The Visor Deluxe, from Handspring, makes an excellent digital traveling companion. The Visor offers more memory and a lower price than its well-known competitor, the Palm device, and it comes with a cradle that you can attach to your PC through a USB port, thereby enabling much faster data transfer. Since it uses the Palm OS, the Visor Deluxe can run the same third-party programs as the Palm models do -- an ability that can supplement the Visor's standard features, which include a to-do list, a memo pad, a calculator, and a date book. Like the Palm units, the Visor relies on an onscreen keyboard that makes data entry rather tedious, so it serves more as an adjunct computer than as a full-time PC. Even so, it has a lot of growth potential.
Coordinates: $249. Handspring Inc., www.handspring.com
When is a cell-phone more than a cell-phone? When both your email and the score of the Knicks-Celtics game pop up on your wireless phone's display screen. The Wireless Web service, from Sprint PCS, can deliver that support even as it ably performs its function: letting you make flat-rate calls in more than 280 metro areas through Sprint's Free & Clear Plan. With a phone that's specially equipped to handle the service (there are models from Qualcomm, Motorola, Samsung, and others), you can get "Web updates" (such as scores and stock quotes) sent automatically to your phone and do text-only surfing through such sites as Ameritrade and CNN.com. You can even send email directly from the phone. Just cable the phone, via a serial port, to a laptop or a handheld computer. Then wirelessly upload and download your email wherever Sprint PCS service is available -- and that includes nearly every airport nationwide.
Coordinates: $59 to $179 per month. Sprint PCS Wireless Web, www.sprintpcs.com
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