If you're interested in a mobile phone with a keyboard, you may want to wait just a bit longer. Sierra Wireless and Nokia have both announced handsets worth considering. Also on tap: a new voice-activated Sprint phone from Samsung that lets you use speech to check the status of its battery life and signal strength. I'm looking forward to trying out these phones in the not-too-distant future; but in the meantime, here's what the vendors are saying.
Keyboard on Board
Sierra Wireless, which makes wireless PC card modems for AT&T, Sprint PCS, and Verizon, has announced a keyboard-equipped PDA/phone hybrid called Voq. The company is working on a carrier partnership and hopes to have the GSM/GPRS-based phone available in North America and Europe by the second half of this year.
Pricing for the Voq has not been set, but Sierra expects it to be comparable to current PDA/phone hybrids such as PalmOne's Treo 600 (available through Cingular and Sprint PCS for $500 to $700 depending on plan) and Research In Motion's BlackBerry 7230 (available through T-Mobile for about $400).
The Voq's unique design sets it apart from other current keyboard-enabled devices. About the size and shape of an eyeglass case, it sports an LCD on the top half; the keypad on the bottom half flips open sideways to reveal a small QWERTY keyboard.
Although the Voq's color screen is narrower than those on some other hybrids such as the Treo 600 or the BlackBerry 7230, the display is still relatively good-sized and, in an indoor demonstration, looked reasonably bright.
The Voq uses Microsoft's Windows Mobile 2003 Smartphone operating system, which supports slimmed-down versions of Microsoft applications such as Pocket Internet Explorer, Pocket Outlook, MSN Messenger, and Windows Media Player. Sierra Wireless says you'll be able to configure the phone to work with various e-mail clients, including Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange, and Novell GroupWise.
The Voq is equipped with a 200-MHz Intel XScale processor, 48MB of ROM, 32MB of RAM, a Secure Digital/MultiMediaCard slot, and a voice recorder. Sierra Wireless says the phone's battery should last up to 6 hours of talk time or 100 hours on standby.
The company is targeting Voq for mobile professionals who need a portable communication device.
Quirky Keypad
Nokia has introduced the next generation of its keyboard-equipped 6800 cell phone, which is being offered by AT&T and Cingular. The upcoming 6820 features the same design as the 6800. It has an LCD on the top half and a keypad on the bottom that flips to reveal a split QWERTY keyboard that flanks the LCD. When the keyboard is in use, the LCD automatically switches to a horizontal orientation.
The 6820's main new feature is a built-in VGA camera. The GSM/GPRS/EDGE-based 6820 (EDGE being the next-generation of GSM/GPRS, with speeds in the 100 kilobits per seconds range, or faster) supports Bluetooth and POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP e-mail. You'll also be able to send MMS and instant messages.
Nokia says the 6820 will be available in the first quarter of this year. Its price will be determined when a carrier signs on.
Asking for Info
If you've ever called an airline to check the status of a flight, you've probably experienced a voice-activated menu system that lets you receive information by saying what you're looking for. Samsung, along with Sprint PCS and Voice Signal, has applied a similar concept to the VI660 phone. It's available through Sprint PCS for $80 with a two-year service contract, or $230 without.
Powered by Voice Signal's technology, the VI660 lets you retrieve information on battery level, roaming status, and signal strength, and even the unit's phone number, by speaking a command into the handset. You'll hear the information through the earpiece. Retrieving status info incurs airtime minutes.
If you don't want your fingers to do the dialing, you can recite a number into the phone and it will compose it for you. And, as with many other recent phones, you can call someone whose number is stored in the handset's phonebook by simply saying the person's name: The VI660 automatically dials the number.
Got a question or comment? Write to Grace Aquino.
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