When it comes to HP's iPaq rx5900 Travel Companion, PDA stands for "Pretty much Do Anything." This full-fledged personal digital assistant also comes with a built-in GPS receiver, so you can use the rx5900 to browse the Web or handle office applications and then take it on the road to help you blaze new trails.

As a PDA, the rx5900 is quite robust. It features a speedy 400MHz Samsung processor and 64MB of RAM, so applications opened quickly. Its 320x240 resolution 3.5-inch screen delivered crisp and colorful images. There are some sharper screens out there, but it worked well for viewing digital pictures or watching video clips.

You can rotate the onscreen view to the four possible positions easily with a button on the top of the PDA. Other hotkeys include one for Windows Media Player, the Quick Launch page, and the GPS. This latter one did get bumped a couple of times as we put the PDA into our pocket, which led to battery drainage.

Internal storage on this PDA is a hefty 2GB, although a lot of that is taken up by the TomTom navigation software for the GPS receiver. Luckily, there's an SD/MMC card slot to expand the memory or capabilities of the rx5900.

Speaking of the TomTom software, we found the rx5900 to perform more than adequately as a GPS device. It took around five minutes to get our initial satellite fix--longer than a stand-alone device--but subsequent fixes were much faster.

The PDA functioned as well as a midrange GPS device, offering voice directions (although without text-to-speech capability, so the directions were generic) and an extensive points-of-interest (POI) database. HP includes a car mounting kit and a cigarette lighter power supply with the rx5900, so it's ready to go right out of the box.

Other accessories include a protective carrying case and a USB cable for synching up to a PC (you can also charge the battery via the USB cable, although it's slower than the wall adapter). The rx5900 synchs up via Bluetooth, but there's no infrared port if your company still relies on this technology.

The 802.11b/g wireless connects to the Internet easily, and the built-in microphone and speakers let this PDA function as a voice recorder as well. Battery life lasts around four hours, a bit on the low side for a PDA, but with so many ways to recharge the device, we didn't find it much of a problem.

The price tag is pretty steep for a PDA, but considering that you also get a full-featured GPS device tossed into the mix and that we were able to find it for closer to $450 from a variety of vendors, the price gets a lot more reasonable. If you're looking for a versatile PDA that also offers GPS capabilities, the well-designed HP iPaq rx5900 Travel Companion is an excellent device to take on the road with you.

Pro: Good performance, GPS capabilities
Con: Expensive

Warranty
1 year, limited