Kyocera adds color to its smartphone
 
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In this case, the saying "the third time's a charm" is true: Kyocera Wireless has a charmer on its hands. The company plans to announce today at the TechXNY show (formerly PC Expo) its new 7135 smartphone, the successor to its 6035 smartphone that combined a Palm OS with a mobile phone.
The latest model improves on some of the shortcomings of the Smartphone, mainly by reducing the size and weight of the device and adding a color screen. Kyocera considers last year's Smartphone a second-generation product, because it was the successor to the pdQ Smartphone that Qualcomm launched several years ago. (Kyocera Wireless purchased Qualcomm's phone business in 2000).
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The 7135 smartphone runs on the new Code Division Multiple Access 2000 1xRTT networks (available from Verizon Wireless and due to launch from Sprint PCS this summer), which will let you download data from the Internet at speeds up to 153K bit/sec. This will be among the first group of phones (in the U.S.) that let you connect to the 1X network's higher speeds directly from the phone. Earlier phones could connect to the network, but higher data speeds were only available via a laptop/phone connection. The 7135 also contains a full HTML Web browser with encryption capabilities that aims to provide a true Web surfing experience, as opposed to browsing via Wireless Application Protocol.
The 7135 can display more than 65,000 high-resolution colors, and Kyocera Wireless claims the screen will provide bright colors and easy visibility in many different lighting conditions. A criticism of some other color smartphone models has been the difficulty of seeing their screens in bright sunlight, for example.
The phone runs Palm OS Version 4.1, has 16M bytes of on-board RAM and an expansion card slot compatible with MultiMedia Card and Secure Digital formats. Other features include a hands-free loudspeaker, voice-activated dialing, voice memo, Global Positioning System locator technology (once the carriers begin supporting GPS technology in their networks), a vibrating alert and two-way Short Message Service functionality. The 7135 also can be connected to a computer as a wireless fax and modem. To appeal to consumers, Kyocera Wireless has added an MP3 player to the phone, and it includes a stereo headset jack.
The dimensions of the 7135 differ slightly from the original smartphone. Instead of the keyboard hinge on the bottom, Kyocera has moved it to the top for a more traditional clamshell design. This helps reduce the length of the phone, while keeping the same screen dimensions. The 7135 also weighs a bit less (6.6 ounces vs. 7.34 ounces for the 6035).
Adding the color screen will likely eat up some battery life. Kyocera Wireless says the new phone has a little more than three hours of talk-time life, and up to 123 hours of standby time. This compares with up to five hours of talk time and up to 180 hours of standby time for the earlier models. Still, the company says the battery life compares well with other color screen smartphone models.
Finally, for e-mail, the device includes the Eudora Mail client. Kyocera says the phone will be able to connect to corporate e-mail and have e-mail pushed to the phone in a similar manner to Research In Motion's BlackBerry devices.
The phone is expected to launch by the fourth quarter of this year, Kyocera officials say. Pricing will be set by the carriers, but should be between $500 and $600, plus monthly service fees.
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