Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Microcap & Penny Stocks : Microvision (MVIS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RaserX who wrote (3723)	10/25/1999 10:20:00 AM
From: kili	Respond to of 7720

That's cool intelligence of the best sort: (...) MVIS employees have been shuttling between Nextel and Motorola. (...) No wonder some people feel the urge to get their money where the potential might be. I can't see that volume has been that heavy either. Just a slight over-the-average, and a steady course. Interesting. PR issue: I'd be surprised if MVIS didn't send a press release on the first shipments. Even though it's according to plans and what they've already said, they know the market's hunger for news, and just the confirmation of being on schedule (as always...) is good to hear. ...could be fun to use some of the available margin, now... Kim

To: RaserX who wrote (3723)	10/25/1999 10:39:00 AM
From: vpelt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7720

Competition or laying the groundwork for a better way? From zdnet.com The NeoPoint 1000 is a cell phone that doubles as a PDA, email client and Web browser. In gear guy Jim Louderback's mind, it gives the Palm 7 serious competition. zdnet.com NeoPoint 1000 By Jim Louderback October 15, 1999 Do you want to surf the Internet on your cell phone? Sure, lots of phones claim that you can access the Net, but only the NeoPoint, so far, makes it a useful experience. We've seen a lot of hybrid devices that combine wireless with cell phones. But they don't work very well in practice. The NeoPoint does. It's just a bit larger than a standard cell phone, and weighs less than half a pound. But NeoPoint managed to pack a large 11-line screen-? with a width the same as a Pilot?- into that big package. And when you turn it on, the screen looks like a computer, not a phone. You see icons, instead of characters. These icons lead to an address book, calendar, to-do list, email client, and Web browser. You can even sync up these applications with your PC, which is a good thing because entering data on the keypad is tedious at best. The phone does include the T9 text-entry application from Tegic. This program lets you press the key corresponding to the letters of the word, and then it intelligently guesses from the available choices what you typed in. Thus typing the 2 key (ABC) three times would result in "CAB." Press the 2 twice and the 8 (TUV) key, and you'll have to choose between "ACT" and "CAT." PC Sync is a good idea, but the implementation is flawed. Unlike the Palm, no cradle is included. The company should have delivered a cradle that simultaneously syncs and charges. And only a serial PC connection is included. We tried to get it to work on three machines, but we never did get it to sync. A USB connection and Macintosh support would have been better. You won't be browsing the Internet with this phone. The connection is too slow. Instead, a range of Internet sites have modified their content for wireless devices like the NeoPoint. NeoPoint uses the Phone.com browser to provide a gateway between the Internet and your phone. Unfortunately the range of services available on the unit I tested was disappointing. More will be available down the road, but I expected more services at launch. Even the included services are not optimized for the phone. When I queryed ABC News, I received seven headlines, two of which were for chats. But when I tried to drill down on the chat stories, I got a screenful of nothing. Obviously this phone is better suited for voice than Internet chats. Also, some of the choices were just downright weird. I expected a digital guide to Omaha when I selected Nebraska. But the response baffled me: "Noveau! Itn?raires rue ? rue en IDF et m?tro Paris." Performance was pretty good, better than the Palm 7. It sent and received email easily. The phone even includes voice recognition to allow you to call your friends hands free while driving. The phone itself costs $400, with more basic functionality for substantially less than the Palm 7. With $30 Sprint airtime, you can add 50 minutes of data access for only $10 a month. Higher pricing plans are available that combine data and voice minutes, up to $180 a month for 1,200 minutes. However, if you use the Sprint PCS network, expect to pay a lot of money for airtime charges. Sprint charges a higher rate for data and charges you for a minute even if your data connection only took 10 seconds. Sprint's approach is curious. Why charge more to move data bits than voice bits? The network is the same. Expect to see competing vendors like AirTouch come out with a more rational pricing plan for these types of phones in a month or two. But despite all the problems I had, this is one terrific phone. It's especially useful for looking up phone numbers and finding other short pieces of information. Over time there should be a more complete roster of data services available. The phone does a great job combining Internet, email, scheduling, and calling. Now it's up to the PCS phone vendors to come up with rational pricing so that the market can really take off. Company: NeoPoint Price: $400 For a few other comments the author has a shorter review published today at the site listed below. zdnet.com vpelt