Ever thought that a Revo or Series 5mx have a screen which is too small, not enough expandability options or a small, dingy screen which is difficult to do a lot of work on? The Psion Series 7, a spin-off of the corporate-orientated Psion Enterprise netBook, might provide an answer.

The Series 7 is Psion's largest computer, with a full-size colour screen, near-laptop size keyboard and the same operating system, Symbian EPOC Release 5, as the Revo and Series 5mx. It's huge in comparison to any of the other Psions, though - it's classed as a sub-notebook (Psion call it a 'mobile computer', with the slogan 'lighten your workload') and is only a couple of inches smaller than a laptop where its length and width are concerned. It's the most powerful of Psion's consumer range, with an Intel StrongARM-1100 132Mhz processor, and it has 16MB of RAM. It's big, though - you'll only manage to put this in your pocket if you're in the habit of wearing large, baggy clown suits! It isn't too heavy, though, at just over 1kg.

Psion have a knack of producing smart-looking machines, and the Series 7 is no exception. The top of it is mostly covered in dark blue leather, complete with a stamped Psion symbol, and charcoal-grey plastic with silver hinges and 'Ser7ies' logo. On the underside is a large speaker, lithium backup battery hatch and docking station port, in case you decide to invest in the optional docking station, which isn't cheap. You can still use the standard serial port for PC connection, which is behind a rubber cover on the left side of the Series 7. The PsiWin 2.3 Windows connectivity software and serial lead are provided.

Around the left side of the Series 7, apart from the serial port, is a CompactFlash Type I/II disk bay which can take both standard CompactFlash disks and the IBM MicroDrive. However, due to the way it's designed, it won't take modems, network cards or other CompactFlash-compatible hardware. There's simply no place for a cable to lead out from, as the disk bay door closes flush to the side of the Series 7. The option of adding extra storage may particularly interest Revo users.

However, if you use a Series 5/5mx, you may have problems if you try to use certain software installed on CompactFlash because a Series 7 would have a different Unique ID to your Series 5/5mx. A few commercial products will not work if you try to use them on a machine with a different ID. At the back of the machine is the rechargeable Lithium Ion battery pack, which can be removed and changed if you require more usage time than the 8.5 hours provided by one battery pack.

The right side of the Series 7 houses the mains power input (a plug/transformer is supplied), the locked-in metal and plastic stylus pen which is only released by a button near the keyboard and the PC card slot, which would take a memory card or modem - a discount voucher for a Psion Connect modem is enclosed. Psion promise Ethernet network drivers for the netBook, which is similar to the Series 7, but it remains to be seen if the drivers will be compatible with this computer too.

At the front of the machine is one button and two LED lights. The lights are used to show when you are charging the battery and when an alarm is going off or you are recording. The adjacent button can snooze alarms, but not record without opening the device like the Series 5/5mx can. Finally, around the back is the infrared window which can be used to communicate with other EPOC devices, as well as Palm Connected Organisers to a limited extent.

Opening the Series 7 was initially a problem. After attempting to prise the two halves of the case open, to no avail, I decided to consult the manual. As it turns out, you press a catch on the front of the Series 7 to pop open the computer. You can then set the screen to any angle from about 50 to 150 degrees. This creases the leather somewhat, but it doesn't appear to be coming loose or cracking. The standard program and command icon bars are there, to the left and right rather than left and bottom of the screen. On the left, there are four extra icons to be set to quickly open any program you like.

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Series 7 screenshots