The Cybiko Xtreme may be aimed at the teen market, however its anything but a toy...

When the Cybiko Xtreme first found its way to my desk I scoffed, in this day and age of powerful PDA’s, how could what appeared to be a glorious calculator cope? Surprisingly, very well indeed. <br /> <br /> The Cybiko Xtreme combines the functionality of a GameBoy, PDA and Mobile phone all in one unit, offering over 400 games, a variety of helpful applications, e-mail/WAP browsing, and a variety of communication devices all in one stylish unit. Whilst the Cybiko Xtreme is aimed at the teen market, it is anything but a toy, allowing you to compose notes/e-mails, write up documents, record samples, organise your events and store addresses, believe me the Cybiko Xtreme has come in very handy during the time that I’ve had with it. <br /> <br /> From a games point of view there’s an awful lot of games to play, due to the memory restrictions you can only have a certain amount on the machine at anyone time, however new games can easily be uploaded by connecting the Cybiko to the PC via the provided USB cable. With the sheer number of games available you’d expect some rubbish, and it is true that you have to search to find the fun ones. Funnily, the most enjoyable ones tend to be the simpler games, those that push the machine too far suffer because of it, screens flicker and it’s very hard to see what’s going on. Perhaps the biggest game is CyLandia, an extensive Virtual Pet game that allows you to bring up a creature and let it socialise with any others in the area. However if it’s a dedicated games machine you’re after, you’d be better buying a GameBoy Advance. Like a Mobile Phone, the games on offer are meant to be a nice distraction rather then the most important feature of the Cybiko. <br /> <br /> The Cybiko Xtreme allows you to speak to any other Cybiko users in the vicinity via chat rooms, you can even specify the type of person you’re looking for, so sad and lonely males here’s your chance to find a Cybiko owning female! The Cybiko Xtreme also doubles up as a walkie-talkie, so if you’ve got friends in the area you can always stay in touch. <br /> <br /> E-mail and WAP browsing are both easy and effective to use, there are a number of ways to connect your Cybiko to the net, the simplest method is to hook it up to a PC with an internet connection via the supplied USB cable and software. A more complex way is to create a Virtual CyWIG, allowing you to send/retrieve e-mail and browse the web wirelessly, however you’ll need two Cybiko’s (one connected to the PC to create the CyWIG) and be within 300 yards of it. <br /> <br /> What’s so amazing about the Cybiko Xtreme is the sheer amount of features available, from applications that can measure your running speed when you go on a jog to a Guitar Buddy application that helps your guitar practise, heck it’s even got an extensive Software Development Kit (SDK) allowing competent programmers to produce their own software in the C++ compiler!!! <br /> <br /> For music loving fans you can buy an MP3 Player that hooks onto the Cybiko and allows you to store anything up to 64MB of MP3’s, that’s around 80 mins of music. However the MP3 Player doesn’t come with a memory card so you’ll have to purchase that separately as well. <br /> <br /> The Cybiko itself is an Xtremely comfortable machine to hold, weighing in at 122g; it’s lighter and smaller then most PDA’s. The Cybiko Xtreme has been redesigned for a sleeker look over its predecessor, and features exchangeable front covers, an essential feature in the teen market. Unfortunately the keyboard has been designed with small fingers to mind, however a simple pen substitutes as a stylus very well. <br /> <br /> Perhaps the best thing about the Cybiko Xtreme is after paying the initial price (£99.99) that’s it, no monthly pay charges, extra subscriptions, etc… Also the Cybiko web-page <a href=http://www.cybiko.com>( www.cybiko.com)</a> is always being updated with new applications and games to download for free, so the machine is continuously evolving with cool new extras. <br /> <br /> <b><center>We`re giving away a Cybiko Xtreme to one lucky reader, to stand a chance of winning pop over to our <a href=http://www.totalvideogames.com/tvg.php?win=true>win-page</a></center></b>