We lent Sunita Mason a mobile laptop and smartphone for two weeks. She tells us what it was like


When we gave Sunita Mason, director of legal services at the National Youth Advocacy Service in Birkenhead, an Acer laptop with built-in mobile broadband on Vodafone, we expected her to like it.



We knew this because in her application to be a guinea pig she told us: 'I have been desperately trying to get my organisation to give me a data card. I took up my post this January after 14 years in private practice and am trying to persuade the powers that be of the value of up-to-date IT equipment.'



As director of legal services, Ms Mason operates a large Legal Services Commission contract with cases all over the country. 'I need to be in touch when I am on the move, which is frequently,' she said. 'I also sit as a deputy district judge and am on the Law Society's family law committee, so I need to keep in touch when I'm not in the office.'



So off a laptop went. 'I was very impressed with the quick connection, which was easy to use and never failed to find a service each time I used it,' she said. 'I took the laptop to a hotel when I was at a conference and it worked even where other colleagues with data cards failed to connect to the Internet. I also used it to connect to BBC Radio 4 in the morning to test the sound quality, which was very good. I took the laptop with me to court when I was sitting as a deputy district judge and managed to log on at lunchtime from the judges' dining room without difficulty.



'The laptop's wireless connection even functioned on trains, in cars and basically any location I attempted. The only negative to the laptop was its size and weight. I use a smaller, lighter computer for work and I really noticed the difference when lugging round the Acer.'



In Acer's defence, it has just announced its new range of TravelMates, some of which are much smaller than the device tested. Acer told the Gazette that a built-in 3G version of the new range should be available later in 2007.



The Gazette always asks the $64,000-question of guinea pigs: would you buy one? Ms Mason, in a way, has. 'The built-in 3G was definitely an advantage,' she said. 'If there was a lighter version available I would be interested in using one. I have since obtained a data card for my own laptop, having seen the advantage of being able to log on wherever and whenever I want to.'



Ms Mason also tried out an Orange SPV E600 (a rebadged HTC S620). Unfortunately, though she appears smiling in the picture with it, it did not win her over. She found its usability well below par, a very similar experience to that had by the Gazette in testing.