and it's got GPS and 3G built in. QWERTY, check; Wi-Fi-, check; true slate format because the keyboard is magnetic, check. But the HTC Advantage (I reviewed it at http://www.itpro.co.uk/reviews/133941/htc-advantage-x7500.html) runs Windows Mobile; is that the only reason it didn't generate the same excitement as the Eee PC?

EDIT: note - I'm curious in terms of how many people have said they want the Eee PC with a 3G card, which means I consider it fair game to price the Advantage with a data contract, reducing it significantly from the non-contract price. The comments make me think it's the price for the size that is appealing to most of you,.

Two pieces up on Tom's Hardware today; mobile search and mapping tools and a notebook buying guide - so you could pick the notebook you want and get directions to go buy it ;-)

When you're on the move, do you want to search the Web the way you would on a PC, or rather look for what's around you? Sometimes you'll want to look up a Web page and read it, but often you want to know more where a movie is playing rather than who was in it, where to get good sushi rather than how to make it, and how long it will take to get to the theater after you've eaten. Read the rest of Simplifying Mobile Search...

Need a bigger screen? Thin and light or mobile workstation, basic budget or high-powered business features, Macs or tablet PCs; today we’re going to tell you how to choose the right notebook for whatever you need. We’re going to go through business, general-use, budget, gaming, ultra-portable, tablet and Mac laptops to show you what to look for and offer some suggestions. Pick the Perfect PC for You...

I've been playing with more phones for IT Pro....

The HTC Excalibur - also known as the T-Mobile Dash - is a smart, capable, lightweight smartphone with multimedia features good enough to let you keep it in your pocket out of business hours. By the time the Motorola Q finally makes it to the UK, the S620 may have stolen its market.
Read on at http://www.itpro.co.uk/reviews/118512/htc-s620-smartphone.html

The first BlackBerry to combine a full keyboard and camera, the 8300 Curve doesn't have the visceral desirability of the Pearl - or the slab-like bulk of the 8800 - but it does have QWERTY and trackball, spell checking and competent multimedia in a small and neat package.
Read on at http://www.itpro.co.uk/reviews/119405/blackberry-8300-curve.html

I like them both and I've stuck with the Excalibur for personal use to replace the Treo 750v - the battery life, the better call quality and the standard connector plus the slimmer size made up for losing the extra software features. If you're a BlackBerry fan - and you have BES - the 8300 is an excellent phone. Incidentally, I wrote the review of it on the flight from San Francisco to Indianapolis...

The whole point of smartphones is that you can do so much with them - you get a slew of applications regardless of which smartphone OS you pick, and there are plenty more applications to install. (That's what makes it a smartphone in the first place!) But it's easy just to sync your contacts, read your email, do a bit of Web browsing and never fully exploit the potential of that device in your pocket. Here's how to get the most out of a smartphone, whether you've got a BlackBerry, a Symbian or a Windows Mobile Smartphone.
Read the rest at Tom's Hardware: typing tips, which browser to get and which search site to use, why RSS beats mobile browsing anyway, which document viewers let you view and which let you edit and how you can navigate with your smartphone.

Somehow the 8800 doesn't have the visceral desirability of the Pearl and it doesn't have WiFi or 3G. But with GPS and a QWERTY keyboard it's undoubtedly a more capable business device, especially if you want a BlackBerry with a full keyboard. Read what else I have to say about the shiny BlackBerry 8800...