Palm vs. PocketPC.

Can your PDA do that? Here's how to make sense of your handheld options.

Like many of your working counterparts, you're probably still on the fence when it comes to choosing a PDA. Palm is a popular option. But lately, PocketPCs have been clamoring for attention. Which device and operating system is right for you? It depends on how you work.

PDAs based on Palm Inc. is (www .palm.com) operating system enjoy a great deal of popularity in many arenas--from the corporate boardroom to the loading docks. In terms of market share, Palm is almost as dominant in handheld computing as Microsoft Corp. is in PC software. However, Microsoft and its hardware partners have challenged Palm's reign with PocketPCs--PDAs based on Microsoft's Windows for PocketPC operating system. PocketPCs are meant as companions to Windows-based desktop PCs and come with Pocket versions of Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel, Outlook, and Internet Explorer.

Many PocketPCs feature color displays as well as slots for CompactFlashsize accessories such as modems, extra memory, and network adapters. And most PocketPCs offer voice recorders and digital music players. A few can even play full-motion videos.

Compaq's sleek, metallic iPAQ 3635 PocketPC(www.com paq.com) is so popular, and in such short supply, it often sells above its suggested retail price of $599. The iPAQ has a bright, 4,096-color display and comes with 32MB of RAM. Other top-sellers include Hewlett-Packard's $449 Jornada 548 (www.hp.com), which has a 4,096-color screen and 32MB of RAM, and Casio's $399 Cassiopeia EM-500 (www.casio usa.com), which has a 65,536-color display and 16MB of RAM.

Despite the PocketPC's pros, the biggest advantages of Palm-based PDAs are their small size and the wide availability of third-party software and peripherals. And by not using color screens, most Palm OS devices can run for weeks on standard alkaline batteries. Palm users can synchronize data with IBM-compatible or Macintosh computers.

Palm's newest units, the m500 and m505, offer traditional Palm functionality combined with features normally associated with PocketPCs, The $449 Palm m505 offers a 65,536-color screen (a marked improvement over the 256-color screen on the Palm IIIc), while the $399 Palm m500 has a monochrome display. Both m500 series units come with 8MB of memory and have a small slot that accepts removable MultiMedia-Card or Secure Digital cards.

Handspring Inc.(www.handspring .com), founded by the people who developed the PalmPilot, recently introduced the Visor Edge, a slim PDA that runs the Palm OS. The $399 Edge is less than half an inch thick and comes with a monochrome display and 8MB of RAM. The Edge uses a removable Springboard slot that enables it to use all Springboard accessories, including the $299 Visor-Phone, a module that turns a Visor into a digital cell phone. Handspring also offers the $449 Visor Prism, which has a 65,536-color display and 8MB of RAM.

Sony Electronics' (www.sonystyle .com) $349.99 CLIE Handheld PEG-S300 also runs on the Palm OS but uses Sony's Memory Stick for removable storage. It has a 16-grayscale monochrome display and 8MB of memory.

All Palm OS devices and PocketPCs come with basic contact management, calendar, alarm clock, and to-do list features and can be upgraded with a wide range of accessories. The choice is up to you, but either platform should handle basic PDA tasks with ease.