Hewlett Packard's new Pocket PC-based iPAQ h4150 seems at first glance to have the features to make it a winner, combining small overall size with built-in Bluetooth and wi-fi. The size (70.6 x 13.5 x 113.6mm) and weight (135g) should not trouble many pockets, while the processor is not going to be challenged by much as it's Intel's 400MHz XScale PXA 255. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are both easy to use and you can, if you desire, run both at once.

There are, though, two significant features that are less than state of the art. You get just 64MB of storage, of which 56MB is available, the remainder being locked for various system uses. This is rather below the 128MB that many Pocket PC devices now offer, and if you are a keen user of relatively large data sets you may need to invest in SD cards, the external memory format of choice in this device.

The other disappointment is battery life. Having turned both wireless features off and set the screen to be always on and at half its brightness, we looped MP3s continuously. After just two hours and 46 minutes a 'battery low' warning was given, and after three hours and 40 minutes the device stopped completely.

If you expect to be a big user of Bluetooth or Wi-Fi you may experience even shorter battery life. The battery is removable and so you could invest in a spare, but that's less convenient than having a longer life cell as standard.

Returning to the positive, a 2.8MB portion of Flash memory is available. Known as the iPAQ File Store, this can house key data that you need to survive power failures. To help you make use of this space, HP provides a rather good backup utility which can perform backups on demand, at scheduled times, and when the battery reaches a threshold which you set. One day all PDAs will have this kind of facility as a matter of course.

The screen measures 3.5 diagonal inches and looks large in its tiny casing. It isn't the biggest around but it is perfectly adequate. The shortcut buttons and directional cursor / select pad, which sit beneath the screen, are small and very close to the bottom of the casing, making it fairly difficult to use the device one-handed. There's no jog wheel.

With its fairly limited internal memory, but dual wireless facilities and strong backup tools, the iPAQ h4150 sets itself out as a device for corporate users; those who demand little in the way of multimedia and vast data storage, but do need good connectivity. Within that market this device should be a good performer, provided you have regular access to mains power or are prepared to invest in a second battery.