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Right now my company's building a couple of systems and we've got ppl running around all over the place. It's hard to reach people at their desks. It'd be kinda cool if we had a form of walkie talkie with a list of ppl we wanna talk to on it, tap their name and start talking. Beats using cell phones, plus we only bug the particular person we wanna bug. (as opposed to having broadcast convos over a walkie-talkie...)

Ever heard of Nextel?

...is that the wireless companies have been fighting number portability for years (it's still not required: after being passed into law 1996, the FCC has postponed implementation every year) and yet they claim them as part of their fees: Nextel, AT&T, etc

If you have a Motorola i88s and download a midlet I wrote you can track your cell phone and have it's position update a web page in real time. You can also mark an interesting location to see where it is on a map or aerial photo later. This is possible thanks to Nextel's always on internet connection for $9.99 for 1 Meg per month. Of course if the enemy has web access this wouldn't be too good

If you have a Motorola i88s and download a midlet I wrote you can track your cell phone and have it's position update a web page in real time. You can also mark an interesting location to see where it is on a map or aerial photo later. This is possible thanks to Nextel's always on internet connection for $9.99 for 1 Meg per month

...my dad's company has been using Nextel phones, combined with java apps to track his sales employees for the last 2 months.
Do a google search for more info.

Nextel offers the capability to upload Java applications to their java-enabled Motorola phones here at their site.

They also have an OTA (over-the-air) feature to download the apps to all phones in your business/group/whatever collective you are in.

Motorola also has a Developer site which has a user support board with active Motorola people helping answer questions, etc. here at THEIR site

I'm not a java coder and have little desire to do so, but perhaps when I'm old and grizzly with nothing else to do I'll write my first "hello phone" j2me app :)

But I am glad java is on the phones, and I most certainly look forward to Linux.

What ones have you seen? As I said, I've never seen a Java-based phone that prevents developers from loading their own apps.

You can get the LG 5350, Samsung SPH-A500, Samsung SPH-N400, Sanyo 4900, and Sanyo 5300 through Sprint PCS. There's a developer program at developer.sprintpcs.com.

You can get the Motorola i85s, i50sx, i55sr, i80s, i90c, and i95cl through Nextel. There are developer programs from Nextel and Motorola.

You can get the RIM BlackBerry 5810 from AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile. RIM has a developer's site with an SDK and simulator.

the motorolla i90c is.

it's a nextel phone.

-eek

Isn't that what Nextel Direct Connect is ?

Kind of sounds like nextels direct connect

My biggest concern regarding SMS/text paging is how wireless carriers like Nexel make it trivial to send a massive payload of messages, just by knowing the area code/exchange and creating a program to hit every possible number combination.

Especially with a high propability rate of success, being that wireless providers can fill up exchanges pretty fast with subscribers. A more logical approach would be for each cellular subscriber to create a unique alias and/or number combination for sending messages, making brute force attacks much less propable (assuming you don't post your address on the web, only to be harvested by email-harvesting spam-spiders).

Or, disabling the option altogether. As a Nextel subscriber, there's nothing I could do to stop someone from costing me 10 cents a text message - it comes with every plan i've seen, so theoretically it would be easy to hit almost every subscriber within an NPA/exchange.

Actually there is a nice expandable keyboard available for most of the Motorola iDen line of phones. Nextel even offers it at a discount when you sign up for the web service (that unlike many other providers does not eat into your minutes). The keyboard plugs into the feature port at the base of the phone.

I have had my Motorola i1000plus for a while now and it is a great rugged little phone (it was fairly tiny when it first came out). Still has the best damned speaker phone on the market. Better than any high end home phone's speakerphone.

I msut admit the i95c is tempting thought. Perhaps it is finally time to upgrade?

It monitors speed (how fast they were driing), seat belt status (if they had the seat belts buckled), how many people were in the car (pressure-sensitive switches in the seats), and can be configured remotely by the parents--I don't have kids myself (only 22), but it's a great 'rule enforcer' for kids who have broken their parents trust when it comes to driving, but situations (e.g., school, work, etc) prevent the parent from totally acting the 'take the keys away and lock the doors' approach for punishment.

We have some companies who use these in their fleet vehicles or secondary finance market vehicles so they can look online and see where their cars are, prevent the cars from starting, see how many people have been riding with the driver, and send/receive text messages to/from the driver.

We market the product as informational use only, but people are using it in a Big Brother kind of sense. That bugs me--but that's another story for another day.

Nextel has a rate plan (at least in my area) where all incoming calls are free.

I'd gladly have 300 minutes a month if I said "Call me back on my cell". Plan starts at $60.00. Not quite so feasable when you use your cell phone for making LD calls though.

-techwolf

Games on wireless phones have been around for quite a while already. I'm not talking about snake or tic tac toe, but golf, motorcycle games, bowling, wrestling, etc. Sun's J2ME has been providing this technology on Nextel phones since March of 2001.

If you check out the games section of the iDEN Update Application Catalog you can see that many, many games can be downloaded to your phone today.

Now, graphically, these are nice. They will become compelling when Nextel releases it's next phone, the i95cl (press release here) which we should expect within the next 1-2 months. The primary benefit of the new phone being not only the color screen, but the ability to store many more applications through memory improvements as well as processor speed improvements.

I have seen GPS enabled multiplayer games in the works, and many other cool things to come from the Nextel developer community. If you are a developer, please check out the Nextel Developer Program and Motorola's iDEN Developer Program. Both sites have free registration, resources, and special pricing on some equipment for developers. Both also have procedures to establish co-marketing relationships.

Games on wireless phones have been around for quite a while already. I'm not talking about snake or tic tac toe, but golf, motorcycle games, bowling, wrestling, etc. Sun's J2ME has been providing this technology on Nextel phones since March of 2001.

If you check out the games section of the iDEN Update Application Catalog you can see that many, many games can be downloaded to your phone today.

Now, graphically, these are nice. They will become compelling when Nextel releases it's next phone, the i95cl (press release here) which we should expect within the next 1-2 months. The primary benefit of the new phone being not only the color screen, but the ability to store many more applications through memory improvements as well as processor speed improvements.

I have seen GPS enabled multiplayer games in the works, and many other cool things to come from the Nextel developer community. If you are a developer, please check out the Nextel Developer Program and Motorola's iDEN Developer Program. Both sites have free registration, resources, and special pricing on some equipment for developers. Both also have procedures to establish co-marketing relationships.

I've been a loyal AT&T wireless customer for over 3 years now (I'm forced to use it because its a business account) and I've had an 8260 for over 2 years now. My phone is on its last leg but AT&T has not had an exciting phone since the release of the 8260. They have a Motorola V60 but it has no major advantages over the 8260. When are we going to see new phones? Nextel has some really neat phones with a lot of features but their coverage in my area (PA) is sporadic at best. The phone I really want is the 7650 but it doesn't look like it will be arriving in the states anytime soon.

Nextel phones have a Direct Connect feature that bypasses the Cell masts.

Nextel phones have a Direct Connect feature that bypasses the Cell masts.

Just because US companies don't use GSM doesn't mean that US cell phone technology is five years behind GSM-using countries.

I've got a UK Orange mobile for when I travel in Europe, a SprintPCS phone for personal use, and a Nextel for work. Based on sound quality alone, US phone networks beat GSM hands down (at least Orange's network).

How about features? Can your precious GSM phone networks do Voicecommand or DirectConnect? I doubt it.

I think it's better to compare inter-country GSM roaming to interstate roaming in the US. My Sprint & Nextel phone work in almost every major market in the US (and Sprint even in Canada) - that's all that matters to most people in this country.

So ... SMS pretty much has to be delivered via email here. According to page 7 of this pdf, your phone's email is tendigits@messaging.nextel.com. On page 42 of this other i85-specific PDF this details sending email from a Nextel phone.

42. The answer to everything

Just ask your european counterparts what their phone's email addresses are. If their phones don't have the feature, the problem, for the very first time, is their technological inadequacies.

And I don't even have Nextel. I have AT&T!

So ... SMS pretty much has to be delivered via email here. According to page 7 of this pdf, your phone's email is tendigits@messaging.nextel.com. On page 42 of this other i85-specific PDF this details sending email from a Nextel phone.

42. The answer to everything

Just ask your european counterparts what their phone's email addresses are. If their phones don't have the feature, the problem, for the very first time, is their technological inadequacies.

And I don't even have Nextel. I have AT&T!

Neither cells nor ricochet work well underground, though.

Personally, I see the pay phone staying with us a while longer. I've used one this month, when I didn't want to run up my company cell, and needed to make a long, long distance call. I think they're still needed.

I have a Motorola i1000Plus iDEN phone linked with Clearnet (whom I have to have some serious discussions with given my current reception - but thats another story). And I have to wonder, why make an iDEN phone the 'ultimate' for phone gaming?

iDEN phones are typically targeted at the 'Business' and 'Professional' market, people who are willing to pay more for their service and airtime than you would for a standard PCS service. You get the additional features, but you pay for it.

This is not to say that these markets would not be interested in having good gaming on their phones - given that many are geeks, I'm sure a large percentage would love to have this capability. However, given that there are far fewer iDEN phones out there than TDMA/CDMA standard PCS phones (I'm talking North America here, not you lucky Europians who get GSM). Would it not make more sense for Motorola to target this towards the average cellular market? The available pool is much larger, filled with people more likely to make a purchasing decision based whether the phone plays the games they want or not. (If your planning to go iDEN it's probably because you need some of the specific features. While gaming might be a nice perk, it isn't likely to seriously affect your purchasing decision.)

Thats my take anyhow...

From an employees point of view i can understand the other members opinions on the company ability to reimburse the cost of the phone bill. From an employers point of view i can say that will pay for all business related phone calls and personal calls made to 1 or 2 other phone numbers such as your home number and, if married, your spouses job number.

As for cellular service goes....my hometown is New York City and i travel alot. Its been to my experience that all calling plans differ from state to state..Being that i am from NY during my last visit...July...After days of research AT&T had the calling plan that best fit my needs...they offer the "One-Rate Plan" which lets you make calls from anywhere in the continental US to anywhere in the continental US. There is NO ROAMING fees and NO LONG DISTANCE fees. 600 min free per month with and additional 200 as a signup bonus a total of 800 mins. When your time is up you pay .25 per min for calls. Unlike other services AT&T does round up calls to the nearest minute...meaning five 20sec calls will cost you 5 min....even when your call drops. Other companies dont charge you unless you go past that first minute. As for the cellular phone you would have to research that and find one that best suits your connectivity needs. PCS phones are great because you can receive email on them, also some Internet companies have services which will send you text information such as stock quotes, horoscopes, the latest news and scores of your favorite team...

Checkout NEXTEL I hear this company has the best world wide service, unfortunately before i signed my contract with AT&T, NEXTEL wasnt available in my area but if my service provider doesnt offer me a better plan when my contract is up... NEXTEL will have a new customer!!!