Business phones from veteran maker RIM have won the hearts and thumbs of road warriors everywhere; fresh entrants from Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Palm want in on the action.
Being on top has its price - which RIM, maker of the popular BlackBerry series of thumbboard-equipped business phones with always-on e-mail, is about to find out. Although several attempts have been made at replicating its unique functionality over the past few years, only now are contenders who mean - pardon the pun - business lining up for introduction. Assimilating not only the form factor, but also the feature set (and, in some cases, more) of BlackBerries everywhere, the following contestants from around the globe aim to put the squeeze on RIM now and in months to come.
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Palm Treo 700w
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Score: 87% When: January 2006 Worth: $250 - $500 Carrier: Verizon Wireless
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Palm and Windows Mobile? Say it ain't so! The EV-DO-equipped Treo 700w politely disagrees, and Larry Garfield takes a look and finds there are benefits to playing both sides.
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Nokia E61
Score: 79% When: May 2006 Worth: €450
Read the full article » The E61 does what Nokia does best: connects people. Its all-encompassing connectivity setup is exploited in full by a broad line-up of quality messaging, office and browsing applications which run in tandem with a superb screen and more than decent thumbboard. Granted, it's not among the most powerful business phones nor does it fare well in the department of synchronization - but the latter is at long last addressable by several third party solutions. Sprinkle with handy utilities, attention to detail, good battery life and a compact form factor, and you end up with a very solid business phone contender indeed. Read the full article » |
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Sony Ericsson M600i
Score: 84% When: July 2006 Worth: €500
Read the full article » Quite possibly the ideal size for a business phone, the Sony Ericsson M600i is but a hair's width from scoring full marks in the messaging, productivity and browsing departments, hampered only by the smaller-than-the-competition sizes of its otherwise excellent touch screen and thumbboard. It also delivers a solid impression in every other department, with the near-sole disappointment being its lack of a bundled USB cable and USB charging support. Add good battery life and nice touches such as a scroll wheel, stereo Bluetooth audio and a clever, agenda-style standby screen, and what emerges is a winning recipe. Read the full article » |
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Samsung SGH-i320
When: August 2006 - €500
Read the full article » Powered by Windows Mobile 5.0, the Samsung SGH-i320 takes a cue from the Motorola Q with its slim and narrow form factor, integrated thumbboard and landscape high-resolution display. Read the full article » |
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