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Innovation

Nuggets: Live 2000 full of gorgeous PDAs

Never mind the foxy blondes. Look at the kit, dammit
Written by Graeme Wearden, Contributor

If you've bothered to visit ZDNet's amazing (and recently launched) 3G special, then you'll be aware that phone and PDA convergence is one of the sexiest topics in personal technology today.

Well, Siemens and Mitsubishi have hit the showfloor of Live 2000 with two ever-so desirable offerings.

The Siemens IC35, "small and chic", according to the press release. Well, who are we to argue? No bigger than a wallet (dimensions are 108x86.5x20.5mm when folded), it's got an integrated WAP browser, and can access the Internet via a network card.

So, you can surf and email from your PDA without having to connect to your mobile.

At 163g, it's pretty light. Siemens promises battery life of four weeks from two rechargeable AAAs. Two megabytes of memory isn't the best, but there are two MultiMediaCard slots where you can boost the total RAM.

The monochrome display is 240x160 pixels. It passed our quick but thorough testing programme.

Being a "proper" PDA, the IC35 comes with a "Qwerty" keyboard. They keys are pretty tiny, so even a top-notch secretary would be pushed to manage a decent word rate. Then again, it's a big improvement on those navigational rollers.

Unfortunately, the IC35 doesn't have a great range of software on board. Schedule, To Do List, World Clock are all handy enough when keeping your life in order, but there's no cut-down version of Word or a spreadsheet package. Still, you do get Note Pad, and apparently there are some games.

Due out in December, priced at £199.99.

  • Siemens IC35

  • PDA with WAP browser
  • 163g
  • 108x86.5x20.5mm
  • 2MB flash memory
  • Two MultiMediaCard slots
  • Does email and SMS
  • Contacts, calender, tasks, notes software
  • Games

  • I love gadgets so take me to the Nuggets Special page NOW!


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