6. Asus MyPal A696 GPS PDA

Those looking for serious gadget appeal in a slim personal digital assistant will find the Asus A696 PDA pretty darn attractive. Running Windows Mobile 5.0, and its related applications - Outlook Mobile, Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, Windows Media 10 Player Mobile, and Internet Explorer Mobile - this unit comes prepared to let its users see and work on real documents and Web pages. Asus also includes a Remote Presenter application that lets the A696 link to and control presentations running on a PC via Bluetooth. You can run any of the various games written for Mobile Windows on this device as well.

The A696 can do some reasonable computing, but it’s also a slim and full-featured mobile GPS as well.

The A696 also does double-duty as a media playback device. Within the confines of Mobile Windows Media Player 10, this unit can play back sound and picture on its 3.5" 320x240 display, and through its front-mounted stereo speakers (or a headphone jack). File types supported include WMV, WMA, MP3 and more. With dimensions of 4.60" x 2.79" x 0.618" and a weight of only 5.82 oz., it really is small enough to carry in your shirt pocket without difficulty. The unit comes with a 256 MB Flash ROM and 64 MB of SDRAM, and supports wireless access through 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. All data and documents are stored in Flash ROM on the A696 so that all information is retained even when the unit is powered down. An SD card slot is also included, and can accommodate up to 2 GB of additional non-volatile storage for this unit.

The GPS capability is built around the energy-efficient SiRF Star III chipset, and provides full-featured mobile GPS capability, including positioning data, plus access to maps and directions. The unit also features a small, retractable antenna that only needs to be extended when you’re using GPS functions.

In its sleek stainless steel case, the Asus A696 makes a good visual impression, in addition to its impressive capacity and capabilities. At prices that range from $450 to $500, this little beauty comes at an equally impressive price, but it can do more for its size and weight than you might expect.