Windows PDAs have long fought an uphill battle. Users have flocked to the highly functional Palm-based organizers and tended to ignore the more powerful, more expensive, and bigger Windows PDAs. The release of the new HP Jornada 548, the first among the new Pocket PC devices to hit the market, may finally turn this around. The Jornada is still a bit bigger, about 5 ounces heavier, and more expensive than the Palm Vx. But it is sleek, robust, highly functional, and the color screen is beautifully sharp. The "wow" factor is definitely there.

The Pocket PC OS is also responsive and well-thought out--a big improvement over the older WinCE OS. In addition to the suite of powerful pocket applications (Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, PIM, and Scheduler), the Jornada can also serve as a digital voice recorder (to capture those spur-of-the-moment thoughts), an MP3 player, audible content player, and even an e-books reader.

The standard 32 MB memory is expandable using standard CompactFlash Type I cards. The product ships with a synchronization cradle (which supports USB or conventional serial interfaces), an extra sync cable (so you don't have to take the cradle everywhere), an AC power adapter, and earbuds. A microphone and a small speaker are built in. For MP3 use, we recommend expanding your RAM to 64 MB with a CompactFlash card to provide an hour of near-CD-quality music.

Most Windows users should be able to run through the setup wizard and start using the Jornada and its applications without cracking the manual. Learning to use handwriting recognition, which is integrated into all the applications, requires mastering a few special stylus strokes, but you should be writing smoothly within a half-hour. In comparison with Palm's Graffiti system, the Pocket PC system is fully on par.

In our tests, setting up a connection to a desktop PC for synchronization was simple. Within 20 minutes, we had installed the ActiveSync software, hooked up the supplied cradle to the AC adapter and a USB port on our PC, and established a connection. If you have an older PC or laptop, you can also synchronize using a slower serial connection. Synchronization is automatic, and file transfer is simple using the Windows Explorer-like interface.

The only real caveat is that Pocket PC works best in a Windows-centric world. At launch, it appears that there is no support for synchronizing with non-Microsoft e-mail and scheduling applications. (With an optional modem or network-interface card, you can send and receive Internet POP mail directly via your ISP.)

The choice between Pocket PC and Palm still comes down to tradeoffs. Palms are still lighter, smaller, and cheaper, and they do the basics beautifully. The Jornada 548 is slightly bigger, 5 ounces heavier, more expensive, but vastly more powerful and flexible. The choice all depends on what you expect your PDA to do. --Thomas Mace

Pros:

• Handsome, compact design with superb color screen
• Large application suite
• Easy setup and intuitive interface

Cons:

• No support for synchronization of non-Microsoft e-mail and scheduling applications
• 5 ounces heavier than Palm V