3. Pocket PCs

Zayo A600 PPC

Weighing in at 134 g, the Zayo handheld lets the user control the CPU speed to save battery power. In Normal mode the device runs at 200 MHz; in Power Saver mode, it clocks down to 100 MHz. These modes affect battery life considerably. In Turbo mode we achieved a battery life of two hours and 49 minutes; in Power Saver mode the PDA will run for over eight hours.

According to Asus, its Advanced Performance Enhancement option improves performance by enhancing the CPU's caching performance. So, scrolling through complex HTML documents should be speedier. The benchmark measurements confirm the extra performance. An unaccelerated Zayo takes 5032 milliseconds to complete the integer benchmark; with cache optimization this is reduced to 3449 milliseconds.

The powerful and attractive Zayo model marks the successful debut of Asus into the world of handhelds. However, its price tag is too high in view of the lack of CompactFlash slot, integrated WLAN or Bluetooth module.

With the Axis and Zayo models, the user can alter the CPU operating speed in software.