New phones let users load up on applications long after purchase date
seattletimes.nwsource.com
By Nancy Gohring
Seattle Times business reporter
DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Verizon Wireless’ Z-800, left, and Nextel’s i95cl, both new on the market, allow users to download all sorts of applications. The phones’ capabilities come at a price that’s not cheap.
I feel like a bit of a geek when I'm on the bus or waiting in line at the post office with my nose buried deep in my clam-shaped cellphone. But the truth is, I can't resist.
I've been checking out two phones: Nextel's i95cl and Verizon's Z-800. They're new to the market and are touted by service providers for their color screens and downloading capabilities.
These phones are different from their predecessors because users can add new programs to them. In the past, you were stuck with whatever was loaded onto the phone when you bought it.
Because you can download all sorts of applications, the new devices become equal-parts phone, GameBoy, reference tool, even photo album. I'm addicted to a couple of games, especially a puzzle called Diamond Mine.
Other neat applications are weight-and-measurement-conversion programs, specialized calculators and restaurant or store directories.
While the phones are definitely cool and I'm hooked on the games, there's one big hang-up for potential customers: cost of the phones. The Nextel handset is regularly $500 but is on sale for $400 — the same price as the Verizon phone. That compares with $50 for low-end handsets from either service provider.
But if users can stomach shelling out that kind of cash, charges for the applications aren't too bad. With Verizon, you can pay a monthly fee for each application, but you're stuck with that fee for a year even if you want to cancel. You can also purchase the use of an application for a few weeks or months, depending on the offer. Some applications will expire after a set number of uses. Prices for the different offerings range from 99 cents to almost $8.50.
Most Nextel applications are cheaper, costing a one-time fee of $4 to $6, with some more complicated business apps running as much as $18. If you accidentally delete an application, you can download it again without incurring a new charge.
Because there's a limited amount of memory on the phones, you can't keep ordering new games forever. Instead, users will probably buy applications then delete them for new ones.
Some of the applications are similar to those already offered online on the wireless Web, but in many cases if you download them via these new services, you don't have to use them online — which means you aren't paying for airtime. Also, the graphics are much better. Games look like real electronic games instead of the stick figures in first-generation wireless games.
Verizon's phone, which uses the Brew download platform developed by Qualcomm, is easier and has more applications available than Nextel. You can go into the Brew shop on the phone and browse for applications, downloading demos before you buy.
The shop has a slew of games ranging from Tiger Woods golf to the card game Uno. It's also got directory applications, including one from Vindigo that delivers extremely thorough information on neighborhood restaurants and shops.
Nextel has a clunkier setup, requiring users to go online via a computer to browse for applications. Then you fill out an online form and pay by credit card to download the application. The first couple times I tried, the site wasn't working. Initially that prevented me from downloading an app; a couple days later, when it was down again, I couldn't upload to my phone.
Nextel has far fewer choices of applications for this phone. Even though it has had Java phones on the market since April 2001, only a few applications work on the i95cl. That's a surprise and a disappointment, given that one of the reasons the Java platform was built for wireless was so that developers could write the program once and allow anyone with any Java-enabled phone to use it. Seems that part of the vision didn't work out.
It's the same with Brew, according to local application developers and Qualcomm. Verizon Wireless is selling two Brew phones but expects to introduce more throughout the year.
When the new handsets come out, developers will tweak their apps so that they work ideally on the new products.
The promise of the downloadable application falls short in other ways. When the concept first emerged, wireless-industry leaders compared the wireless network to the Internet. On the Internet, anyone with the knowledge can build an application and let users download it online. The wireless industry hoped to replicate that paradigm with cellphones.
But in wireless, the operator is a gatekeeper that controls which applications can be downloaded; that means you only get the games and applications they like.
They also control how the applications turn out. For example, one game developer said an operator made him change a specific aspect of the way the game looked or the operator wouldn't market the game over its network.
Time will tell if service providers loosen up and let anything go. In the meantime, expect to see me beating the clock in a motorcycle race or setting records in Tiger Woods' golf, all on my cellphone.
You can buy either phone online — although last I checked the Nextel handset was out of stock — or in area Verizon or Nextel stores. Once you have the phone, you're set to download, though remember that with Nextel you have to shop and purchase applications via a computer.
It's not easy to find information on either company's Web site about the services.
On Verizon Wireless' site, I could find the Brew information only by searching for Brew. The only way into the Nextel application site, as far as I can tell, is to type in www.nextel.com/idenupdate or find links to it in the shopping section on the Nextel Web page with the i95cl phone.
Nancy Gohring: 206-464-2140 or ngohring@seattletimes.com.
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