n20w isn't going to win any style contests. It's square, heavy and bulky. And that's without a screen cover, which Acer doesn't provide as standard. We were also disappointed by the positioning of the stylus. Instead of hiding it away within the chassis, the stylus slides into a groove on the side, making it all too easy to knock out of position.

Thankfully, this PDA does have other factors in its favour. The screen is bright and large, a 400MHz Intel XScale processor helps Pocket PC 2002 to fly along, and Acer provides a decent 64MB helping of RAM for additional programs. However, there's only 32MB of ROM, which means you can't back up data into the Flash memory - you'll need a Memory Stick instead.

And yes, we mean Memory Stick. Acer has opted for Sony's proprietary memory format rather than the SD slot we've started to expect. Still, you can already buy a Bluetooth Memory Stick for Palm devices, so Pocket PC versions could soon follow.

With a nice price, integrated WLAN and excellent battery life, the n20w could attract business users. But also consider the Dell Axim X5, which is more compact and £91 cheaper. That covers the cost of Dell's CompactFlash WiFi card for £47 and a second battery for £38.

Author: Tim Danton