Mike Wendland: Wireless phones pile on new features, but why?
May 1, 2001
I'm a gadget geek. I love the Net and I love wireless phones and I can't live without my Palm-based handheld computer.
But I'm not sure I want to surf the Net and use my Palm and talk on the phone or make digital voice-recording memos all at the same time or on the same device.
As wireless phones add features, I'm starting to get a bit overwhelmed.
So it has been lately with two sleek and powerful models I've looked at -- the Kyocera Smartphone from Verizon Wireless and the i85s Java Phone from Nextel.
Talk about full-featured.
Let's start with the Kyocera Smartphone. Overall, I liked this unit. What makes it unique is that it's also a Palm handheld computer. Pull down the keypad and in the handset is a Palm. You can use it folded up and communicate with the handset to your ear.
Or, open up the keypad, choose either the speakerphone or a headset connected to the universal earphone jack, and you can make simultaneous use of the phone and Palm functions.
The Palm screen is only slightly larger than a stand-alone Palm and it comes with 8MB of memory, the same as on a regular unit. Verizon tells me I can download an e-book through the Palm operating system and read it on my phone.
The Kyocera SmartPhone costs $499. The Palm itself would cost $300 or so.
Less impressive is the i85s Java Phone from Nextel. It doesn't have a built-in Palm. But it does allow you to use the Java Micro Edition application from Sun Microsystems to actually download full-fledged programs on the phone.
The unit I checked out came with an expense pad and a business calculator, but Nextel says a range of applications will soon be available. It sells for $199.
The i85s Java Phone also has a voice recorder that lets you record and play back up to 20 short messages.
But do we really want to play games or read an e-book on our mobile phones?
I might.
But I'm beginning to think that Internet access on a wireless phone, at least in the versions I've tried, isn't all that hot.
And I'm not alone.
A survey from the technology consulting firm Accenture says the vast majority of potential users are not using the wireless Web because they believe it costs too much, screens are too difficult to read and the service is too slow.
In the United States, Britain and Finland, more than 50 percent of the respondents reported the main reason for not accessing the Internet through their wireless devices was that they saw "no compelling reason to do so."
I couldn't agree more.
My wireless phone contacts tell me that I'll change my mind when 3G, the next, or third generation, of wireless phones starts showing up at year's end with much faster and more reliable Net access.
But I wonder, as powerful as these phones can be, is the industry trying to make a market where none exists?
AI
