Because of the guidelines which determine the use of Pocket PC 2002, all the devices using this OS look similar, and all try to emulate the leading Pocket PC, the Compaq iPAQ. With the iPAQ H3870 now sporting integrated Bluetooth, it's now very nearly the perfect pocket device - albeit a very expensive one.

The iPAQ's nearest rivals in terms of features are Casio's Cassiopiea E-200 and Toshiba's e570. Both of these devices are well designed with the added bonus of a choice of built in expandability. The Cassiopiea E-200 in particular also has a very long battery life, but it is expensive and those wishing to save money should opt for the Toshiba instead, saving £200 on the retail price. It is also cheaper than the less well-equipped HP Jornada 568.

The question remains over the necessity of a colour Palm-based system. If all you need are the basic PIM functions then aim for a mono device and save money - you will also gain a bit more battery life. However, the best of the Palm OS systems we looked at, in terms of both battery life and features, was the Clié from Sony, which includes a MP3 player in its list of features.

With the m505 Palm has finally taken away the advantages that the Handspring Visor Prism had over the old Palm devices, namely USB hot-syncing and expandability. Although the m505 is more expensive than the Visor Prism, you can plug the expansion cards straight in without having to buy expensive add-on modules.

As is often the case, then, it's still horses for courses. But whereas the Pocket PC operating system (né Windows CE) once looked dead in the water, it is now increasingly Microsoft's portable OS that's heading the field.