trium

Trium Mondo

Science fiction comes true as the first combined Pocket PC and mobile phone hits the street.

Price: £400

Manufacturer: Trium

Ratings

Overall rating:

Rate this product

Verdict

The Mondo is an interesting technological feat. Unfortunately, its monochrome screen, limited memory, lack of expansion and slow data access mean there's still some way to go before it's worth buying.

Alan Dunmore, What PC? 18 Dec 2001

Palm-sized PDAs, such as Handspring's Visor and Compaq's iPaq, have been around for some time now, and canny manufacturers have brought out various add-on modules that give the devices the extra functionality of a mobile phone. It was therefore only a matter of time before someone combined the two into one product.

The Mondo is a bit like a device from a science fiction movie: the number of things you can do with such a small, powerful device is astonishing.

But once the wonder passes, is it worth the money? It is exactly the right size for your hand; about the same size as a Compaq iPaq, but with a small antenna poking out of the top. It is also light - lighter, even than some modern mobile phones on their own.

Let's look at the PDA side of things first. The Mondo uses Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system, which means it looks and feels like Windows so should be fairly easy to get to grips with for anyone familiar with their desktop PC.

It includes programs to manage your contacts, create a diary, send and receive emails, browse the internet, listen to music files and write notes to yourself. You can synchronise the information on your Mondo with that on your PC, thanks to the included software.

Put the Mondo into the supplied cradle, which connects to your PC using the serial port, and the process is completed automatically for you. So far, so good. Unlike other pocket PCs, the Mondo doesn't have any expansion capability, so you won't be able to add more memory, for example.

As there's only 16Mb of memory built in, this could be a problem: if you're thinking of also using this as an MP3 player, forget it. And to keep the price down, Trium has opted for a monochrome screen, which is also a shame.

The phone side of things is integrated very well into the PDA. Trium has written a program to control the phone, which loads automatically when you switch it on.

It is very easy to use and has been designed to look exactly like the front of a mobile phone. You can make a normal voice call by tapping the number on the screen using the provided stylus.

A hands-free microphone and ear piece is in the box for you to use, or you can hold the Mondo against your ear and talk as if it were a normal mobile. The same program also allows you to look at Wap sites, which look better than usual on this large screen.

The Mondo is really intended for data use and this is where the Pocket PC operating system really comes into its own. You can browse the internet on the move using Pocket Internet Explorer and send and receive email using Pocket Outlook.

It's a liberating experience being able to sit outside and find out what's going on in the world and email your friends, all without any wires or a heavy laptop and separate mobile phone to carry around. To speed up data calls, the Mondo supports GPRS, a new technology that allows for much faster data access than existing GSM mobile phones.

GPRS services are available on BT Cellnet and Vodafone networks, and this is where things come unstuck. Although the Mondo is technically capable of accessing the internet and sending emails at fast GPRS speeds, BT Cellnet and Vodafone have yet to support this.

Both are limiting fast GPRS access to Wap sites only. That's fine so far as it goes, but what we really want is GPRS speed on all the other functions; browsing the internet is just infuriatingly slow as things stand.

The Trium Mondo costs £350 (inc VAT) depending on the network.

Specifications: