I'm a simple guy with simple needs. All I want is a constant, high-speed Internet connection that follows me everywhere. Is that too much to ask?

Well, maybe. So here's what I'll settle for: a machine that connects to the Net wherever and whenever I need it, turns on and off instantly, runs for days on end, weighs less than two pounds, and costs less than my first car (a very used 1972 Fiat Spyder).

The good news is that I've found a couple of gizmos that come awfully close: AlphaSmart's Dana wireless and the T-Mobile Sidekick.

The Wi-Fi version of the Dana came out this fall; built-in wireless networking turns an oddball niche product into a viable laptop alternative, in my humble opinion (though I'd still prefer a Palm-based notebook). The Sidekick--also sold as the Danger Hiptop--isn't especially new, but I was so impressed with its Web savvy that I thought it worth a second look.

Dana, oh, Dana
Imagine a Palm handheld with a screen three times wider than normal and a notebook-size keyboard below it, and you have the Dana. Instead of Windows, the Dana runs the Palm OS, so when you turn it on, it's on--no five-minute wait for the operating system to load.

This 2-pound, 10-by-13-inch dingus is ideal for carrying on airplanes. There's no clamshell top to come crashing down on your fingers when the guy in front of you reclines his seat. And it runs like the Energizer bunny; I used the Dana for two weeks straight without a hitch.

Besides all of its great Palm apps, the Dana comes with a basic word processor and spreadsheet program that can handle Office file formats. The monochrome screen is a little small, but it's perfectly adequate for writing and other jobs where you don't need to see the whole page at once.

Unfortunately, the Dana is still a tad weak on the Web. Connecting via a Wi-Fi network was painless. I told it to look for an 802.11 connection, and the Dana did the rest. But AlphaWeb, the Dana's browser, was slow and couldn't accurately display many sites, leaving big blank spots where the graphics should have been--not a big deal for me, since I'd use the Dana only for quick Web lookups.

The e-mail program, made by an outfit called MarkSpace, was just OK. Setting up my account and checking messages was a breeze, but I really missed my normal spam filter, and the program occasionally tossed up a Fatal Exception error for no apparent reason, forcing me to reset the OS. (Annoying, yes. Fatal, no.)

The best news: At $429, the Dana costs about half as much as a low-end laptop. It's not the perfect Internet companion, but the next time I hit the road, I know what I'll be packing in my carry-on, and it won't be a laptop.

Rules of thumb
It's confession time. I was prepared to hate the T-Mobile Sidekick. I'd used PDA/cell phone gizmos before, and they've all sucked, to put it bluntly. But the Sidekick is different.

First, it just looks cool. The palm-size device has a bright color LCD on the front that slides 180 degrees and snaps into place, revealing a tiny keypad. On board, there's a Web browser, an e-mail client, the AOL IM client, a calendar, an address book, a digital camera, a notepad, an arcade game, and (duh!) a phone dialer. Buttons on the side let you navigate menus and move between apps; a thumbwheel lets you cycle through the selections on each screen.

Surprisingly, the Sidekick provides a good Web experience; you can view modified versions of most sites without giving up much, though the connection speed is in the 30Kbps to 40Kbps range. E-mail was another story. I'm not used to typing with my thumbs, so writing messages longer than a bumper sticker was a hassle. Phone coverage in my neck of the woods was spotty (your mileage may vary), though e-mail reception was always reliable. And at $100 to $300 plus about $20 per month (not including cell phone charges) it's a lot cheaper than a BlackBerry, which can cost $400 plus $30 per month or more.

When push comes to shove, the Sidekick provides broader Web access than any Wi-Fi device I've seen. And if you're going to carry one gadget that does it all, you could do a lot worse. I know I have.