Dell X30

Truth to say, on test i didn't notice the processor doing anything very marvellous and i still got the Pocket PC wait symbol from time to time. Nor did i note a great deal of battery life improvement. With the power manager set to 'auto', which limits the processor to 208MHz, rather than either 'maximum performance' or 'power save',i achieved four hours and 56 minutes of MP3 music playback, and the battery died at the same time music stopped. It's good, but not ground-breaking.

i have always liked the way Dell implements wireless. The dedicated button on the right edge of the casing which starts and stops wireless, coupled with very good Wi-Fi setup controls and separate flashing lights for this and Bluetooth on the slightly protruding antenna, are all strong features. Surfing the Web via in my Wi-Fi network and connecting to Bluetooth hardware were both unproblematic.

As for Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, its star turn as far as immediate payback is concerned is probably the landscape display support. But then you can get this from various third party tools anyway.

In the end, i have to say that while the Axim X30 is a nice Pocket PC, neatly specified and representing good value for money, we'd have liked longer battery life and some on board Flash memory to make us really shout. In short, don't bother to upgrade, but do consider if you are looking for a new Pocket PC.