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With 1999 destined for the history books as the year that wireless entered the mainstream, it’s a sure bet that digital cell phones and other wireless gadgets are high on holiday shopping lists. But before you plunk down the plastic for an impressive gift, there's something you should know: Just because something is wireless doesn’t make it cool.
Before I’m spitted and roasted by pitchfork-wielding Qualcomm engineers and stockholders, here's the explanation. "Cool" by definition is out of the ordinary, ahead of the curve. As something becomes a mainstream commodity, it loses the "wow factor" and becomes part of the social fabric. So you have to hunt harder for the wow. But as a San Diego Metropolitan reader, you’re in luck: we’ve done the hunting for you. Read on and see what’s new and unusual and fun in the world of wireless phones — and beyond.
Do-Everything Phones
Data's the thing with top-of-the-line wireless phones. That means a built-in Web browser, wireless modem capability and electronic organizer functions. There are trade-offs, and you've got to consider what someone wants out of a phone. First let's talk about the newer "kitchen sink" phones that approach PCs in utility.
More functions make the phone heavier and bulkier, but can save time and space, like having a multifunction fax/copier/printer/scanner in your home office. It’s a time-consuming hassle to run a cable from a wireless phone to an organizer to check e-mail, and that’s not counting the problems in getting the devices to talk to one another. When these functions cohabitate, that’s not an issue.
Having It All
Sprint PCS offers the NeoPoint 1000, made by La Jolla's NeoPoint. It’s got e-mail, Web access, a personal organizer, wireless modem and perhaps coolest of all, voice commands. Say "browser" and you get the Web. The NeoPoint also synchronizes with PC organizer software such as Microsoft Outlook. It’s stylish, too, and at 6.4 ounces, not a heavyweight. It’s rated to provide 2.5 hours of talk time and 40 hours of standby time and costs $399. Scott Malone, Sprint PCS' director of marketing, says NeoPoint hardware nicely complements the company’s new wireless Web service, which provides a wireless modem and Web access, as well as stock quotes, news updates from Yahoo and other information.
"We’ve done a partnership with Yahoo where you can go in and develop your own personalized Sprint PCS-branded home page, and get periodic stock updates directly to your handset," Malone says.
The NeoPoint will be available next year in a model for AirTouch, which will be rolling out its own data services. Since both Sprint PCS and AirTouch use data-friendly CDMA technology, these phones can take advantage of the high data rate services Qualcomm is making available to CDMA carriers.
A future contender will be Qualcomm's pdQ phone, which includes the Palm operating system. Running the Palm OS means the pdQ is compatible with the thousands of Palm productivity and entertainment applications. It weighs a relatively hefty 10 ounces. Sprint PCS lists the pdQ on its Web site, but it won’t be available until next year, Malone says. (The phone is being sold on the Web at www.telstreet.com)
Moving over to Pacific Bell Wireless, a GSM carrier, the gold-plated offering here is the Nokia 9000il Communicator. This phone includes an organizer, e-mail, Web, data and fax capabilities, and unfolds to reveal a keyboard. This is a geek's, er, dream. It includes Telnet and VT-100 terminal emulation and connects to a PC with a serial cable or infrared link. The fold-open design allows the QWERTY keyboard to be much bigger than those of other phones. That means you don’t have to press buttons multiple times to painstakingly spell out names or numbers. The battery gives 30 hours of standby and three hours of talk time. The cost is $699.
Drawbacks? It’s heavy, weighing 13.9 ounces, and setting it up for Internet access is very tricky. Unless you’re giving this to someone who enjoys wrestling with obscure settings, it’s best to have it pre-configured.
The Nokia 9000il from Pacific Bell Wireless features an organizer, e-mail, Web-capability and unfolds to reveal a keyboard.
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Got a global jet-setter on your list? Then consider the Ericsson I888 phone, also available from Pacific Bell Wireless. This phone switches automatically between the GSM frequencies used in the United States and abroad. It’s also data and fax capable. Talk time is 2.5 to 4.25 hours, standby time 60 to 80 hours and it costs $249.
Nextel, the fifth wireless carrier serving San Diego, offers less variety in phones. That's because all their phones are made by one company, Motorola. While Motorola is a quality company on a comeback, there's no way it alone can match the offerings of Nokia, Qualcomm, Ericsson, Samsung, NeoPoint and other wireless phone makers.
Nextel's phones emphasize functions such as three-way calling and multiple ring styles to match incoming calls, but the company doesn’t offer much in the way of Internet services (although that is in the works). Nextel focuses on business clients and offers great features for them such as very low-cost calling between Nextel phones with its Direct Connect walkie-talkie features.
The sixth national carrier, AT&T Wireless, does not operate in San Diego, although it recently expanded to the Los Angeles market. Since Nokia and other manufacturers make similar phones for AT&T Wireless and Pacific Bell Wireless, it’s important to keep that fact in mind when buying a phone outside the area or through a Web site.
Thin Is In
Leaving the kitchen-sink category, there's the Qualcomm Thin Phone for those who believe less is more. It’s available in models for AirTouch, GTE and Sprint PCS. It’s considerably less expensive than any of the phones described above at $99 to $130. It lacks their big screen and organizer capabilities, but does include the Web and wireless modem capabilities, which are available on Sprint PCS now and soon on AirTouch. But it’s far easier to carry in a pant or shirt pocket because it’s so flat. The battery life runs 2.5 hours talk time and 80 hours standby.
Motorola's digital Star Tac, available for AirTouch, is among the lightest of the bunch — the analog Star Tac 3000 model for AirTouch weighs just 3.8 ounces. The CDMA version weighs 4.2 ounces. That version, however, beats the analog with 170 minutes of talk time and 50 hours standby time, compared to one hour talk time and 14 hours standby time for the analog version.
Beyond Cellular And PCS
The newest wave in wireless is the resurgence of the humble pager. The combination of two-way services, larger pagers with keyboards, and the ability to link with organizers such as the Palm have breathed new life into this category.
Paging systems have great coverage — far superior to any cellular or PCS network. Pagers work deep in buildings when wireless phones have long ago given up. Their battery life is measured in days and weeks, not hours. So they're the first choice when the ability to get and send messages is critical. However, message size is typically limited to a few hundred words or less.
Skytel offers the Motorola PageWriter 2000X and the Glenayre AccessLink II. The PageWriter is a two-way pager in a clamshell design and mini-QWERTY keyboard. It includes an organizer, Internet e-mail and infrared port with PC docking station to exchange data with your PC. It costs $395, the battery lasts one week, and it weighs 6.7 ounces. The AccessLink II is lighter, weighing 4.23 ounces, and its battery lasts 30 days. It uses a virtual keyboard on its screen instead of a mechanical keyboard.
The wow factor here is the ability to use these pagers as wireless conduits for handheld devices such as the Palm. JP Systems (www.jpsystems.com) makes software called BeamLink that lets the Palm and Windows CE devices send and receive Internet e-mail up to 500 characters in length through the AccessLink II, using the devices' infrared ports.
Package a Palm handheld with an AccessLink II and one of the keyboards available for the Palm such as the folding Stowaway from Solana Beach's Think outside. The result is a wireless communications kit usable nearly anywhere in the country — the beach, home or that boooooring business conference in Irvine. (You’re typing away, looking diligent, while you’re actually reading and replying to e-mails from your Rotisserie Baseball League pals.)
The RIM 850 and 950 inter@ctive messengers from wireless service provider GoAmerica (www.goamerica.com) take pagers nearly to the functionality of handhelds. They provide not only two-way POP3 e-mail, but customized Web content through the company’s GoWeb service. They cost $259, not including a $100 discount when purchased through GoAmerica. The two pagers are identical, but operate on different wireless networks.
For one-way paging, PageMart Wireless (www.pagemart.com) offers an even more elegant solution for Palm users: the Synapse Pager Card that snaps right into the handheld, replacing the memory board and adding 2 megabytes of memory. It receives news, sports and weather headlines at no additional cost. The Synapse costs $129, and battery life runs two to four weeks. It works with the PalmPilot Personal, PalmPilot Professional, Pilot 1000 or Pilot 5000, and the Palm III, and comes with the Palm III operating system.
Before I run out of space, one more set of products deserves mention, from Novatel Wireless (www.novatelwireless.com). The San Diego-based company offers the Minstrel series of wireless modems for the Palm series of organizers, and Merlin PC card wireless modem and the Contact Windows CE-based handheld organizer with a wireline and wireless modem. All of Novatel Wireless' products operate over the Cellular Digital Packet Data (Wireless IP) service, which is available in San Diego and soon in the Los Angeles area. CDPD is an overlay on the analog network of cellular carriers.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of the new offerings in the constantly expanding wireless world. But it should be clear that creative gift giving, wireless style, goes far deeper than choosing the color of a phone's faceplate. The wow factor is still there. You have only to look for it.
(Bradley J. Fikes, a regular contributor to San Diego Metropolitan, is a business journalist with the North County Times and its Temecula newspaper, The Californian.)
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