The VTech Helio has little to offer the power user, but would make good value as a first PDA. This is a sturdy and unremarkable handheld clearly designed to mimic the Palm. Coming with eight megabytes of Ram, which can be upgraded to 16 MB, a monochrome screen with 16-greyscale display, the Helio looked for a short time as though it could be a contender. However, a buggy operating system quickly left many consumers with a bad taste and the Helio has virtually disappeared from shop shelves. Since last year, most of the bugs have been ironed out from the VTech OS, and the latest version seems to be quite stable. Linux enthusiasts at Source forge.net have used the Helio's 2 MB flash memory to port Linux to the Helio. Users happy with the VT-OS also can synchronise with Outlook, Act, Lotus Organizer and even the Palm Desktop. The CIC Jot handwriting-recognition software is natural and far easier to learn than Palm's Graffiti, and the bundled applications are stable and useful. The unit's most notable feature is its built-in voice recorder, which can store and play back up to 50 minutes of raw-sounding audio. Audio files also can be associated with calendar events for personalised alarm calls. The unit runs on two AAA batteries, which provide plenty of power but cannot be recharged. Also, the lack of infra-red is a disappointment, and although the Helio has an RS232 expansion port, there are not any devices to connect to. Finally, although the specifications promised a backlit display, there was no sign of a glow from the screen. While the Helio is not the most powerful PDA by a long way, at about US$160, it is certainly worth considering - particularly with the memory upgrade and Linux installed. Graphic: heliogwz
