HP iPAQ 210

It's been nearly three years since we reviewed the Dell Axim X15v, the now discontinued high end PDA. HP's latest hand held, the iPAQ 210, has a spec sheet that's remarkably similar a Marvell 624 MHz processor, a 640 by 480 pixel VGA screen, built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and an SD card slot are among its features. Look more closely, however, and you'll see some real improvements.

The CPU is a next generation PXA310 instead of the more common PXA270, the iPAQ's Bluetooth spec is now 2.0, and the SD slot is SDIO compatible.

In fact, as it turns out, the iPAQ 210 is a significant leap from both the Axim X51v.

And HP's own three year old iPAQ hx2795 (even more so with the latter, since the hx2795 had only a 320 by 240 pixel screen and 64MB of RAM).

Despite some mixed performance results, for those who still need a standalone PDA particularly in the enterprise market the iPAQ 210 is tough to beat.

The iPAQ 210 is encased in black and gunmetal Grey plastic.

It measures 5.3 by 3 by 0.7 inches (HWD) and weighs 6.7 ounces with the battery installed. The reflective TFT screen, at 4 inches, is a bit bigger than the Axim's 3.7 inch LCD. There's a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack, a built in microphone, and a mini USB port.

On the front of the unit is a five way control pad, four programmable buttons, a voice recorder button, a power button, and a paper clip style Reset button.