HTC makes some of the most beautiful PDAs in the world, but they're also some of the most expensive. The company's new Touch Cruise rivals the Apple iPhone in terms of sleek design and touch screen utility, but its high price tag places it firmly out of the reach of many potential buyers.

The Touch Cruise has a lot of features to offer for the price, however, including the fact that in addition to being a PDA, it is also a quad-band cell phone and a GPS device. It's also one of the smallest PDAs available; it weighs only around 4.5 ounces, measures 4.3X2.2 inches and is little over a half-inch thick.

A 400MHz Qualcomm processor powers the Touch Cruise, which offers 128MB of RAM and 256MB of ROM for memory and storage, respectively. If you need more storage room, this PDA supports only microSD cards, due to its small frame.

Connectivity is handled via 802.11b/g wireless and Bluetooth 2.0. The former allows you to hop onto any Wi-Fi hotspots for Web browsing and e-mailing, while the latter lets you connect to wireless peripherals and sync to other Bluetooth-enabled devices. The Touch Cruise runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional with Direct Push Outlook e-mail, so you know as soon as you've received a new message.

Like other Touch PDAs, the Touch Cruise lets you manipulate menus by sliding and tapping your finger on the touch screen. The 2.8-inch screen is, however, smaller than those that you'll find on most PDAs.

The Touch Cruise also offers Tom Tom navigation software built in, and the handy touch screen allows you to plot and follow a course quickly and easily.

Some other novel features of this PDA include an FM receiver and a 3-megapixel digital camera. It's not unusual to find a camera on a PDA or cell phone these days, but you'll rarely happen across a camera with this resolution depth included in such a device. This camera features auto-focus, but unfortunately lacks a flash for taking low-light shots.

The Touch Cruise supports a variety of cellular bands, which will allow you to use it almost anywhere around the globe. Its battery life is decent; charges will buy you from 4 to 7 hours of continuous use.

This model's retail price is pretty steep, even for a PDA that also offers GPS and cell-phone capabilities in a unit as slick as the Touch Cruise. But if you need a PDA that combines all your portable devices into one small, well-designed package, look no further.


Pros: Compact, GPS receiver
Cons: Expensive