This PDA/phone is definitely not for your pocket. Hitachi's all-in-one G1000 can help you do anything on the move, in part because it's almost half the size and weight of some laptops.
The G1000, almost 6 inches long and 3.5 inches across, weighs in at more than half a pound. When I traveled with it, it was always in my bag and never in my pocket.
But when it comes to functionality, it's hard to imagine topping this device. I found the thumb board to be easy to use. It runs on a 400 Mhz Intel XScale processor with 32 MB of RAM, which enabled me to download e-mail attachments, revise them and then send them out again with surprising ease. The screen resolution is fine and works well inside and out.
The biggest drawback to this device is the touch screen's unresponsiveness. Links must be tapped repeatedly. Scrolling takes a magic touch at times. And in an effort to conserve on battery life, the device falls asleep too quickly.
When used as a wireless device, this brick runs into more problems. Though Sprint's speedy network is supposed to reach 70 Kbps, The G1000 is dreadfully slow online. The screen blacks out a number of times before it connects to even the most rudimentary pages. While I know that Sprint actually does have the fastest wireless network in the U.S., here in Brooklyn on an average evening, I could access the same pages on a GPRS device in as little as half the time. Not a good sign for the PCS camp.
While the G1000's voice quality is fine, the phone is poorly integrated with the device. There is no curve to the device that helps you cradle it in the right position, so talking on the phone is a chore. In addition, the voice response system that allows you to read the phone numbers or contact names works poorly.
One of my favorite features was the frivolous camera. Though some devices have a camera mounted in the back or side, this one is at the top and swivels 180 degrees, which is just plain cool. The camera has five lighting settings, and takes medium-quality images. The lack of a shutter button on the device is the camera's only drawback; the only shutter is on the screen itself.
Overall, if you're looking for an all-purpose device and don't mind using a headset or dragging this around in your briefcase, The G1000 may be the device for you.
