HP iPAQ rx3715

With all this, we shouldn't forget that the rx3715 is also a normal PDA - and rather a swish one at that. It's a little thicker than we'd like, at 16mm, but the graphite finish looks classy and it slips easily into a pocket. It also boasts impressive battery life, lasting for 11 hours under light use with the backlight set to medium and an iPod-beating 14 hours, 32 minutes when playing back MP3s with the screen switched off. The battery is removable, if you need more, but there's no space on the stable but rather basic docking cradle for charging up a second battery.

We also like the screen, with its bright, vivid colours typical of all iPAQs. Where it loses out against the Pocket LOOX 720 is simply resolution, with the LOOX boasting 480 x 640 pixels rather than the iPAQ's 240 x 320. The LOOX is also more expandable, with a Type II CompactFlashslot accompanying the more standard SD card slot.

With 802.11b wireless and Bluetooth both built into the rx3715, though, not to mention 152MB of usable memory, we can't accuse the iPAQ of being inflexible. The one thing you'll need to do is keep moving your media files to the Flash memory, as there's 96.5MB of this to play with compared to 56.7MB of spare RAM - fill that up with photos, and you'll occasionally be met with 'There is insufficient memory' warnings.

This is still a classy piece of equipment, and if you have that wireless network setup and want to access your music from a PDA while lounging in the garden, then no doubt the rx3715 is for you. Everyone else should take a long look at what they actually want to do with their PDA - and for the moment Fujitsu Siemens holds the advantage. Its Pocket LOOX 420 costs £224 (from www.epinx.com) and is much slimmer, while the LOOX 720 provides amazing expandability for £330.