Visor May Have Found Its Calling
You’ve got a cellular phone. You’ve got a personal digital assistant. Wouldn’t it be great to merge the two?
That’s the idea behind Handspring Inc.’s new VisorPhone, a $499 device that slips into the Visor’s expansion slot and links your address book with a mobile phone. Right now, the service is available only for GSM (global system for mobile communications) cell users. A version for CDMA (code division multiple access) cellular networks such as Sprint PCS and Verizon is scheduled to arrive next summer.
This combination has been attempted before but without much success. AT&T;’s EO, a tablet-size computer with a built-in cell phone, attracted lots of buzz but few users. Apple’s Newton was a nonstarter phone-wise. About five years ago, IBM and BellSouth tried it with Simon, a combination cell phone and PC. That one never really got beyond the concept stage.
The arrival of the Palm Pilot gave rise to another couple of tries. Qualcomm combined a Palm Pilot and a cell phone to create a brick-like device that sold for about $900. Kyocera, which recently bought Qualcomm’s digital phone business, will try again early next year with a model it promises will be much smaller and lighter.
In many respects--but not all--the VisorPhone succeeds where the other devices failed. Because it is a plug-in module to an existing hand-held, it doesn’t have the bulk of the Qualcomm device. And because the Visor is already there, you’ve got the address book and other features of the Palm platform. There’s very little to learn.
The great advantage, of course, is that all of the 1,700 or so names in my contact file are always at hand and can be dialed as long as I have GSM service available. Such service is offered locally by Pacific Bell. Pricing plans vary. Those who buy the VisorPhone and sign up for service save $200 off the phone’s cost.
As with other modules for Handspring devices, the VisorPhone carries its own software. Snap in the device and the phone controls flash on screen. Customize any of the 50 speed-dial settings, and those data are saved. It does not, however, get saved on your desktop as part of the HotSync operation that backs up most data on a Palm-style device.
In operation, the VisorPhone has been a near marvel. Speed dialing--one touch and the call is placed--is a snap. Calling from the address book is simple. Highlight a name, select “dial” and you get a list of all the available numbers for a contact.
Such dialing, of course, is a two-handed operation, which makes it unsuited for calling while tooling down the 405. A supplied headset, made by Belkin Components, is supposed to be the best fit for the VisorPhone, which sports a standard jack for headsets. But I found the Belkin device picked up wind noise when I walked around while using the phone. So I switched to headsets from Plantronics Corp. and Jabra Corp., and both worked better.
The complaints came in from my callers. “What’s that echo?” my father asked. “I hate that phone,” an editor declared.
Such echoes could come from vagaries in wireless service--poor connection, weak signals, even the weather. Chris Cadwell, director of marketing for Handspring’s communications products, said it might have been the impedance, or resistance to the electrical circuit flow, between the “other” headsets’ connector and the VisorPhone.
One other aspect of the VisorPhone deserves comment, and that’s what it can and cannot do with data calls. Sophisticated users could load optional software programs and get their e-mail, but at only 9.6 kilobits per second. More useful, though perhaps for the Gen-X crowd and younger, is Short Message Service, or SMS, messages, which are quick text bits exchangeable between SMS phones, or even, with the VisorPhone, via e-mail.
*
Mark A. Kellner is editor at large for Government Computer News.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
The Skinny
Handspring VisorPhone
What it does: Turns a Handspring Visor into a mobile phone
Price: $499
Manufacturer: Handspring Inc.
The good: Portable, easy to use
The bad: Frequent, irritating echoes
Bottom line: Promising
