How would you like a barcode scanner that looks almost exactly like a consumer PDA? That's what's on offer from Opticon, the Dutch-based data capture manufacturer, with its PHL-5000 series range, which is now available in the UK.

Indeed, the company says it set out to create a device that was compact enough to look like and perform like a conventional PDA. Yet it also has various "must have" features such as Bluetooth and infra-red connectivity, and a scanner capable of 100 scans per second. The 5200 version also has Wi-Fi 802.11b wireless networking capability built in.

On the PDA side, the unit has 64 MB of main memory and 32MB of Flash memory, and uses a 400MHz Intel XScale processor. It comes pre-loaded with the Pocket PC operating system, along with the standard Pocket PC suite of applications such as Pocket Outlook and Pocket Internet Explorer.