IBM WorkPad 8602-20X Handheld

IBM has put a sleek, matte black finish around the trusty Palm V platform that everyone else uses. Yes, you can still beam information back and forth between your IBM WorkPad and your friends' Palm V's, and yes you get the same product guarantees. But the main reason to get the IBM version is that you can beam data from your handheld directly into an IBM ThinkPad laptop -- very convenient!

When I first got this handheld, I was thrilled, as I had just entered the world of the PDA and found it very easy to use. While the Palm V platform is still very intuitive and simple to use, I have two gripes that have prevented me from endorsing the product to everyone I know.

First, if you're a Microsoft Outlook user for email, your contacts will not appear the same on the handheld -- category labels are missing, the information is not presented the same, etc. (I understand there is free software out there that could reduce some of the pain here)

Second, if you don't specify early on how you want the override synchronization process to work between handheld and desktop, you could lose a lot of valuable information, by simply synching your handheld.

Don't get me wrong... I like the Palm V and would recommend it to most people (with the caveats mentioned above). For Microsoft Outlook lovers like me, however, I would be cautious -- your world will not look the same and you will notice it every time you go to get a phone number, or pull up an email.