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Nokia 9290 Finally Available in the US
AmyZ writes "The new Nokia 9290 Communicator has finally become available for US residents. Europe has had the 9210 for over a year now. Its a GSM based phone and well as a PDA that uses Symbian as its OS." I still don't quite feel that the PDA/Cellphone
combo has come of age, but its nice to see another entry. That machine does looks to
be sufficient for basic web tasks.
a coworker just got a treo and i played with it for a while, and can't say that i like it at all.
contrary to what i've read here many times, you can talk on the phone using and ear piece and go through your schedule at the same time, and yes that could be useful. but combining them takes away from both products and the only advantage is carrying around 1 less gadget.
all you end up with is a tiny PDA and a huge cell phone.
i remember seeing a tiny concept pda a while ago with flip out screens that merge to make 1 big screen... if they could do that and keep the size to a standard (small) cell phone, that might be useful, but until then, a visor prism + cell serves my need much better.
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
Do you detect the strong possibility of pr0n sites aimed at wireless device browsers? I wonder if this thing has 16 or 8 bit colour. (teehee!)
Well I nolonger use the Text messenging on my phone due to SPAM see http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=33349&cid=3602 181
BUT I at one time did use both a PDA and a phone.. I used the PDA for notes, phone numbers and the daytimer features.. but lugging around both a phone and a PDA is a pain if you have them both clipped to your belt.. So now I just use the Phone.. The daytimer features of an average Phone suck (and they usualy charge ALOT for the data cable and software if you want to sync it with your PC), so I would gladly have a PDA/Phone if it had a good form factor and full PDA features.. including a way to sync it with a PC.
EA David Gardner -"... but the consumers have proven that actually what they want is fun."
Japan is a good indicator, as it tends to be about 1.5 years ahead of Britain (and, ooh, a decade or so ahead of the U.S. :)
you're right about japan, but dead wrong about Britain. I just got back from London, where you see most peeps running around with a brick next to their ear...
it was like a 90's flashback...
So I definitely think you have an excellent point concering the fact that many people don't want a complex cell phone.
But I want both a Cell Phone and a PDA. I want to play chess while I'm on the Bus. I want to have my shopping list with me when I go to the store. I want to be reminded that I have an upcoming meeting, etc. And even more complex features that integrate the power of both a Cell Phone and a general computing device like a "Don't ring if I'm in the middle of a meeting" setting.
So it's completely reasonable that simple models will cater to people like you that don't want all that extra baggage (price and size), and that other models will cater to people like me that want more features.
I can envision these products being sold like swiss army knives:
"The only rights you have are the rights you are willing to fight for."
Yes, it does (Google is your friend :-)
F-Secure's version exists and there's also
(not so suprisingly SSH's version.
Ville
I've used the 9000 for a few years. It was a great remote terminal (telnet/ssh) for a lot of sysadmin tasks; it saved me more than once while working at various startups around the south SF bay area. When the 8890 came out, I took to carrying that instead due to it's immensely small size and good IrDA-modem capabilities (just set it beside the laptop and rock on)... as I finally had a tiny Sony VAIO laptop I could keep with me.
.WAV (or with extra software, .MP3) files for ringtones, coupled with the possibility of assigning a ring-tone to every contact entry in the phone, memory permitting. Having one's phone ring like a Daft Punk song or a friend's call announced by a good Pulp Fiction quote is just _way_ too much fun.
The VAIO is long gone, replaced by a meaty Dell 8200. The 9290 finally made it here after 8 months of waiting. The battery life is 8-10x that of the 9000 communicator, the screen is actually useable, the MMC additional memory comes in very handy, and the keyboard is no worse than before. It's a lot faster than the 9000 too.
Things Palmies will hate:
1. No touchscreen
2. Thumboarding-only
3. Most of the good software is from the UK market, and overall there's a lot less of it
It drives my ex-roomie (the Visor freak) nuts, but my friends who are WinCE users took to it pretty quickly. We're playing with the SDK now, trying to get some of our more favored clients to work on the device.
#1 "Geek Factor" the phone has: The ability to play
NOTE: For you California types, poor ol' behind-the-times Cingular has no clue this phone exists, and if you tell them you're using it on their network they tend to freak at you. It takes some serious arguing to get the SIM set up right (for 3 numbers, data/fax/voice) but they will eventually do it... and none of their tech group knows how to configure the WAP browser to work with their network. Their half-assed "my wireless web" product just doesn't cope well. Within a month or two they will hopefully come up to speed on it. I had the advantage of having gone through the 3-number setup for the older 9000, so I got off pretty easy. Once configured properly, it'll forward data calls to an attached laptop or receive faxes in the background, no user intervention required.
For those who asked earlier... yes, you can flip it open and keep working while you talk. You have your choice of speakerphone or ear-piece (depending on how public you want your convo to be). While the phone will intially default to a display showing the calling parties (up to 5 can be in a conference call at once, depending on your network), you can swap to whatever app you wish, for taking notes or reading from a spreadsheet, etc. The 'sound recorder' app will also operate during a call, and will capture both sides of the phone conversation very nicely.
It's not the 'uber PDA'. It's pretty big for a phone. As a combo-device, however, it does very well. The apps integrate with the GSM functions nicely. All my basic PDA needs are met: note taking, contact management, SMS management, faxing, email and simple web browsing. All the phone needs are there too, with the same features as most any Nokia phone, with nice GUI add-ons if you desire... with a battery lifespan that'll compete with any modern phone. These basic needs are quite well met by a device that still fits on the hip and only has to be charged at the end of the work-week, letting me leave the bulky laptop on the desk most of the time. If I really need to do more, I'll be sure to pack up the laptop and bring it along -- and even then, I can use the 9290 as a GSM-modem.