Sony's recently-announced decision to pull out of the PDA market in Europe and the US came as something of a surprise to many PDA users. The company has been a strong partner for PalmSource, and has driven our conceptions of what PDAs can do forward, often putting multimedia at the core.

It's good news that there are still some Clié devices around to buy, and the TJ37 looks set to be one of the last launches we'll see in the UK - unless Sony changes its mind in the future.

The Clié TJ37 has some of the best and some of the worst of Sony's Clié characteristics. On the down side the battery life is a disappointment. Testing it with the BatteryBench software we got just three hours and nine minutes of life - this is not a great deal, particularly when you consider that Sony has incorporated 802.11b and provided the wherewithal to manage e-mail and browse the Web. It's easy to do these things but they deplete the battery fast. Similarly, Sony provides its own Aero Player for MP3 music which is very welcome, but again this is a drain on battery power.

Like a number of other Cliés, the TJ37 includes a digital camera. This one has its own mechanically sliding lens cover, and when you slide this off the lens the Clié's screen turns into a viewfinder. You can capture images at 640 x 480, 320 x 240, 160 x 120 and 320 x 480 pixels.

As with other Cliés, Sony has gone to town with the free software, with ROM-based applications including the already noted Web browser (NetFront) and camera tools, as well as CLIE Viewer (image viewer), CLIE Files (file manager), Picsel Viewer (document reader), MS Backup (backup to a memory stick), CLIE Memo (write notes to the screen) and Decuma (handwriting recognition).

The operating system is Palm OS 5.2.1, but uses Address Book instead of the newer and more feature-rich Contacts, and Date Book instead of the newer Calendar. The two more recent applications would offer some advantages when sharing information with Outlook.

The hardware design is also Sony's usual mix of good and bad. The camera lens cover is a typical Sony goodie; purely mechanical, but functional and satisfying to use. The roller beneath the screen replaces a side-mounted dial wheel (there's no room for one of these as a side-hinged screen cover lodges along the left-hand edge). The roller is easy enough to use, but the tiny horizontal scroll buttons and small application buttons are a real fiddle.

There is 23MB of available RAM, which is a bit on the small side, with a Memory Stick slot to augment it, and Sony's i.MXL processor delivers enough speed for everyday use.

The Clié TJ37 has some good and some less good features. It is a fair machine if you want the extras Sony throws in, but beware of the poor battery life, which multimedia- and wireless-hungry owners may deplete rather quickly.