Ericsson is at last offering an alternative to Nokia’s 9000 communicator. Its R380s Smartphone is a WAP phone, Palm substitute and email collection box rolled into one.
Only slightly thicker and longer than most mobiles, the R380s looks unremarkable. It has a multi-line screen, four-way menu selection buttons and the usual keypad. A voice recorder button and volume/ backlight control sit either side of the screen, and a 950mAh, five-hour talk time lithium ion battery fits on the back.
The unit can be programmed to voice dial, and offers the usual features: calling tone, ring option, vibration and SMS facilities. It’s only when you look closer, flip up the hinged keypad and expose the full-length touchscreen that the unit’s full potential is revealed. As the keypad flips up, the display changes to full-screen 360 by 120 pixel graphics with icon-driven interactivity.
Like the Palm m100 the screen is plastic, but it’s legible in most light and offers excellent character recognition in addition to a virtual keyboard option. An ARM RISC chip and 1.2M of memory run the Symbian EPOC OS, making the R380s noticeably faster than the Motorola Accompli. Ericsson has thrown in the added advantage of a direct email client. This avoids the chore of using a WAP gateway, and enables direct dial into any email provider, plus improved attachment handling. The only snag is that your password is left in the phone — not good if you lose it.
All the PIM functions are easy to access and use with the slip-out stylus, and written input is rapid once you leam the proper technique. The phone also incorporates a built-in IrDA window, so synchronising all the calendar, to-do and contact details to a host notebook is easy, even without the supplied serial connector cable.
The system can synchronise with Microsoft Outlook, Schedule* and Exchange, and with Lotus Organizer and Notes, and can beam all data types to and from Palms. To help place the R380s in the executive bracket, Ericsson has provided a free, dedicated help desk to guide new users through setup and initial use. Also supplied are a hands-free kit, a desktop synchroniser/charger stand and a copy of Lotus Organizer 5. This is a comprehensive package.
If Ericsson enabled the EPOC OS to use downloaded programs like the Palm does, it would probably win over the handheld market overnight. As it is, the R380s is a challenge to the dedicated mobile data device, and with cheap telco pricing plans, it offers a real alternative for those needing only standard WAP phone and PIM facilities.

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