In essence you have the full power of a Pocket PC at your disposal. This includes the Windows CE 3 operating system, plus all the basic apps that come with it, like Pocket Word, Pocket Excel and Pocket Internet Explorer. ActiveSync 3.1 and a full desktop copy of Outlook 2000 are also provided for synchronisation with your PC, along with a cradle that enables you to connect via USB or serial. The Sagem is a monochrome device, with a 16-greyscale display, which measures 240 x 320 pixels. It comes with a 16 MB memory and there is a slot on the back which will take a separately available expansion jacket to provide more memory as it is required.

It would all appear to be a rather standard Pocket PC, until you look a little closer. Sagem's experience in the mobile phone world shines through. The phone software included is comprehensive, logically implemented and takes up a relatively small amount of the device's memory. Equally impressive and an important consideration is that the touch screen is very responsive, making it easy to dial numbers quickly, as you would with a normal phone. The phone software includes a sync with SIM facility, for pulling your existing phone SIM information. It also has features such as charge monitoring, call log, vibrate and ring settings, plus it links well with your contacts database. Using the Sagem WA 3050 as a data device is simple. As long as your SIM has data capabilities, you just use the dial up settings within the device to configure the Sagem phone as a GSM modem, add your ISP settings as you would for a normal Internet connection and off you go. In future, Sagem claim that GPRS will be available as a purchasable upgrade to the device, which will help with the speed of data transfer, though details of this aren't clear at the moment. The obvious comparison to draw is between the Sagem WA 3050 and the Trium Mondo. While both have their merits and are well-conceived devices, the Sagem unit comes out favourably in several areas. The screen is more responsive, the phone software is superior and takes up less memory, plus the Sagem can be expanded to add more memory. --Jason Weston

Manufacturer's Description
The SAGEM WA 3050 is both a powerful mobile phone and a Personal Digital Assistant combined in a single, stylised and compact product. Equipped with a powerful processor and an expendable 16 MB memory, it is one of the most impressive assistants on the market.

It allows you to keep your professional and private lives under full control whilst on the move: access to WAP and Internet information and services, diary, address book, e-mails, multimedia Microsoft Pocket Word and Microsoft Pocket Excel software make it a real embedded mobile office.

The SAGEM WA 3050 has a wide high-resolution touch screen. In addition, it includes a character recognition system for the digitising of handwritten data and a infrared link to facilitate connections with a PC or another personal assistant.

The SAGEM WA 3050 allows you to send and receive e-mails, SMS and faxes as well as download texts, images and music from the Internet.

New generation phone, it comes with high performance functions such as the hands-free system, the vibrating device or the downloading of new ringing tones. And for complete mobility, the SAGEM WA 3050 is dual-band GSM 900/1800, with large standby time and weighs less than 200 grams !

It looks at first glance just like a large, old fashioned mobile phone and you can indeed make voice calls in the usual way. But open the clamshell and you'll see why this phone is quite as large as it is. There is a screen, capable of displaying 4096 colours and a keyboard. Between them these two features provide access to a host of software. There are Web and WAP browsers and tools for email, faxing and SMS, for example.

Other software on board does not immediately scream "get connected!" at you. A spreadsheet is present for those mathematical moments and a word processor, so you can write letters and other documents. A diary and address book are also to hand and there is even an application for viewing PowerPoint presentations. You get software to connect the Communicator to your PC for backup and data sharing and files can be automatically converted to key PC software formats like Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook. Third party applications--including games--are already starting to appear and the 9210 Communicator comes with a 16 MB MultiMedia card to help you store your collection.

The 9210 Communicator is powered by the Symbian operating system, which has been developed out of the software running on Psion's Series 5, Revo, Series 7 and NetBook computers. With a pedigree like that, the 9210 Communicator is surely worth a look. --Sandra Vogel