Features run from retro ringers to global positioning
Kevin Bross’ state-of-the-art cell phone sounds old.
Whenever someone calls, it plays a recording of a 1950s era Bell telephone ding-a-ling-a-ling.
“Heads turn,” said Bross, a Bloomingdale, N.J., technology consultant and unabashed cell phone lover. “People, especially younger ones, can’t quite figure it out.”
Bross’ old-fashioned ring is possible because his new-fangled “smart” phone – a Kyocera 7135 phone plus digital organizer – can crunch so much data it has practically replaced his laptop computer.
From phones packed with extras like Bross’ to a recently introduced Dick Tracy-style wrist phone to phones that record video clips, today’s wireless phones have moved far beyond the first clunky two-pound cell phone introduced 20 years ago.
The $500 Kyocera communicator sold by Verizon Wireless comes with 16 MB of data storage, or about twice as much as the first personal computers. It’s also got an on-board MP3 player and a Global Positioning Locator all packed into 6.6 ounces.
Consumers may not be clamoring for cell phones as complex as Bross’ – in fact a recent survey suggests consumers just want reliable voice service – but they are using cell phones in record numbers.
The push by wireless carriers Sprint PCS, AT&T Wireless, Cingular, T-Mobile, and others to get consumers to use their phones to tap into the Internet, send e-mail, and take photographs has led phone makers to come up with newer types and styles to suit every taste.
“This kind of P.T. Barnum innovation generally takes place when a market is new,” said Robert Rosenberg, president of Insight Research, a telecommunications market research firm based in Boonton, N.J. Eventually, said Rosenberg, phones will likely come with a set of features and functions that look pretty similar.
Until then, it’s a phone lover’s paradise.
Especially in the Far East.
In May, Japanese wireless carrier DoCoMo began selling the Dick Tracy-inspired wrist phone.
Clip the $310, four-ounce model onto your wrist and chat away. Or, if your arm gets tired, take it off and snap it straight into a handset you can use like a regular cell phone. Will we see this gadget on the market here anytime soon? Doubtful. It’s designed to run on Japan’s PHS network. But we can always hope.
China’s Haier Group recently rolled out the P5, a sticklike phone that tops the list in smallness. Weighing a mere 66 grams, this minuscule mobile dialer can store up to 300 names and numbers, and can record up to 15 minutes of voice. Oh, and it comes with a laser pointer.
For those who want a phone that looks different from the traditional “candy-bar” style or the “clamshell” model, there’s something new arriving soon.
Siemens plans to announce within the next several months which North American carrier will sell its new SL56 mobile “slider” phone. It’s got a keypad that slides up into the body of the phone.
Outdoorsy types, people whose jobs take them out into the weather a lot, and anyone with a tendency to drop their phone might want to look at Nextel’s offering.
It sells the Motorola i58sr, which comes with a lot of rubber on its case to give you a better grip. It’s also made to withstand shock and vibration, according to the company. And it gives users access to Nextel’s nationwide walkie-talkie network, which lets you communicate with other Nextel users by pushing a button.
And for anyone just hankering for a feature-packed phone that’s fairly reasonable, Nokia’s 3650 is available for $149 from AT&T Wireless.
It’s got lots of bells and whistles including an eye-catching circular keypad and the ability to take video clips and photographs.
For the 36-year-old Bross, who owns Butler, N.J.-based Abacus Consulting LLC, the features that make his souped-up cell phone invaluable are things such as the 3,000 names and phone numbers he’s got stored on it.
And the ability to send and receive e-mail while he’s on the go, and take notes that he later downloads to his office computer.
Bross knows a lot about his phone and was impatiently waiting to buy one before they went on the market this year. He likes the ability to record any kind of ringer, although for business reasons he opted not to keep one he programmed whenever a certain friend called him – it was a recording of Star Wars’ character Chewbaca’s roar.
So he settled on the Bell telephone ring.
But there was one feature about his new phone that surprised him.
“The screen is so bright I use it as a flashlight to get around my bedroom at night,” he said.
Cell phone and flashlight? It’s probably only a matter of time.
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