Thursday, June 23, 2005

Personal Technology -- Samsung Phone Offers Wireless Broadband, But It Has Drawbacks

Personal Technology -- Samsung Phone Offers Wireless Broadband, But It Has Drawbacks "For Americans who want a smart cellphone with a built-in keyboard for typing email, the best choice by far has been PalmOne's Treo 650, sold by most major U.S. wireless carriers.
The standard BlackBerry hand-helds from Research In Motion make clunky phones, and the slimmer BlackBerry 7100, while an acceptable phone, lacks a full keyboard. The models using Microsoft's hand-held software have either lacked keyboards altogether or been too large to make comfortable phones. In contrast, the Treo is both roomy enough to be a good hand-held email device and compact enough to be a good phone.
Starting today, Verizon Wireless will introduce in the U.S. the first Microsoft-based smart phone with a built-in keyboard that is about the same shape, size and weight as the Treo. This new phone, the $599 Samsung i730, has one major capability the $399 Treo lacks -- the ability to surf the Web and to send and receive email at broadband speeds.
...
Finally, the i730 is $200 more than the Treo 650. But if you prefer Microsoft's software to Palm's or crave having wireless broadband in a phone, the Samsung i730 is a good choice."

No comments: