I took my first look at the "@migo" 600C Pocket PC back in January of this year. The @migo is distributed by UR There International (www.urthere.com). While I liked the look and loved the potential of the @migo, there were issues with the pre-production version.

UR There listened to the feedback of beta-testers, fixed the problems, and worked with Palmax to re-design the look of the @migo. The @migo is the only Pocket PC with a built-in PC Card slot and 64K color reflective screen. The newly released version was worth the wait—a worthy competitor to Compaq's iPAQ Pocket PC with PC Card Expansion Pack. The @migo, with its built-in PC Card capability, is smaller than an iPAQ docked to a PC Card Expansion Pack.

Silver case, 4-way navigation pad, and loads of buttons

The re-designed @migo comes with a metallic silver paint job that looks just like the paint on a Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC. I personally like the darker charcoal look of the Casio E-125. (Wouldn't it be nice to be able to choose colors for this unit?) The @migo is about the same size as a Casio E-125 and has a navigation button on the front of the unit like the E-125 and iPAQ Pocket PCs, but it has more hardware control buttons.

The @migo ships with its screen covered with a plastic sheet. This offers temporary protection for the screen during shipping, but leaves a slight, sticky residue on the screen when you remove it. You'll need to clean this residue off or your stylus will drag excessively.

On the front of the unit you can see the multi-colored LED indicator. Red for charging, green for fully charged, and flashing amber for Reminder Alarm. I love it ­ a color scheme that makes sense! To the right of the LED is a small hole where the microphone is located.

On the bottom front of the device, below the screen, are the 4-way navigation pad, a speaker, and four application launch buttons. The audio output from the speaker is very loud. When I use the @migo with earphones, the stereo sounds simply great!

The left side of the @migo (see Screen 1) is loaded with control buttons and other hardware features, including, from top to bottom:

• Today screen launch button Power on/off button (also activates "sidelighting")
• Action button / scroll wheel
• Start menu launch key
• Voice record button
• Power adapter input
• Brightness adjustment

Screen 1: Various control buttons are found on the left side of the @migo, and on top the infrared is next to the backup battery slot.

64K color, indoor/outdoor screen

The @migo comes with a 64K color screen, which displays high-color (16-bit) graphic files much better than the iPAQ's 4K color screen. If you need to display high-color images, the @migo or Casio E-125 Pocket PCs are the best choices. [Note: Some applications, notably Picture Perfect (www.applian.com) and Pocket Album (www.conduits.com), do have "Optimized for 12 bit color" options that allow you to display high-color images on a lower-color display without noticeable banding.]

You notice that I mentioned "sidelighting" instead of backlighting above. The light that illumines the screen on the @migo is at the left side of the display. The sidelight on the @migo produces an acceptable result, but it is not as bright or as even as that on the backlit screen of the iPAQ. However,the advantage of the @migo is that it has a sidelight adjustment wheel on the left side of the device. This makes it easy to adjust to the lighting environment. The sidelight does not evenly bathe the front of the screen, but the difference is very slight and you get used to it quickly. The reflective screen allows for great outdoor viewing, much like the iPAQ's.

Built-in PC Card slot adds great flexibility

The most unique feature of the @migo Pocket PC is its built-in Type II PC Card slot. The iPAQ can offer similar capability, but to add it to the iPAQ you have to purchase an optional PC Card Expansion Pack. The @migo's PC Card slot can be used for memory expansion, wireless communication, microdrives, a GPS receiver, and most other standard PC or CF card peripherals. The @migo's slot supports both 3.3V and 5V cards.

I successfully tested the @migo with a number of PC Card devices. I used the Intel PRO/Wireless 2011 LAN card (www.intel.com/network/products/2011_lan_pc.htm) and the ORiNOCO PC Card (www.orinocowireless.com) to communicate with my LAN wirelessly (see Screen 2). I also used a TeleType PCMCIA GPS system (http://teletype.com/gps/index.html)

Screen 2: I successfully tested the @migo with a number of PC Card wireless LAN adapters, including the Intel PRO/Wireless 2011 LAN card (shown here).

I also tested two storage devices on the @migo: a 340 Mb IBM Microdrive (www.storage.ibm.com/hardsoft/diskdrdl/micro/) and a Kingston 2 Gb DataPak (www.kingston.com/pccard/datapak2gb.asp). The IBM Microdrive is in the Compact format, so I had to use a CF-to-PC Card adapter to use it in the @migo's PC Card slot (see Screen 3). The @migo does run noticeably warm to the touch when using the IBM Microdrive or the 2GB Kingston DataPak in "continuous" mode. I discovered this when I was playing MP3s or videos. But it didn't seem to bother the operation of the unit itself.

Screen 3: I used a CF-to-PC Card adapter to insert the IBM Microdrive into the @migo's PC Card slot. It worked fine, but I noticed the @migo runs warm to the touch when accessing the Microdrive in "continuous" mode.

You remove these cards from the @migo's card slot using the black ejector button to the left of the Microdrive. The button seems a little flimsy, but I had no problems with it.

Unique stylus, useable clip-on case

The @migo comes with an AC adapter, a USB sync cable, a protective case, user manuals, a Getting Started CD, and the MS ActiveSync CD. It has a main battery and a backup battery. Note that the main battery is removable, which means that you can buy a spare for long trips.

The stylus is a small metal cylinder, tipped on one end with the plastic stylus point and on the other end with an inch-and-a-half plastic extension. It's shorter than most Pocket PC styluses, but has a heavier feel. I find it comfortable to use.

The @migo also comes with a clip-on belt case with a snap-over belt loop to keep the case from falling off (see Screen 4). The @migo fits very snugly in the case and you literally need to stretch the material to get it in. I had to use both hands to remove the @migo from the case. It's a reasonable solution, but I prefer the quick-release style, "play-through" cases offered by Vaja (www.vajacases.com) and E&B (www.ebcases.com). Play-through cases let you use the Pocket PC without removing it from the case.

Screen 4: The @migo also comes with a clip-on belt case with a snap-over belt loop to keep the case from falling off.

Built-in and user-installable software

The @migo comes with the latest Microsoft Windows CE 3.0 operating system and Pocket PC applications built into ROM (see Spec Sheet). UR There added "@migo Navigator" to the built-in software (see Screen 5). The program was developed for UR There by Developer One (www.developerone.com) and is based on their popular TaskPro Navigator program. It lets you open and close and switch applications quickly.

Screen 5: UR There included "@migo Navigator" with their Pocket PC, which lets you open and close and switch applications quickly.

UR There also includes a bonus CD with the @migo that includes tutorials on how to accomplish certain tasks and how to use specific applications; full descriptions of various shareware, freeware and commercial software programs available for the Pocket PC, including links to the developer's Web site; and a trial software folder with demo versions of Developer One and Conduits software (see Spec Sheet for titles).

Fast processor, 2 to 8 hours battery life

The UR There "@migo" Pocket PC sports an Intel 206MHz SA-1110 StrongArm RISC processor. I ran VOBenchmark on the @migo to compare it to the other Pocket PCs and posted the results on my site(www.pocketpcpassion.com/General/VOBenchmark/VOBenchmark.htm). My experience is that it's every bit as fast as the reigning speed champion, the Compaq iPAQ.

To use the USB cable you first have to install a software driver, which is included on the bonus software CD. The synchronization speed with the USB cable is slower than that of the other USB-enabled Pocket PCs, but UR There informed me that a USB speed-up fix is in the works.

I tested the @migo's battery life using Solar Software's Battery Monitor program (www.solar.sk). UR There lists the battery life at 8 hours, but that is a best-case scenario number. I did a worst-case test by setting the sidelighting to maximum, running an IBM Microdrive in the PC Card slot, and watching a video using PocketTV (www.mpegtv.com/wince/pockettv/). Finally, I went to the Backlight utility in the Settings/Systems menu and de-selected the "Turn off backlight..." feature. The battery was about 90% charged when I started this test. The @migo ran one hour and 45 minutes before it died.

Small criticisms, large strengths

I would like to see UR There include a storage card backup/restore utility with the @migo. Currently, the only solution you have is to use ActiveSync for backup. And as I mentioned, the sidelight doesn't illuminate the screen evenly. I'd also prefer another case; no third party vendor markets one for this relatively new Pocket PC. (It does fit my Body Suit for the Casio E-125 by Extreme Limit nicely.) It would be nice if I could get a 64MB unit with flash ROM for future potential patches and upgrades.

The above criticisms are small compared to the strengths of the device. The UR There @migo has just about everything you could want in a Pocket PC: It's fast, it has a built-in PC Card slot, its main battery is replaceable, and its 64k color screen is viewable in direct sunlight. If there ever was going to be a Pocket PC that would tempt me to replace my iPAQ as my day-to-day PDA, this would be the one. I look forward to using this over the long term to see if I can resist the temptation. For specs on the @migo Pocket PC, click here.