(FORTUNE Magazine) – People who are good at juggling busy work schedules are often good at juggling pieces of electronica. In one hand there's a cell phone. In the other there's a personal digital assistant that stores phone numbers and addresses, a calendar, a notepad, a task list, and other personal information tools. And on the lap is the portable computer needed for sending and receiving e-mail and browsing the Web.

Ericsson's mostly delightful R380 World Smartphone does all this and more in a unit the size, shape, and weight of a regular cell phone. Unlike previous attempts to wed a cell phone with a computer, the R380 does not feel like a brick. It weighs 5.8 ounces. The telephone keypad flips down to reveal a readable, backlit touch-screen display, 3 1/2 inches wide and an inch deep.

There isn't room here to list all the things the R380 does, but highlights include POP3 and IMAP e-mail, voice control, speakerphone, voice recording, SMS messaging (for sending quick text messages of 160 characters or so), and secure wireless application protocol (WAP) browsing. As a personal information manager (PIM), the R380 rocks. It uses the Symbian EPOC operating system and synchronizes easily with most Windows-based PIMs, including Microsoft Outlook. It has a great handwriting-recognition system, Jot, as well as a virtual keyboard. My only complaints are the relatively short battery life and the inability to add games or other applications.

And oh, yeah, it works as a phone. The R380 is a dual-band phone that works on the GSM 900- and 1,900-megahertz frequency bands, so it can be used in most major American cities, Europe, most of Asia except Japan, many places in Central and South America, and parts of Africa. GSM is gaining popularity in the U.S., but make sure it's available in your favorite towns before getting too excited.

The R380 is just becoming available here. Pricing will depend on the service plan chosen, but figure around $650.