Sprint’s PCS TP3000 cell phone inches us closer to a wireless Web.

Palm Pilot users will love this versatile -if slightly chunky -digital horn, which doubles as a mini personal digital assistant, complete with browser. With the lid up, the LCD touchscreen allows you to synch with a PC using Lotus Notes or Microsoft Outlook, which puts an end to entering numbers by hand or carrying an address book.

E-mail, voice mail, voice activated dialing … this is handy one machine.

The problems are the usual -this is the scratchy Sprint network, after all, and the mottled gray plastic isn’t attractive. And despite usual partnerships with Amazon, CNN, etc., at this level you won’t be using the Web for much more than the odd news bit or sports score.

Still, the service is good enough, and there’s a laptop serial port cable that lets you use the phone as a modem. And the wireless modem software is easy to install, itself a milestone.

Sprint PCS TP3000

RATING: 3 STARS [OUT OF 4]

RETAIL: $399, +$10 a month wireless web access, first six months freeINFO: http://www.sprintpcs.com