Palm handhelds perform better than HP's rival iPaq models in tests designed to measure their suitability for business tasks, according to independent research.

The results show that Palm's corporate models have a longer battery life, make more efficient use of wireless connections, and are better at working with Microsoft Office document formats.

The tests, which were commissioned by Palm but carried out by VeriTest in the US, pitted Palm's Tungsten T and Tungsten C enterprise PDAs against HP's iPaq H1910 entry-level PDA and iPaq H5450 high-end model.

VeriTest found the Palm models equalled or exceeded the iPaq models in battery life, and also retained data longer after a power failure in standby mode.

"These results show why millions of people still choose Palm. Factors such as battery life, tailored applications and ease of use are critical if you are a mobile professional," said Palm's Vesey Crichton.

In document-handling tests, the Palm handhelds with DataViz Documents To Go performed better than the built-in tools in the iPaq models and other Pocket PC devices when handling Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, according to VeriTest.

The Palm models better preserved fonts and document formatting from the original documents. Although Documents To Go is a third-party tool, it ships as standard with both Palm's Tungsten models.

Other tests compared the Tungsten C with the iPaq H5450, both of which feature built-in wireless local area network (Lan) capability.

VeriTest found that the Palm device was twice as fast as the iPaq at downloading and displaying Web pages via its wireless Lan connection.