Mitac Mio 338

Manufactured by Mitac, this low-end Pocket PC is sold through both Evesham and AJP. Thinner than average, and a mere 124g, it's not as pretty as HP's Ipaq 1910, and the screen is not nearly as good.

It is a smidgeon lighter though, yet Handspring's Treo 90 is still the lightest PDA going. The Mio 338 features a Secure Digital (SD) slot and an infrared port on top.

It also comes with a voice record shortcut on the left-hand side, next to the frankly unnecessary jog dial. It's not particularly feature-packed, but has everything the average user would need.

The shortcut buttons on the front are large and therefore simple to operate, and we were impressed by the fact that you can both charge the device and hook it up to your PC without using the cradle.

Even so, the provided cradle is one of the sturdiest and most secure we've come across in low-end Pocket PCs; there's no way the device will slip off once attached.

Fully MP3 proficient, the PDA comes with a headphone socket towards the bottom right corner, but no headphones are supplied and the speaker produces incredibly tinny sound.

The Mio 338 is powered by a 200MHz Xscale processor, supported by 40MB of SD-Ram and 32MB of Flash memory. It therefore does not feel particularly fast, but you can't expect a 400MHz processor for just under £200.

The 3.5in TFT screen is reasonably clear and has a perfectly adequate 240 x 320 resolution. Colours are, admittedly a little dull, but text is perfectly readable.

It's not perfect, or particularly pretty, but the Mitac Mio 338 is currently the cheapest PDA in the UK market and, as such, will persuade many people to take the plunge.

Contact: Evesham 0870 160 9500
www.evesham.com

Specifications:

• Pocket PC 2002
• 200MHz Intel Xscale processor
• 32MB Ram
• 40MB Flash Rom
• 3.5in TFT screen with 240 x 320 resolution
• SD slot
• Infrared
• 124g
• 76.8 x 11 x 102.9mm (w x d x h)
• USB connection