Read on to find out who the clear winner is. The results were not nearly as clear-cut as we expected.

The palmOne Zire 72 vs. the Dell Axim X30
The idea was that because they're just about the same price (the Zire 72 is $299 and the Axim X30 with integrated wireless is $249), and came out within a few weeks of each other, they'd make excellent candidates for a product shootout.

The thing is, they don't exactly match in terms of features. The Axim X30 comes in three separate variants, one without wireless and a 321Mhz processor for $199, one with integrated wireless (both WiFi and Bluetooth) for $249, and one with wireless, but running twice as fast, at 624Mhz, for $349.

The Zire 72 comes with Bluetooth, but not WiFi, and has a built-in camera. Table A shows how the two machines compare on specifications.

The model I reviewed was the $249 Axim X30 with the built-in wireless. The biggest issue, assuming you didn't have a preference for Palm OS or the Pocket PC, is whether you want wireless or a camera. Dell does not currently offer a PDA with a camera, so if that's a big thing for you, you'll probably want to go with the Zire 72.

Although I was very, very impressed with the Axim X30, there's one other area where the palmOne devices win: screen. The screen on the Zire 72 is 320x320, where it's 240x320 on the Axim X30. And, although this is a subjective judgement, the screens on the palmOne Zire 72, Tungsten E (which I'll talk about later) and Tungsten T3 are all considerably nicer than the screen on the Axim, where you can really see the pixels.