Recalling the original Qualcomm pDQ Smartphone--not-so-affectionately referred to as "the brick"--we were pleased to find the Smartphone's size to be quite manageable. Measuring 5.6 by 2.5 by 0.8 inches, it's only about an inch taller and less than a half-inch thicker than the new Palm m500 series handhelds. And at 7 ounces, it didn't weigh us down so much.

As a handheld, the Smartphone has the same basic features as the Palm Vx. It runs Palm OS 3.5, comes with 8 MB of RAM, includes Graffiti-recognition software, and features standard Palm applications such as Address, Date Book, Memo Pad, and To Do. Kyocera's also added a nifty voice-recording option, something we've always wanted to add to Palm's feature set.

But it's the cell-phone features that really grease the Palm functionality of the Smartphone. You've got several options for making a call, the most obvious being opening up the Address application and tapping the number that appears in the list. This requires that you open the Smartphone's flip keypad. To dial a number stored in the Palm's Address app with the keypad closed, you can quickly search for a name with the Find Name key. Even better, you can use the convenient shuttle option located on the left side of the Smartphone to scroll through the Contact list (which is copied from Address Book).

As we expected, the Smartphone has all the basic elements we look for in a cell phone. It features 15 ringers (including vibrating alert), different environment settings, secret memory locations, 99-number call logs, scratch-pad memory, and text-messaging support, among other goodies. Furthermore, it supports all the normal carrier-dependent features, including caller ID, call forwarding, and multiparty calling.

The Smartphone comes with the Eudora e-mail application, which can connect to POP3 e-mail accounts, and EudoraWeb for accessing Internet information. You can also add Palm Web-clipping applications that allow you to see online content optimized for the Palm OS. Unfortunately, no Web-clipping apps come with the Smartphone--you'll have to download apps from www.palm.net and load them onto the Smartphone when you synchronize.

While the Palm functions and connectivity were pretty seamless, we did have a few quibbles. Overall, we found the Palm operating system ran a bit sluggishly. The screen size is also a bit small--about the size of the Palm m100 series. And there aren't many Palm hardware add-ons compatible with the Smartphone, though you will find some third-party add-ons (such as the Ibiz KeySync keyboard, which connects via the Smartphone's serial HotSync cradle).

Also, if you're a Mac user, you'll need to download the Palm Desktop software for the Mac from Palm's Web site, as well as purchase the PalmConnect USB kit, which offers a serial-to-USB adapter.

On the battery front, the Smartphone is rated for up to 300 minutes' digital talk time and 180 hours' digital standby time. Our sample easily held a call for over five hours (quite remarkable, when you think about it), and lasted more than a week in standby mode.

Overall, the Kyocera Smartphone isn't the perfect convergence device, but it's a pretty complete communications center for our increasingly wireless world. --Agen Schmitz

Pros:

• True PDA/phone synthesis
• Voice recorder
• Excellent battery life
• Incredibly manageable size and weight

Cons:

• Sometimes-sluggish Palm OS response
• Not compatible with many Palm add-ons