Features
SMARTPHONE ROUNDUP
They're leaner, faster, and cheaper than ever before. Is it time
to dump your PDA and hook up?
By David MacNeill
Quietly, while no one was looking, the PDA became the
smartphone. Next year, they'll probably become your everyday camera,
too, with one-megapixel models with built-in flash modules already
on the market and three- to five-megapixel models on the near
horizon.
Where
will it end? With implants, probably. In the meantime, most people
want to carry a single device, and so they will ÷ even if that
converged device offers fewer features and lower performance than
multiple devices do. In the mass market, simplicity and low cost
almost always beats high performance when it comes to sales numbers.
So
is the Personal Digital Assistant, as we have known and loved
it, dead as the proverbial doornail? To find out, we've rounded
up eight smartphones that offer the most PDA-like functionality.
We decided to exclude entry-level devices with oddball operating
systems since they offer the power user little or no expandability,
relegating them to a limited life span and zero brand allegiance.
Such models are ãsmartphonesä in name only and are principally
designed to get people to sign up for mobile service plans. The
salesperson can honestly say, ãIt's a camera and a PDA, too!ä
and make the sale. But the kind of person who reads this magazine
is unlikely to be satisfied with these barebones units, so you
won't read about them here unless one happens to truly stand out
from the pack by offering some serious functionality.
You
never really know how much you like a car until you drive it in
the rain. Similarly, you never know how much you like a handheld
computer until you use it in the dark. We took these machines
home and lived with them, then reported on our subjective experiences.
Overall, this year's models offer astounding functionality, stylish
good looks, and good value compared to the cost of buying and
maintaining a PDA and a phone.
THE PLAYERS
Samsung
SPH-i600
First device with Smartphone 2003
My first experience with a Microsoft Smartphone (the Motorola MPx200)
did not go so well. Its interface was a trainwreck and its performance
like a bad dream. It was not a pretty machine, even by Motorola's
often fashion-challenged standards.
But,
let's be fair; it was a first attempt at a new Windows CE variant.
We should feel lucky that it worked at all. It did not sell well,
I hear, but there is great interest in Moto's newest Smartphone
(as Microsoft defines the term, that is), the MPx220. We'll reserve
judgment until it arrives here on my smartphone becluttered desk.
(If mobile phones really do cause cancer, I'm a dead man.)
With
the arrival of the newly updated Samsung SP-i600, Moto's job just
got quite a bit more challenging. This i600 is all hotted up with
the latest rev from Redmond, officially known as Microsoft Windows
Mobile 2003 for Smartphone.
The
i600 is, by any measure, a beautiful thing. Though obviously derivative
of Samsung's Palm-based i500 ÷ it uses the same control layout,
docking connector, antenna, sturdy clamshell design, and smooth
gray metals in construction ÷ the i600 moves into a whole new
territory of visual and tactile elegance. This thing could almost
have an Apple logo on it and few would raise an eyebrow.
Perhaps
its nicest feature is the remarkably easy-to-use control cluster.
The layout is perfect, the surfaces feel just right, and each
control gives just the right amount of tactile feedback. This
device needs no bleeps or clickers to tell you that you've pushed
a button ÷ you'll know.
The
65,000 color, 176x220 pixel TFT display is daylight-viewable,
like a good PDA. Like all Microsoft Smartphone-based devices,
it lacks a touchscreen. This is a serious buzzkill to longtime
stylus types like me. It's infuriating to want something on the
screen and not be able to just touch it. But no, you must click
and click and click and click. Newbies won't care, but I do and
perhaps you do, too. That's all I'm going to say on this sore
subject, except for this: Would somebody please make us a smartphone
with a touchscreen? PLEASE?
If
you're new to Smartphone, here's my executive summary: Take a
Pocket PC Phone Edition, remove half the functionality, cut it
down to cell phone dimensions, then sell it for the same price.
Actually, I should be more generous and say that for many users,
these machines are ideal. If you don't need to respond to an email
with more than a yes or no, and if you mostly read on the go instead
of write them, it's great. I admit to my bias as a professional
writer, but even entering an appointment into Calendar is a challenge
involving lots of repetitive thumb clicking on the numeric keypad.
It drives me nuts; only you can decide if it works for you.
Assuming
it does, the i600 has much to offer beyond its stunning good looks.
Under the hood we have a zippy 200MHz Intel XScale processor,
32MB or memory, and an SDIO slot for more storage and/or peripherals
like WiFi cards. Like all Smartphones, it has a voice recorder
function that Microsoft wants you to use to send voice recordings
via email ÷ a sillier thing I may never see. Why use email to
do voicemail's job? It works, but it's bizarre to receive a recording
attachment. WAV-embedded worm, anyone?
Synchronization
with Outlook is sublimely easy and quite comprehensive. For those
people who carry a Palm or Pocket PC primarily to stay on top
of their calendar, task, and contact list, this may be all you
really need in a PDA. It pains me to say it, but not everyone
needs all the functionality of a modern handheld computer. I know
it is blasphemy to write this in Handheld Computing, but
it is true.
The
review sample I have is a Sprint PCS phone, and as near as I can
tell this is the only carrier who will market the i600 ÷ at least
initially. I'm sure if it sells like the Treo 600 did, other enlightened
carriers such as T-Mobile will want a piece of the action and
commission Samsung to make a GSM/ GPRS/EDGE version. Here's hoping,
but at a list price of $649, I doubt they will be the hot holiday
gift this year.
No
matter. Take stock of your rig and decide for yourself. Are you
a Windows disciple? Are you Outlook-dependent? Are you phone-centric
rather than email-centric when you communicate in the field? Are
you tired of lugging around two devices all the time? Is there
strong Sprint coverage in your home area? If you said yes to all
the above, take a serious look at the Samsung i600, a beautifully
designed machine that does exactly what it tries to do: simplify
your communications and organize your life.
öDM
www.samsung.com
Sony Ericsson P910a
The all-in-one with high style and a price tag to match
I have been hoping the Sony Ericsson P910 ($600) would knock me
out, making me dump my P900 and upgrade as fast as I could click
the Buy button at Amazon. After a few days with one, I'm going
to do it. It's not that there's anything wrong with the P900,
per se, it's because the new model is just close enough to perfect
that I can't resist.
What
has changed? The P910 has a slightly facelifted and resculpted
casing made of shinier, more expensive-looking materials, a much
brighter display with 262,000 colors instead of 64K, a micro-keyboard
built into the numeric keypad flip, 64MB of internal memory (up
from 16MB), support for Memory Stick Duo Pro flash media, and
a slightly improved software kit.
All
P900 peripherals from Sony and other makers will work just fine
on the P910, though it remains to be seen if all the earlier model's
software will work. I tried half a dozen of the most popular UIQ
titles with no problems, so the prognosis is good. This is not
that big a surprise, as the OS is still Symbian 7.0 and the changes
to the UIQ user interface are minimal.
Several
other things have not changed and it's not so good. There is still
no EDGE support, the Jot handwriting recognizer still cannot be
customized to recognize unique character styles, and the Bluetooth
stack sometimes simply doesn't accept a sync request on the first
attempt. These are admittedly small dings against a very solid
and oh-so-desirable smartphone, but they need to be mentioned
so that Sony Ericsson will know we care about the little things.
Here's
why: If they put as much obsessive effort into this device as
Apple puts into the iPod, they could absolutely own the smartphone
space. Nokia doesn't entirely get it yet, but they will soon.
I know from long experience with Sony's computing products that
they always stop at about 90% of the way to professional-grade
perfection and call it a day. For example, the most ambitious
CLIƒ handhelds, those Sony obliquely targeted to the upscale business
professional, never quite addressed the needs of that demanding
group. I saw it happen over and over again. Their pretty purple
laptops and desktops are not really designed for the working pro;
they are meant for consumers, the one space Sony knows better
than anyone else.
Don't
get me wrong. The P910 is a fabulous machine with world-class
features, looks, and performance ÷ but it is quite an enterprise-class
device. My P900 has replaced Palms, Pocket PCs, and cell phones
in my life, and I ride it hard and put it away wet, day in and
day out. It has not let me down in any deal-breaking way, but
there are things in the email client, for example, that just don't
make any sense. Why can't it parse common RTF and HTML emails
into plaintext correctly? It inserts all these distracting ( )
things. And why after every email check, does it insist on displaying
to me useless data like connection logs and summaries? They can't
even be disabled, so I have to clear them manually every time
or just twiddle my thumbs while they time out. Dumb and dumber.
In the few days I've spent with the P910, the ( ) issue appears
to be gone, but the annoying dialogs are still there. One step
at a time·
I
applaud Sony Ericsson for adding the keyboard to the flipside
of the P910's flip. I'm sure people with small fingers, or fingernails,
will get a lot of use out of it., For me, it's unusable except
with the stylus tip, and the lack of direction arrow keys is truly
mystifying. You'll still have to whip out the stylus almost every
time you use it. I don't mind this but dedicated thumbtypers raised
on RIM Blackberrys will scrunch up their faces and say, ãWhat
were they thinking?ä
If
you are serious about replacing your two-device solution with
a single one, you simply must take a long look at the Sony Ericsson
P910. Far more than conventional PDAs, smartphones always present
compromises that only you can decide make sense or not. The fast
that I grouse about little things on my unit at least tells you
that I like it well enough not to replace it with one of the other
dozen competing machines at my disposal. The P910 is one small
step closer to being the perfect smartphone for me and perhaps
for you as well. There will be better machines down the road of
course but today, the P910 is as good as it gets.
öDM
www.sonyericsson.com
PalmOne Treo 650
Almost everything we wanted in the original Treo 600
In almost every respect, the original Treo 600 got everything
right. With it, Handspring gave us a smartphone that really deserved
its name. It was both an excellent phone and an excellent Palm OS
device, and Handspring did a bang-up job in integrating the two
functions. In our December 2003 issue, we actually called the Treo
600 a ãphone with a built-in PDA.ä That's how close Handspring came
to putting everything into a small 7 ounce device that was barely
larger than your average cellphone of late 2003. The Treo even had
a built-in digital camera and there was both a GSM and a CDMA version,
making the device usable with a wider variety of providers and services.
In 2003, little ãRIM-styleä thumbtype keyboards were all the rage,
and we liked the one on the Treo 650. It was a bit weird to have
a touchscreen but no handwriting recognition, but we got used to
it.
Unfortunately,
Handspring did make a few design decisions that rendered the Treo
600 less useful than it could have been:
Its
144 MHz Texas Instruments OMAP processor was a big improvement
over earlier Treos, but it wasn't nearly as quick as some of the
Tungstens.
While
the Treo had a rather powerful 1,800mAH battery that we considered
quite adequate, it still only provided something like four hours
of talk time. Which meant a lot of people wanted a spare. Problem
was that the Treo 600's internal battery couldn't be replaced
and so you need a big, bulky external battery.
Lots
of folks were looking forward to using their Treo as a wireless
modem for a notebook. No can do, and no Bluetooth.
While
the internal 640 x 480 pixel digital camera was a nice touch (and
almost a must for a modern smartphone), it was near useless indoors.
And
worst of all, whoever decided to stick the Treo 600 with a murky,
low-res 160 x 160 pixel display just didn't get it. High tech
and low res don't go together.
All
of the above combined to make the Treo 600 one of those ãthis
is really great but...ä devices and earned it just a ãBä rating
in our initial review.
Well,
we're happy to report that with the new Treo 650, palmOne has
fixed almost everything that was wrong with the Treo 600, and
then some.
They
didn't really have to make the Treo faster, but they did. The
650 has a state-of-the-art 312 MHz Intel PXA 270 chip.
The
battery is now removable so you can carry along a spare and pop
it in when you need it. That's a much better solution than a clunky
snap-on battery.
The
camera is still ãonlyä 640 x 480, but it now takes much better
pictures in low light. There's also a 2X digital zoom, and you
can take movies.
We
had no major problem with the Treo 600's keyboard, but the new
one is definitely better. It's a backlit affair with slightly
larger and flatter keys that make typing easier. The layout also
has subtly changed, for the better, and there are new ãsendä and
ãendä buttons.
We
really missed Bluetooth on the Treo 600. The 650 has Bluetooth
and you can use it to connect a notebook to the Internet.
There
still isn't a lot of memory, just 23MB for the user, but it's
non-volatile now, which means you'll never lose your data even
if the battery goes dead. Yeah!
You
can now listen to MP3 music via the built-in MP3 player. However,
to do so you need an expansion card.
And
the biggest news of all: the screen is now 320 x 320 pixels, as
it should have been all along. And it's a real TFT display and
not an old-fashioned CSTN LCD like the Treo 600 had.
Finally,
with the Treo family now part of palmOne, the 650 is using Palm
OS 5.4 instead of the older 5.2.1H Handspring variant.
What
all of this means is that the 650 is a much, much better Treo.
The high resolution display alone would have made a lot of people
happy, but palmOne went well beyond that. You could almost say
that while the original Treo 600 was a ãproof of concept,ä the
650 is the well-rounded and much more useful product its designers
likely had in mind from the start, but didn't have the time or
resources to build.
öKL
www.palmone.com
RIM
Blackberry 7100t
At last, a Blackberry for consumers
RIM
BlackBerry handhelds rule in the enterprise world. With over 1
million current subscribers and growing rapidly, the company is
doing very well; they sold almost as many handheld devices last
year as market leader HP. These are enviable numbers, but in order
to keep growing, analysts tell RIM that they need to get into
the consumer space.
And
so we have the sharp BlackBerry 7100t smartphone, the first blackBerry
designed for virtually any user. It lacks trendy features like
a digital camera and candy-colored blobs swirling around the display,
in keeping with RIM's no-nonsense heritage that has served them
so well.
With
a reasonable price of $199, the currently T-Mobile-only 7100t
offers plenty to love. There's a gorgeous 240x260-pixel display
with 65,000 colors, 32MB of user memory, quad-band GSM/GPRS for
true worldphone status, and Bluetooth wireless for headsets, car
interfaces, peripherals, and so on.
In
the software department, the BlackBerry 7100t offers capable Calendar,
Task, Contact, and Notes applications that sync up with Microsoft
Outlook ÷ there's no Mac compatibility, unfortunately.
But
any decent smartphone would have all that. What makes this machine
stand out from the pack is its superb messaging functionality.
For years, professionals who live and die by email have extolled
the virtues of BlackBerry email. Those who lacked a big corporate
server with the BlackBerry server extensions were out of luck,
but not any more. The web interface I mentioned before offers
all the functionality standalone users will need.
In
a few minutes on the site, you can configure up to ten email accounts
of any kind to talk to the BlackBerry server. Every message is
pushed out to you instantly. Any response you generate is sent
as though it came from whichever account you select to use; you
can ever switch this on the fly from the settings in the 7100t.
This is the universal inbox we've all been waiting for, fully
configurable to adapt to our personal and professional needs.
There are even built-in AOL, Yahoo, and ICQ instant messaging
clients, as well as standard phone-to-phone SMS short text messaging.
RIM
is famous for pioneering the mini-keyboard and the 7100t has a
new twist called SureType. It looks weird but works great. As
you type, it guesses the words using a 35K word list, as well
as every word in your contact list and new ones it learns as you
use it. You also get all the intelligent auto-punctuation and
capitalization features from the corporate BlackBerry models.
If
you are an email person, take a long look at the RIM BlackBerry
7100t.
öDM
www.blackberry.com
HP iPAQ h6315
First iPAQ with a cell phone also offers WiFi,
Bluetooth, and superb integration
We've been waiting for the HP iPAQ 6300 ($599) for quite some
time. It was finally released back in July odf 2004, together
with their new 1700, 3000, and 4700 Series. The 6300 is HP's first
Pocket PC Phone. There had been prototypes of a Jornada-based
Pocket PC phone a couple of years ago, but that was before HP
bought Compaq. This is the first Pocket PC Phone not only for
HP but also the first iPAQ that has phone functionality.
We
generally have mixed feelings about Pocket PC phones. For example,
a long governmental review process means Pocket PC Phones often
use dated technology. That was the case when the industry switched
from StrongARM to XScale a few years ago. Pocket PCs quickly adapted,
but PPC Phones continued to use the older chip. Same for displays
and other related technologies. Did Hewlett Packard manage to
avoid this trap with the new 6300?
When
it first arrived we had mixed reactions. It looked just like another
old h2200 Series model. And compared to a new Palm or iPAQ the
h6300 is big. However, it is also a lot smaller smaller and handier
than earlier Samsung and Hitachi Pocket PC Phones. Problem is
that while ãrealä smartphones get ever tinier, Pocket PC Phones
remain rather hefty pieces of equipment.
However,
compared to the original T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone, the h6300 is
smaller and lighter and has more features. It has a built-in 640
x 480 pixel digital camera that works a lot better than what you
find in today's smartphones. The h6300 also has internal Bluetooth
and 802.11b wireless LAN. This provides excellent connection and
communications flexibility. On top of being a GSM phone with GPRS
data service, the h6300 can instantly switch to high speed WiFi
service as soon as it is within reach of a WiFi Access Point.
And you can use Bluetooth to connect to all sorts of devices.
Having
all this extra wireless connectivity available is nice. GPRS alone
is too slow to browse today's websites. A WiFi connection makes
it more bearable. The same goes for email. With all the spam and
attachments today, using WiFi for email is less painful because
it takes a lot less time.
In
terms of functionality, Microsoft managed to seamlessly integrate
the phone functions into the overall Pocket PC platform, which
is not an easy thing to do. Instead of getting a pseudo PIM on
a tiny cellphone, you get all the power of the full Pocket PC
platform. And you get it all on a large 3.5-inch transflective
display instead of a microscopic smartphone display.
There's
really a lot to like on the h6300. It looks and feels friendly
and familiar, especially to those who have used iPAQs before.
It has rubber strips along each side. On the left they include
the recording switch and the headphone jack. On the right there
are the SD slot, volume control, and the camera shutter. An antenna
nub sticks out and adds a bit to the length. The controls are
the same as on all Pocket PCs, but two of the application buttons
are used for the phone. A green one starts the phone application
or picks up a call. Red ends a conversation.
The
spec sheet is not that impressive. Instead of the speedy chips
found in the latest Pocket PCs, the h6300 has an OMAP 1510 processor
from Texas Instrument that's fast enough but not more. Of 64MB
of RAM 57 are available for programs and storage. A SD card slot
serves to complement the 21MB of internal iPAQ File Storage. The
h6300's 64k color screen is as good as those of the new 1700 and
3000 series iPAQs. You can't rotate the display into landscape
mode÷a disadvantage for web browsing. The h6300 has a large removable
1,800mAH battery and an optional 3,600 mAH battery is available.
A snap-on thumbtype keyboard specially designed for this model
is included. It is a good solution, though all thumbtype keyboards
require some getting used to.
The
h6300 comes with a well designed dock that also holds and charges
the extended battery. We didn't like the case that comes with
this phone. It is big and bulky and doesn't provide easy access
to the screen or even the answer buttons.
There
is plenty of good software, including AIM, Yahoo, and ICQ messaging
clients. You also get HP's excellent camera application and equally
impressive HP ImageZone. With them you can take and manage pictures,
and then send them to friends and family via email, IR, or MMS.
If
you don't mind the size, the HP h6300 Pocket PC Phone is perfect
for people who wants a real Pocket PC that is also a phone. The
h6300 is expensive, but the actual cost depends on the service
plan you sign up for. All in all, I consider the HP h6300 the
best Pocket PC Phone on the market today.
öKL
www.hp.com
Nokia
6620
Smartphone with an EDGE
Last year's 6600 has been a hit for Nokia for all the right reasons:
it's an ideal combination of power and fun, all wrapped up in
a smart package that's just trim enough to still look like an
ordinary mobile phone.
Motorola,
Sony Ericsson, Samsung, read that last bit again: trim enough
to look like an ordinary mobile.
Smartphones
will never catch on with the masses unless they appear to be no
bulkier or less fashionable than your average phone. This presents
quite a challenge to designers:
ãOkay, team. Here's what we want: a really big 65K-color display
that's readable outdoors, day-long talk-time, full organizer functionality
with easy synchronization with Windows and Mac PIMs, Bluetooth,
international network compatibility, web browsing, POP3 and IMAP4
email, a digital camera, removable flash storage, built-in antenna,
Microsoft Office document compatibility, a PDF viewer, and games.
Oh, and make it no bigger than a StarTac and we have to be able
to sell it for under $300.ä
The
Nokia 6600 was all that, so it sold briskly everywhere it was
offered (and a few places where it wasn't ÷ at least not officially).
I tried my review loaner for a few days, skeptical about whether
this little soap bar could measure up to my trusty Sony Ericsson
T610. That was seven months ago and I still haven't been able
to bring myself to return it. I fully expect some Nordic bruiser
named Marko to come kick my butt and take my lovely phone back
to the fjords, but so far I've managed to hang on to it.
Now
our favorite Finnish brainiacs have upped the ante with the new
6620 ($399). It's essentially the same device but with support
for AT&T's EDGE data network, enabling net access at up to a maximum
of 118.4 kilobits per second. That's more than double what you'll
get from even the best GPRS connection on a good day. Even if
you aren't interested in reading your email or browsing Amazon
with your phone, you can use the 6620 as either a wired or wireless
modem for your laptop or handheld anywhere there is EDGE signal.
Addicted to free-flying IP packets as well as free-flowing caffeinated
beverages? If your favorite coffee house lacks WiFi, now you don't
have settle for Starbucks mediocrity.
Place
the 6620 next to a 6600 and you can see they differ in minor cosmetics
only. Externally, the biggest changes are the relocation of the
IR port to the right side of the unit and the change to a standard
Nokia ãPopä connector on the bottom for docking peripherals, including
USB..
The
software complement has been updated with a MP3/AAC player, but
the essentials remain. The only thing missing is Opera, a far,
far better browser than the built-in WAP browser. With an EDGE
network, limiting yourself to such a barebones browser is silly.
Opera is super-efficient even on a GPRS link; EDGE flies. Go to
opera.com and never look back.
For
any AT&T subscriber looking for an outstanding, state-of-the-art
smartphone, the 6620 is as good as it gets. Is it worth an upgrade?
Depends on how important net connection speed is to you. The 6620
lists for $399 but can be had for half that much with a new service
agreement. I'm too happy with T-Mobile to switch, but if they
even switch to EDGE, I'll upgrade and give Marko his 6600 back.
öDM
www.nokia.com
Motorola
MPx220
Second-generation
Moto sports a 1.2-megapixel camera and more
I
take it all back, Motorola. You know, what I said in my Samsung
i600 review about the MPx200 and your äfashion-challengedä design
standards? Forget I said anything ÷ your gorgeous MPx220 ($499)
makes it all better again.
Easily
the most elegant Microsoft Smartphone yet, the long-anticipated
MPx220 was worth the wait. This quad-band GSM/GPRS world phone
is narrower than the Samsung due to the use of a 2-inch rather
than the standard 2.25-inch display on all others we've seen to
date. The MPx220 also has a color external display for the usual
stuff: caller ID, time, date, battery and signal strength. Though
it's just a tad thicker than the Samsung, it feels and appears
much smaller. The subtle creases throughout the design give it
a kind of BMW air, and the comparison continues to the device's
impeccable build quality.
The
control surfaces are almost identical to the i600, which is to
say they are perfect. Microsoft's Smartphone spec does indicate
certain controls must be present and where they should roughly
go, but the specifics are left up to each maker to express themselves.
Many modern phones are rather gaudy, but this device is destined
to be a classic. Every aspect of the design seems to be there
for a reason: to fit better in your pocket, feel better in your
hand, or guide your fingers to where they need to go. The mirrored
surface of the display lid doubles as a composition mirror when
you point the camera at yourself.
Speaking
of the camera, it's the first Microsoft Smartphone with a camera,
and we aren't talking about mere VGA resolution here ÷ it's a
1.2-megapixel unit with a flash built in. That's right, a flash.
It's not wildly bright ÷ I should probably call it an illuminator
or fill light ÷ but it does make a difference indoors.
Image
quality is, unfortunately, marginal. The extra pixels do make
a little bit of difference, but the softness of the optics don't
give them much to work with. Overall, it's better than the vast
majority of cameraphones, but not much. Hang onto your old digicam
for now, as the MPx220 is not going to take its place unless your
standards are really low.
In
an effort to reduce the size and power draw of the 220, Motorola
opted to use the new MiniSD format for expansion. This means that
you can't use this slot to add WiFi or other features, as MiniSD
supports memory only. That's a shame, as this unit with WiFi inside
would be indescribably hot. Smartphone 2003 adds support for net
telephony, so imagine your voice and data being handed over seamlessly
from your home wireless hub to the wireless phone carrier's GPRS
connection then throttling back up when you get within range of
your office wireless hub. Now that would be cool. Perhaps the
MPx240 will have built-in WiF.
I
admit to a bit of bias here, but it's one that could happen to
anyone: I love the way the MPx220 looks and feels and could easily
see myself carrying one. The sub-compact display doesn't bother
me, and the camera's limits I can accept. It's the fit and finish,
a collection of tiny little things that make it irresistible.
In a world filed with trendy, flashy camera-phones, the MPx220
says, ãI'm a smart, cool tool that'll get the job done while making
you look smart and cool, too.ä Sign me up.
öDM
www.motorola.com
Sierra
Wireless Voq
The
only Microsoft-logoed Smartphone with a keyboard
Definitely the oddball of the burgeoning Microsoft Smartphone
family, the Voq (rhymes with Coke) from Sierra Wireless has the
undeniable appeal of the outsider in an homogeneous space. When
you pull this brute out, it's clear that you mean business and
that you don't care a fig about those fashionable skinny-phones.
Think of it as the Toyota Tundra of Smartphones, simultaneously
curvy and burly, ready to take a lickin' and keep on clickin'.
Sierra
Wireless is best known for their excellent line of wireless modems
for laptops and handhelds, so the Voq is a bit of a break from
their usual competency. Its unique feature is a keypad that flips
open sideways to reveal a Blackberry-style keyboard that's optimized
for typing with your thumbs. Though it looks weird, it actually
works very well, due to clicky, tactile keys and a stout hinge
design that feels like it's built to last.
Alas,
so often things that are designed with longevity in mind tend
to be less than elegant, with their over-engineered moving parts
and protective covers and suchlike. In this regard, the Voq does
not disappoint ÷ for a phone, it's a pocket-hogging slab that's
best worn in a vertical belt holster, like a drill. This is no
piece of tech-jewelry.
Aside
from its steatopygous (big-bottomed) dimensions, the Voq Professional
Phone has a lot of personality going for it. The standard 64K-color,
2.2-inch Smartphone display is daylight-readable and very bright
and crisp. The battery life offers another hour or so of talk
time compared to the competition, and there's a nifty joystick
instead of the button cluster you find on the others. Though it
sports the same 200MHz chip the Samsung has, it feels a hair faster
in several places within the user interface.
This
device offers the standard complement of Smartphone 2003 features,
including a killer PIM with deep Outlook synchronization, instant
messaging via MSN Messenger, simplified versions of Pocket Office
apps that let you read but not edit documents, and the cutest
little version of Internet Explorer you've ever seen ÷ you'll
want to pinch its chubby little icons. You also get VoqMail, an
IMAP4 (not POP3) mail client that works well and integrates smoothly.
You can set it up to access standard corporate Exchange, Lotus
Notes, or any other IMAP4 server, making it well suited to email
power users. Calendar sync with Exchange 2003 is also on tap.
VPN access is built-in as well, as is Java J2ME support. Anybody
getting the impression that Sierra Wireless is courting the corporate
market with this thing? Can you say field force?
One
particularly welcome feature is the myVoq app that pops up every
time you open the flip. It's a menu that streamlines access to
your most often used apps. Hit a key and it presents you with
any information that begins with that letter. Sweet.
Voqs
come in two flavors, depending on where you spend most of your
time. The Voq A10 offers tri-band GSM/GPRS compatibility for Europeans
and Asians, while the Voq A11 offers tri-band GSM/GPRS for North
Americans. Both come with 48MB of flash and 32MB of RAM, easily
besting the others in the storage department. There is also, of
course, an SDIO slot for more expansion, should you require it.
All
my standard caveats apply to the Voq as much as they do to any
other Microsoft Smartphone-based device, except for the one about
the difficulty of getting text into the thing. If you can stand
to use Lilliputian keyboards, can live with the stripped-down
Smartphone 2003 applets, and only want to carry one (bulky) device,
at this point in the game your choice is simple.
öDM
www.sierrawireless.com
First
Look:
Sub-space Communicator
The
emerging sub-space communications standard raises the bar on wireless
connectivity to a new level of sophistication. Currently in advanced
beta testing by San Francisco-based Star Fleet Academy, prototype
long-range devices such as this new Communicator will solve many
problems for people on the go.
Incredible
range
Sub-space communicators are capable of transmitting over more
than 40,000 kilometers, though any number of natural phenomena
can disrupt voice and transporter lock. Even at these distances,
however, voice quality is incredibly clear.
Though
actually larger than the stylistically similar Motorola MPx220,
it can be conveniently worn on a belt for quick access, such as
when you are under Klingon attack. Pricing was not available at
press time.
-DM
N-GAGE
QD:
Poor-man's smartphone?
Not
everyone needs a fancy $500 converged PDA/mobile phone, nor can
every individual justify spending that much money when they can
easily get a free phone that'll get the basic job ÷ making calls
and remembering phone numbers ÷ done with little fuss.
But
it's clear that plenty of folks desire such a device. Nokia's
N-Gage ãgamephone,ä which can be had for under $100, offers essentially
the same features you'd get on one of their pricey Symbian/Series
60 smartphones ÷ at a mere fraction of the cost.
With
the same contacts, calendar, tasks, messaging, and web browser
applications built-in, you can take care of business before settling
in for a gaming session. If computer games are a big part of your
life and money is tight, consider the N-Gage.
öDM
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