February 2000

Sprint PCS • 4717 Grand Avennue
Kansas City, MO 64112 • Ph: 888-211-4727
Web: www.sprintpcs.com
Price: About $200, plus services.

RATINGS (0-5)
Installation: 5
Documentation: 4
Features: 4.75
Operational Testing: 4.25
GUI: 3.5
Overall: B

Traditionally, we do not review telephones at TMC Labs, nor do we review computers. That’s because by themselves, telephones and computers are not examples of converged communications. But when you add an e-mail function to a telephone, or military-grade strength to a computer, then things change —suddenly, the telephone becomes a computer-telephony product, and the PC becomes an industrial PC, and possibly a telephony platform. So, when one of the TMC Labs engineers bought the new Sprint PCS Touchpoint "Wireless Web" phone, we decided to review it. It’s hard to choose a side, and we’re still not sure if these devices are superphones or minicomputers. Should the buzzword be ePhone or tPDA? Regardless, we do know that they are representative of new breed of mobile telephone that incorporates Internet and PDA functions, and we predict that by the end of 2002, they will, for many people, eliminate the need for laptop PCs.

INSTALLATION
There isn’t much to install when you buy a mobile telephone. Every provider’s service plan is unique, but in the case of Sprint PCS, there are no contracts to sign. Users can either purchase their telephone of choice from a private store (anywhere from Radio Shack to small "car phone" shops), or they can buy a telephone over the Internet or from an actual Sprint PCS store. Ours happened to come from Staples.

In most cases, the actual ordering of one’s service plan is done over the telephone (any telephone), and customers choose options like SMS, wireless Web, insurance, and a host of others. Once the services are activated, all the customer’s only task is to configure the voice mail, which is relatively painless. We even found an interactive tutorial at the Web site of Denso International, which is the OEM manufacturer of the Touchpoint. To see the demonstration, go to www.densowireless.com/interactive/ index.html. We were disappointed, though, that the user’s manual makes no mention of this tutorial.

DOCUMENTATION
At best, the user’s manual for the Touchpoint is adequate. Granted, the Touchpoint features are explained well enough to satisfy most users. But what about power users (such as the readers of this magazine) who often appreciate more detailed technical information?

Unfortunately, the most exciting part of the Touchpoint —the minibrowser — is the least documented. We called Sprint’s technical support hotline for more information, and we asked where we could find a list of Web sites that work with the browser.

The bad news is that calling four times (and speaking to four different agents) yielded four different answers. We eventually got the right answer from one of Sprint’s in-house public relations executives. While we learned what we wanted to know, we had to wonder how most people would have fared. Most people do not have the kind of access we enjoy. We suggest that Sprint more thoroughly train its agents before releasing an innovative new product.

FEATURES
There was a time when car phones were the toys of the rich and well-to-do. Now, the problem is keeping these devices away from grade-school students. In the meantime, the feature set has evolved from 10-number speed dialing to full PDAs, from eight-character LCDs to mouse-controlled GUIs with speech recognition. (Actually, speech-enabled dialing isn’t included with the Touchpoint, although we expect it in a future version, because it’s already included with Sprint’s less expensive SCH-3500.)

Not including the traditional 12-button keypad, the Touchpoint uses just three control buttons. The one in the middle is actually a four-directional mouse; it’s basically a smaller version of a gamepad control. The buttons on its left and right are labeled "OK" and "CLR" (clear), respectively. On top of the phone is the power switch, next to a non-retractable antenna. The volume control buttons are on the unit’s left side; the headset port is on the right. As you would expect, the charging interface is on the bottom, and both the keypad cover and flush lithium ion battery remove easily (the keypad cover is designed to break away, rather than just break.)

The Touchpoint’s backlit screen features seven lines. For the main menu, the top line shows system icons. From left to right, these icons are signal strength (an antenna with lines next to it), in use (a handset image), mode (analog, "A," or digital, "D"), roaming ("R"), no service (a handset with a slash), new messages (an envelope), and battery strength (a battery with lines in it). The next line is a customizable banner, where you for example, would enter your own name or a corporate name. Line three shows the current time and date. The next line is blank. Lines five, six, and seven are the menu options, with a right-side vertical scroll bar. There are 13 options that scroll through here, including call logs, messages, phone book, roaming, scheduler, minibrowser, sounds, display, security, setup, calculator, games, and keyguard. Most of these features are self-explanatory, so rather than explain each one, we’ll discuss each section’s highlights below.

Call Logs
The call logs include outgoing, incoming, and missed calls, plus an erase options and an airtime option. "Messages" links you to new voice mail, pages, and text/browser messages, plus an erase option. The phone book lets you search by name or by entry number, for up to 300 numbers in 98 entries. Here, you can also access your own number, customer assistance, directory assistance, prepaid assistance, and roadside assistance. "Roaming" lets you set various modes, such as a mode that prevents roaming calls, a mode that allows roaming calls but notifies you when you are roaming, etc.

Scheduler
Scheduler mode brings up a one week calendar. Because of the screen’s space limitations, Monday—Thursday are shown in one line, and Friday—Sunday are shown in the next line. The month and year are on top. The calendar is good through Jan. 3, 2100, although we can’t imagine that anyone would still be using this phone then. Of course, that’s what people said when they saved money on RAM by using two-digit date codes!

Sound
The sounds menu has some interesting options, including a short/long tone option for configuring IVR strings. (For example, I configured a phone book entry for my voice mail. This entry dials TMC’s editorial office phone number, inserts a two-second pause, dials my extension followed by a pound tone, inserts another pause, and then dials my password followed by another pound. I had to choose the long tones options for this to work, because sometimes the IVR can’t process the short tones.)

What’s more fun, though, are the 25 ring types, which is quite useful for distinguishing your phone’s ring sound from everyone else’s. To make mine distinct, I used the “Take me out to ballgame” song. You can configure different rings for calls with caller ID, calls without caller ID, and roaming calls. You can also choose from three ringing volumes or a vibrate option.

Display
The display menu shows options for the backlight, banner, contrast, and software version. Under the security menu, users can lock the phone, restrict certain calls, erase the entire phonebook, or reset the phone. Similarly, under the setup menu, users can configure call forwarding, call waiting, and car use. Car use can be set for auto-answer or any-key answer, and users can block their own number from being displayed (although it would make sense to us for this feature to be under the security menu instead). Next, the calculator is exactly that —a simple calculator. Nevertheless it’s handy to have.

And what PDA would be complete without games? The choices include dice, football, and blackjack. Keyguard requires you to press the "clear" key for a few seconds to wake the phone, preventing you from accidentally dialing a number or changing any setting while the phone is in your pocket or bag.

Minibrowser
We’re sure the feature you’ve been waiting to read about is the minibrowser. Before you start jumping up and down with excitement, a caveat: don’t buy a Web-enabled mobile telephone if you’re expecting a portable version of Navigator or Internet Explorer because you will be disappointed. Instead, everything is text-only, and the browser only displays sites built with special .HDML tags. These sites are currently rare, but as Sprint’s "Wireless Web" network grows, more sites will conform to the .HDML standard.

Considering that standard, some of the sites that do conform are: Sprint PCS, Amazon, Ameritrade, Bloomberg, FOX Sports, and The Weather Channel. Others include GetThere, MapQuest, Yahoo!, CNN, InfoSpace, and a "My Account" page.

Additionally, through HDMLSites.com, you can access MyAladdin, MailandNews, SPCS Messages, whoami?, WorldFestivals, IntellInfo, MicroStrategy, InfoSpace Fun, IntellQuotes, DBC Financial, Quote.com, NewsAlerts, SportsScores, ESPN, Travelocity, Messages2PCSUser, ABC News, BizTravel, The Trip, AccuWeather, and FieldMaster.

OPERATIONAL TESTING
Like the wired Web, the development of .HDML sites is limited only to one’s imagination, and a few of them returned error messages when we tried to browse to them. But, it certainly will get more exciting as the screens gets bigger and the phones get smarter. The minibrowser is easy to use, but it does seem tedious given its practical uses right now, such as news, sports scores, stock updates, and simple travel directions. Soon, such phones will also have GPS navigation built in, and satellite networks will make the concept of roaming obsolete.

Compared to a Palm device or Windows CE systems, we found the scheduler difficult to use. Setting a simple to-do item or meeting involves too much key pushing. Of course, this is because there’s no keyboard. Again, as the screens get bigger, look for digital keyboards, stylus inputs, etc. While these variations exist on the high-end Nokia 9000 and Qualcomm pdQ devices, those products will take years before they even approach the Touchpoint’s price. But as a mobile telephone, the Touchpoint works just fine.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Aside from the scheduler, we’d also like to see improvements in the phone book. Other phones have one-touch access to alphabetized entries; but with the Touchpoint, it takes some more key pressing. We also feel that the phone’s case can be stronger, and the charging cradle is a bit hard to use in a hurry. Finally, as mentioned in the installation section, the help desk agents seemed to need more training. While it’s true that we in TMC Labs are experts, the agents should know their own product at least as well as we do.

CONCLUSION
Our main reason for endorsing this product is its price. The Touchpoint’s PDA is mediocre —if that were its only task. Its Web browser is so-so —if it were PC-based. The fact is, for these applications to be integrated with a CDMA telephone and sold for less than $200 is very impressive. If you can buy a pdQ or Nokia 9000 or similar product without being concerned about the price, then we offer our congratulations to your successful career, but if you’re like the rest of us, then this breed of hybrid is a worthwhile compromise. Other phones in this category may be better though, such as the NeoPoint phone mentioned above. For now, our assessment of the Touchpoint’s three-point shot is that is falls just short of the basket — but with a little more practice, the Sprint team looks promising.