MaximumPC 2006 06

B

ack in the day, we liked toting around a full-fledged PDA—it was like

having a lightweight computer in our pocket. But the benefits came at

a price: As PDAs got more powerful, battery life shortened, and the devices

themselves went from thin and light to big and clunky. And now, with every-

one carrying a cellphone, the PDA’s popularity is even more jeopardized.

No one wants to carry both a cellphone and PDA if they can help it. Thus

the advent of PDAs with built-in phone functionality.

But there’s another option: smartphones. Falling somewhere between

a PDA and a normal cellphone, the latest smartphones offer lots of PDA

functionality in a much more convenient formfactor. A five-way digital pad

and a streamlined interface take the place of the PDA’s touch screen, with

surprisingly satisfying results.

Which is better for you? To find out, we spent a couple weeks

using two Windows Mobile 5.0-powered devices: the Cingular 2125

Smartphone and the Cingular 8125 Pocket PC PDA Phone. They’re made

by the same company, use the same carrier, and are fairly good represen-

tatives of their respective categories. Here’s the detailed breakdown.

Smartphone vs. PDA Phone

USABILITY

We’ve already talked about the issues the Pocket PC

phone has with the included keyboard, but we need to discuss the

user interface (UI). Nearly everything you do with the phone requires

you to use the touch screen, either by mashing it with your meaty fin-

gertip, or by whipping out the stylus, then navigating through a series

of menus. By contrast, a smartphone’s entire user interface is easily

accessible using the D-pad. Whether we were browsing the Internet,

checking email, or just looking up tomorrow’s appointments, it was an

easy, one-handed operation with the smartphone.

PHONE FUNCTIONALITY WINNER: SMARTPHONE

One of our main complaints

about the Treo and Blackberry

is that while it’s really handy to

have a phone attached to your

PDA/email device, the phone

functionality is a secondary

feature. A PDA phone doesn’t

have buttons, so it’s virtually

impossible to dial a number

without looking at the screen.

Furthermore, a PDA phone

lacks basic amenities that we

expect from cellphones, like

profiles for “silent” or “vibrate-

only” operation. A smartphone,

however, is a super-phone. It’s

easy to dial without looking at

the screen, it’s small enough

to fit in a jeans pocket, and we

love the tight integration of the

dialer and address book. With

every entered digit of a number,

or letter of a person’s name, the

phone presents a shrinking list

of possible contacts for you to

choose from.

WINNER: SMARTPHONE

SMARTPHONE: CINGULAR 2125,

http://www.cingular.com, $300 sans contract

PDA FUNCTIONALITY

This is a much tougher category to judge. Both phones

sync seamlessly with Outlook using ActiveSync, so it’s a snap to keep all

your contact and calendar info up to date. The Pocket PC phone has a

slight advantage, because you can run nearly any application designed for

a plain PDA on the phone; the smartphone only works with apps that don’t

require a touch screen.

The touch screen and full QWERTY keyboard should make it easier

to enter data on the Pocket PC phone, but a really stupid design decision

renders that advantage null. Until you begin typing, there’s no indication

whether the keyboard is in cap-lock or symbol-lock mode. It sounds like

a minor problem, until you bang out a few full messages in nothing but

#&$*37/. While the smartphone delivers as much functionality as we need,

it’s by no means a full-featured PDA.

WINNER: PDA PHONE

head 2 head TWO TECHNOLOGIES ENTER, ONE TECHNOLOGY LEAVES

round^1

round 3

round^2

BY WILL SMITH

16 MA XIMUMPC JUNE 2006

WINDOWS MOBILE 5.