Motorola's i95cl

thefalconer writes "MSNBC has a very detailed article about Motorola's new all-in-wonder phone offered by Nextel. It is a PDA, has a Walkie-Talkie, phone, web browser, instant messaging, addressbook, it has a high resolution Color LCD screen, and it's running on a Java Based OS! It even comes in a variety of styles and colors just to your taste. There is so much to this phone that it makes you ask "how'd they get all that, into this tiny little thing?" Makes me want to ditch my old phone for one of these right now!"

Comments

i85s

[BlueTooth]

I have an i85s and aside from the color and the flip phone form factor, it has almost the same specs as the i95...The color is a big thing from implemenation standpoint, but not so much from usability. Unless they've made great strides in the UI design, the thing won't work that well as a PDA...I don't think any phone can be a good PDA without either a touchscreen or qwerty keyboard.

Just my $0.02

~Adam

Press Release....

[H3XA]

.... from four months ago...

Motorola's i95cl Press Release

- HeXa

"all-in-wonder phone"

[Weffs11]

I'll buy one when it has a real keyboard.
Ever try sending a message on a keypad? MAJOR pain in the ass. You can use chat-shorthand to send message to friends, but replying to business email? Where is the spll chker?

Re:"all-in-wonder phone"

[Anonymous Coward]

Ever try sending a message on a keyboard? MAJOR pain in the ass

You're obviously doing it wrong -- use your fingers!!

Re:"all-in-wonder phone"

[Rob.Mathers]

The problem with adding a real keyboard (I'll take that to mean a thumb-type QWERTY) is that it takes up too much space on a phone. It seems that Motorola is going for phone more than PDA with this thing, and phones nowadays are getting smaller and smaller. Even the Nokia 51xx series, which is on the larger end of phones now, wouldn't be able to accommodate a keyboard. The fact of the matter is that manufacturers realise that most people want a small size, and that means no keyboard.
Also consider that very few people in North America actually use features like text and email messaging.

Re:"all-in-wonder phone"

[rbeattie]

You're obviously very old (at least 24) and from a country that hasn't had SMS for very long. You've got to check out the teens in Europe who all have cell phones and GSM service with SMS. They use it like crazy because they're all using pre-paid accounts and SMS is cheaper then a call. They can type with both thumbs on a normal telephone keypad faster than I can probably type on a normal keyboard. You've got to see it to believe it.

-Russ

when will someone develop the advanced technology

[reduced]

required to make a cell phone ring like a normal one?

heh heh

[Dr. Awktagon]

Until then I was using some of the built-in, pre-composed responses. Needless to say one co-worker was confused when I sent him a message saying "I love you"!

But the confusion quickly turned into shared delight as Gary and Tom discovered the vibrating silent-ring feature and sent each other instant messages long into the night.*

Motorola.. bringing people together..

*optional waterproof cover required

Uh oh.

[DarkHelmet]

and it's running on a Java Based OS!

Sorry, but enthusiastic bantor about Operating Systems are reserved for Linux items only.

This story has angered the Open Source Gods. Retract this open enthusiasm at once, or fear their retribution.

copy&paste time

[Jucius Maximus]

Motorola i95cl

General Features

* Color Display
* Voice Recorder
* Speakerphone
* Voice Activation
* Multi-Language Support
* Time & Date Display
* SIM Card Operation
* Custom Styles Settings
* Pre-Installed Software Applications
* JAVA(TM) 2 Micro Edition Capable**

SLIM BATTERY: 19g, up to 2h talk time, up to 45h standby

EXTENDED BATTERY: 33g, up to 3.33h talk time, up to 75 standby.

(hmmm ... battery life seems to be its most apparent weakness. My LG VX1 / TM-520 is rated at 180 min talk / 110h standby from the standard battery.)***

Digital Cellular Phone Service

* Voice Activated Dialing
* 250 Entry Phonebook
* Quickstore Phone Numbers
* Last 20 Recent Call List*
* Turbo Dial® one-touch dialing
* VibraCall® alert

Digital Two-Way Radio

* One-Touch Private & Group Call
* Quickstore Private IDs
* Built-In Speaker

Message Service

* Consolidated In-Box Storage
* Voice & Message Mail Indicators
* Time & Date Stamp*

Data Capable*

* Software Download Capability
* Internet Access Services
* T9® Text Input for Fast Entry

Performance Specifications

* Dimensions: 90mm X 50mm X 28mm with Slim Battery
* Weight: 154.4g
* Power 600mW typical
* Frequency Range:
Tx 806 - 825 Mhz/Rx 851-870 Mhz
* Channel Spacing: 25 kHz
* Channel Access: TDMA
* Operating Temperature: -10C to + 60C
* Storage Temperature (Radio Only): -40C to + 85C

Specifications are typical and subject to change.

* Network and subscription dependent feature not available in all areas.
** Visit www.motorola.com/idenupdate for a list of downloadable software applications.
*** I was not paid by LG to type that :-)

Not a PDA

[Cato]

Despite the article calling it a PDA phone, it is what's called a featurephone, similar to the Ericsson T68i. If you are on iDEN it sounds like a reasonable phone, but I would want Bluetooth so I could use a wireless headset (Motorola makes a good one that's the size of four or five postage stamps).

And of course the OS is not written in Java, it is just running J2ME apps (hopefully MIDP ones). For some apps for such Java phones, see www.midlet.org and www.mobiled.net.

Re:when will someone develop the advanced technolo

[Sycraft-fu]

They do have normal rings. My cellphone sounds almost the same as my cordless. Most people just program in silly, cutesy rings or songs or the like because they like it. The phones themselves have a host of normal rings.

Re:tell me something

[zulux]

Our phones are larger because they *do more* - see, America is a large place, with lots of spaces. Those spaces are served by analog cell service, and guess what: those analog sending-and-receiving things (we call them radios) add bulk to our phones.

Also, if we crazy-americans can't get out handgun out qucik enough, we can just beat and GSM totin' weasel-faced euro-toll with out CRAZY -HUGE CELL PHONES.

Note: Non San Francisco Americans will never refer to their cell phone as a 'handy'. God knows how the Europeans picked that habit up...but it must have somthing to do with the water. Or the Gremans. There up to somthing - I just know it.

SonyEricsson P800

[juuri]

http://www.sonyericsson.com/cebit/p800.htm

I am suprised no one has mentioned this yet as this appears to be the first truly killer integrated solution to come along. Phone sized, with a decent display, bluetooth, java, gprs, camera, memory expansion and lots more rolled up in a symbian (psion) os.

groan....

[Dynedain]

a java OS

why do we have to keep coming up with new operating systems for these things? I hate to admit it, but Microsoft is on the right track with these things.

I love my Samsung I-300....phone+color PALM....

Whats the point of being able to store all these wonderfull names and addresses, if you cant transfer them to someone else without a hassle?

Re:And the reason for that is

[squiggleslash]

That's not true. GSM and I-136/D-AMPS/"TDMA" may use an underlying time-division-multiple-access technology, but saying that this means the phones are essentially using the same transport layer is like saying that trains and cars can travel on the same "roads" because they both use wheels as the underlying transport layer. The details matter, and the details are more than just protocols you use.

Time Division Multiple Access means taking a slice of spectrum, subdividing it into even more slices, and then subdividing each slice into different time slots. Each phone making an active call is given a time slot and spectrum sub-slice, which typically changes each time the time slot is used (so that the phone isn't transmitting on the same frequency all the time which helps eliminate static conditions - where one misaligned phone permanently screws up the calls of neighbours, for instance.)

You can already see there are a lot of variables. How large are the spectrum subslices? I don't remember the details off hand, but IIRC it's something like 30KHz for "TDMA" (IS-136, etc) and a much larger slice for GSM. GSM splits the time slot into 64 slots, IIRC, carrying 8 "calls" per spectrum sub-slice, whereas for IS-136 etc it's something like 18, carrying three calls per spectrum sub-slice. And, all importantly, what is the encoding used? Splitting the frequency and time space is one thing, but there's always the question of what types of waveform you transmit - FSK, MFM, etc. A V.21 modem doesn't use a transmission protocol remotely similar to a V.32 modem, and the same sorts of differences apply to how your mobile phone works. This is becoming more of a concern recently now that Ericsson has developed "EDGE". EDGE keeps most of the details above the same for GSM, but massively increases the bitrate, simply through using a different type of waveform.

A phone that offers both IS-136/etc functionality and GSM needs either a special chipset developed or needs to have chipsets for both underlying systems installed on the radio side of the phone. You wouldn't be able to, say, change the firmware on a GSM phone and expect it to work on an IS-136/etc network.

I think part of the confusion here is that there's a lot of CDMA advocates around, who have "Amiga-fan" syndrome, where they'll simply accuse everything other than CDMA, as Qualcomm implements it (IS-95 and cdmaOne), of being the "same" technology and attribute GSM faults to IS-136 and vice-versa, because of emotion rather than logic (anyone who saw the Amiga wars during the early 90s has an idea of what I'm talking about, where the Amiga was the "only" computer that multitasked and only it had shared libraries and... and...)* Anyone who's used all three types of phone (cdmaOne/IS-95, IS-136/D-AMPS/"TDMA", and GSM) will know that there are radical differences between all three systems, but people who haven't still believe things like GSM and IS-136 have the same voice quality, that the underlying systems work the same way, etc.

It would save AT&T and Cingular wireless, both of whom are switching to GSM, a huge dollop of money were it true. Upgrading their base stations to support GSM would be a simple matter of loading new firmware.

(* Note: I loved the Amiga to death and thought it genuinely was superior. "CDMA", IS-95, on the other hand, suffers from having relatively lousy functionality compared to GSM, call quality is roughly equivalent and call reliability seems poor, on Sprint PCS's network at least. I wouldn't use a PDA phone with something that doesn't support personal mobility, which makes GSM the only choice for me right now. GSM is starting to support a variety of underlying transport layers, including EDGE and a CDMA-based system [not compatable with IS-95], which we'll start seeing in newer phones as 3G begins to take hold.)

whiny americans

[ywwg]

why is it whenever there's a thread about new cell phones, the first thing I always see is americans bitching about how they just want to talk? Duh, if you just want to talk on your cell phone, just get a 5year old used nokia, that'll work fine.

for the rest of us who actually embrace new technology, I want a color display, ir for palm pilot syncing, fast sms capability, gprs for data transfer and fast web service.

I don't understand the reluctance for people on slashdot, a site devoted to the latest computer hardware and software, to get into sweet cellphones. It's like everyone's running around with linux laptops looking for free 802.11 nets, enjoying their massive storage mp3 or md player, developing new cool software, and talking on three pound analog cell phones from the late 80s. why is this?

my theory is that people are just jealous of the phones that everyone else in the world can get, and so they get defensive and pretend they don't want any of that. It sucks for america to be behind in some cases, huh?

I considered the i95cl - why not a Ericsson T68i?

[PatJensen]

I have Nextel currently with an i50sx. I like the service, works great for work. I looked at the i95cl, but price to performance wise Motorola's have a huge total cost of ownership with little feature parity with newer phones.

Check this out, a $399 Motorola i95cl gets you:

• A color display, with no programmable color themes, no picture caller ID and no image upload. (maybe in an upgrade they say.)
• A nice Java Virtual Machine with some downloadable applications from Mot/Nextel.
• Two-way, and the rest of the Nextel iDEN features.

But, a $199 Sony Ericsso T68i on AT&T gets you:

• Bluetooth AND Infrared.
• GPRS and a color graphic-supported microbrowser.
• A color display with uploadable themes, images, ringers, animations, screen savers.
• Killer talk and standby times
• Synchronization capable

Anyways, I just ordered a T68i from AT&T Wireless GSM. They are in the process of building out their GSM coverage, but I think it's worth it to be an early subscriber and taking advantage of lower phone and monthly costs. One thing about Nextel, is their rates are expensive!

-Pat

from the it-fluffs-it-folds dept.

[SkulkCU]

from the it-fluffs-it-folds dept.

Fluffs? I'm getting one right away...

(sorry - I apologize for that.)