Excellent integration of Phone+PDA
Written: Sep 26 '01 (Updated May 31 '02)
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Pros: No need to carry 2 items (PDA & phone); wireless web that is useful
Cons: Big for a phone
The Bottom Line: The combination of Palm and phone with wireless web access is tough to beat. I continue to be amazed at what this product is capable of.
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| slabhead's Full Review: Kyocera QCP-6035 Smartphone |
I've been waiting for years for someone to combine a full-function PDA with a cell phone. As much as I wanted to always have my PDA with me, I just couldn't bring myself to carry around another black (or silver) box. I've owned Palms and WinCE devices, but they have never managed to be enough a part of me to warrant the extra baggage. Now Kyocera has created a Palm Pilot with a phone attached, and it is everything I could have asked for.
The Good
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1. The Palm OS & applications are the same as any other Palm OS device on the market, including the wireless web options on the Palm VII. This allows you to run any Palm application on your phone. You either like the Palm OS or you don't, and I don't want to get into that discussion in this review. But the fact that you can run any of the 100s of apps out there is a big plus.
2. Phone-PDA integration is very good. I can dial from my (huge) contact list, Calendar reminders pop up on the phone display, etc. I'm a programmer, and I must say that the team responsible for the integration of phone & palm did an admirable job. When the lid is closed, you can use the buttons on the side to scroll through contacts, etc. When the lid is open, you can use your normal palm apps to select a number to dial. There aren't many ways to couple phone and palm that aren't supported.
3. I have seen other reviews that talk about how the Palm's "single thread OS" means you can't do two things at once. Specifically how you can't talk on the phone and use the Palm functions and vice versa. This is hogwash. Yes, the OS is single threaded. But I have no problem receiving calls while in the middle of a palm operation or flipping open the phone to look up someone else's phone number while on the phone. The one thing you can't do is surf the wireless web while on the phone, since both talking and surfing use the same phone connection (duh!)
4. Many phones talk about being "web enabled", but with the tiny displays they are essentially useless. The web clipping apps written for the Palm VII work wonderfully on this phone and are quite useful (and cover a wide variety of real-time data). Check out http://wireless.palm.net/apps/ for more info.
5. Battery life is better than I expected, as long as I'm not in analog roam. If the phone goes dead, the Palm still works for quite some time (it requires less power). Eventually it, too, will give up the ghost, but I haven't had that happen yet. I have successfully run the Palm for more than an hour after the phone was out of juice.
6. Phone can be used as a 14.4 wireless modem (assuming your service supports this). This is great when you don't have a local ISP number and the hotel wants to charge you $10/minute for long distance. I put my phone in the cradle, told it to be a modem, and used my laptop to access the web. Okay, it's a bit slow at 14.4 but better than 56K at $10/minute. (This is no joke, the hotel really charged that much).
The Bad and the Ugly
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1. The phone is rather large compared to most of today's ultra-compact cell phones, but not much larger than a typical palm pilot.
2. Early versions had some reliability problems with the flip contact points, but this seems to have been rectified. I wear my phone everywhere without a case, and it is holding up fine (I've had it for 3 months now, so it remains to be seen how it holds up after a year or two).
3. You can't (currently) use any existing Palm hardware add-ons such as keyboards or GPS units since the cradle interface is different. I'm not sure why Kyocera did this, but if you're expecting to use one of these peripherals you will be disappointed.
4. Not all services support this phone. Sprint and Verizon do, and I'm living with Sprint service which I have mixed emotions about (see my Sprint review). But the phone performs well, and seems to be better at picking up weak signals than my previous Sprint phone (a Sanyo).
5. There is a bug that causes occasional synchronization errors if you are syncing with Microsoft Outlook. If you lookup a phone number from the phone interface (as opposed to the palm interface), the next time you sync you get an error message. To clear this up, you must do a warm reset on the phone. No data is lost, but this is a bit annoying. Kyocera/Sprint are supposedly working on a fix, but it is not yet available. I don't know if the same bug bites those who use Verizon.
Final Thought
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If you've always wanted a PDA with you at all times, but didn't want to carry two boxes; or if you carry both a phone and PDA, you owe it to yourself to check this phone out. If you are waiting for a smaller version, well let's face it. A Palm OS device can only get so small and still be usable. The display has to be large enough to read, and you need to be able to write/tap accurately. So barring some significant technology leap, they won't be getting much smaller.
One last thing. Shop carefully for price. I bought my phone for $399, then found it on sale for $250 (!!!!) (and was refunded the difference --- Go OfficeMax!). A friend paid $499. Best Buy has it for around $375. So do your homework.
UPDATE: I've seen this phone as low as $100 at Amazon.com, and that is BEFORE the new user rebate of $70! If you are a newcomer to Sprint (or are adding an additional "line"), you can get this baby for $30 after rebates.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 250
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Epinions.com ID:
slabhead
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Location: Atlanta, GA
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
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