To be fair, I've never seen a handheld LCD screen as nice as on the new palmOne devices, but if we're comparing, this is an area where Dell's Axim doesn't really keep up. It's not like, in a horse race, where Dell's the last in the pack. Instead, it's like palmOne's screen cross the finish line just one bodylength ahead of the Dell device.

The palmOne Tungsten E vs. the Dell Axim X30
So, if you want a camera, go for the Zire 72. But what if you want WiFi? Or what if you don't want WiFi or Bluetooth, and you also don't want a camera? Which do you go for then?

Here, the best comparison is between the low-end Dell Axim X30 without wireless and the palmOne Tungsten E, both of which are $199. Table B tells the story.

Here, again, there's not strictly a clear winner. The Tungsten E again has a better screen than the Axim X30. But the Axim X30 has twice the performance and a voice recorder. In this competition, you could do quite well with either device. I'd recommend making the decision based on whether you're a Palm OS fan or a Pocket PC fan.

The WiFi shootout
Ah, but what if you wanted WiFi. Then what's your best choice? Here, it gets interesting. The palmOne Tungsten C comes with built-in WiFi and an integrated thumb-size keyboard (like you'll find on a Blackberry). In this competition, the two higher-end Axim models compete directly against the palmOne device. Table C shows the breakdown.

Here, we finally have a price-performance winner. The high-end Axim at 624Mhz is considerably faster than the Tungsten C, at $50 less. Plus it has built-in Bluetooth and a voice recorder. If you want WiFi and want to spend considerably less, the slower Axim X30, at $249 gets you into a WiFi handheld for $150 less than palmOne's product, again with built-in Bluetooth and a voice recorder.

If you're a die-hard Palm OS fan and don't mind blowing the extra $150, you'd go with the Tungsten C. But we're looking at performance rather than religion here. In terms of features, then, if the chicklet keyboard's important to you or you really, really want a screen that's somewhat better, you'd go with the palmOne.