(MONEY Magazine) – There are PDAs that are also cell phones, like the new BlackBerry I've just gushed about. And there are cell phones that act as PDAs. This year, Gates & Co. plan to unveil just such a device: a new family of Windows Mobile-based phones called Smartphones. The first one, Motorola's MPx200, is scheduled to hit store shelves at AT&T Wireless shops later this year (at $400 to $600 a pop, unless you get a calling plan). It will be the first GSM-network cell phone in North America to run a Windows Mobile operating system. (Microsoft's Smartphones are already on sale in Europe and Asia.) What's so special about that? All the screens will be instantly familiar and reassuring to any Windows user. They will also run Mini-Me versions of MSN Messenger, Internet Explorer and Outlook and will sync automatically with your desktop PC. My new BlackBerry, by the way, syncs with Outlook too. But still--the Mini-Me versions are a big reason why many people will want a Smartphone very, very badly.

Microsoft has the same vision for the Smartphone as Research in Motion has for the BlackBerry phone--an all-purpose communicator that combines voice, e-mail, data and organizer functions in a single, lightweight device. But you'll take on more than the usual risk if you buy version 1.0 of anything made by Microsoft. Even the best Pocket PCs, after several years of refinement on both the software and hardware fronts, continue to crash occasionally--that's not something you want to worry about when it comes to your cell phone.

I'll be eager to test the Motorola Smartphone when it hits the market, but given Microsoft's poor track record its first times at bat, for now I'm holding on to my BlackBerry phone. --C.G.