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Wednesday, April 18, 2001
An integrated cell phone/PDA? It's for real--and it's not bad
Bill Machrone, Contributing Editor
PC Magazine
Small size used to be the can-you-top-this macho game when all the road warriors and executives displayed their hardware on the conference table. Now the trump card is integration.
The Kyocera Smartphone QCP 6035 has taken the business world by storm--everybody's praising its innovative design and combination of features--a tri-mode cell phone, 8MB Palm, Web browser, and e-mail. PC Magazine's review has all the details on size and weight, but rest assured that this unit is comfortable to carry and use.
Still, the Smartphone is not without compromises. The screen is noticeably smaller than the typical Palm screen, which causes some readability problems, but the overall usability is just fine. If you want to use the phone while you're using the PDA functions, you'll need an earphone, which I find annoying. I still prefer a separate phone and PDA. If you don't mind being tethered to the device, though, you reap the benefit of a wireless PDA with Web access--that's the real attraction of the device to me, because the Palm browser can see many non-WAP sites that phone browsers can't get to.
Although I have yet to encounter coverage limitations in the places I travel with my PCS phone, the additional coverage provided by the Smartphone's CDMA PCS, digital CDMA, and analog cellular ensures that you'll get a signal just about anywhere.
At $500, the cost of the Kyocera device is reasonable compared to the cost of a comparable phone and a separate PDA, and a flat-out bargain compared to the combined cost of a phone and a wireless PDA. The Smartphone 6035 is a glimpse into the digital, wireless future, although it'll be a long time before prices come down to the point where this is the phone for everybody
zdnet.com |
