Travel and Leisure

Sipping an Espresso and reading the newspaper I waved at my friend Greg, a male real estate agent, chatting away on his cell phone. I thought about what a multi-tasking society we've become, how I hardly ever sit just doing one thing anymore and neither do most of my friends. We can talk, schedule business and social activities, and eat and drink all at the same time. We're more efficient for it and now have more leisure time than we used to.

I watched Greg pressing buttons on his cell and got curious. It looked like one of the new smart phones I'd heard about. Greg has always been one of the first in my circle of friends to get something we all aspire to own. He purchased a home first, a laptop computer, an at home gym, a mountain bike, and a timeshare in Hawaii.

Pulling up a chair Greg got this Cheshire grin on his face as he ordered a double espresso and flashed his cell phone proudly. I couldn't help but exclaiming, "This is the tiniest Windows ever!" To which he chided me, "Bob, you made it sound miniature like the phone has no power."

"Ah contraire. I mean it is the Microsoft Window smart phone, right?"

"You betcha! So you're as excited as I am. This is great. You just have to get one. There are only two models available in the U.S. There's Samsung SCH-1600 and the Motoro­la MPx200. I have the Motorola model."

"Greg, is it better than using my Nokia cell phone with its' graphical user interfaces, applications, utilities, games, internet access and PC connectivity?"

"Absolutely!" While flashing his cell phone at me Greg said, "The Windows Mobile-based smart-phone contains the Microsoft-class user interface, like you use on the computer. It has all the great functionality inherent in Windows. Heck, I'm getting ahead myself. I want to explain why this is the greatest thing ever and you have to have one Bob."

"Oh, Greg. If I listened to you every time you said that I'd be broke."

"Bob, this is different. This cell phone will help your business and your floundering social life."

"Thanks a lot, Greg."

"Well it's true. You do need to get out more than just to the coffee shop."

"Ok, point taken. Is the phone like my Pocket PC?"

"Bob, it's similar on the hardware side. It has 32MB of RAM divided into storage and program space. An SD Card slot can be used for additional data story.

"Ok. Mr. Technie, you're starting to sound like me. Now let's talk about features. You said, it's similar to my Pocket PC, how so?"

"Some of the features you'll recognize like the program list, Inbox, Contacts, Cal­endar, Internet Explorer, ActiveSync, File Manager, Tasks, Voice Recorder, MSN Mes­senger, Favorites, Calculator, and Games. But, there are big differences with the Windows Smartphone, which make it a lot easier to use as a model device. With your Pocket PC phone and some smartphones you have a touchscreen or a joystick. These Windows Mobile-based units (Samsung SCH-1600 and the Motorola MPX200) are designed for one-handed use. This is a big, big plus. Everything you need you can access by pushing buttons. There are no pesky pop-ups, pulldowns or overlapping win­dows."

"So are you juggling with your fingers a lot when use the the phone?"

Greg laughed. "No. I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not some clown. It's easy to use. Most of the features I just access with my thumb."

"What's the screen like?"

"It has the usual Speed Dial, Call History, and but the menu is customizable. You can custom select nine items by either scrolling down, pressing enter, or punching in the number. The Motorola MPx200 display is 2.2 inches diagonal with 176 x 220 pixel resolution. The footprint is 3.4 x 1.8 inches and is an inch thick and weighs 4.2 ounces."

"How about readability and functionality for entering appointments and things?"

"My Motorola MPx200 comes with all the standard phone features: speakerphone, profiles, con­ference calls, ring tones, including an incredible integra­tion with the Contacts database. I love how the Win­dows Mobile-based smartphone integrates with Out­look. It works the same way it does with a Pocket PC. Lots of times I use it for emailing project details to clients. With the Inbox I set up di­rect access to my POP3 but you can also have set it for access to an IMAP4 mail account, or use AT&T's Office Online for an extra fee.

"Greg are there any features which surprised you?"

"Yes, the mere existence of a Windows Smart cell phone still comes as a big surprise. But in answer to your question, I'd have to say the audio, it comes in stereo. The Windows Media Player 8 supports MP3, Microsoft's Windows audio and video for­mats, WMA and WMV. The SD Card is big enough so I can listen to music for hours."

"Is the Motorola a GSM phone?"

"Yes. It also uses GPRS and has a SIM Manager,which is a big plus for traveling overseas."

"Wow, Greg this all sounds great. So, why aren't you using the phone now?"

"Bob I do need to sociliaze speaking of which, I need to call my date."

Same old Greg.

Source: Pen Computing