Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Test Drives-Motorola I90c and I80s wireless phones

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 09 Dec 2002 02:29:43 -0500

Test Drives

A look at the latest gadgets

By Eddie Medina, Globe Correspondent, 11/28/01

Motorola I90c and I80s wireless phones

Now that Nextel Communications offers its
direct-connect ``walkie talkie'' feature to all
subscribers who want it, just what type of
hardware is it rolling out to draw customers?
The answer is Motorola's new iDEN brand of
phones developed specifically for the Nextel
service.

Don't look for color screens or a Palm OS
crossover here, just a line of great wireless
phones.

The midnight blue i90c with its silver trim and
glowing blue flip screen looks like some
gadget on Batman's utility belt. The i80s does
not flip, but retains all the functionality of the
i90c.

The functionality includes Nextel's rock-solid
service that combines dispatch radio, Voice
Over IP, short text messaging, data
transmission, and phone service covering
much of eastern New England. Nextel
officially says service (and its quality)
depends on area, so don't be surprised to
find yourself conducting loud-and-clear
conversations through the IDEN speaker
phones in areas where you normally have
trouble with reception, like the basement of a Boston brownstone.

With the press of a single button, the direct-connect two-way radio feature works
like a charm, even when the phones are miles apart. The phones also run Java
applications that can be downloaded from the Nextel network or developed
independently, though the phones have only a limited 350 kilobytes of memory.
They efficiently navigate wireless Web services like MSN's Hotmail or the New
York Times' wireless edition. Using third-party Web services, the phones can also
be configured to access company e-mail, for example.

Flip the Lithium Ion battery open and a simple mechanism for removing the SIM
card (which identifies a subscriber to a wireless carrier) is revealed. The feature is
handy for moving an existing account to the new hardware. The phones can also
be plugged into those fold-up keyboards made by Think Outside.

Nextel introduced the Motorola i90c (retailing for $200) and the i80s (retailing for
$150) in early November. The new iDEN phones and a number of others can be
found at www.nextel.com. Or, if you prefer fashion over phone, check out the i90c
Limited Edition, an i90c with a translucent glowing body available only at
Bloomingdale's for $399.

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