Cell Phones for E-Mail Fans

Few cell phones make typing easy, but as more mobile professionals demand devices that let them type e-mail and text messages, vendors are rolling out a new generation of handsets designed to handle this task more effectively. We tried out two innovative efforts--Research In Motion's BlackBerry 7100t and Sierra Wireless's Voq Professional Phone--and came away more impressed by the 7100t.

Both phones work on GSM/GPRS networks, and both of them promise to let you retrieve e-mail messages from Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange servers as well as from standard POP3 and IMAP accounts. The 7100t and the Voq also support SMS and MMS text messaging, along with the three most popular instant messaging services (AOL, Yahoo, and MSN). Battery life on both units seemed adequate--three or four days depending on usage. But otherwise, the two phones are quite different.

RIM's New Keyboard

The BlackBerry 7100t takes an alternative approach to text input. Unlike previous versions of RIM's popular handheld, the 7100t opts for a traditional phone keypad with eight extra keys, set as two additional columns--one on either side of the usual three columns (for 1 through 9, *,0, and #). The extra keys let RIM put two letters on most keys and one letter on a few others, instead of putting three or four letters on each key, as a standard handset does.

The letters are still laid out QWERTY-style for touch typing. But the experience feels counterintuitive at first: When you press a key with two letters, how can the phone know which of them you intend? Amazingly, it did--most of the time. RIM's built-in SureType software uses a 35,000-word dictionary that seemed remarkably accurate.

Navigation was also simpler than expected, and we liked the bright, high-resolution (240 by 260) screen and its whimsical icons--a welcome upgrade from the faded-looking displays of BlackBerries past.

Out of the box, the 7100t syncs with mail from a BlackBerry Enterprise Server; or you can use the BlackBerry Internet Service to retrieve your e-mail from multiple accounts (including Outlook, POP3, IMAP, and Web-based Notes). Unfortunately, we were unable to use the BlackBerry Internet Service for our Lotus Notes accounts. RIM tells us that the service doesn't work for certain authentication setups or for mailboxes containing a large number of messagesa??and there's no way to know in advance whether your setup will work.

Instant messaging wasn't yet activated in our beta unit. Web browsing was sluggish, but no more so than on other cell phones. One other drawback: Few additional applications are available for RIM's proprietary operating system.

Sierra's Pricey Voq

The Voq is larger, heavier, and, at $499, far more expensive than the $200 BlackBerry. At this writing, the Voq is available from relatively few resellers; you can't obtain it from a carrier--not even from AT&T, which will sell you service and the required SIM card.

To type on the Voq, you flip the cover on the bottom half of the phone (below a 2.5-inch, 176-by-220-pixel color display) sideways to reveal a usable but very small QWERTY keyboard similar to those included on most BlackBerries.

Because the Voq is based on the Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphones OS (a slimmed-down version of Microsoft's latest OS for Pocket PCs), you can sync with your desktop Outlook contacts, calendar, and e-mail via Microsoft's ActiveSync PC software. We found setting up the inbox of our shipping unit to retrieve Lotus Notes mail via POP3 and IMAP4 relatively easy, but we ran into problems syncing Notes via virtual private network (requiring a $99 upgrade to Sierra Wireless's VoqMail Pro). The e-mail sync eventually worked, but getting there took hours on the phone with a tech and our Notes guru.

We were able to send instant messages with Windows Mobile's MSN client. Supposedly the browser can handle AOL and Yahoo IM, too, but ours hung when we tried connecting to Yahoo's service.

After spending time with both units, we ended up preferring the BlackBerry 7100t. It's a far better value than the clunkier Voq, and it's worth considering as an alternative to PalmOne's excellent but expensive Treo 600 if you don't need a full keyboard.

Grace Aquino and Yardena Arar