Hello r2-ga,
Great question! The technology you are looking for is just beginning
to come on the market. Before long, I think you can expect to see
nearly all handhelds ship with some form of wireless access, however.
If you can wait for a bit, then you may want to check out the Hiptop
by Danger Inc. which is planned to release in late July to the U.S.
market (later this year for other countries) and will offer voice,
Internet, and messaging capabilities in a single device. According to
their Web site they will support all types of messaging applications
as well as internet access, email with attachments and also serve as a
full-featured mobile phone. A large screen flips open to expose a
QWERTY keyboard.
Here's a short overview of the Hiptop from EdgeReview:
http://www.edgereview.com/ataglance.cfm?category=handheld&ID=288
Here's the info on the Hiptop from its creator, Danger Inc.:
http://www.danger.com/products.php
For now, however, most handhelds running Palm OS or Pocket PC offer a
messaging solution through a third-party application. With these free
downloads you can access AIM, Yahoo! Messenger or MSN Messenger
through your favorite handheld (most wireless handhelds support this):
Here is the Yahoo Mesenger application for Palm OS:
http://messenger.yahoo.com/messenger/palm/downloads_palm_msgr.html
Here is the AOL solution for Palm OS:
http://www.aim.com/get_aim/palm/latest_palm.adp
And MSN offers messaging for PocketPC users:
http://messenger.msn.com/clients/pocketpc.asp
My favorite of the newest wireless handhelds is the Handspring Treo
180, which comes in a version with a full QUERTY keyboard. It
integrates your phone, Palm OS organizer, email and wireless web all
in one device. It offers instant messaging through third party
solutions for Palm OS.
Another good wireless handheld (which comes with AIM installed) is the
Palm i705 ( http://www.palm.com/products/palmi705/ ). This particular
model doesn't come with a keyboard standard, but it does have a cool
mini keyboard which snaps right on for email and messaging:
http://www.palm.com/products/accessories/mini_keyboard/
If you really like the Blackberry, you can access Yahoo! Messenger
through a Blackberry with the Go.Web service from GoAmerica:
http://www.goamerica.net/html/blackberry/index.html
From the Blackberry Web site:
Go.Messenger - Instant Messaging application for chatting with other
Go.Messenger users or Yahoo! Messenger users.
http://www.blackberry.net/developers/na/programs/referral/partners/companies/goamerica.shtml
And just in case you'd prefer a smaller grafitti handheld, you can get
add-on keyboards for desktop use:
http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,2856041,00.html
You may also find it interesting to read this recent article from
WirelessAdWatch.com on the new wireless devices of the summer:
http://www.wirelessadwatch.com/news/2002/news20020617.shtml
Or this one from ZDNET, "End of the road for the unconnected
handheld?":
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2871073,00.html
I hope this answer helps you on your way to a new handheld. Thank you
for using Google Answers.
inquisitive-ga |
