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Handhelds Hardware

Motorola's i95cl 229

Posted by michael from the it-fluffs-it-folds dept.
thefalconer writes "MSNBC has a very detailed article about Motorola's new all-in-wonder phone offered by Nextel. It is a PDA, has a Walkie-Talkie, phone, web browser, instant messaging, addressbook, it has a high resolution Color LCD screen, and it's running on a Java Based OS! It even comes in a variety of styles and colors just to your taste. There is so much to this phone that it makes you ask "how'd they get all that, into this tiny little thing?" Makes me want to ditch my old phone for one of these right now!"
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Motorola's i95cl More

Motorola's i95cl

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  • i85s (Score:5, Informative)

    by BlueTooth ( 102363 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @12:01AM (#3966569) Homepage
    I have an i85s and aside from the color and the flip phone form factor, it has almost the same specs as the i95...The color is a big thing from implemenation standpoint, but not so much from usability. Unless they've made great strides in the UI design, the thing won't work that well as a PDA...I don't think any phone can be a good PDA without either a touchscreen or qwerty keyboard.

    Just my $0.02

    ~Adam

    • copy&paste time (Score:3, Informative)

      by Jucius Maximus ( 229128 )
      Motorola i95cl [idenstore.com]

      General Features

      * Color Display
      * Voice Recorder
      * Speakerphone
      * Voice Activation
      * Multi-Language Support
      * Time & Date Display
      * SIM Card Operation
      * Custom Styles Settings
      * Pre-Installed Software Applications
      * JAVA(TM) 2 Micro Edition Capable**

      SLIM BATTERY: 19g, up to 2h talk time, up to 45h standby

      EXTENDED BATTERY: 33g, up to 3.33h talk time, up to 75 standby.

      (hmmm ... battery life seems to be its most apparent weakness. My LG VX1 / TM-520 is rated at 180 min talk / 110h standby from the standard battery.)***

      Digital Cellular Phone Service

      * Voice Activated Dialing
      * 250 Entry Phonebook
      * Quickstore Phone Numbers
      * Last 20 Recent Call List*
      * Turbo Dial® one-touch dialing
      * VibraCall® alert

      Digital Two-Way Radio

      * One-Touch Private & Group Call
      * Quickstore Private IDs
      * Built-In Speaker

      Message Service

      * Consolidated In-Box Storage
      * Voice & Message Mail Indicators
      * Time & Date Stamp*

      Data Capable*

      * Software Download Capability
      * Internet Access Services
      * T9® Text Input for Fast Entry

      Performance Specifications

      * Dimensions: 90mm X 50mm X 28mm with Slim Battery
      * Weight: 154.4g
      * Power 600mW typical
      * Frequency Range:
      Tx 806 - 825 Mhz/Rx 851-870 Mhz
      * Channel Spacing: 25 kHz
      * Channel Access: TDMA
      * Operating Temperature: -10C to + 60C
      * Storage Temperature (Radio Only): -40C to + 85C

      Specifications are typical and subject to change.

      * Network and subscription dependent feature not available in all areas.
      ** Visit www.motorola.com/idenupdate [motorola.com]for a list of downloadable software applications.
      *** I was not paid by LG to type that :-)
    • I also have an 85s as part of an account of several units that I administer. I agree that the color "feature" is at best a visual alteration of existing functions. The people I work with whose phones I am responsible for have a mix of phones; i500, i85, i1000, i2000, i700, and i90.

      The differences are mostly geometric. I like my i85 but it is not significantly different than the i50, which can be had for 25 dollars with a one-year commitment. The feature set is practically identical to the 85.

    • Re:i85s (Score:2, Insightful)

      by evvk ( 247017 )
      > I don't think any phone can be a good PDA without either a touchscreen or qwerty keyboard.

      I wonder why don't they get rid of keys alltogether and move to using just a touch screen that could display the approriate keys. That way there would be space for a big display without lame sliding or folding lids for the keyboard.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • all-in-wonder: what, is ATI is making phones now?
        (Yes, it is not in the story, but my post is thin without it)
      • J2ME (Java) operating system: is this supposed to excite me? This is 2002.
      • iDen: WTF is this? It just makes my brain hurt.
      • * iDen: WTF is this? It just makes my brain hurt.
        My guess is that the den in iDen is short for "denwa" ("db) which is the Japanese word for phone (incidently the den in denwa means electric).

        Of course, there is definitely some "Steve" in that name as well, eh? ;-)

        • I suppose a Google search was more difficult than speculating... This has nothing to do with Japanese - not surprisingly since iDEN was invented by Motorola. See http://idenphones.motorola.com/iden/what_is_iden.j sp for the acronym and some introductory info.

      • iDen is just a network type. i.e. it fits into the set {GSM, CDMA, TDMA, 1XCDMA, GPRS...}
    • Trademark, as in mark of a trade. Unless ATI's trade is building phones, it wouldn't be a problem. ;)

  • Press Release.... (Score:5, Informative)

    by H3XA ( 590662 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @12:03AM (#3966575)
    .... from four months ago...

    Motorola's i95cl Press Release [motorola.com]

    - HeXa

  • "all-in-wonder phone" (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Weffs11 ( 323188 ) <{ten.liamg} {ta} {yerffew}> on Sunday July 28, 2002 @12:05AM (#3966581) Homepage
    I'll buy one when it has a real keyboard.
    Ever try sending a message on a keypad? MAJOR pain in the ass. You can use chat-shorthand to send message to friends, but replying to business email? Where is the spll chker?

    • Re:"all-in-wonder phone" (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 28, 2002 @12:09AM (#3966595)
      Ever try sending a message on a keyboard? MAJOR pain in the ass

      You're obviously doing it wrong -- use your fingers!!
    • Actually, for writing prose (i.e. e-mail, AIM), the text input on most phones is fairly decent for nine keys...you just type the numbers with the letters you want and the phone as a built in dictionary which it uses to figure out what word you are trying to spell...usually only one or two posibilities....i.e "dog" would be "364"...not "3, 666, 4"
      • By the way, that *never* works right.
      • So that means regular phone-text-entry is satanic?

        ~q of course
        contre.org. fighting crime since 1985. [contre.org]
      • "Actually, for writing prose (i.e. e-mail, AIM), the text input on most phones is fairly decent for nine keys...you just type the numbers with the letters you want and the phone as a built in dictionary which it uses to figure out what word you are trying to spell..."

        My LG phone has this. (The VX1 aka TM-520) Most of the time it works pretty well but if you are typing someone's name and it is not in the dictionary, you have to turn off the T9 mode, enter the name, then turn T9 back on (causing the name to be added to the dictionary.) It is a great time saver. Aside from proper nouns, it gets the word right almost every time. (For some strange reason, many people claim it never works. Maybe they try to use uncommon words.)

    • The problem with adding a real keyboard (I'll take that to mean a thumb-type QWERTY) is that it takes up too much space on a phone. It seems that Motorola is going for phone more than PDA with this thing, and phones nowadays are getting smaller and smaller. Even the Nokia 51xx series, which is on the larger end of phones now, wouldn't be able to accommodate a keyboard. The fact of the matter is that manufacturers realise that most people want a small size, and that means no keyboard.
      Also consider that very few people in North America actually use features like text and email messaging.
    • Typing in English on a phone keypad is definitely a lot of trouble. But, in Japanese, it can be fairly quick and efficient (granted, it isn't as quick as a computer keyboard).

      During my first several months here in Japan, when my phone was my only contact to the outside world (went 8 months w/out internet), I eventually gave up emailing my family and friends in English, but instead would email my Mom in Japanese (one of her co-workers would translate) because it was taking 10-20 minutes to type a message in English that would only take 2-5 minutes in Japanese.

      Anyway, compared to the offerings on phones here in Japan, that phone doesn't seem like much...not to mention it is huge. Of course, I don't really have much use for a walkie-talkie so this kind of thing isn't really for me.

      Cheers. :)

    • The crappy Nokia phones which are handed out for pre-pays around here have that "autocomplete" feature... very nice.

      If you can spell at least the first few letters you are all set.
    • They make an attachable keyboard for the i85s. It probably works for the i95s.
    • Yes, I do it all the time on my Nextel i1000+. I regularly type out full english words, sentences and paragraphs without any frustration.
      Nextel includes T9 text auto-complete with a dictonary of something like 15,000 words. For example:43556 is hello. If there are more words that match, pressing the zero key scrolls through all current possibilities for the word. There is also the option of entering text the old 'multi-tap' way, where hello would be: 4433555555666. You can teach the T9 software words that it doesn't know. I don't know what the limit on learned words is though.

      Yes it would be more convienient to have a full keyboard that plugs in to the expansion port, but That would be something else I'd have to take with me.

    • You're obviously very old (at least 24) and from a country that hasn't had SMS for very long. You've got to check out the teens in Europe who all have cell phones and GSM service with SMS. They use it like crazy because they're all using pre-paid accounts and SMS is cheaper then a call. They can type with both thumbs on a normal telephone keypad faster than I can probably type on a normal keyboard. You've got to see it to believe it.

      -Russ
      • seriously. my girlfriend finally got a cell phone, and she and I trade text messages back and forth all the time. anyone who complains about text entry either doesn't have t9 or is an old crumudgeon. 9 keys is fine.
    • I'll buy one when it has a real keyboard. Ever try sending a message on a keypad? MAJOR pain in the ass. You can use chat-shorthand to send message to friends, but replying to business email? Where is the spll chker?
      That kind of cell phone already exists [nokiausa.com]. But there's no free lunch here -- such a phone will not slip into a normal pants pocket!

      In countries where SMS is popular, many people can type quite fast using a phone keypad. It's just a matter of practice.

  • At first I thought - wow, cool spy shit, then I remembered that I could probably buy one if I wanted to. Big reminder that we are actually living in 2002.
  • Actually I like this phone a lot. But I can't wait until they make cell phones with built in two way video conferencing. Then you can see the person you're talking to on your cell phone while you proceed to drive yourself right off the road. :) IF they eventually have two way video capability, business professionals will go nuts grabbing them up. Hmm, I wonder if they'll be any good for playing Unreal by then?
    • "Actually I like this phone a lot. But I can't wait until they make cell phones with built in two way video conferencing."

      I have read that this is already available in Japan. The 3G phones have 384kbit downstream and (I think) 96kbit upstream.

      It makes me cry because the best internet connection I can get where I live is 28.8. Even my Canadian cellphone can do better than that -- 144kbit on 1xRTT in metropolitan areas.

  • required to make a cell phone ring like a normal one?
  • I've seen 2-3 phones I'd much rather have but my service provider, (sprint/Satan) wouldn't support. Am I the only one to observe that the cellular provider directly ties the choice of phone to its support? Is there a way around this? Can I buy my phone and use it where I please? A year of cellular woes has confused me.
    • Actually from what I've read, the FCC, or some other organization with the power to implement this has started to force the cellular companies to open their networks so that you can actually have any phone you want, not just the ones they're willing to let you have, but rather the ones you want on their networks. Obviously the cellular companies are fighting this with a passion, especially Nextel, but in time (1-2 years) this will be a reality, baring anything unforseen of course.
      • I certainly hope so. Nothing seems more ridiculous to me than tying hardware to software. But today I tried to buy my father a Motorola phone I liked only to be told, "It wouldn't work on Sprint". This is absolutely insane to me and I can't understand why cell phone manufactures go along with it.
      • Incompatable formats.
        TDMA and GSM are incompatable formats. My phone, the Nokia 3360 [nokiausa.com] works just fine with Cingular, which uses TDMA. Sprint dosn't, and so my phone dosn't work with Sprint.
        Also, the Cingular sales rep was open about the fact that phones besides the ones in store worked, just to make sure that it supported TDMA.
        • GSM is a TDMA system.

          TDMA simply stands for Time Division, Multple Access. This is in contrast to systems that use CDMA, or Channel Division, Multiple Access.

          The only real incompatibility between traditional TDMA and GSM is the protocols used. The underlying transport layer is essentially the same.

          A phone capable of TDMA should be just as easily capable of GSM (as it's just a protocol change). In fact there are many iDen phones out there that can speak GSM for use in Europe and elsewhere. CDMA is a bit more challenging as it's a patented technology by Qualcomm.

          The biggest obstacle is frequencies... traditional TDMA and CDMA use the standard cellular ranges. GSM (in the United States) uses 1.9 GHz. In order to be "universal" you'd need to talk 800MHz, 900MHz, 1.8GHz, and 1.9GHz (have I missed any?).
    • Yes, but you would have to move to any place in the world outside of the US. Gotta love how we like to make our own standards.
      • Actually you can use GSM in the US. Voicestream/T-Mobile website [voicestream.com], Cingular (on the west coast) and AT&T (overlaying their current TDMA network) all. I know for a fact Voicestream will let you buy any 1900 mhz GSM phone and use it on their network.

  • Pretty cool.. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by affegott ( 104661 )
    Having seen it, I must say it is a nice phone. I fixes must of my biggest complaints against the i90c. (Overall, an excellent phone)

    I find text entry isn't that bad when using T9. For quick replies, it is quite nice.

    It should also be mentioned some of the features Nextel can give you. If you sign up for the developer plan (http://developer.nextel.com) you get 5 MB worth of data and a ROUTABLE IP for the phone. Neat stuff.

    Just a thought...
    • Since the website requires a 72-hour registration, care to say a bit more about the plan? Monthly fee? Minutes included? ...
  • Now put a 10gb firewire drive into it. That would be the perfect device.
  • A very cool toy alright, but a long way from beign able to replace other "larger" appliances. Right now we should be able to carry such a phone instead of a laptop, a PDA, and a normal cell phone. We should be able to work on our way to the office, plug it on the office computer, and continue. You don't need that much power in a mobile device, since we really spend most of our time writting, reading email, surfing, spreadsheet. Pretty much any device now should be able to do those tasks. Voice recognition will probably never catch on, since it lacks the privacy that other input methods provide(the technology is pretty much there, but people don't want to use it actually). Something like this with a stylus and Graffiti or similiar will be closer to a complete mobilie "office". Until we get brain control that is.
  • from a former nextel employee... I'd seriously consider getting this phone. It'll be a good couple months before it's in stores (probly) and nextels service and customer service highly leave much to be desired.

  • tell me something (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Why are US cell phones so large compared to those in Europe? Why do people in the US put up with paying to receive phone calls?
    • Gee, maybe because the Unions don't have such a strangle-hold on the economy. How come toenail clippers cost $5.00? Oh sorry, that should be in ERU. I know celular technology is far in advance of what we have here in the states but damn, that's what 6 weeks of vacation I'll get ya.
      • I think you countered your own point. You were complaining that the unions had control of the economy, but then you pointed out that European cell technology is ahead of ours. You then said that that's what six weeks of vacation will get. Better cell technology. They seem to be the ones winning this game.

    • Re:tell me something (Score:5, Funny)

      by zulux ( 112259 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @02:29AM (#3966822) Homepage Journal
      Our phones are larger because they *do more* - see, America is a large place, with lots of spaces. Those spaces are served by analog cell service, and guess what: those analog sending-and-receiving things (we call them radios) add bulk to our phones.

      Also, if we crazy-americans can't get out handgun out qucik enough, we can just beat and GSM totin' weasel-faced euro-toll with out CRAZY -HUGE CELL PHONES.

      Note: Non San Francisco Americans will never refer to their cell phone as a 'handy'. God knows how the Europeans picked that habit up...but it must have somthing to do with the water. Or the Gremans. There up to somthing - I just know it.

      • *sigh*

        Please don't embarass America any more with your pathetic spelling/grammar. (for the 100th time, you mean "their", not "there" - dumbass. And if you think that these phones use analog, think again.

        The real reason America is so F'd up when it comes to cell phones is because we are so damn big. We simply have a lot of surface area in our country, and to produce phones that can work everywhere takes a lot longer. The logistics of it are just more complicated.

        And, we have to drive EVERYWHERE. Unless you live in a city, chances are you are going to be in your car every day. If we were able to properly use public transportation, people might be more inclined to use phones. Well, not that they don't while they are driving, but those people aren't the highest memebers on the evolutionary scale.

        I guess what I am trying to say is, we have a different kind of country. What we can't do in the way of cellphone technology, we make up for in other areas. (good or bad, take them for what they are)

  • iDen? (Score:1)

    by ike42 ( 596470 )
    Motorola, you bad boy, have you been hanging around with Steve again?

  • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • heh heh (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dr. Awktagon ( 233360 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @01:13AM (#3966720) Homepage

    Until then I was using some of the built-in, pre-composed responses. Needless to say one co-worker was confused when I sent him a message saying "I love you"!

    But the confusion quickly turned into shared delight as Gary and Tom discovered the vibrating silent-ring feature and sent each other instant messages long into the night.*

    Motorola.. bringing people together..

    *optional waterproof cover required

  • Uh oh. (Score:4, Funny)

    by DarkHelmet ( 120004 ) <<ten.elcychtneves> <ta> <kram>> on Sunday July 28, 2002 @01:15AM (#3966725) Homepage
    and it's running on a Java Based OS!

    Sorry, but enthusiastic bantor about Operating Systems are reserved for Linux items only.

    This story has angered the Open Source Gods. Retract this open enthusiasm at once, or fear their retribution.

    • It also uses TDMA (time division multiple access), a miserable multiplexing system promoted by ATT that has trouble with high-pitched voices, and it connects to Windows computers only. Save your money. There are better ways to do the same thing with CDMA and GSM. Only the USA loves standards so much that they adopt them in large numbers while ignoring the mutual incompatibility and inconvenience to (l)users.
  • Actually, I really hate alot of new features on phones. If I have to dig 3 or 4 menus down for something - why bother?

    My dream phone details would be:

    1. About the size of a Nokia 3390. This is big enough to be usuable, but small enough so it doesn't feel like you're carrying a sidearm

    2. Waterproof, and capable of withstanding a fall to concrete from atleast 6ft (most people's height) My clumsiness has ruined a few phones.

    3. Absolutely secure RF communications. Link from handset to cell site should be encrypted.

    4. Extra features would include a simple phone directory and email.

    Too me, everything else is just overkill. If you want a toy, buy a wireless PDA.

  • Not a PDA (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Cato ( 8296 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @02:18AM (#3966802)
    Despite the article calling it a PDA phone, it is what's called a featurephone, similar to the Ericsson T68i. If you are on iDEN it sounds like a reasonable phone, but I would want Bluetooth so I could use a wireless headset (Motorola makes a good one that's the size of four or five postage stamps).

    And of course the OS is not written in Java, it is just running J2ME apps (hopefully MIDP ones). For some apps for such Java phones, see www.midlet.org and www.mobiled.net.

  • What? No GPS ?!? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by ivi ( 126837 )

    (that's all... simple surprise at the omission)
  • is the fact that only one company makes phones for it. Well, that and it's not GSM (well, technically, TDMA is based on GSM, but that's a different discussion altogether) and I'm not a fan of Motorola's phones.

    If you want a full QWERTY keyboard in a cell phone and have a decent GSM service in your area, I highly recommend the Nokia Communicator [nokia.com]. Heck, you can even run Opera on it (see here [my-communicator.com] for details).

    -- PhoneBoy
    "Forward into the past."

  • ...does it make coffee and fries? : p

  • Already been done (Score:2, Informative)

    by Recca ( 166737 )
    I have been living in Japan for a couple weeks and this article made me laugh. Third Generation cell-phones are very, very popular in The Land of the Rising Sun. A standard 3G phone comes with a hi-res color LCD, built-in camera, e-mail, decent sound, and lots of other stuff along with almost flawless service. Oh and all of this is about $150. The pink models with photo-stickers and custom flashing antennas added by their users are admittedly cute. =( In comparison to what I have seen in Japan, this Motorola model is bulky, ugly, boring, and overpriced. Anyway, the bottom line is the MSNBC article seemed naive to me, but I would love to see Third Generation cell-phones become popular in America and see the prices of these go down.

    Oh and don't worry about the typing. Some Japanese people can get up to 100 kanji characters per minute which I would say is equivalent to 70-80 English words per minute. Granted, these are people who win thumb-typing contests, but if one were to have good word recognition software and a little practice, typing on a keypad would become much easier and usable for lengthy messages.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Everything in one box is not always a great idea.

    I know that I use my PDA to remind me when to pay bills and such. I also have a tendency to let my Cell Phone battery get low on power...especially when I'm away from home for along time...imagine if your battery goes dead...now you no longer have a PDA, Walkie-Talkie, phone, or addressbook.

    And to be honest, the "Walkie-Talkie feature is a Nextel only feature. It's really just a special channel...the phone has to be changed, but it's still only available with Nextel. The person you are talking to has to be in the Nextel network as well, and you are still charged per minute for using this feature (XXX "free" minutes under your plan). That having been said, it's also a very kewl feature...however, simply calling cell-to-cell would acomplish the same thing with another provider...

    I like having my PDA seperate from my cell phone. The other thing is, this thing seems too small to be very useful as a PDA (1.9" x 1.9" screen vs. 4.5" x 3.1"). I like the big screen of my Palm IIIxe...

    There's another point, how long must these batteries last? They claim 2 hours of talk time and 45 hours on standby...I have to say that this number is most likely without using the PDA feature...I didn't even buy a color Palm because it eats batteries too much.

    Then again, I have had to replace my cell phone twice in the last year, yet I still have a Palm III with no problems. Wonder if this has a Flash ROM that can be switched out when the phone dies...what about syncing with a desktop...if you can't switch the memory I certainly hope you can sync with a PeeCee...otherwise, it's useless as a PDA...

  • SonyEricsson P800 (Score:5, Informative)

    by juuri ( 7678 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @03:17AM (#3966910) Homepage
    http://www.sonyericsson.com/cebit/p800.htm [sonyericsson.com]

    I am suprised no one has mentioned this yet as this appears to be the first truly killer integrated solution to come along. Phone sized, with a decent display, bluetooth, java, gprs, camera, memory expansion and lots more rolled up in a symbian (psion) os.
    • Unlimited nationwide PLAIN OLD TELEPHONE SERVICE service for no more than $30. The ability to plug a desktop computer and use it as a modem would work as well. That's all I need.

      I need a wirelss telephone replacement of my wired one, which is all what MOST of us want. Why are the wireless companies so averse to selling this?
      • err

        how exectly are you going to tell your boss with POTS phone and desktop computer, that you just got jammed in a traffic jam and will be late from work?

        mobile phone with camera: just take a pic of the jam and send it to your bosses email.

        impliying that mobile phones just replace POTS is like 80's thinking. At least here in Finland. And yes, we have a excellent POTS network, people just find mobile phones more usefull.
        • "mobile phone with camera: just take a pic of the jam and send it to your bosses email."

          Yeah. Like anyone's boss reads their e-mail. Right...

          Heck. If anyone did that, he'd probably figure they was surfing the web from home and screwing with him. What are the chances of a PHB beliving someone was really in their car taking photos with a phone?

          The dilberts of the world never win.

  • groan.... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Dynedain ( 141758 ) <slashdot2@@@anthonymclin...com> on Sunday July 28, 2002 @03:35AM (#3966937) Homepage
    a java OS

    why do we have to keep coming up with new operating systems for these things? I hate to admit it, but Microsoft is on the right track with these things.

    I love my Samsung I-300....phone+color PALM....

    Whats the point of being able to store all these wonderfull names and addresses, if you cant transfer them to someone else without a hassle?
    • is this the one with touch screen keypad for phone.?
    • I don't believe the OS is Java based. I think it's Java enabled. Meaning, one could write Java applications and download them to the phone. Motorola has their own OS for these(I believe it's called iDEN). The i95cl, i85 and all NEXTEL phones have had this since the i50s came out (except color).

  • Sounds a bit like the Motorola Accompli (Score:3, Informative)

    by root_42 ( 103434 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @05:33AM (#3967074) Homepage
    At least here in Germany you can get the Motorola Accompli [motorola.de] for quite some time. It is also a cellphone with PDA features. It also has a more PDA-like size and quite a big screen (monochrome). The OS is Java-based, too, as far as I know.

  • I am a user and administrator for our company's Nextel account. The biggest selling point for the Nextel/Motorola phones is the direct connect feature. What they don't tell you is that this is that you can only use this "radio feature" in your local calling area. Users do not have the ability to connect across the country (USA). Or even in the next State in some sections of the country. Our office is based in Connecticut, but we cannot communicate via the "radio" to our field personnel miles down the road in Rhode Island or Massachusetts. Users are restricted to using the phone to communicate. However the Internet part will work anywhere that there is service.

    I have been told by people working inside Nextel that the Direct Connect radio feature will be available beyond local calling areas next summer. I also read this in one of Nextel's brochures I received the other day. This will be a big plus for their service.

  • whiny americans (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ywwg ( 20925 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @01:17PM (#3968057) Homepage
    why is it whenever there's a thread about new cell phones, the first thing I always see is americans bitching about how they just want to talk? Duh, if you just want to talk on your cell phone, just get a 5year old used nokia, that'll work fine.

    for the rest of us who actually embrace new technology, I want a color display, ir for palm pilot syncing, fast sms capability, gprs for data transfer and fast web service.

    I don't understand the reluctance for people on slashdot, a site devoted to the latest computer hardware and software, to get into sweet cellphones. It's like everyone's running around with linux laptops looking for free 802.11 nets, enjoying their massive storage mp3 or md player, developing new cool software, and talking on three pound analog cell phones from the late 80s. why is this?

    my theory is that people are just jealous of the phones that everyone else in the world can get, and so they get defensive and pretend they don't want any of that. It sucks for america to be behind in some cases, huh?

  • I considered the i95cl - why not a Ericsson T68i? (Score:3, Informative)

    by PatJensen ( 170806 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @02:22PM (#3968283) Homepage
    I have Nextel currently with an i50sx. I like the service, works great for work. I looked at the i95cl, but price to performance wise Motorola's have a huge total cost of ownership with little feature parity with newer phones.

    Check this out, a $399 Motorola i95cl gets you:

    • A color display, with no programmable color themes, no picture caller ID and no image upload. (maybe in an upgrade they say.)
    • A nice Java Virtual Machine with some downloadable applications from Mot/Nextel.
    • Two-way, and the rest of the Nextel iDEN features.
    But, a $199 Sony Ericsso T68i on AT&T gets you:
    • Bluetooth AND Infrared.
    • GPRS and a color graphic-supported microbrowser.
    • A color display with uploadable themes, images, ringers, animations, screen savers.
    • Killer talk and standby times
    • Synchronization capable
    Anyways, I just ordered a T68i from AT&T Wireless GSM. They are in the process of building out their GSM coverage, but I think it's worth it to be an early subscriber and taking advantage of lower phone and monthly costs. One thing about Nextel, is their rates are expensive!

    -Pat

  • In trying to avoid OS licensing fees, Motorola has shot themselves in the foot.

    "Java-based OS" - While it may technically be cool, it's basically useless. An OS is as good as its applications, which means that unless you're using PalmOS or (dare I say it) Windows Crack Enhanced, you're dead in the water compared to the competition. No one is going to want to pay $$$ for a large phone that's NOT compatible with the majority of PDAs out there. (How many people have PDAs that are not PalmOS or WinCE? Not many. Linux PDAs are cool, but PalmOS is still the best in the market for PDAs in my opinion.)

    Someone noted that the battery life listed for this is crap compared to most other phones - another reason this is "wannabe" that will never truly succeed. For many people, battery life is EVERYTHING. This is why I will NEVER touch a color-display phone. Motorola tried the integrated StarTac/PDA before, no one I knew bought it.

    On the other hand, there's the Kyocera Smartphone 6035, which I have and I LOVE. It has killer battery life, runs all PalmOS apps, etc. It's bigger than a phone, yes. But considering I was carrying around a Palm III and a phone all the time before, it's a big improvement.

    Kyocera's next-gen phone (Due out in Sept-Oct) is color (unfortunately), PalmOS based, has a larger screen in a smaller phone. (It's a flip phone and the graffiti area is on the keypad portion while the screen is on the main body. kewl. Something like those nextgen Palm concept designs that looked like the Graffiti area pulled out from inside the unit.)

    Samsung's Palm-based phone is also far better than this thing and is Out There already, despite bad things I've heard about its abilities as a phone. (The review of it I saw indicated you have to dial the number on the touchscreen itself - screen fingerprints ahoy!)

    I believe there are also some WinCE phones out there too, which will blow away any proprietary OS for phone use - Still not something I'd buy since CE devices are generally not known for good battery life.

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