A PCS Phone that thinks it's a computer
Product: Nokia 9290 Communicator
From: Nokia (Nokia.com)
Version tested: 9290 GSM (1900 MHz, for use in Canada and US)
Price: about C$1000. (US$599)
Pros: Hands-free operation, speakerphone feature, web browser, a TFT color screen and PDA functions are all packed into this GSM mobile phone. Multimedia card slot. 16 MB memory included.
Cons: Tiny keyboard. No touch screen. Requires Fido chip but phone is not sold by Fido. Bulky. Expensive. No GPRS support (or option). Modem speeds are around 96K - 14.4K.
PC Buyer's Guide had some hands-on time this month with Nokia's new Communicator 9290 phone. As was the case with this phone's predecessors, the 9100i, 9110 and 9210, this is a phone that tries to do it all: it's a wireless modem that connects to your PC laptop via an IR link; it's a wireless web browser and FTP client; it's an email client (supporting POP3, IMAP4, SMTP, MIME 1 & 2 and MHTML) and much more. You can beam messages or transfer files to other phone users, you can beam calendar appointments to people or use it to keep notes. There's a full alphanumeric keypad. There's even a speakerphone that allows you to type notes while you talk.
Unlike the original Communicator 91x0 units, which used GEOS 3.0 and a series of navigation buttons to move through the various menus that control the functions, this model uses the more elegant Symbian operating system and a 640x200-pixel color screen to provide an elegant, albeit slow, mobile web browsing solution No pointing device is required. A set of cursor buttons controls the pointer position, and a bank of quick-access buttons to the right of the screen provides easy access to menu functions. The phone's PC connectivity suite integrates seamlessly with Windows, Mac, and even Linux productivity apps.
Outwardly, the 8.6 oz, 16 cm long unit looks like a standard, albeit unusually thick, mobile phone. However, its clamshell case opens up to reveal a colour Thin-film Transistor (TFT) LCD screen and a full alphanumeric keyboard inside. Interestingly, you don't talk into the front of the phone, where a 5-line LCD is visible -- you talk into the back.
In Nov. 2000, Nokia followed this unit with announcement of a colour version, dubbed the 9210 Communicator.
The 9290 does not transmit data at the HSCSD rate of 43.2 kbps (kilobits per second). Nokia says the 9290 transmits data at a maximum rate of 14.4 kbps. Nor does it support the GPRS General Packet Radio Service -- it uses the widely established, but slower, GSM data network. Technically a variant of TDMA, GSM is the cellular system most common in Europe and is supported in at least 109 countries. GSM and CDMA are completely incompatible, unless you have a dual-mode phone. GSM currently has the widest selection of phones, but fewer roaming options than CDMA.
And, in a marketing snafu that must surely be causing the company some grief, the phone requires a Fido chip, yet Microcell Solutions, the parent company of Fido, has elected not to offer the unit as a Fido phone in Canada. Thus, says Nokia Canada, this will be the first Communicator available through alternative channels: computer stores and electronics chains.
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