(MONEY Magazine) – There was a time when choosing a handheld was simple: There were the Palms and the also-rans. More recently, of course, Handspring started chipping away at Palm's hegemony. Expansion ports, which let you add features, were its key strength--but the reason they even got a serious look was that Handsprings were nearly identical to Palms in every other way, including adoption of Palm's intuitive operating system.

With the stakes as high as they now are--handhelds accounted for a huge portion of consumer electronics growth in the past few years--manufacturers have quickly taken the Handspring lesson to heart. Sure, consumers want innovation, but only if it's delivered on top of what they already like. As a result, the newest handhelds are better and increasingly alike. Palm now offers a Handspring-like expansion slot; Handsprings are now as sleekly designed as Palms; and more manufacturers have adopted the dominant Palm software. So which should you get?

With so many strong models, it's hard to make a really bad decision. But each has a particular strength, so your choice should be determined by the kind of user you are. We tested each of the new premium handhelds with this in mind. (If you'll use only the calendar, address book and to-do list functions, stick with the $149 Handspring Visor or $129 Palm m100.) Here's what we found.

PALM M500 AND M505

THE ORIGINAL The words Palm and handheld are as synonymous as Kleenex and tissue. And Palm's sleek, high-powered Vx (though not the top of the line) has pretty much become the flagship model.

THE NEXT GENERATION The new m500 ($399) and m505 ($449) are successors to the Vx but with several important improvements. Both have sharper screens (the m505 features color, hence the extra $50), the latest version of Palm OS, vibrating alarms and an easier-to-handle design. But the key feature is an expansion slot for postage-stamp-size cards that add memory, games or an MP3 player.

WHO'S IT FOR? Most high-end handheld users. In our eyes, the m500 is the best of all the new handhelds, taking everything we love about the Palm Vx and adding expandability. Only seven expansion cards are currently available, but we suggest that you have a little patience: More vendors are expected to release add-ons by year's end. And don't bother with the m505. The color screen isn't much good and drains the battery too quickly.

HANDSPRING VISOR EDGE

THE ORIGINAL It out-Palmed Palm except for one shortcoming: lackluster design.

THE NEXT GENERATION Finally you can use the word sleek to describe the Visor. The Edge ($399) is ultrathin, lightweight and encased in a handsome (if a little cheap feeling) red, silver or blue metal exterior. But a price was paid for the design enhancements: The new model has a clip-to-the-side stylus and no built-in expansion slot. Expansion modules now require an adapter, which comes free but adds a little bulk. Some feel Handspring has all but given up the feature that once made it special; we think it's actually a decent compromise for those who want an ultrathin handheld and don't always need to use expansion modules.

WHO'S IT FOR? Those who want lots of expansion features--now. Some of the 40-plus Handspring modules (including wireless web and e-mail access) aren't yet available for Palm--but in the final analysis, we'd say wait for the Palm add-ons.

SONY CLIE

THE ORIGINAL When Sony jumped into the melee last fall, the idea of a Palm OS-based handheld from an established electronics maker was promising. But the mad rush to get the Clie to market yielded a lousy screen and flawed design.

THE NEXT GENERATION With the release of the Clie PEG-N710C ($500) this spring, Sony gets the Most Improved Player award for an impressively sharp, vivid color screen. The 320-by-320-pixel resolution is double that of the Palm m505's. We always liked the dial on the side that lets you navigate the screen with one hand, but the Clie now also sports a button that works like the "back" button on a Web browser. Best of all are the built-in multimedia features, like software for viewing digital photos or video.

WHO'S IT FOR? Anyone for whom a color screen and powerful multimedia features are valuable--"valuable" being the operative word. Like many handhelds, the Clie comes with 8MB of memory--but that's barely enough to hold three MP3 songs. It'll cost another $180 to add 128MB, enough for four hours' worth of music.

COMPAQ IPAQ AND H-P JORNADA

THE ORIGINALS Running Microsoft's Pocket PC software--not Palm OS--Compaq's iPAQ and H-P's Jornada could operate several programs at once, including a word processor, spreadsheet and e-mail.

THE NEXT GENERATION Compaq's new iPAQ H3670 costs $649 and comes with a huge 64MB of memory. The latest Jornada, the 525, costs only $359, making it the cheapest color Pocket PC.

WHO'S IT FOR? Nobody--unless your company demands it (the built in e-mail application integrates well with many corporate servers) or you need to be able to run business software, like Excel.