Microsoft Smartphones are here at last and are quite good

Michael Gartenberg | November 18, 2003, 01:54 PM

My colleague Joe Wilcox has been talking about his new Motorola MPX200 Smartphone. I too have been using one for a few weeks and along with the new Samsung model that I finally saw at the Mobile Focus event on Sunday evening show that Microsoft has made huge strides in the handset space. Missing in action are Bluetooth and a camera on both devices but if you can live without those functions, the Smartphone platform is a viable choice. The key is that Smartphones are first and foremost phones. They look like phones, feel like and phones and are fairly small and light. They also add seamless PIM integration. Forget the media player, the e-mail client and the web browser. The combination of voice and PIM are the two features that most users want in a single device and these devices get it mostly right. Cost is still an issue, although the Motorola phone can be had for as little as $75. That’s still a little high but better than the $300 Verizon is charging for the Samsung. A few caveats, both phones run the older Smartphone 2002 platform not the new Smartphone 2003 (which among other things is based on .NET CF in ROM). While in THEORY these phones can be upgraded, I doubt that carriers will bother and will instead just introduce new models. What you see today is likely what you will get for the life of the phone. Also, these phones are designed for Windows users. While there are some third party programs that will let you connect and sync to Mac OS, it will cost you extra.

While Smartphone is a great choice today for users needing core phone functionality with PIM features, I’m still waiting for someone to build a small and lightweight phone that adds just basic Palm OS features. The Palm OS PIM is still the best on the market and integrated with a voice first device would be the right combination of features. Sell it for under $100 and you will have a major hit on your hands.