Oh the joys of Windows Mobile 5 or to be more precise persistent memory storage. Any anyone with a knowledge of PDAs will know, the worst moment was if the batteries ran completely flat. You would lose all your installed programs and data and be left with a PDA looking like it just came out of the box. (Although I did have a lucrative little sideline re-installing PDA's that did just this.) These days are over. From the advent of Windows Mobile 5 these devices have had a flash memory in them that does not erase when the battery goes flat. A big bonus. Onto the 2490 though. This was an upgrade for me from a 1940 that had a cracked screen and I must say that I am delighted with it. Although chunkier than the 1940 it is roughly the same size as the very popular 2210. It supports both compaq flash and an SDIO slot for SD card or other SDIO device. This version also have 802.11b WiFi as well as bluetooth connectivity both work well. I must point out though that although they have included a program to help with the GPRS connectivity which has settings for the major mobile networks, I found it a pain to set up. Especially when I know what I was doing and it wouldn't let me enter the settings directly. Appart from that software wise I have had no problems. I did however have a problem with the centre button of the joy pad which came off after a couple of weeks. I logged a support call with HP and was less than impressed when they told me that it was not covered by the warranty. Surely it was a manufacturing defect. A dab of superglue soon sorted it out though and it has not come off again.

I would be happy to recommend the 2490. I would advise getting a case for it though. I have a rather nice aluminium one.