Data enabled Mobile Phones

The bulk of email I receive from readers concerns choosing an infra-red mobile phone to use with PDAs. For the past year, the phone of choice has been the Ericsson SH888, with honourable mentions to the Nokia 8810 and the Ericsson DI27 clip-on attachment for Ericson phones. The reasons for recommending the SH888 were that it was available on both GSM bands in use in the UK (GSM 900 and 1800), so working with Orange (although never officially supported or sold by them) as well as Cellnet and Vodaphone, and because it was significantly cheaper than the 8810. My two reservations about the SH888 have been that it doesn't support the American GSM waveband (1900), and that the software and keyboard have been less well designed than the Nokia systems.

Two new phones have started to appear in my mailbox: the Siemens S25, and the Motorola L7089. I don't know much about the S25 - it is an infra-red enabled mobile phone with some games and a colour display, but the L7089 is very desirable indeed. It is a very small (108g) tri-band phone, which, unlike the SH888, will be sold and supported officially by Orange, with voice activation and recording, a vibration alarm, and the usual range of fancy features reserved for expensive phones. It appears to work well with Windows CE, Palm III and Psion Series 5mx, although you will need to install updates for both CE and Psion machines.

http://www.siemens.com/ic/products/cd/english/index/products/mobiles/s25.html
http://www.mot.com/GSS/CSG/Europe/English/Products/Wearable/l7089.html

Words and design by:
Paul Lynch
Last updated: March 30, 1999