New BlackBerry, Nokia aren't as juicy as they look Despite flaws, wireless wizards have glimmer of potential star power

[Dukedog]

BYLINE: Edward C. Baig

BODY:
It's not like I have a humongous ego. But when the folks at Nokia mentioned that Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg were carrying the same 9290 Communicator that I've been testing, I couldn't understand the reason I didn't get a single call from a Hollywood studio head and why the paparazzi weren't stalking me.
Isn't it obvious that Nokia's new eyeglass-case-shaped wireless wiz, combining a mobile phone, messaging device, personal digital assistant and the Internet, is the kind of glittery gizmo that draws us stars?

(OK, the real reason: A futuristic Nokia will be included in the upcoming Cruise/Spielberg thriller Minority Report.)

Besides, if my having the Nokia doesn't give off the right airs, surely the new Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry 5810 Wireless Handheld ought to get me noticed. This latest BlackBerry is the first of the popular e-mail devices to add Web browsing and telephone capabilities.


Alas, just as not all hot-stuff celebs turn out to be compelling performers, neither can nifty techno-gadgets get by on appearances alone. So while the new Nokias and RIMs have their moments in the limelight, both don't quite earn rave notices yet.
Let me begin with the $ 599 Nokia. From a distance, the Communicator resembles another of the myriad remote control devices overpopulating your media room. Inch closer and you realize it's not a remote but a phone -- you'll see a small backlit monochrome display, the usual 12-button keypad, plus a few buttons to initiate or hang up a call and access menu commands.

It's an odd phone, however, because while you press the keys on the front to dial, you must flip the whole thing over to actually gab; the built-in earpiece and microphone are on the back of the unit. This takes getting used to, especially when you want to use touch tones to access voice mail. And I accidentally terminated a call by hitting the hang-up key on the other side.

The 9290 is more than 6 inches high, 2-plus inches wide, and a tad hefty (8.6 ounces), giving it the girth of a cordless phone rather than a small, sexy cellphone. Frankly, if this was all there was to it, I wouldn't race out to buy one.

But the Nokia is draped in star power. Lift the clamshell and a vibrant active matrix color display nearly the full width and depth of the cover instantly comes to life. There's also a Qwerty keyboard big enough to handle my thumbtip, plus buttons leading to a gaggle of powerful applications (Internet, e-mail, contacts, calendar). The device is based on the Symbian operating system and takes advantage of Personal Java.

Underneath the button labeled "Office" are icons for a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation viewer, all compatible with versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Press "Messaging" and you can handle an SMS (Short Message Service), fax or e-mail, and receive missives back with full attachments.

In the "Extras" area you'll find a video player -- I squinted a little watching the Spider-Man trailer stored on the removable stamp-sized 16MB memory card that had been preloaded in the device. Alas, many functions were cumbersome to use. When I pressed the "Tel" button, the Nokia turned into a handy speakerphone. But when I tried to check voice mail, I kept typing an incorrect password: The characters on the Qwerty keyboard do not correspond to the letters on a phone keypad.

Given my druthers, the Nokia would boast the same kind of touch screen found on most PDAs. Nokia deserves credit for delivering real-deal HTML Web pages; you can use horizontal and vertical arrow keys to scroll through a site. But to click on a link you must typically hit the "Control" and "Q" keys simultaneously to turn those same arrow keys into a mouselike pointer. Toggling back and forth by pressing Control and Q is a nuisance.

Other quibbles: The screen is difficult to view outdoors. There is no PDA-like cradle to sync up data with a computer; instead, you must use a cable that connects to the serial port of your computer, which is slower and less convenient than USB. Using infrared, I was able to beam an image from a digital camera to the Communicator, as well as a contact from the Nokia to a Compaq iPaq. But the Nokia could not decipher a separate contact beamed back from the Compaq.

It takes too many steps to accomplish various tasks. For example, to get to a Web site that you haven't bookmarked, you must hit the Internet key, select WWW for the World Wide Web or WAP (for the menu-driven, text-based version of the Net), click a menu button, click "Open" under "File," click on "Web Page" and then finally enter the URL, or Web address. Why doesn't Nokia let you type in the Web address the minute you access the browser?

The phone and data service also were slow and spotty, at least in portions of northern New Jersey, but that probably has more to do with the weak signal I was receiving from GSM provider VoiceStream than Nokia -- Cingular and AT&T also will provide GSM service. On the data side, you can choose your own Internet provider (AOL is an exception). I tested the unit through EarthLink. What also slows things up: The Communicator has to dial out to retrieve e-mails or access the Web.

That's not the case with the BlackBerry 5810, which operates over the GSM and GPRS networks. VoiceStream sells BlackBerry hardware for $ 499; monthly plans start at $ 39.99.

Designed for use with corporate e-mail systems based on Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino, the new pocket-sized RIM is light (4.7 ounces) and thin and resembles its immediate predecessor, the BlackBerry 957.

As with other BlackBerry units, it's a cinch to navigate through the various functions by scrolling and clicking a trackwheel located on the upper right side of the device. The backlit no-frills monochrome screen is viewable in bright sunshine. You can type e-mails or SMS missives with a small Qwerty keyboard and sync with a PC using a serial-connection based cradle.

Most important, it's a reliable and robust e-mail device, so long as you have decent network coverage. Using the supplied BlackBerry Desktop Redirector software, I was able to forward my corporate e-mail to the RIM device, provided my computer remained turned on. RIM has an "enterprise" version aimed at companies that would not require individual users to keep their computers on. I was able to send mail from the BlackBerry that appeared to recipients as if I'd composed the message on my computer.

But I had trouble with the integrated phone and Internet browser. When I clicked on the browser while in New Jersey, I received an error message indicating that I wasn't in an area that could handle data communications. Even when I was in a coverage area, the browser is incapable of displaying full HTML Web pages. However, I also ran into snags on supposedly kosher "WAP" sites. Consider this message: "WAP Gateway: An internal gateway error prevents the gateway from fulfilling your request." "Clicking on "Register Now" sent a message back to VoiceStream that apparently fixed the problem. The BlackBerry phone felt like an afterthought. I was able to make and receive phone calls, but the service was spotty, and I never felt comfortable. There's no independent speaker, so you connect an earpiece (with microphone). Absent a phone keypad, dialing voice mail was, as with the Nokia, a chore.

It's a real shame what stars have to put up with.

[aiwapro]

That is weird for you to say that the Voicestream signal was more with internet access than Nokia, because here is a article from someone in the same area that basicly says that Voicestream network for internet was perfect. Here it is:

This is a quote from someone on epinions:

"Voicestream's iStream service in NYC/NJ
by kweckstrom | Apr 10 '02
Pros: GPRS service is relatively fast, and DOESN'T user your plan minutes.
Cons: Only 10MB of data transmission per month, $39.95/mo (for laptop; cheaper of PDA and phone use)
The Bottom Line: Price aside, this service *works*. If you don't mind the $39.95 additional charge for data services, iStream in the NYC metro area works for relatively fast Data services.
Recommended: Yes

NOTE: This epinion will be most useful to those who are considering Voicestream's iStream data service.

Ok, I've been a verizon customer for a long time now in both Data and Voice categories. I have been using their CDPD products for the past 2 years, and have been relatively happy with it. The speed leaves much to be desired, but with a wee bit of patience, the data you need does in fact get there.

Their $25/mo Unlimited PDA plan is pretty nice with an Ipaq and a PC Card sleeve, though this service does drive down your battery life. Certainly not an "all-day-long" solution, but who expects that with today's battery technology (blackberry users aside).

I decided to take a stab at a service I never had the cojones to try before, Voicestream, the artist formerly known as Omnipoint if memory serves. Since they have GPRS someone well deployed in the NYC metro area, I figured what the heck. It's only money, i'll plink down $600 for a Bluetooth-enabled ipaq and another $450 for the T68 ericsson that everyone seems to be hyping. I picked up the Ipaq at Ecost.com and got the T68 at www.cellhut.com at pretty much competitive prices.

I picked up the phone on my way home last night (Cellhut is here in manhattan) and put it through its usual paces. Voice calling worked very reliably! I was astounded since usually Verizon is the only game in town for reliable mobile phone service, but this seemed to fit the bill very nicely. The phone itself is tiny and light, and the voice quality was remarkably clear on my end. Having done time with Sprint PCS and AT&T wireless in the past, this is a service that actually has a chance of fulfilling my jaded wireless needs

Last night I figured out how to get Voicestream's Istream working on my notebook with the phone. Configuring the phone with the T39's instructions at voicestream got me close enough to configure the T68. The important part was the dialing sequence of "*9***1#" or something like that, which basically connects the phone to the iStream GPRS service. Since my notebook doesn't have bluetooth, I did it over the IR port, which worked pretty painlessly. Inside my house in NJ, it worked well (I live roughly 2 miles north of Giants Memorial Stadium, the landmark erected to mark the burial location of the late Jimmy Hoffa).

Upon pulling up my web browser, I was immediately taken to the iStream configuration page, allowing you to configure the type of screen you use (PDA/Notebook), and image compression/quality settings (fast, faster, fastest, fastest having the worst image quality). Apparently, the iStream service intercepts all your webpage calls and runs 'em through their compression scheme somehow, and I must admit that pages responded far more speedily than I imagined they would. Of course, I only have CDPD and Cable Modem to go by. While it's certainly not as fast as Cable Modem, i'd say it's about what you'd expect from a modem operating somewhere between 33.6k and 56k.

The real test came today.

Thanks to a babysitter crisis, I had to take a hike into work late today. Fedex arrived this morning with my brand spanking new Ipaq 3870, and I immediately got to work configuring it.

After figuring out how this bluetooth stuff works by discovering the phone and partnering with it, I was able to connect them. After some fiddling around with the Dialing properties on the Ipaq, I was able to initiate a connection to iStream via the Ipaq and the T68 using bluetooth. Satisfied that everything was working, I headed out the door to wait at the corner for one of the most miserable forms of public transportation: New Jersey Transit buses.

Standing at the corner, I fired up my GPRS connection via the ipaq, and loaded up one of my tried and true ways to slack, Smartsoft Pocketchat's irc client (www.sspocketchat.com). I'm an irc nut, and one of my gripes with CDPD is that I would occasionally have to re-initiate my connection after being dropped off the IRC server when I lost my CDPD channel and hopped over to another. While I didn't exactly have high hopes for GPRS being much better, I just had to see what it would do.

Now, I didn't take it easy on Voicestream, mind you. While standing on the corner waiting for my bus, I fired up a few more apps like MSN Messenger, my inbox, and Internet explorer. Yahoo.com loaded up rather quickly, again what you'd expect from a land-based modem. My inbox took roughly the same amount of time to connect to when on CDPD, but messages themselves transferred much more quickly.

IRC isn't much of a bandwidth hog, but its connection to the irc server is a sensitive one and is very prone to disconnection if you time out. After hopping on the bus, I grabbed a seat. Phone in pocket, I hooked up my little Compaq thumb-board for some leisurely chatting.

Driving through moonachie, I had no problem keeping a connection. Text flowed freely in #Windows2000 and #3dfx on irc's efnet. Before I knew it, carlstadt passed, east rutherford, giants stadium, and before I knew it we were in Union NJ (blah, I got a local bus). I told everyone to just keep talking because I wanted to see how this GPRS deal would hold up on my commute to work.

At this point, I was really astounded since normally I would have disconnected at least once on CDPD. GPRS was going strong however.

I had one last test. CDPD's last enemy. The torturous field test that sends many wireless services screaming in fear. The evil, dreaded Lincoln Tunnel.

Normally with CDPD, my connection would die around 300ft in the tunnel. While Verizon's VOICE service would work in the tunnel, CDPD is very spotty. GPRS? Stayed connected the whole way through. No hiccups. No disconnects. No problems whatsoever.

After pulling up into port authority, I finally disconnected and called it a bus ride and headed downtown to my daytime abode.

Color me surprised. Voicestream's GPRS in the NJ Metro area works."

[UnseenPower]

I love VoiceStream, but they have some huge weak spots, when compared with AT&T. I noticed when driving, that my AT&T never completly drops, even though it may get spotty. While on the other hand I can't even dial a number completely before VoiceStream drops dead on me. I would not, based on those results, even feel it fair to test the BlackBerry out here, same for NJ. I have it pretty well confirmed that New Jersey is not the best place to test VoiceStream's Service. Just to point the finger, I think testing it in New Jersey was a poor move on whoever's part. I think it wise to test in an area where you are strongest, especially if you want to impress someone.