With the coming of Microsoft's latest Pocket PC software, Pocket PC 2003 (or, to give it its proper new name, Windows Mobile 2003), there has been an explosion of PDAs hitting the market. Acer has pitched its hat into the ring with the n10. Aiming at the lower price bracket, it comes without Bluetooth or Wireless and heads into competition with Dell's Axim X5 and similar hand-helds.

The n10 is a stylish, well made device, finished in silver with black plastic panels on the side. Despite not being the most compact PDA around (it weighs in at 165g), it still feels good in the hand.

Powered by a 300MHz version of Intel's PXA235 processor, it's not the fastest PDA on the planet; indeed some video playback tends to be a little jerky in places, although applications and games pose few problems. It comes with 64MB of RAM of which 59MB is available for programs, games, etc.

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If you need more than this then there are two expansion slots. The top of the unit holds a Type II Compact Flash slot which allows you to overcome the lack of in-built Bluetooth or Wireless functions, while the left-hand side holds a Secure Digital slot, which isn't SDIO-capable and so can only be used for storage.

To control the n10, the front panel holds a round navigation button - whose operation would shame many a more expensive PDA - and the usual four application buttons. The left-hand side of the n10 holds a jog wheel for browsing pages and a button which opens the Start menu. The jog wheel, when pressed, also opens applications, so by using both buttons you could open a new program and read it with just one hand.

If you are using the n10 to play music, then there is a nifty Hold button which disables the buttons and turns off the screen while allowing the music to play on. It also means no more accidentally launching programs when the PDA is in a pocket or bag.

One of the better aspects of the n10 is the screen. The 3.5-inch, 16-bit screen is transflective and, while it might not be as bright as some on more expensive devices, it is still bright enough to see in daylight conditions. It has a 240 by 320 pixel resolution and the backlight has four standard settings with adjustments between them.

The n10's 1,500mAh battery had a life of around four and half hours when tested, which is about the norm for a Pocket PC machine. The test consists of playing a MP3 file with the screen brightness and the volume set to half way.

To keep down the cost of the n10, Acer has done away with a cradle and instead the device syncs to a PC by means of a USB cable.

The most disappointing aspect of the n10 is the software bundle; apart from the standard Pocket PC applications there is only a copy of Pocket TV, which allows MPEG video file playback, plus Acrobat Reader and IA Album Lite.

Acer's n10 is a good, keenly-priced PDA that is marginally let down by a poor software bundle. But it launches into a segment of the market that is already dominated by some big names.