Thinner and lighter than the rest. These are terms many PDA manufacturers like to assign to their devices, and sometimes they can be misleading. But in the case of the Pocket LOOX 420 they are spot-on. It is thinner and lighter than most if not all of the competition at 11.3cm high by 7cm wide by 1.4cm thick, and weighing 125g.

Visually it is appealing. Looks don't affect performance, of course, but the slate-coloured casing makes the Pocket LOOX 420 stand out from the (mostly) silvery crowd quite nicely, and so should attract anyone wanting something that little bit different.

Specifications are for the most part impressive. The processor is a 400MHz PXA 255, and until devices running Intel's new PXA 270 start to appear in numbers, you won't find faster. The 62.75MB of available RAM is on a par with most Pocket PCs, though there are a few now offering 128MB, and you can augment the provided amount using SD cards.

Where the Pocket LOOX 420 really stands out, though, is that it offers both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, still a pretty rare combination.

Let-downs include the lack of a flash memory area for backing up vital data - you'll have to use your PC or an SD card for this task - and the relatively poor battery life. Looping MP3s delivered music for three hours and 45 minutes, and a total battery life of five hours and five minutes.

This isn't actually all that bad, but not close to the 10 hours Fujitsu Siemens claims, and we'd have liked to have seen more, especially since, as already noted, the Pocket LOOX 420 incorporates both Bluetooth and 802.11b.

During our test period we certainly found that the temptation to join our Wi-Fi network was great, and using 802.11b depleted the battery rather fast. The good news here is that you could invest in a second cell as the provided battery is removable.

Fujitsu Siemens is not renowned for bundling lots of software with previous LOOX models, and that tradition continues. With the Pocket LOOX 420 you get FSC Backup (which will send either the entire system or specific files to an SD card) and FSC Speed Menu, which is a useful popup providing access to applications and some system tools -including a useful 'Running Programmes' tool that lets you quickly turn off applications which are running to free up RAM.

You also get a tool called Keylock which disables the application shortcut buttons on the front of the unit, preventing them from starting the device when they are pressed. This is very useful, particularly if the Pocket LOOX 420 is carried in a bag, where banging against other stuff could depress a button, activate the device, and drain the battery unnecessarily.

The Pocket LOOX 420 is a real advance for Fujitsu Siemens. Superior to other Pocket PCs from the company in every respect, it is neat, stylish, well specified and represents attractive value for money.