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Voice calls are another matter. You are simply not going to want to hold something of this size and weight (285g and by my reckoning 130 x 80 x 20mm - WxDxH) to your ear for a voice call very often, so it’s Bluetooth or wired handsfree for voice.

While the screen swivelling mechanism feels solid there are no clips to hold the upper and lower sections of the clamshell together, and I fear they could easily be prised apart by a pen or something else in a pocket or bag, resulting in damage to the screen. O2 provides a slip cover style case which does hold things together and covers all the external buttons, but these can still be pressed accidentally and the cover brings the height of the Xda Exec to a shade over 30mm which is an awful lot for a pocket to cope with.

Verdict

The appearance of 3G in a Pocket PC at last is wonderful, and it works very well indeed when you have a signal. It’s great to be able to browse the Web properly on a high speed connection. Video calls are fun and sometimes can be really useful, and it’s lovely to be able to make them with a Pocket PC at last.

However I’m not entirely convinced about the keyboard. Anyone interested in serious data creation is still going to need a laptop. The real target is fans of devices with smaller built in keyboards such as the BlackBerry. For them the Xda Exec offers a more usable keyboard and a far more function rich device. This is where I feel the main market will be.

Note: The overall score does not include Value, since there was no pricing available for the Xda Exec at the time of writing.

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