December 7, 2005
MOBILE CONNECTIVITY
For Cellphones, More Choices in Fashion and Features
By WILSON ROTHMAN
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You can do more on the go than ever before, but that also means the
choices keep getting more complicated, with an increasing number of
fashions, features and services.
Phone fashion came of age over the last year with the arrival of
Motorola's superslim Razr. In the lineups of most carriers, handsets
come in black or silver (ranging from $150 to $250; all prices listed
are before rebates and contract-signing discounts). T-Mobile just began
selling one in magenta for $250. Verizon Wireless is rolling out its
first Razr, the V3c ($300). Though it is identical to other Razrs, it
is the first one that can operate on high bandwidth data systems like
Verizon's EV-DO (evolution data-optimized) network. That means you can
get access to Verizon's V Cast news and entertainment downloads: video
clips and music videos from Comedy Central, NBC, Fox and others.
Sprint might not have a Razr, but it does have the MM-A900 from Samsung
($350). This thin, black clamshell phone - known unabashedly as the
Blade - could be mistaken for Motorola's hot seller from three feet
away. Copycat or not, it is the only phone of such slender build that
is able to access Sprint's new entertainment service, Power Vision.
Power Vision, which also operates on an EV-DO high-speed network,
offers video on demand, live streaming video from major news sources
and America's first over-the-air music store for downloading full songs.
• CNET Review: Motorola Razr V3c
• CNET Review: Samsung MM-A900
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MOTOROLA PEBL
Other Razr wannabes are hitting the
market. Today, T-Mobile will introduce a sleek Samsung, the t809
($300). Its high-resolution screen is embedded in a thin body that
slides open to a keypad. Motorola itself has decided to follow up its
own success with similar siblings, the PEBL and the SLVR (pronounced
"pebble" and "sliver"). The PEBL, first offered by T-Mobile for $300,
is a slightly thicker, rounded phone with a Razr-like keypad; the SLVR,
slated for release from Cingular, is a candy-bar-style phone of the
same design.
Fashion was not the only emphasis in phone technology this year.
Customers also discovered new choices in carriers. Upstarts across the
country are gaining momentum, offering prepaid plans, alternative
phones and niche benefits on networks operated by Cingular, Sprint and
Verizon.
Virgin Mobile introduced its MP3 playing phone from Kyocera, the Slider
Sonic ($250). The service sells some audio tidbits (MTV ring tones,
Comedy Central voice-mail greetings), but you have to supply your own
MP3's. Thanks to a partnership with Heavy.com, you can download specially formatted videos to your PC to transfer to the phone.
• CNET Review: Motorola Pebl U6
• CNET Review: Kyocera Slider Sonic
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AMP'D MOBILE
In the next week or two, the carrier Amp'd
Mobile will get under way. Using the Kyocera Jet phone ($100), Amp'd
customers, mostly ages 18 to 25, will tap into video geared to extreme
sports, stunts and humor. The content, slightly different from V Cast
but delivered over the same Verizon EV-DO network, will include
highlights from Snoop Dogg's youth football league, exclusive Beavis
and Butt-Head episodes and live pay-per-view broadcasts of the
"Ultimate Fighting Championship" and Supercross motorbike races. Some
content will cost extra, but some will be included in the price of the
prepaid or monthly plan.
CALLWAVE MOBILE REWARDS
CallWave Mobile
Rewards is a less splashy but remarkably advanced new service. The
phone, free with an $8 monthly fee, is a four-year-old Motorola V120c,
but the point is really the service. With a prepaid, no-contract plan,
you can transfer live incoming calls from your cellphone to your land
line, listen in on people leaving you voice-mail messages and even pick
up a call after it goes to voice mail. Load up some software, and you
can screen incoming calls and check voice mail on your PC. There's even
a visual voice-mail interface with detailed caller ID.
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LG MIGO
In the carriers' attempts to reach all potential
customers, more attention is being given to the elementary-school set.
LG's Migo from Verizon ($150) and the Firefly from Cingular ($75) are
both rugged yet colorful; they have big buttons and fit into small
hands. The phones do not have typical keypads. Instead, parents program
in specific numbers, including one for a clearly marked emergency
button. Both phones even come with carabiner clips for backpacks.
• CNET Review: Firefly
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SPRINT'S POCKET PC
For grown-ups who want more than what
a typical phone can manage, hand-held devices come in increasingly
varied forms. Three that could not be more different are the Research
In Motion BlackBerry 8700c from Cingular ($300), Sprint's PPC-6700
Windows Mobile device ($600) and the special-edition Sidekick II from
T-Mobile ($400).
The latest BlackBerry runs faster than its older siblings, with a fresh
Intel chip and access to Cingular's EDGE network. Though not broadband,
it is faster than a dial-up modem on a land line. Sprint's 6700 hops
onto the carrier's EV-DO network for even greater speeds, and its
slide-out keyboard and horizontal screen make it useful for editing
full-size documents, even ones that come as e-mail attachments.
• CNET Review: RIM BlackBerry 8700c
• CNET Review: Sprint PCS Vision Smart Device (PPC-6700)
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SIDEKICK II
T-Mobile's pink Juicy Couture Sidekick II, a
pocket pager for e-mail, instant messaging and mobile diversions, was
decorated by the creators of a trend-hyperconscious shopping service.
The other designer Sidekick is a jet-black model called Mister Cartoon,
sketched out by an artist in Los Angeles of the same name, known for
his tattoos, graffiti and album covers.
• CNET Review: Sidekick II
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TOSHIBA SATELLITE R15
There are people for whom the
connectedness of phones and hand-held devices is just a tease. They
prefer a real screen and keyboard, or at least the comfort of knowing
that when crunch time and vacation time overlap, they are prepared.
Two portables - Fujitsu's LifeBook P1500D (from $1,500) and Toshiba's
Satellite R15 (from $1,450) - are on opposite sides of the Tablet PC
platform. The LifeBook, with an 8.9-inch touch screen, weighs only two
pounds, but packs a 1.2-gigahertz Pentium processor. (It also has a
biometric fingerprint scanner for James Bond security.) The 6.5-pound
Toshiba, with its 14.1-inch screen and built-in CD or DVD burner,
resembles a more typical laptop. Swivel the screen, however, and it
becomes a notepad built for jotting.
SONY VAIO TX NOTEBOOK
Sony's Vaio TX series notebook
(from $2,000) is for natural-born wanderers. Its specifications seem
impossible: how can a laptop with an 11.1-inch screen and built-in CD
burner weigh less than three pounds, and get up to 7.5 hours of battery
life? It also has an integrated cellular modem that connects to
Cingular's EDGE data network. Plans range from a fixed 5 megabytes each
month for $20, up to unlimited use for $80 a month. The TX can access
Wi-Fi networks, handy when speed is key, but the EDGE connection means
that you will get e-mail messages and the Web when no hot spot can be
found.
APPLE POWERBOOK
Apple has its own little
firecracker, the 12-inch PowerBook (from $1,500). At 4.6 pounds, it
runs for up to five hours on a single battery charge, and can be
tricked out with 1.25 gigabytes of RAM and a 100-gigabyte hard drive.
And now, every new PowerBook comes standard with an internal SuperDrive
DVD burner.
• CNET Review: Apple Powerbook
DATA-NETWORK PC CARDS
Maybe you love your own laptop,
and want to take it everywhere. Carriers sell data-network PC cards and
accompanying data plans. The most praised current option is from
Verizon Wireless: you pay $100 for the PC 5740 BroadbandAccess card and
$60 a month for unlimited EV-DO access. Apple lovers that are, on
occasion, left out of services like these can rejoice, because
Verizon's Kyocera KPC650 EV-DO card ($230) works on Mac laptops using
special included software. Sprint has a similar offering at a higher
price. Cingular sells EDGE network cards now, but in the coming months
the carrier will upgrade its network to something similar in speed to
Sprint and Verizon's networks, so you may want to wait.
• CNET Review: Kyocera KPC650
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