When it comes to playing those video files, the specs project about three hours of video play from a charged battery, and I found that to be true. In fact, I think I actually got about three and a half hours from a full charge. So that would give you two movies of short to average length, or one REALLY long one. Those files can also be played back on a TV, a computer if your video card has the appropriate plugs, or a multimedia projector using the included AV cables.

Audio
The Pavio can be used as a digital voice recorder, saving the files in WAV format, with the ability to play them back. So that's one more piece of tech gadgetry you can leave behind. The MP3 player in the Pavio acts pretty much like any other MP3 player I've used, it plays them. It can play just one file, repeat it, or shuffle play and repeat that. And there's also a bass and treble control. Specs claim an average of six hours of music play from a single charge. With the device turning off the screen moments after beginning audio play, six hours is certainly believable.

PDA are good for hauling music files around on, but they have limited storage capacity, even with media cards. That is, unless you want to haul around a bunch of cards. A big part of the iPod's appeal is that it can hold so many songs in one device. Well, so can the Pavio.

DateXX has included MusicMatch for encoding your own music files, and I actually happen to use MusicMatch as my PC jukebox, so I'm quite familiar with how it works. With it, you'll be ripping all your audio CDs and taking your music with you on the Pavio wherever you go.

Pictures and presentations
No more carting around yards of wallet photos, the Pavio has you covered. Its image player allows you to view any single image, or play them in a slideshow. If you save your PowerPoint presentations as JPGs, Pavio will also play those as a slideshow for you, giving you control over how long each slide is viewed.

And by connecting the Pavio to a multimedia projector or TV with the AV cable, you can share them with groups instead of lugging along your laptop. And I've seen countless presentations go bad because the laptop software isn't compatible with the projector, or because the cables aren't compatible. Pavio solves all that by giving you standard AV cables, and if plays it on the Pavio, it goes out the AV port exactly as it's displayed.

I think I've pretty well covered all the features of the Pavio by now. Rounding them out are a headphone jack of course, a USB port, a kick stand so you can prop the device up on a table, tray, book or whatnot and have it at the appropriate angle for viewing.

Critique
Now, what do I think of the Pavio? I think it's great! It's one of the niftiest devices I've come across. At no point did I have a ho-hum feeling about it. Not everyone is a gadget hound, but then, not all gadgets are strictly for gadget hounds. It's true that laptops and PDAs will cover most of the features of the Pavio, but as of now, no PDA can match its storage capacity. And there aren't too many laptops that can compete with its range of connectivity.