Wireless Services Expand

ATLANTA -- New cell phone services ranging from battery boosters to enhanced resources and global positioning functions, as well as creative use of bar codes, are debuting at the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association's show here this week.

The announcements involve both cellular phones and personal digital assistants. They include some familiar players and newcomers, notably EarthLink, which is preparing a converged voice and data service. A few highlights of the event:

Voice from EarthLink: EarthLink will begin offering cellular voice services to its customers, who already have access to EarthLink-branded cellular data services. EarthLink won't say whose network it will be using, but since the data services are basically Verizon's, it's likely that the voice services will also be Verizon's.

EarthLink will introduce its converged voice/data service later this spring on a "handheld device with a QWERTY keyboard," company executives say. Again, the device isn't formally identified, but it looked a lot like Verizon's new BlackBerry CDMA phone.

Lost and Found: Many new cars already come with GPS navigation systems, but several vendors are showing similar systems that require only a cell phone with a GPS chip.

One such service, ULocate, uses MapQuest technology. Not only does it get you where you're going (with maps and directions), but it also allows you to pinpoint the location of friends, family members, and colleagues who have authorized you to track them using their cell phones.

Charge It: Need a quick fix of power for a cell phone with a spent battery? About the size of a typical dental floss dispenser, Compact Power Systems' Cellboost plugs into a cell phone's charging port and instantly provides about 60 minutes of talk and 60 hours of standby time. It's available for numerous LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sanyo, Siemens, and Sony Ericsson phones at a suggested retail price of $10, with street prices dipping as low as $6.

Cut-Rate Directory Assistance: Frequent directory assistance users who are tired of paying their cell phone operator $1 a pop to look up numbers should check out Easy411. This no-fuss, low-cost alternative is available by dialing 1-877-327-9411. You get a live operator who'll help you with up to two listings, including reverse lookups--all for 65 cents a call. No fuss, no bother, no PIN numbers to remember.

Free Upgrade: T-Mobile is offering its customers the latest version of Microsoft's operating system for its Pocket PC Phone Edition-based PDA-phone hybrids--for free. You can download Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PCs for free at T-Mobile's Web site until June 30.

Just Scan It: This summer, you can expect new services that will allow you to use your camera-equipped cell phone as a bar-code scanner.

ScanZoom, for example, has software that not only captures the bar-code image but decodes it right on your phone. This permits more-accurate identification of products--images sent to a server commonly arrive in degraded--and therefore less easily recognizable--condition. Once the product you've scanned is identified, you'll be invited to buy it.

ScanZoom could be used for many types of items, but its demo used music. Similarly, MusiKube showed a bar-code scanning system that can identify and sell music.