WSJ June 24,1999
Device Makes Cell Phone
Just a Little Bit Smarter
By WALT MOSSBERG
CELL PHONES are basically stupid devices. Even the simplest form of
intelligence they should offer, automated dialing of frequently called
numbers, is a crude and tedious process on most models. A phone may
claim to store 199 numbers, but almost nobody has the skill or patience to
record more than a handful of them because of the terrible menu and
text-entry systems found on most phones.
On the other hand, digital personal organizers,
like the Palm Pilot, the Franklin Rex and the
Windows CE handhelds, are pretty smart, but
also largely insular. They make it easy to enter
and look up phone numbers, appointments and
other information. But they don't connect to the
outside world, and thus can't directly do
anything with all those phone numbers they
hold.
So, a race is on to combine these two technologies into a smart cell phone.
Every major cell phone and organizer company is planning such products,
but Motorola is the first to deliver, with a cool new gadget due in stores
shortly. It turns almost any of Motorola's small and stylish StarTAC
models, analog or digital, into a smart phone.
If you have a question you want answered, or any other comment or
suggestion about Walter S. Mossberg's column, please send e-mail to
mossberg@wsj.com.
This small and thin $250 gizmo, called the StarTAC Clip-On Organizer, is
based on the tiny but potent Rex Pro organizer, a credit-card-size digital
device invented by Starfish Software of Scotts Valley, Calif. Motorola
bought Starfish last year, and the Clip-On Organizer is the first product to
result from the acquisition. It weighs 2.3 ounces, is about 4 inches long by
2 inches wide, and runs on watch batteries, which last for nine months and
don't drain the phone's own power supply.
The organizer snaps onto the back of the StarTAC phone, making both a
physical and an electronic connection. Once it's attached, you can dial any
of the hundreds of phone numbers it stores by just pushing a button on the
Organizer. You don't have to touch any of the phone's keys or buttons to
do this, or even be looking at the phone's own screen. In addition, the
Organizer can effortlessly transfer any contact and phone number directly
into the phone's limited memory.
Beyond that, the Organizer has all of the other
features of the Rex Pro, including a calendar,
a to-do list and simple memos. It also allows
limited text entry through the use of buttons
and clever on-screen menus. This sort of
capability is far more appropriate to a phone's
size and function than the misguided efforts to
turn cell phones into Web browsers.
You can detach the Organizer and use it by itself. And it comes with
software and a cable that let you synchronize all its information with
PC-based calendar and contact programs, including Microsoft Outlook,
Lotus Organizer and Starfish's own Sidekick.
I've been testing the Clip-On Organizer for weeks, and it works quite well
as an automated dialing system. The PC synchronization was rapid and
accurate. Like the Rex on which it's based, its small screen is ultrasharp
and easy to read. But there are a few drawbacks.
First, the Organizer swells the size and weight of a phone whose chief
selling point has been its small size. With the Organizer attached, the phone
is about 50% heavier, 50% thicker and slightly longer. Second, it takes up
the connector used by the auxiliary battery, which some power users favor
for making lots of calls. It doesn't interfere with charging, however.
The ergonomics of the thing
are also a little awkward.
Unlike other smart phones,
which use the phone's own
built-in screen, this one
forces you to do your
Organizer work on a
separate screen all the way
on the other side of the
phone. That means you
have to turn the phone over
to see what's happening on
the phone screen. Although
the Organizer's seven
control buttons are large
and clear, I found them
awkward to operate with the phone's earpiece flipped open. This was true
even though the Organizer has a cool feature that switches the orientation
of the screen display for righties and lefties.
STARFISH POINTED out that some of this can be avoided by just
detaching the Organizer while you're talking on the phone. In fact, the
company sees the clip-on design as an asset, because if you're looking up
contacts or calendar listings during a conversation, you don't have to keep
removing the phone from your ear to look at its main screen.
Another problem is that a couple of the features didn't function on the
digital StarTAC I was using. When I tried to transfer a number from the
Organizer into the phone's memory, I got a message saying my StarTAC
model didn't support that feature. When I tried to bring up a list of recent
calls on the Organizer screen, it just beeped at me. Starfish says this is due
to the fact that on some of the many StarTAC models, the internal
operating system doesn't support these features.
I also found that the buttons on the Organizer seemed a bit sticky.
Similarly, connecting the Organizer to the phone required a hard push on
the end of the device to make a secure connection. And it was a little more
sluggish than the original Rex Pro.
Still, the Organizer does turn a StarTAC into a smart phone. Other
Motorola/Rex combinations are in the offing, some of them more
integrated. And companies like Qualcomm, Nokia and Ericsson are
planning similar models. Now, if only cell phones didn't drop so many
calls. That'd be real progress. |
